[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]

Re: Aquilops, new ceratopsian from Lower Cretaceous of Montana, oldest in North America



New Palaeocast podcast interview with Andy Farke about Aquilops.

http://www.palaeocast.com/episode-38-ceratopsians/

On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 11:35 AM, Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
> And about the artistic reconstruction:
>
> http://dontmesswithdinosaurs.com/?p=1220
>
> On Wed, Dec 10, 2014 at 11:26 AM, Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Ben Creisler
>> bcreisler@gmail.com
>>
>> New in PLoS ONE:
>>
>> Andrew A. Farke, W. Desmond Maxwell, Richard L. Cifelli &  Mathew J.
>> Wedel (2014)
>> A Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Western North
>> America, and the Biogeography of Neoceratopsia.
>> PLoS ONE 9(12): e112055.
>> doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0112055
>> http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0112055
>>
>>
>> The fossil record for neoceratopsian (horned) dinosaurs in the Lower
>> Cretaceous of North America primarily comprises isolated teeth and
>> postcrania of limited taxonomic resolution, hampering previous efforts
>> to reconstruct the early evolution of this group in North America. An
>> associated cranium and lower jaw from the Cloverly Formation
>> (?middle–late Albian, between 104 and 109 million years old) of
>> southern Montana is designated as the holotype for Aquilops americanus
>> gen. et sp. nov. Aquilops americanus is distinguished by several
>> autapomorphies, including a strongly hooked rostral bone with a
>> midline boss and an elongate and sharply pointed antorbital fossa. The
>> skull in the only known specimen is comparatively small, measuring 84
>> mm between the tips of the rostral and jugal. The taxon is interpreted
>> as a basal neoceratopsian closely related to Early Cretaceous Asian
>> taxa, such as Liaoceratops and Auroraceratops. Biogeographically, A.
>> americanus probably originated via a dispersal from Asia into North
>> America; the exact route of this dispersal is ambiguous, although a
>> Beringian rather than European route seems more likely in light of the
>> absence of ceratopsians in the Early Cretaceous of Europe. Other
>> amniote clades show similar biogeographic patterns, supporting an
>> intercontinental migratory event between Asia and North America during
>> the late Early Cretaceous. The temporal and geographic distribution of
>> Upper Cretaceous neoceratopsians (leptoceratopsids and ceratopsoids)
>> suggests at least intermittent connections between North America and
>> Asia through the early Late Cretaceous, likely followed by an interval
>> of isolation and finally reconnection during the latest Cretaceous.
>>
>> News and blogs:
>> http://blogs.plos.org/paleo/2014/12/10/aquilops-hello/
>>
>> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141210-ceratopsian-aquilops-dinosaur-fossil-paleontology-science/
>>
>> http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/Aquilops_Dinosaur
>>
>> http://westerndigs.org/oldest-horned-dinosaur-in-north-america-discovered-in-montana/
>>
>> http://phys.org/news/2014-12-oldest-horned-dinosaur-species-north.html
>>
>> http://www.livescience.com/49086-oldest-horned-dinosaur-fossil.html
>>
>> http://www.livescience.com/49082-photos-oldest-horned-dinosaur.html