Movie Review: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Last week’s viewing of Godzilla got me thinking about the origin of the kaiju genre. It’s ultimately related to dinosaurs and our awe of the huge and strange. King Kong certainly played its part, as it its own inspiration, the 1925 Lost World. However, one film tied King Kong with Godzilla, a missing link of movie monsters, between dinosaurs and kaiju. Today we’re looking at Ray Harryhausen’s  1953 opus, the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Paleontology Week in Review: 6/7/14

Sorry about missing the week in review last week-there wasn’t much going on in the world of paleontology. However, the press this week has brought to my attention some amazing fossil finds.

First we’ve got a beautiful discovery of a pterosaur rookery in Xinjiang by Dr. Wang Xiaolin. This week his team released their paper on the discovery, naming the new species Hamipterus tianshanensis.  The sheer amount of fossil bones reveals much-needed, often-sought but seldom-found information on the animal. Not only are there 5 intact eggs, but at least 40 individuals. This number provides information on physical characteristics (the animals are sexually dimorphic in terms of their crest shape), life cycle (pterosaurs are found in almost all stages of growth), and social organization (nests are preserved,  and the sheer amount of nests and individuals suggests a colony not unlike one of seabirds). 

It’s been suggested for decades that pterosaurs were social animals living like birds in large groups, but this time we have an actual flock.   Wang et al classify it as a relative of the famous Pteranodon, one of the earliest members of the family.  Found it the Aptian Cretaceous Turpan-Hami Basin, it was the successor of the more basal pterosaur Dsungaripterus, but was more of a generalist fisher.

Here’s the paper: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2814%2900525-9

Speaking of mass finds, there was a mass find of early Cretaceous Icthyosaurs in Chile. 36 individuals, some of them pregnant, from 4 different species, were found in a single bed at the Torres del Paine National Park.  The find was discovered ten years ago, but only now has the significance and sheer scope been found. Sadly, the paper is not available in a free journal, so precise details are not known to me. However, like the pterosaurs, this suggests a catastrophe, possible a tsunami or volcanic eruption that killed the animals.

The paper http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/early/2014/05/22/B30964.1.abstract

A new short-snouted crocodilian was found in the Paleocene Cerrejon formation in Colombia by Alexander K. Hastings of the Florida Museum of Natural History, Jonathan I. Bloch of the Geiseltalmuseum of the Martin Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, and Carlos A. Amarillo of Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Called Anthracosuchus balrogus, it was distinct for it thick, squared scutes that protected its back, bony tuberosities around its eyes, wide-spaced eyes, short, broad snout, and rounded, blunt teeth. Anthracosuchus is a dyrosaur, a family of crocodilians that evolved in the Palaeocene, flourished, then went extinct. The family was better adapted for aquatic lifestyles than their modern counterparts, thriving in the jungles and wetlands of the Palaeogene and eating fish and other aquatic reptiles. The teeth of this animal seem to be adapted for crushing turtle shells. 

At 16-feet long Anthracosuchus dwarfed most of the other animals of the Cerrejon jungle, including its main prey, the 6-foot turtle Carbonemys, and its relatives the small but similarly short-snouted Cerrejonisuchus and common, long-snouted Acherontisuchus. However, it in turn was prey for the largest snake of all-time, the similarly semiaquatic Titanoboa. Titanoboa was twice the length of a modern green anaconda, and fulfilled a similar role as aquatic apex predator.

The paper http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2014.918968#.U5O_xyigzWg

On to dinosaurs-

Hai Xing and his team from multiple institutions in China, Canada, and the UK released their paper this week on a new hadrosaur from Henan, Zhanghenglong yangchengensis. The animal is described as basal, similar to Bactrosaurus, Telmatosaurus, Lophorhothon,  and other ancestors of hadrosaurs.  The find is scanty and disarticulated, but enough of the skull and post-cranial material remain to get a good picture of this browser, it’s evolutionary relationships, and it’s ecological role.  It’s placed as a sister taxon to Nanyangosaurus. 

It’s from the Majiacun Formation, a Santonian age mid-Cretaceous strata discovered relatively recently and with very few fossils. So far, we know that the troodont Xixiasaurus and alverezasaur Xixianykus shared the habitat, and eggs have been found suggesting therizinosaurs also lived in the area.  Hopefully, more of this animal will be found and more animals in this environment will be found.

Here’s the paper http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0098821

Finally, another dinosaur was found, this one from Luxembourg and described by Dominique Delsate from the Musée national d’histoire naturelle de Luxembourg and Martin D. Ezcurra of the Universities of Birmingham and Munich.  It’s a theropod dinosaur from the Hettangian Early Jurassic: a relative of Megapnosaurus and Sarcosaurus.  The material is scanty-teeth and a foot bone. 

The locale, Reckingerwald quarry, is not known for dinosaurs, either-most of the fossils are of marine invertebrates, with a few plesiosaur, ichthyosaur, and cartilaginous fish bones.  It’s the least of the discoveries in terms of material and drama, and the dinosaur has yet to be named, but it’s still a find worth the publicity

You can find the paper here http://popups.ulg.ac.be/1374-8505/index.php?id=4569

Tune in next week for more paleontology news!

Movie Review: Godzilla (2014)

There’s very few dinosaur movies in theaters nowadays. The last time I saw one on the big screen was in December, and that in turn was the first in years. So when I see a film that can be described as a dinosaur film, I must watch it. Yes, I saw Godzilla last week, and I can assume most people interested have already seen it so I can discuss it spoilers and all. Just to be safe, I’ll put a cut here before I get into the details.

An Overview of Dinosaur Exhibits Part 4: The Carnegie Museum

Most times in which I hear about museums are in the context of a book or documentary. This week’s museum, however, I first learned from a series of toys.  I remember my first dinosaur toys being from the Funrise series of animal figures, and the Imperial Toys large toys. The best, however, I encountered in first grade. The classroom has a display of them, with an accompanying poster. The name was distinctive-“The Carnegie Collection”.  They were big enough to be detailed but not too big enough to effect play. They were beautiful, sculpted, and sturdy. They ranged from familiar animals like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops to more obscure animals like Maiasaura. 

Documentary Review: Flying Monsters 3D

I must admit to being as guilty as pop culture is in terms of pterosaurs. Pterosaurs have always played second fiddle to the dinosaurs. When they’re not actually mislabeled as dinosaurs themselves, they’re often passed over as inferior prototypes to avian dinosaurs.  Pterosaurs often seem to be token bit players in the world of dinosaurs-Pteranodon and Pterodactylus have an ocean and nearly 100 million years between them, but they’re synonymized in the public eye.

That’s why I was glad to finally see a pterosaur documentary. In 2011, this documentary, called Flying Monsters, hit IMAX screens in 3D. Despite the relatively short running time, this film was ambitious-David Attenborough was the host, pterosaur evolution and biomechanics was the focus, and CGI was used extensively. Does it do pterosaurs justice? Well, that’s what I’m going to talk about now.

Paleontology Week in Review: 5/24/14

This week, starting every Saturday, I’ll do a paleontology week in review. I’ll go over new discoveries, recommend articles on them, and give my perspective on it.

First up is Leinkupal laticauda, discovered by a team led by Palbo Gallina of the Universidad Maimoides, who has a right to be cocky about his find.  Leinkupal, like most dinosaur finds, is sadly incomplete, mostly vertebrae. However, the vertebrae indicate a small (30 foot) sauropod, and a unique one at that.  This is because the vertebrae are unmistakably, distinctly diplodocid. Diplodocids were long-snouted,  whip-tailed sauropods that reached their heyday in the Late Jurassic with their banner species: the legendary Apatosaurus, the famous Diplodocus, Barosaurus, African Tornieria, Portuguese Dinheirosaurus, and the gigantic Supersaurus among them. Like their stegosaur compatriots, they went into a sudden extinction at the end of the Jurassic. As the stegosaurs were replaced by ankylosaurs, diplodocids were replaced by the titanosaurs, broad-toothed, box-headed sauropods that conquered every continent and lasted until the end of the Cretaceous.

What makes Leinkupal unique is its being in the Bajada Colorado Formation, about 133 million years ago. It’s been 12 million years after the Jurassic extinction, and no diplodocids have been found in the Cretaceous until now.  It’s a survivor, and survivor species are fascinating. What allowed them to survive? What kind of environment did it have? What were the other species? Unfortunately, little is known on this formation and so we don’t know, but it’s a great discovery and I hope Gallina et all will find more about this unique animal.

Here’s the paper:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0097128

The other news is even bigger, but also a South American sauropod. I was talking about Titanosaurs earlier, and they include the giant sauropods Paralititan, Antarctosaurus, Puertasaurus, and Argentinasaurus.  This team includes Drs. Diego Po, Pablo Puerta and Jose Luis Carballido from the Museo Paleontologico Egidio Feruglio.  They announced that seven specimens were found, with the huge bones being excavated for the past three years and will continue for a long time in the future.  The animals are estimated to be up to 130 feet long, larger than any other sauropods found.  Matt Wedel used a femur to calculate one specimen to be the size of the current record holder for largest dinosaur, Argentinasaurus, while other experts argue for a larger size. Regardless, this is a close relative of the giant Puertasaurus and Argentinasaurus, and in the same titanic size range.

Here are two good articles on the find

http://svpow.com/2014/05/19/the-new-argentine-titanosaur-was-about-the-same-size-as-the-biggest-argentinosaurus/

http://paleoking.blogspot.com/2014/05/record-smashing-titanosaur-just.html

The formation is not reported in most of the press releases, but the location-Chubut, and the report of Tyrannotitan teeth, suggest the animal is from the Cerro Barcino formation. The environment, according to earlier finds, was a dry plain, so dry that the resident crocodile predator Barcinosuchus seemed to be specialize in terrestrial prey. Other dinosaurs include the giant predatory carnosaur Tyrannotitan, the smaller ceratosaur (perhaps the last non-abeliosaurid) Genyodectes, and the smaller titanosaurus Chubutisaurus.    I hope to soon make an article on the succession of South American formations, but it preceded the other giants Argentinasaurus, Antarctosaurus, and Puertasaurus the same way Tyrannotitan preceded Giganotosaurus, Mapusaurus, Aerosteon and Orkoraptor.

Sadly, there's been no paper and no name given to this new giant, but I'll give you updates as they come up in the news! Right now we can just cheer on Carbadillo and company and wish them the best of luck on this amazing discovery.

That’s all the news for this week , and I’ll see you the next Saturday if anything comes up!

Documentary Review: Walking With Dinosaurs-the Ballad of Big Al

In December I reviewed the sequel to the BBC’s smash hit Walking With Dinosaurs, Walking With Beasts. However, this wasn’t the only 2001 followup. It’s a sign of the original series’ success that they not only made a sequel, but also made a spinoff around the same time. This was not a complete series, however, but a single episode explicitly based on a specific fossil. It has the same opening sequence as the rest of the series, and follows the same format. The name of this special, however, is much less dramatic, despite the story being as grim and violent as the other stories in the series: The Ballad of Big Al.