Ben Creisler
New dino papers:
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The newly discovered Maoshajing tracksite in the Lower Jurassic Longtoushan Group of Guizhou Province, China is dominated by well-preserved medium-sized theropod tracks of the Grallator-Eubrontes plexus type, and associated with a few sauropod tracks. This saurischian dominated ichnofauna is typical of the Lower Jurassic biochron of China and elsewhere. It is also consistent with the sparse body fossil record, making it a type 2a deposit in which tracks are more abundant, and therefore also more important in providing a useful census of the tetrapod fauna. It is argued that small tracksite surfaces are more useful in 'capturing'â (registering) evidence of small and potentially more active theropod movements than the activity of larger saurischians (sauropodomorphs) which may have been less abundant and less active in areas of any given size.
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Bao-Qiao Hao ,Hao Feng, Zhi-Qiang Zhao, ÂYong Ye, Du-Xing Wan & Guang-Zhao Peng (2020)
Different types of bone fractures in dinosaur fossils.
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi:
https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1722661 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2020.1722661As more new fossils are discovered, a great number of extraordinary specimens have greatly enhanced our understanding of bone features in dinosaurs. The fracture patterns of dinosaur bones are distinctive and easily identifiable, and thus have received increasing attention. Some pioneering modern medical studies have categorised two types of bone fractures, including traumatic (a broken bone caused by an injury) and pathologic (a broken bone caused by a disease) fractures. Here, we investigated two fossil specimens collected from Yangchuanosaurus hepingensis and Gigantospinosaurus sichuanensis, respectively, which were both uncovered in the Sichuan Basin, southwestern China. These specimens were subjected to osteological examination, CT scanning and spectral data analysis. Thus, multiple lines of evidence indicate that the bone fracture in the two dinosaurs is attributed to different factors.
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