Episode 573: The Most New Dinosaurs In A Single Episode. From tiny Triassic taxa to stupendous “snake-necked” sauropods. We cover eight brand new named dinosaurs—And they are all sauropods (with one sauropodomorph).

News:

• A new small sauropodomorph from Zimbabwe, Musango matusadonaensis, that weighed as much as two ostriches source
• A sauropod in India, Ceratocaudia antiqua, was old for a neosauropod (Early/Mid Jurassic) but also old as an individual (with arthritis) source
• A new small titanosaur from Uruguay, Mesetasaurus protector source
• A new Moroccan titanosaur, Phosphatotitan khouribgaensis, looked a lot like a miniature Patagotitan source
• There’s a new Argentinian sauropod, Bicharracosaurus dionidei, the “big animal lizard” source
• A new “snake necked” mamenchisaur from Thailand was named Uragasaurus kalasinensis source
• The new sauropod Yantaloong lini has an extra pair of “lock and key” joints between its vertebrae source
• There’s a new enormous titanosauriform, Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, from Thailand with a humerus measuring 1.78m (5ft 10in) tall source
• The first dinosaur bone found in Antarctica belongs to a titanosaur (although its not complete enough to have a name) source

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The dinosaur of the day: Venenosaurus

• Sauropod that lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now Utah
• Looked kind of like Brachiosaurus, and really looked like Cedarosaurus
• Walked on all fours, kept long neck upright, had a long tail
• Small for a sauropod
• Estimated to be 39 ft (12 m) long and weighed 6.6 short tons
• Fossils found in 1998 by Anthony DiCroce, a volunteer for the Denver Museum of Natural History
• Described in 2001 by Virginia Tidwell and others
• Type and only species is Venenosaurus dicrocei
• Genus name means “poison lizard” (refers to the Poison Strip Member)
• Species name in honor of Anthony DiCroce for finding the fossils
• Site where the fossils were found is known as Tony’s Bone Bed (in the Poison Strip Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation)
• Holotype is a partial adult skeleton, with nine tail bones, part of the shoulders and arms, part of the feet, part of the hips, and ribs
• Know it’s an adult based on fusion in most of the bones, although some bones are not fused (could be it looks that way from being buried and fossilized)
• Also found some bones from a juvenile
• Some other potential fossils found in other quarries, but unclear if they belong to Venenosaurus or its close relative that was found in the same formation, Cedarosaurus
• Had slender arm bones
• Had long, slender hand bones
• Hips similar to Brachiosaurus
• Caudal vertebrae (tail bones) in the middle and near the end of the tail were short
• Those tail bones also looked in between the tail bones of late titanosaurs and early sauropods
• Titanosaurs had vertebrae that were biconvex (bulged outward) on the front and back
• Early sauropods had vertebrae that were either flat on both ends or concave (curves inward)
• Venenosaurus had a mix in its tail bones: slightly convex, so shows the beginnings of being biconvex but also has a flat surface
• Other dinosaurs that lived around the same time and place include the ankylosaur Gastonia, the ornithopod Planicoxa, and theropods
• Other animals that lived around the same time and place include fish, turtles, mammals, and crocodilians

Fun Fact:

Dinosaurs kept mammals small and mammals kept dinosaurs large source

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