Saturday, January 1, 2011

Mesozoic Miscellany #13

Newsworthiness

Starting the new year with a correction. This week, I wrote about Titanoceratops, the new name assigned to the giant Pentaceratops specimen on display at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. I made an error in my post by writing that Nick Longrich's description was published. The truth is, the paper has been accepted, and while it's considered in-press, it is not published yet. The act of naming Titanoceratops is not complete. It is, therefore a nomen nudum. Though I hate making mistakes like that, it had a couple of good outcomes. First, I'll be sure to double-check the status of papers that are announced in the media. Second, Bill Parker wrote a piece spurred by my error at his great blog Chinleana. As I noted in the comments of his post, the time I have for working on LITC and studying dinosaurs is mostly devoted to the creatures themselves, and I haven't spent enough time learning the rules of publication.

Saurian also weighed in on Titanoceratops, expressing his hope that the lumper/splitter issue doesn't become a terrible schism in paleontology. He also thanks me for linking to him, so I'll thank him back for providing great stuff to link to, and complete the circle of gratitude.

Zach Miller also wrote about Titanoceratops at When Pigs Fly Returns.

Brian Switek, who I interviewed this week, wrote the ultimate breakdown of 2010 dinosaur discoveries.

Dave Hone also has his own look back at 2010, with the Archosaur Musings Awards, which I think need to be named "The Archies."

The Dinosaur Toy Blog reviewed a Brachiosaurus figure by Bullyland, and the expression on its face is pretty hilarious. It looks like it's rolling its eyes.

At Superoceras, David Tana writes about how his 2010 goals panned out while looking ahead to 2011. He also provides a roundup of 2010 roundups.

Darren Naish is writing about stegosaurs at Tetrapod Zoology. A must-read.

Have you read my SciAm guest blog post, How to Name a Dinosaur? Check it out, and read some of the other posts, too. It's a really good way to find other science blogs to follow. Because you can never have to many, really.

Speaking of finding new blogs, one that I only recently discovered is The Great Cretaceous Walk, a blog by Australia-based American paleontologist Tony Martin. He wrote a fantastic post about Lark Quarry this week, and the interpretations of the "dinosaur stampede" recorded in the tracks at the site. A compelling mix of personal narrative and scientific discovery, he will write about the new view of those tracks next week. Highly recommended.

And of course, send your best "welcome to Earth" greeting to Calvin Mellow!

Twit Picks

Stuff I tweeted in the last week or so:

Tumblin'

Every week, I pick something shared by one of the dinosaur tumblogs. This week's comes from Bigbowlofsoup, a cozy, Cosby-ready sauropod sweater.


H/T to I Effing Love Dinosaurs.

Paleoart of the Week

The 2009 Lanzendorf prize winner, the Hell Creek mural at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History by Walters & Kissinger, is one I can't wait to see in real life. It's really big, being a mural and all, but you can look at a huge version of it at this link [jpg], provided by Discovery News. Here's a preview.


Preview image via the excellent art blog Lines and Colors, which features a thorough, insightful post about it.

Outrageously Off-Topic Indulgence

Oh, I don't know. I've been watching a lot of Prison Break lately, which is available instantly through Netflix. Stupid, ridiculous, over the top, fun show.

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