Dinosauria

Detail of the stratigraphic section of the El Castellar dinosaur footprints site, Teruel, Spain.

Eubrontes dinosaur track from the Jurassic of Connecticut, USA. Trace fossils are any indirect evidence of ancient life. They refer to features in rocks that do not represent parts of the body of a once-living organism. Traces include footprints, tracks, trails, burrows, borings, and bitemarks. Body fossils provide information about the morphology of ancient organisms, while trace fossils provide information about the behavior of ancient life forms. Interpreting trace fossils and determination of the identity of a trace maker can be straightforward (for example, a dinosaur footprint represents walking behavior) or not. Sediments that have trace fossils are said to be bioturbated. Burrowed textures in sedimentary rocks are referred to as bioturbation. Trace fossils have scientific names assigned to them, in the same style & manner as living organisms or body fossils. This track was made by a theropod, a group of small to large, carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs. The specimen comes from a Triassic to Jurassic terrestrial sedimentary succession that filled up a half graben, many of which occur along America's eastern seaboard. Such half-graben basins formed during the Triassic as the Pangaea supercontinent tried to rift apart, but failed. Pangaea successfully broke apart during the Jurassic. Stratigraphy: East Berlin Formation, Newark Supergroup, Lower Jurassic Locality: unrecorded / undisclosed site at or near the town of Rocky Hill, central Connecticut, USA Info. at: mrdata.usgs.gov/geology/state/sgmc-unit.php?unit=CTJeb%3B0 and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eubrontes

Morrison Formation (lower half), Jurassic-Cretacous boundary (K1 Unconformity) at red and orange paleosol, Cedar Mountain Formation (drab gray), and capping Naturita Formation. West of Dinosaur National Monument.

View east towards the Quarry Visitor Center at Dinosaur National Monument. The boundary between the Morrison Formation (Brushy Basin Member) and the Cedar Mountain Formation is just above the highest red bed.

Diagram depicting the currently named Dinosauria from the Early Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah. Dinosaur taxa: Cedarosaurus weiskopfae → Grand County locality.[1] Length = 15 meters.[2] Cedrorestes crichtoni → Dave's Camp Site locality.[3] Length = 6 meters.[4] Falcarius utahensis → Crystal Geyser Quarry & Suarez Site/Quarry localities.[5] Length = 5 meters.[5] Gastonia burgei → Gaston Quarry, Dalton Wells, Doelling's Bowl localities.[6] Length = 5 meters.[2] Geminiraptor suarezarum → Suarez Site/Quarry locality.[7] Length = 1.5 meters.[4] Hippodraco scutodens → Andrew's Site locality.[8] Length = 4.5 meters.[8] Iguanacolossus fortis → Don's Ridge & Doelling's Bowl localities.[8][6] Length = 9 meters.[8] Martharaptor greenriverensis → Hayden-Corbett Site.[9] Length = Extrapolated after relatives. Mierasaurus bobyoungi → Doelling’s Bowl locality.[10] Length = ∼9 meters.[10][11] Moabosaurus utahensis → Dalton Wells locality.[12] Length = 9.75 meters.[12] Nedcolbertia justinhofmanni → Dalton Wells & Gaston Quarry localities.[13] Length = ∼3 meters.[13] Utahraptor ostrommaysi → Dalton Wells, Gaston Quarry, Stikes Quarry, Utahraptor Ridge localities.[14][6] Length = 5.5 meters.[2] Yurgovuchia doellingi → Don’s Place - Doelling’s Bowl locality.[15] Length = 2.5 meters.[15] References ↑ (1999). "New sauropod from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah, USA". Oryctos 2: 21–37. ↑ a b c (2016) The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (2nd ed.), Princeton: Princeton University Press ISBN: 9780691167664. ↑ "A possible new basal hadrosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Eastern Utah" in (2007) Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, pp. 79–89 DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt1zxz1md.10. ISBN: 0-253-34817-X. ↑ a b (2007) Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages, Random House ISBN: 9780375824197. Genus List for Holtz 2012 Weight Information ↑ a b (2010). "Osteology of Falcarius utahensis (Dinosauria: Theropoda): characterizing the anatomy of basal therizinosaurs". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 158 (1): 196–230. DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00464.x. ↑ a b c (2016). "The Lower Cretaceous in East-Central Utah—The Cedar Mountain Formation and its Bounding Strata". Geology of the Intermoutain West 3: 1-130. ↑ (2010). "A New Troodontid Theropod Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah". PLOS ONE 5 (12): e14329. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0014329. PMID 21179513. PMC: 3002269. ↑ a b c d (2010). "New Basal Iguanodonts from the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah and the Evolution of Thumb-Spiked Dinosaurs". PLOS ONE 5 (11): e14075. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0014075. PMID 21124919. PMC: 2989904. ↑ (2012). "Martharaptor greenriverensis, a New Theropod Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah". PLOS ONE 7 (8): e43911. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0043911. PMID 22952806. PMC: 3430620. ↑ a b (2017). "Descendants of the Jurassic turiasaurs from Iberia found refuge in the Early Cretaceous of western USA". Scientific Reports 7 (1): 14311. DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-14677-2. PMID 29085006. PMC: 5662694. ↑ (2020) Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Sauropods and Other Sauropodomorphs, Princeton: Princeton University Press ISBN: 9780691202976. ↑ a b (2017). "Moabosaurus Utahensis, N. Gen., N. SP., A New Sauropod From The Early Cretaceous (Aptian) of North America". Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 32 (11): 189–243. ↑ a b (1998). "A small coelurosaurian theropod from the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Barremian) of eastern Utah". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 14: 239–248. ↑ (1993). "A large dromaeosaurid (Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Eastern Utah". Hunteria 2 (10): 1–16. ↑ a b (2012). "New Dromaeosaurids (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Utah, and the Evolution of the Dromaeosaurid Tail". PLOS ONE 7 (5): e36790. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0036790. PMID 22615813. PMC: 3352940.

Paleogeography and paleoclimate of the Late Jurassic - 150 Ma with dinosaur fossil localities: A = Tendaguru Formation, Tanzania C1 = Shishugou & Kalazha Formations, China C2 = Shangshaximiao (Upper Shaximiao) Formation, China E1 = Sables de Glos, Argiles d’Octeville, Marnes de Bléville, Kimmeridge Clay, Calcareous Grit, Corallian Oolite, Oxford Clay, Portland Stone, England & France E2 = Villar del Arzobispo, Alcobaça, Guimarota, Sobral, Amoreira-Porto Novo, Bombarral, Freixial, Lourinhã Formations, Spain & Portugal M1-6 = Morrison Formation, United States S1 = Toquí & Cañadón Calcáreo Formations, Chile & Argentina

Fossil hunting at Dinosaur Park

Anzu is a fairly large caenagnathid oviraptorosaurian dinosaur that grew to nearly 4 m in length, and weighed 200-300 kg. It was a bipedal dinosaur and was covered in feathers, with a large sloping crest atop its head. Typical of oviraptorosaurs, Anzu had a short toothless beak, an adaptation that suggests it was most likely herbivorous or possibly omnivorous.

Dinosaur Bones

Skeletal reconstructions of Dinosaur Park Formation caenagnathids. Skeletal reconstructions of Citipes elegans (left), Chirostenotes pergracilis (middle), and Caenagnathus collinsi (right), showing variation in skeletal representation and body size. Previously referred material is indicated in white and newly referred material is indicated in red for each taxon. Blue asterisks indicate elements that have been histologically sampled for each taxon. Citipes elegans: dentaries, metatarsal IV; Chirostenotes pergracilis: dentaries, tibia; Caenagnathus collinsi: pubis.

Tarsometatarsi of caenagnathids from the Upper Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada. A. TMP 1993.036.0181 (Chirostenotes pergracilis). B. TMP 1982.016.0006 (Citipes elegans). C. ROM 781 (Citipes elegans holotype). D. TMP 1996.012.0141 (Citipes elegans). Tarsometatarsi in proximal (A1–D1), anterior (A2–D2), and posterior (A3–D3) views.

The Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt is the second largest museum of natural history in Germany. It is particularly popular with children, who enjoy the extensive collection of dinosaur skeletons: Senckenberg boasts the largest exhibition of large dinosaurs in Europe. One particular treasure is a dinosaur fossil with unique, preserved scaled skin. The museum contains the world's largest and most diverse collection of stuffed birds with about 2000 specimens.

Large Predatory Pliosaur Size in comparison to a Human, Great White Shark, and Blue Whale. I have included Walking with Dinosaurs Liopleurodon to show its vastly inaccurate size.

Cast of the holotype trackway of Eosauropus, a probable sauropodomorph dinosaur ichnogenus, on display at the Museum of Western Colorado’s Dinosaur Journey Museum in Fruita, Colorado

The theropod dinosaur Coelophysis bauri by John Conway [1]

Badlands Dinosaur Museum, North Dakota 5-9-2022 (157)