Monday, December 22, 2014

Mesozoic Miscellany 71

Newsie Bits

The Danek Edmontosaurus Bonebed is the subject of the new issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. An important site for both research and outreach, the bonebed has produced over 800 specimens, dominated by E. regalis, but also containing the northernmost specimen of Albertosaurus, Troodon, and a bonus ceratopsian horncore.

More: Everything Dinosaur and Phys.org both featured articles about the bonebed. University of Alberta PhD candidate Michael Burns was interviewed about the issue in general at Canadian Science Publishing. The introduction is available for free[PDF link].

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Rebecca Groom's rooster-y troodontid is gorgeous! The superlatives are tripping over themselves to stampede out my mouth.

More book reviews from Herman Diaz at ART Evolved, this time focusing on a pair of titles from the Walking With Dinosaurs franchise.

Gareth Monger is really delivering the goods in the early days of his Pteroformer blog, including this post about the need to stay open-minded as research changes the look of prehistoric animals.

At SV-POW, Matt Wedel tips us off to the publication of his description of a new Haplocanthosaurus specimen, in the free-to-access journal Volumina Jurassica's new issue, which focuses on the Morrison formation.

Brian Switek writes about research into the ranges of the Cretaceous sea bird Hesperornis, taking the approach of studying extant penguin growth rings.

Liz Martin writes about one of the big reasons 2014 has been good to paleontology fans: two new pterosaur bonebed sites, which are exceedlingly rare. The Brazilian and Chinese sites feature multiple three-dimensionally preserved specimens of Caiuajara and Hamipterus, respectively. They really are treasure troves, adding new insights into social behavior, egg morphology, sexual dimorphism, ontogeny, and habitat. Read on at Gimpasaura.

Ben Miller offers a look at The Last American Dinosaurs, an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History. It looks amazing, and I agree when he writes that he's "...a fan of this personalized approach to science communication. In-house scientists are museums’ most important and unique resources, and placing them front-and-center reminds visitors that science is done by real and diverse people, not caricatures in lab coats."

You may see Albertonykus at The Last American Dinosaurs in his role as a docent, but his recent museum visit post takes you to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History instead.

Fernanda Castano wrote a nice primer on the Anthropocene at Letters from Gondwana.

A clumsy Aucasaurus was the subject of one of Mark Witton's paleoart commission specials, and a unique piece it is - a bit of slapstick humor but beautifully rendered.

Lisa Buckley wrote about visiting the type locality of the ichnotaxa Ignotornis mcconnelli, sharing plenty of great photos from the site.

The Dinosaur Toy blog featured a review of the new CollectA Mosasaurus. They also previewed a mixed bag of upcoming figures from Schleich. The Kentrosaurus is nice, at least.

Extant Theropod Appreciation

Gray-Necked Wood Rails are Awesome (and Kind of Obnoxious).

Paleoart Pick

Apsaravis has done a gorgeous series on carcharodontosaurids, including this Acrocanthosaurus. You can and should buy prints of her work at DeviantArt.


Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, © Apsaravis, used with permission.

1 comment:

  1. "More book reviews from Herman Diaz at ART Evolved, this time focusing on a pair of titles from the Walking With Dinosaurs franchise."

    Many thanks for the shout out!

    -Hadiaz

    ReplyDelete

Trolls get baleted.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.