Episode 459: Past Bones: Respiring, Tendons, and Lips. New proof of lips on T. rex, sauropod air sacs, blood vessels in Edmontosaurus, and extra dinosaur comfortable tissues.
Information:
- Air sacs have been invading sauropod bones in more than one techniques within the Triassic—previous than up to now concept supply
- A brand new option to resolve if scars on bones are from tendon attachments or air sac touch supply
- Ossified tendons aren’t all totally ossified, a few of them nonetheless have comfortable tissue in them supply
- Cushy tissue performs a vital function in how animals breathe, scent, keep an eye on their frame temperature, keep in touch, and extra supply
The dinosaur of the day: Titanosaurus
- Doubtful titanosaurian sauropod that lived within the Overdue Cretaceous in what’s now India (Lameta Formation)
- Sauropod, so walked on all fours, had a protracted neck and small head
- Neck was once thick and tail was once quick
- Unclear how massive Titanosaurus was once (doubtful, plus no longer many fossils discovered first of all)
- Kind species is Titanosaurus indicus
- Genus title way “titanic lizard”
- Named after the mythological Titans, the pre-Olympian gods in Greek mythology (12 of them)
- Described by means of Richard Lydekker in 1877
- First dinosaur from India to be named and formally described
- Titanosaurus named in accordance with a partial femur (leg bone) and two incomplete tail vertebrae
- Titanosaurus named for main points within the tail vertebrae
- 2d species, Titanosaurus blanfordi was once named in 1879 by means of Richard Lydekker
- Titanosaurus blanfordi was once named in accordance with a tail vertebrae discovered between 1860 and 1870 by means of William Blanford
- 14 species were named Titanosaurus (in Argentina, Europe, Madagascar, India, and Laos, and spanning 60 million years)
- Later Titanosaurus species named in accordance with fossils present in Argentina and Madagascar by means of 1896, which ended in the concept that titanosaurs have been Gondwanan
- Holotype vertebrae present in 1828 by means of Captain William Henry Sleeman of the East India Corporate military
- Discovered the fossils on Bara Simla Hill, close to the Gun Carriage Manufacturing facility, whilst in search of petrified wooden
- Sleeman found out the fossils simply 4 years after Megalosaurus was once named, in 1824, and 14 years prior to Owen coined the time period Dinosauria, in 1842
- Sleeman wrote “I made the primary discovery of fossil stays within the Nerbudda valley. I went first to a hill inside of sight of my area in 1828, and searched precisely between the plateau of basalt that coated it, and the stratum in an instant under; and there I discovered a number of small timber with roots, trunks, and branches, all complete, and wonderfully petrified. They’d been best not too long ago exposed by means of the showering away of part of the basaltic plateau. I quickly after discovered some fossil bones of animals”
- Took over 50 years for Titanosaurus to get named
- Sleeman gave two items to G. G. Spilsbury, a surgeon, who additionally excavated a 3rd bone, after which despatched the fossils in 1832 to vintage broker James Prinsep in Calcutta, who discovered they have been fossils and despatched them again to Sleeman
- By way of 1862, Hugh Falconer, superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, had the vertebrae, and he concept it was once reptilian so he took measurements and illustrated them
- Medlicott discovered a fragmentary leg bone (femur) in 1871 from the similar space the vertebrae have been discovered
- After Falconer died, Lydekker described them as Titanosaurus indicus
- Lydekker knew it was once a dinosaur and stated there have been distinctive options within the tail vertebrae however no longer within the femur. He wrote “If the femur were discovered by myself, I will have to have referred it to the genus Cetiosaurus, however the vertebrae forbid this view”
- The femur and vertebrae got here from the similar position however no longer from the similar layer/stratigraphic degree. As a result of this, in 1933 Friedrich von Huene and Charles Matley referred the femur to Antarctosaurus, a titanosaur present in Argentina
- Why have been fossils present in India referred to a dinosaur genus from South The us?
- On the time, the opposite fossils present in India couldn’t be in comparison with Titanosaurus indicus however they’d a number of issues in commonplace with Antarctosaurus. Additionally, Lydekker had set a precedent for linking dinosaurs throughout Gondwana when he recognized Titanosaurus species in Madagascar and South The us
- And Huene concept there was once a land bridge within the Cretaceous between South The us and southeastern Asia
- After Huene and Matley in 1933, took greater than 50 years till the following discovery of Overdue Cretaceous dinosaurs in India (abelisaurid and titanosaur skeletons and eggs and nest websites, present in 1981)
- In 2003 Jeffrey Wilson and Paul Upchurch re-evaluated Titanosaurus (and all 14 species)
- Titanosaurus was once a wastebasket taxon for some time, for titanosaurs present in Europe, South The us, and different portions of Asia
- Discovered Titanosaurus indicus to be invalid “as a result of it’s in accordance with ‘obsolescent’ characters—as soon as diagnostic options that experience won a broader taxonomic distribution through the years”
- Method those options regarded as distinctive to Titanosaurus are present in different titanosaurs
- Discovered that the gang Titanosauria was once nonetheless legitimate regardless that
- To his credit score, when Lydekker named the 2 species of Titanosaurus, best 115 dinosaur species were named
- Since Titanosaurus, a lot of titanosaurs and non-titanosaurs were discovered with the similar options within the tail vertebrae as Titanosaurus (contains diplodocoids and Mamenchisaurus)
- A few of the ones options are distinctive to Titanosauria and others present in different sauropod lineages
- Former species come with rahioliensis (in accordance with tooth, now regarded as an indeterminate neosauropod), colberti (now Isisaurus), australis (now Neuquensaurus), nanus (any other nomen dubium), robustus (now Neuquensaurus), madagascariensis, falloti (too fragmentary to grasp), valdensis (now a nomen dubium) lydekkeri (unclear), and dacus (now Magyarosaurus)
- Wilson and Upchurch wrote that “Historical past has stripped Titanosaurus of its strong point thru obsolescence of the characters at the beginning used to outline it”
- Charles Matley gathered extra sauropod bones between 1917 and 1919, in the similar space the place Titanosaurus indicus fossils have been discovered however in a special layer. They have been discovered “washed about and slightly broken and damaged prior to fossilization”
- Additionally discovered fragmentary bones in 1920 within the kind locality of Titanosaurus blanfordi
- Fossils have been assigned to Titanosaurus indicus, Titanosaurus blanfordi, ?Antarctosaurus sp., Laplatasaurus madagascariensis, and an indeterminate sauropod
- 4 braincases as soon as attributed to Titanosaurus indicus have been discovered in numerous localities in India, and one was once from Bara Simla (the place the primary Titanosaurus fossils have been discovered), supposedly discovered with some skeletal fossils however the ones weren’t mapped or described
- Sufficient variations within the braincases that there have been almost certainly two sauropod taxa, they usually have been informally referred to “Antarctosaurus” and “Titanosaurus” morphs
- Sadly, no detailed box data and fossils from Bara Simla aren’t neatly preserved, this means that the fossils discovered there are complicated and arguable on the subject of which dinosaurs they belong to
- In 1997, Jain and Bandyopadhyay stated “Antarctosaurus” septentrionalis was once a junior synonym of Titanosaurus indicus as a result of there weren’t any large variations between the 2
- Alternatively, Wilson and Upchurch stated that for the reason that fossils got here from Bara Simla, which “is a deficient pattern from which to resolve variation”, and that naming all fossils discovered at Bara Simla as one species will “no longer best create a probably unnatural assemblage, it additionally forces long run discoveries of at the moment unknown components to be referred to it”
- Wilson and Upchurch additionally discovered that Titanosaurus blanfordi was once no longer legitimate, for the reason that options on its tail vertebrae that Lydekker described are options that can range amongst sauropods (particular person variation) and will’t be a diagnostic characteristic
- Titanosaurus rahioliensis was once named in accordance with tooth, which was once no longer sufficient
- Fossils present in Madagascar, together with the primary report of dermal armor in a sauropod, have been referred to Titanosaurus madagascariensis
- The dermal armor isn’t a part of the holotype
- Discovered Titanosaurus madagascariensis to be nomen dubium, till it’s additional studied (fossils come with tail vertebrae, a part of an arm and the dermal ossification, regardless that Dep’eret when he described the fossils in 1896 wrote “I seek advice from the similar animal, however with out absolute sure bet, a big dermal ossification”, regardless that the fossils have been discovered in numerous localities). Previous find out about had discovered it to be Laplatasaurus, however Wilson and Upchurch stated comparisons are restricted
- Titanosaurus lydekkeri best identified from a tail vertebra, and best comprehend it belongs to a titanosaur
- Laplatasaurus was once other from Titanosaurus as it was once better with extra narrow proportions
- Titanosaurus colberti was once named in accordance with a partial skeleton together with a part of the pelvis and forelimb
- Discovered Titanosaurus colberti to be a legitimate species however gave it a brand new title: Isisaurus
- Wilson and Upchurch discovered that of the 14 Titanosaurus species, best 5 have been legitimate, and 4 of them have been renamed (Neuquensaurus, Magyarosaurus, Laplatasaurus, and Isisaurus). However, additionally they discussed “Titanosaurus” sp.
- Despite the fact that the paper stated Titanosaurus is a nomen dubium, they nonetheless believe one species, kind of (sp. way no longer recognized at the species degree or no longer associated with different identified species)
- Additionally the unique Titanosaurus indicus and blanfordi fossils went lacking for a few years
- Unclear when precisely they went lacking
- However Dhananjay Mohabey discovered the fossils have been best misplaced as a result of there was once no excellent stock of the collections, so he began a find out about to seek out them, and in 2012, he and Subhasis Sengupta discovered the holotype vertebra of Titanosaurus indicus (in a batch of fossils Lydekker left at the back of in 1878, which is why it didn’t have an reputable stock quantity), and likewise discovered the vertebrae of Titanosaurus blanfordi
- Titanosaurs have been very various and located in every single place the arena, on all seven continents
- They lived till the tip of the Cretaceous
- Crew contains one of the vital greatest land animals, like Patagotitan (estimated to be 121 feet or 37 m lengthy and weigh 76 heaps)
- Now not all have been massive, like Magyarosaurus that weighed about 1 ton
- Titanosaurs had vast chests, and the “wide-legged” stance, and stocky forelimbs that have been regularly longer than the hind limbs
- Now not many titanosaur skulls discovered, in accordance with ones discovered, skulls have been small
- Some titanosaurs, like Saltasaurus, had osteoderms
- Titanosaur eggs were discovered, which come with embryos and maintain pores and skin (comfortable tissues!)
- Previous this yr, in 2023, a number of titanosaur eggs have been present in India (mentioned in episode 430)
- From about 70 million years in the past
- Nests packed tightly in combination, so most likely the titanosaurs didn’t stick round to deal with their younger (if they’d, will have trampled the nests)
- A 2015 find out about discovered embryonic pores and skin from titanosaur eggs present in Patagonia, Argentina, and located scale patterns that have been very similar to the patterns of osteoderms on Saltasaurus
- Additionally to hook up with the comfortable tissues on this episode, titanosaurs had air sacs
- Tito Aureliano and others printed a find out about in 2021 (mentioned in episode 386) about air sacs in a saltasaurid titanosaur that lived within the Overdue Cretaceous in what’s now Brazil (had the pneumosteal bone)
- Titanosaurus the dinosaur isn’t to be at a loss for words with the kaiju Titanosaurus (Eastern time period and a subgenre of science fiction about large monsters—like Godzilla)
- The kaiju Titanosaurus seemed within the 1975 movie Terror of Mechagodzilla
- Within the film, a mad scientist Shinzo Mafune discovers the Titanosaurus and says he can keep watch over its thoughts (folks suppose he’s insane and he loses all credibility)
- He does keep watch over the Titanosaurus and will get his revenge (prior to he controls the Titanosaurus, Titanosaurus was once non violent)
- Within the film, Titanosaurus is 196 feet (60 m) tall and weighs over 30,000 heaps
- Designed to appear to be a spinosaur (and is aquatic), and has a crocodile-like snout, a sail-like fin, and roars
- Additionally stands on two legs and tail drags
- However does have a protracted neck
- Colours are purple, yellow, and black, with a beige stomach
- Can use its tail as a fan to create winds sturdy sufficient to smash constructions, or create whirlpools in water
- Just right swimmer and will stroll on land too
- (spoilers) Will get defeated by means of Godzilla
Amusing Truth:
T. rex most likely coated its tooth in massive lips and it almost certainly didn’t have the muscle tissues to reveal its tooth.
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