Dinosaur

UUֱ�� paleontologists uncover 76-million-year-old armoured dinosaur skull

ullahnor — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 17:58:19 +0000

UUֱ�� paleontologists uncover 76-million-year-old armoured dinosaur skull

ullahnor Thu, 08/10/2017 - 13:58

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From left to right, postdoctoral researcher Victoria Arbour, PhD student Cary Woodruff and Associate Professor David Evans with the newly discovered dinosaur skull (photos courtesy of Mary Paquet/Royal Ontario Museum)

Topic

Global Lens

Paleontology

Faculty of Arts & Science

Dinosaur

A team of paleontologists affiliated with the UUֱ�� and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) discovered a 76-million-year-old armoured dinosaur skull over the weekend in Southern Alberta.

The skull belongs to Euoplocephalus – one of the largest plant-eating armoured dinosaurs in Canada. The largely complete skull, found in the heart of Alberta's Badlands, has a broad, rounded snout and is covered with blocky ornamental plates.

A large horn projects down from its cheek, and there's a blunt horn above the eye, writes David Evans, associate professor of ecology & evolutionary biology at UUֱ�� and the ROM, via email from the area.

“This is an exciting find for our team,” he adds. “Fossil of armoured dinosaurs are very rare, even in places like Alberta where fossils form the Age of Dinosaurs are relatively common. This is the first good skull of an ankylosaur that my team has collected in the last 15 years of digging in southern Alberta, and it is an important find for helping us understand the dinosaur ecosystem at the time, about 75 million years ago.”

Evans says the skull was found Aug. 5 by Wendy Sloboda, a renowned Alberta fossil hunter who works with the team.

Good ribbance: UUֱ�� researcher finds dino rib bones reveal remnants of 195-million-year-old protein

ullahnor — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:02:00 +0000

Good ribbance: UUֱ�� researcher finds dino rib bones reveal remnants of 195-million-year-old protein

ullahnor Wed, 02/01/2017 - 10:02

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Skeleton of the 195-million-year-old dinosaur “Lufengosaurus” preserved as found in the ground in Yunnan Province, China. (photo courtesy of Robert Reisz)

Nicolle Wahl

Author legacy

Nicolle Wahl

Topic

Is fossilized rock all that remains when a dinosaur decomposes?

New research from scientists at the UUֱ�� and researchers in China and Taiwan provides the first evidence that proteins have been preserved within the 195-million-year-old rib of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Lufengosaurus.

The study appears in the Jan. 31 issue of the journal Nature Communications and the news is already making headlines around the world.

Read The Washington Post story

“These dinosaur proteins are more than 100 million years older than anything previously discovered,” says Professor Robert Reisz, a specialist in vertebrate paleontology in the department of biology at UUֱ�� Mississauga. “These proteins are the building blocks of animal soft tissues, and it’s exciting to understand how they have been preserved.”

Close up of a cross section of the “Lufengosaurus” rib, showing how the bone was organized around vascular canals that contained blood vessels in the living dinosaur, and ran along the length of the rib (photo courtesy of Robert Reisz)

The Canada-Taiwan research team, led by Reisz, used the synchrotron at the Taiwanese National Synchrotron Radiation Research Centre to find the substance in place, known as collagen type I, preserved within the tiny vascular canals of the rib where blood vessels and blood would be in the living dinosaur.

Read the Agence-France Presse story

UUֱ�� researchers discover new creatures great and small

ullahnor — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 16:48:24 +0000

UUֱ�� researchers discover new creatures great and small

ullahnor Mon, 01/23/2017 - 11:48

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The lobster-like marine predator was one of six new species discovered (illustration by Lars Field)

Christine Elias

Author legacy

Christine Elias

Topic

Breaking Research

Species

Evolutionary Biology

Faculty of Arts & Science

ecology

Fossil

Dinosaur

Subheadline

6 new species discovered in past five years

From a deep-sea creature that predates dinosaurs by 250 million years to a chameleon-like lizard in the Dominican Republic, meet six new species – some living and some extinct – that have been discovered by scientists at UUֱ��'s Faculty of Arts & Science over the last five years.

The “Wendy” dino – named for legendary Canadian fossil hunter and discoverer Wendy Sloboda – has been called “one of the most striking horned dinosaurs ever found.”

An early member of the Triceratops family, the elaborate horns and head ornamentation of Wendiceratops pinhornensis set it apart from its relatives.

The dino, found in southern Alberta in 2010, lived 79 million years ago, making it one of the oldest named members of the horned dinosaur family.

The research on Wendiceratops was completed by David Evans, an associate professor in UUֱ��’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology and a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, and Michael Ryan of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

It has greatly increased the understanding of the evolution of horned dinosaurs.

This chameleon-like lizard – a Greater Antillean anole named Anolis landestoyi for Miguel Landestoy, the naturalist who first spotted and photographed it – is one of the first new anole species found in the Dominican Republic in decades.

The new species was described by Luke Mahler, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, as helping to piece together a long-standing puzzle of similar looking species that exist on different Caribbean islands.

“As soon as I saw the pictures, I thought, 'I need to buy a plane ticket,'” says Mahler, who was the lead author of the published article on the discovery.

Why Tyrannosaurus and other predators had such fearsome teeth

sgupta — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:05:28 +0000

Why Tyrannosaurus and other predators had such fearsome teeth sgupta Thu, 07/30/2015 - 11:05

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Gorgosaurus using its specialized teeth for feeding on a young Corythosaurus. (Painting by Danielle Dufault)

Elaine Smith

Author legacy

Elaine Smith

Topic

Breaking Research

Dinosaur

UUֱ�� paleontologists uncover 76-million-year-old armoured dinosaur skull

Read more at CBC News

Read more about the research dig in the Badlands

Good ribbance: UUֱ�� researcher finds dino rib bones reveal remnants of 195-million-year-old protein

Read The Washington Post story

Read more at the Globe and Mail

Read the Agence-France Presse story

Read more about the discovery at BBC News

UUֱ�� researchers discover new creatures great and small

Read more about the anole

Read more about the lobster-like marine predator

Why Tyrannosaurus and other predators had such fearsome teeth