Outside of the inside of its mouth, however, little is known about the appearance of Ptychodus. The researchers behind the new study propose that it might have been something like a modern nurse shark (Ginglystoma cirratum), which also finds most of its food in the along the bottoms of tropical seas.

I was happy to read this because several years ago I had a similar thought and worked up a sketch of a nurse shark-like Ptychodus, complete with big pectoral fins, little eyes and speculative whisker-like barbels for sensing prey beneath the sediments.

The enigmatic durophage Ptychodus as a nurse shark analogue.

About a year after I put together that sketch, my friend Mary Sundstrom expanded on the sketch to create a dynamic, shell-crunching reconstruction for a web project at the day job:

Painting of Ptychodus based on the previous sketch, by Mary Sundstrom, 2005.

• References: Shimada, Kenshu, Everhart, Michael J., Decker, Ramo and Decker, Pamela D. 2010. A new skeletal remain of the durophagous shark, Ptychodus mortoni, from the Upper Cretaceous of North America: an indication of gigantic body size. Cretaceous Research, vol. 31, pp. 249–254. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2009.11.005
• Shimada, Kenshu, Rigsby, Cynthia K. and Kim, Sun H., 2009. Partial skull of Late Cretaceous durophagous shark, Ptychodus occidentalis (Elasmobranchii: Ptychodontidae), from Nebraska, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 29 (2), pp. 336–349. doi: 10.1671/039.029.0226

• 
  Bistahieversor sealeyi
  Image by Mary Sundstrom and myself, for the
  New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

• New Dinosaur: Bistahieversor sealeyi
• Pronounced: bis-tah-he-ee-VER-sor SEE-lee-eye
• Name means: Sealey’s Bisti destroyer (Paul Sealey discovered the fossils in the Bisti/De-na-zin Wilderness Area)
• Named by: Carr and Williamson 2010
• Relations: Tyrannosauroid, a group that includes Tyrannosaurus rex and its not-too-distant relatives
• Location: Northwest New Mexico, United States of America
• Age: Late Cretaceous (Campanian), ~73,000,000 years old
• Length: ~9 meters (29 feet)
• Info: Two fairly complete skeletons of a new type of New Mexican dinosaur are helping to fill in gaps in the evolution and distribution of tyrannosauroids, the group of dinosaurs that includes T. rex and its fairly close relatives.
• Tyrannosauroid fossils have been known from southwestern North America for over 100 years, but mostly in bits and pieces—isolated bones and teeth or, at best, incomplete skeletons of uncertain identity (see Carr & Williamson 2000 for a good overview). Traditionally, researchers have assigned these fossils to well-known tyrannosauroid genera like Albertosaurus or Daspletosaurus, whose more complete remains were originally found further north in Wyoming, Montana, and Alberta.
• Thanks to recent discoveries, the southwest now has a tyrannosaur all its own. Bistahieversor is the new name given to a complete skull and (mostly unprepared) skeleton from the Bisti badlands of northwestern New Mexico. Its skull and jaws display a healthy list of detailed anatomical characters that distinguish it from all other tyrannosauroids, including a complex joint between the nasal and frontal bones on top of its skull, and a unique hole above its eye. Other tyrannosaur remains from northwest New Mexico, including the partial skull and skeleton of a juvenile, appear to be specimens of Bistahieversor as well.
• Images:
  NMMNH P-27469, holotype skull and jaw of Bistahieversor sealeyi
  Photograph by David Baccadutre, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

• 
  NMMNH P-25049, incomplete skull and skeleton of juvenile Bistahieversor sealeyi
  Both these specimens are on display in the New Mexico’s Seacoast hall of the NMMNHS.

• Main Reference: Carr, Thomas D. and Williamson, Thomas E., 2010 Bistahieversor sealeyi, gen. et sp. nov., a new tyrannosauroid from New Mexico and the origin of deep snouts in Tyrannosauroidea. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 30 (1), pp. 1–16. doi: 10.1080/02724630903413032
• Additional Reference: Carr, Thomas D. and Williamson, Thomas E., 2000 A review of Tyrannosauridae (Dinosauria, Coelurosauria) from New Mexico. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 17, pp. 113–145.
• Elsewhere on the web:
  • Dinochick Blogs: Williamson and Carr introduce the destroyer – Bistahieversor sealeyi: Part 1 Part 2
  • Theropoda: Il Distruttore di Bisti (Carr & Williamson 2010) [english]
  • SVP & Paleo News: PRESS RELEASE – New Species of Tyrannosaur Discovered in Southwestern U.S.
  • National Geographic News: New “Destroyer” Dinosaur Found, was T. rex Relative
  • Brett Booth reconstructed Bistahieversor for Draw a Dinosaur Day

On my way back to Albuquerque from the WIPS Symposium, I made a detour over to Woodland Park, Colorado, to check out the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. This “new species of museum” (according to its tagline) was founded by Mike and JJ Triebold, of Triebold Paleontology Inc., and Mike was gracious enough to come in on a Sunday to give me a tour of the place.

Mike Triebold with a cast of a concretion that had formed within the footprint of a giant coelurosaur.

Mike explained that most of the skeletons on display were casts of specimens that he and his team had molded and mounted (and in many cases, collected and prepared to boot). The displays are constantly changing, as the reconstructed (cast) skeletons are purchased by museums and other collectors, and new skeletons are prepped, cast, & put out for display. In the 20+ years the Triebolds have been in this business, their team has put together some spectacular skeletons:

Juvenile Edmontosaurus. Behind and to the left is a larger Edmontosaurus. A Tyrannosaurus rex looms over the scene, and the pachycephalosaur Stygimoloch can be spotted in the background as well.

Conchoraptor gracilis, nicely showing off the robust oviraptor furcula (wishbone).

One of my favorite mounts was this dramatically serpentine mosasaur Platecarpus

Dueling Pachycephalosaurus—these two have been reconstructed from “Sandy”, the most complete pachycephalosaur specimen known from North America.

I have to say I was quite impressed by what I saw during my visit. The mounts were dynamic and did a good job of showing off the range, skill, and productivity of the center’s staff. The large, open halls packed with skeletons & fossils felt a bit like a mix between traditional museum exhibits and a showroom floor, which I suppose is not an entirely inaccurate description. In some ways (none bad) I felt the crowding of the casts on display made the RMDRC feel a bit like an old cabinet of curiosities, with a desire to show off a great quantity and diversity of objects—in contrast to the current museum practice of calling carefully-picked specimens into the service of a grand idea. That said, I’m curious to see how the RMDRC handles themed exhibits like their newly opened Darwin and Dinosaurs, which was still being assembled during my visit.

In addition to the exhibits, there were a couple other aspects of the RMDRC that are worth a mention: First, the floor staff was extremely courteous, helpful, and informed (something I noticed even before I met Mike for the tour). Second, the Prehistoric Paradise gift shop was extremely spacious and well-stocked, something I’m always happy to see. And finally, in the time it’s taken me to get this post written up, I’m happy to see that Anthony Maltese has started posting a blog from the RMDRC paleo lab, so you can get a glimpse of the specimens they’re working on and other behind the scenes happenings at the Center.

Apparently this is the first video footage of a live Hispaniolan Solenodon (Solenodon paradoxus), a secretive Caribbean mammal known primarily for being:

• Endangered
• Venomous
• Along with the Cuban Solenodon (S. cubanus), the last remnant of a distinct lineage of mammals going back 76 million years

More information about this footage (and higher quality video) can be found at this press release from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, or the related BBC story.

I am induced to lay before the Geological Society the annexed representations of parts of the skeleton of an enormous fossil animal, found at Stonesfield near Woodstock, about twelve miles to the N. W. of Oxford ; in the hope that, imperfect as are the present materials, their communication to the public may induce those who possess other parts of the same reptile, to transmit to the Society such further information as may lead to a more complete elucidation of its osteology.

The good Reverend William Buckland published these words in 1824, introducing an article entitled, “Notice on the Megalosaurus or great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield.”* Eighteen years later, when Sir Richard Owen became the first person to utter the word “dinosaur,” Buckland’s Megalosaurus was a charter member of the group. Buckland’s 1824 notice is recognized as the first scientific description of a dinosaur.** A PDF of this article was recently made available for download (along with a sampling of other notable 19th century papers) from the Geological Society of London.

Sample papers from the Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 1811-1856.

* This notice illustrated a scant 7 pages of text with 5 beautiful lithographic plates of the fossils, reproduced at 25%, 50%, and full scale. I am inclined to believe that this very nearly approaches an ideal ratio of text to figures in a fossil description.

**Although historians are aware of at least one notable early attempt to describe probable Megalosaurus remains.

• New Dinosaur: Austroraptor cabazai
• Name Means: Cabaza’s South American Thief (Héctor Cabaza founded the Museo Municipal de Lamarque)
• Relations: Dromaeosaurid Theropod
• Holotype: MML-195, partial skeleton including pieces of the skull, vertebral column, forelimb and leg
• Location: Rio Negro Province, Argentina
• Age: Late Cretaceous, ~70,000,000 years old
• Length: ~5 meters (16 feet)
• Weight: ~368 kilograms (810 lbs)
• Reference: Novas, F. E., Pol, D., Canale, J. I., Profiri, J. D., Calvo, Jorge O., 2008. A bizarre Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Patagonia and the evolution of Gondwanan dromaeosaurids. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Published early online 17.12.2008. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1554.
• Elsewhere on the web:
  • National Geographic News: “Bizarre” New Dinosaur: Giant Raptor found in Argentina
  • The Dragon’s Tales: Austroraptor cabazai, a Short-Armed Dromaeosaurid & Austroraptor Rendition and More Details
  • Theropoda: Austroraptor a dromeosaurio “spinosauro-mime”
  • Palaeoblog: Austroraptor cabazai: New Gondwanan Dromaeosaurid

• New Theropod: Skorpiovenator bustingorryi
  
• Name Means: Bustingorry’s Scorpion Hunter (Manuel Bustingorry owned the land where the fossil was found, and the describers report an “abundance of living scorpions moving around the excavation.”)
• Relations: Abelisaurid theropod
• Holotype: MMCH-PV 48, an almost complete skeleton
• Location: Neuquén Province, Argentina
• Age: Late Cretaceous (~93,000,000 years old)
• Info: Skorpiovenator belongs to the Abelisauridae, a distinctive family of large carnivorous dinosaurs that prowled the Gondwanan supercontinent during the latter half of the Cretaceous period, from about 95 to 65 milion years ago. During this time, Gondwana was beginning to break up into several more familiar landmasses—South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, Antarctica—and palontologists have suggested that the relationships and distribution of abelisaurids might help determine the order in which Gondwana split apart.
• In Canale et al.’s phylogeny, Skorpiovenator is most closely related to other South American abelisaurids, including Ekrixinatosaurus, Ilokelesia, Carnotaurus, and Aucasaurus. They share a suite of features that suggest that they were turning their skulls into shock-absorbers: hyperossified ornamentation atop their heads, struts of bone projecting into or sealing off parts of the orbit, and shortened muzzles. This last feature inspired a name for this abelisaur subgroup—the Brachyrostra, or “short snouts.”
• If this interpretation is correct—that South America had its own endemic radiation of short-snouted abelisaurs for the last 30 million years of the Cretaceous, this might suggest that South America was isolated from other Gondwanan landmasses with non-brachyrostran abelisaurs (places like Africa and Madagascar). However, other abelisaur phylogenies present different conclusions, and, as Canale and his coauthors point out, there are certainly other groups of Cretaceous Gondwanan animals that have their own stories to tell.
• Reference: Canale, J. I., Scanferla, C. A., Agnolin, F. L., and Novas, F. E., 2008. New carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of NW Patagonia and the evolution of abelisaurid theropods. Naturwissenschaften published online 05 December 2008. doi: 10.1007/s00114-008-0487-4
• Elsewhere on the Web:
  • PaleoFreak: Skorpiovenator
  • Dinosaur Tracking: A New Discovery–Scorpiovenator, the Scorpion Hunter
  • Theropoda: Il Cacciatore di scorpioni [Google Translation]

• Several prime pelycosaur posts from recent field work in the Permian beds of Seymour, including Dimetrodon-as-chondrichthivore and new material that may be from the narrow-snouted finback Secodontosaurus .
• And a step-by-step look at how Julius T. Csotonyi recreated the world of Leonardo, the fantastically well-preserved Brachylophosaurus, for the museum’s Dinosaur Mummy CSI: Cretaceous Science Investigation exhibit. Csotonyi’s digital paintings are about the best I’ve seen, and this post gives valuable insight into his process.