Sinopaleus Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 ...well, forgot to post here that is I guess 2 years later I finally remembered haha! I guess that eliminates any chance of posting my finds to the VFOTM heh Anyways, it's great to be back in the forum I usually come here once every few months, so it's great to see all these new features on the website! Shoutout to the admins for the great work, love it! 2 years ago, I went to the Gobi Desert in northwestern China on an annual hunt for Dinosaurs in cooperation with some of the leading dinosaur paleontologists of the country, along with international paleontologists from the U.S and Canada for a few trips. This is the long overdue report for the 1 month expedition into the Mazongshan desert ranges of northwestern China, in search for the ancestral forms of many famous dinosaurs we know today (such as T.rex, Triceratops, Edmontosaurus, Parasaurolophus etc). Many flat tires met us on our journey to the Early Cretaceous time portal, and we witnessed some of the most beautiful of Earth's scenery, as well as the most terrifying of nature's storms with nothing but a tiny tent for each person's protection. Cut off from civilization as well as the ever-hated internet of our modern day, I was glad to be able to come out relatively unscathed and with the bonus of bountiful fossil finds, all the while standing side by side with pioneers of Chinese dinosaur paleontology, and with the hard working excavation team that accompanies them. Below are some basic stats of the trip Time Period: Early Cretaceous (Aptian - Albian), +-120 million years ago Dinosaur Occurrences: Neoceratopsians Tyrannosauroids Unidentified Dromaeosaurs Hadrosauroides Titanosaurs Therizinosauroides Other Vertebrates: Fish Crocodiles Turtles Birds Pictures coming soon, hang tight! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 For one, the plant life out here is extraordinary... extraterrestrial almost 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 The following fossil material belongs to neoceratopsians; direct ancestral forms to the much larger ceratopsians of the Late Cretaceous. As of now, they're around the size of a large dog or a sheep, and can maneuver either as a biped or a quadruped. The bones here mostly belong to Archaeoceratops oshimai, with the slightly less robust bones belonging to Auroraceratops rugosus. Altogether, I easily found over a hundred verts, along with claws, phalanges, pelvic elements, leg shafts, skull elements, a jaw-dropping number of maxillas and dentaries lined with teeth, a number of peculiar pathological bones and more. Pic 1: Spot the sacral vert! Pic 2: Weathered A. oshimai distal tibia and fibula elements Pic 3: The small pile of A. rugosus bones and frags I picked up while walking around a small outcrop. Original source appears to have weathered away Pic 4: A few bone frags camouflaged with the surrounding rocks Pic 5: I found this caudal vert like this... ripe for the picking! Pic 6: There are 5 vertebrae in this particular picture, you can see one weathered out and the rest still tucked underground Pic 7: A beautiful white gem in the near distant... Part of the left coracoid in an adult A. oshimai 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 That's all for today, will be back tomorrow to continue the report It only gets better from here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Great report Henry! Glad you have some time to share with us. Looking forward to more. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vieira Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Fantastic report! Thanks for sharing. I'm waiting for more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Impressed. One of life's greatest experiences. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troodon Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Very nice report, thank you. Do you ever dig where there are bone fragments to see if the remainder of the animal is there? Ever find nice theropod teeth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Tony Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 17 hours ago, Fossildude19 said: Great report Henry! Glad you have some time to share with us. Looking forward to more. Regards, Thanks Tim! Always good to be back 17 hours ago, Vieira said: Fantastic report! Thanks for sharing. I'm waiting for more Thanks Vieira! 16 hours ago, Uncle Siphuncle said: Impressed. One of life's greatest experiences. Haha indeed 14 hours ago, Troodon said: Very nice report, thank you. Do you ever dig where there are bone fragments to see if the remainder of the animal is there? Ever find nice theropod teeth? Thanks Troodon! Yes, I always look for a source when fragments are found. Usually though the source has been weathered away due to the harsh environment of the area. We did in fact find an unidentified raptor's tooth associated with a bone assemblage I found later! 5 hours ago, ynot said: Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 All the following maxillas and dentaries belong to Archaeoceratops oshimai, just selected a few of the bunch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 A few more 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 Three gleamy glossy teeth on another maxilla A fully rooted Archaeoceratops oshimai premaxillary tooth prepped it to become an absolutely lovely blood-colored beauty Partially exposed ilium with partial ischium underneath I like to call this "Crystal Violet", a beautiful, glossy violet-colored tibia with stunning calcite crystals inside the hollow shaft. Needless to say I didn't prep everything back together or else the calcite crystals won't see the light of day anymore! A good looking foot claw from an adult A. oshimai 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 This is definitely one of my better finds. A relatively complete lower torso of a juvenile Archaeoceratops oshimai, with both feet, an ischium and 5 connected caudal vertebrae. These photos are when the discovery was just made Once extracted, this was the piece prior to prep 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 And once the prep was finished, this is the final showpiece prep work could have been slightly better, but I'm satisfied with the work! After prepping out most of the bones, I used the matrix dust pile and sprinkled it back on top of the piece for a better aesthetic feel 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 These finds came from another location of the same Group. These rib frags were I.D'd as Suzhousaurus megatheroides by paleontologists, and were found near the discovery site of the species holotype A raptor claw from a yet unknown species A Jintasaurus yuelini hadrosauroid tooth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 Two phalanges and a snapped metatarsal from an Auroraceratops rugosus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinopaleus Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 These two fossils are of peculiar interest to me. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take in situ pics for the fossils Though weathered and fragmented, even the paleontologists I was with agreed these were quite unique. After collecting so many neoceratopsian maxillas and dentaries, this particular partial jaw just didn't look right along with the rest. The teeth had weathered away, but the hollow grooves they once fitted in were longer than what I usually saw in neoceratopsians. The bone itself was also wider and was slanted in a concave manner, unlike those of neoceratopsians. So just what dinosaur did this specimen belong to? Luckily, one of the paleontologists was an expert on therizinosaurs. He quickly identified this specimen as a partial right maxilla of a juvenile Suzhousaurus megatheroides. Still can't believe I found myself a therizinosaur maxilla can't complain! Now this piece also struck the attention of the experts. I remember we were having a break while trekking across the outcrops to a dig site, and I found this dandy piece just sitting there. Tossed it around in my hand and dropped it by accident a time or two, and one of the paleontologists who was sitting near me took a quick peak at it before getting real interested all of a sudden. Being one of the authors of the description paper for the tyrannosaur at our site, he identified this piece to be a distal femur of the tyrannosauroid Xiongguanlong baimoensis, explaining to me the distinct tyrannosaur feature of the heavily curved intercondylar fossa present in the piece 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Wow! Amazing finds, Henry! Congratulations! Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I want to go their so bad I can taste it. I was a little kid when I first read about Roy Chapman Andrews and his expeditions to the Gobi. Been fantasizing about a trip there ever since. Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 The color on of some of these bones...! Thank you for remembering to post this trip. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belemniten Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Amazing !! I would like to hunt there Many greetings from Germany ! Have a great time with many fossils Regards Sebastian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdsnl Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 On 10/27/2016 at 4:21 PM, Sinopaleus said: Is this a mushroom? I hear they exert a lot of force when they puff up. These teeth look thin, what are they used for? 17 hours ago, Sinopaleus said: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcbshark Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Excellent pics and finds, thanks so much for sharing : ) Every once in a great while it's not just a big rock down there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre464 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Amazing trip report! I love the shape of the Archaeoceratops teeth. And the colors of the bones... beautiful!! "Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator." - C.S. Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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