Hairy Museum of Natural History

A couple of new critters have popped up in the news of late:

First, Gryposaurus monumentensis, a new species of hook-beaked hadrosaur from the Kaiparowits Formation in southern Utah. The paper describing this new dinosaur is available online here, both The Ethical Palaeontologist and Palaeoblog have picked up the story, and the BBC News article contains a colorful restoration by artist Larry Felder.

Less well-covered in the news, but every bit as interesting, is the announcement of a new therizinosaur from China. I haven’t seen the paper yet, but the Carnegie Museum’s press release (.doc download) claims that Suzhousaurus megatherioides (“sloth-like reptile from Suzhou”) was a giant Asian relative of Nothronychus mckinleyi (“McKinley’s sloth-claw”), a therizinosaur known from fossils found in the American southwest. Mark Klinger’s restoration gives a good impression of these strange animals, characterized by wide hips, long arms, and massive claws.

In other paleo website news, Darren Naish, Matt Wedel, and Mike Taylor have started up what might be the ultimate niche-blog: Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, or SV-POW! for short. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

And finally, it looks like Laelaps is making the leap over to ScienceBlogs.com. Congrats to Brian Switek, who’s done an excellent job of promoting paleontology throughout the blogosphere!

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Cretaceous, Dinosaurs, Recent Discoveries.