Dinosaur Fossil Friday

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

It's this time of the week once more... when TFF members showcase wonderful and important fossil specimens from around the world.

Here's my little contribution

 

8 little coracoids; demonstrating the diversity of ornithurine birds in Dinosaur Provincial Park. Specimens held at the Uni of Alberta and the Tyrell Museum vertebrate collections

 

Field photography (from a 1971 paper) of the famous "Fighting Dinosaurs" fossil.

 

Well-preserved cranial remains of various rauisuchians (Triassic archosauriformes)

 

3D preserved cranial and postcranial remains of 3 Hamipterus tianshanensis individuals, an Early Cretaceous crested pterosaur from China. Specimen held at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Beijing)

 

To wrap up this post, I thought I'd add this -rather adorable- drawing of a dromaeosaurid nest (I don't know who drew it, tho). I mean, look at them. Covered in that downy fuzz 

 

Hope y'all enjoyed this

[ynot]

49 minutes ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Hope y'all enjoyed this

I did!

[Troodon]

Brian Switek lets us see the latest prep images of Utah's Tyrannosaur, Teratophoneus at the Natural History Museum of Utah.  Looks like the one side, bottom, looks a bit better with a more complete set of chompers

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Walt]

Oh my gosh......I see those eyes everywhere!  I had no idea they were tyrannosaur eyes!  I could have made a fortune! 

[Walt]

Seriously though, that is incredible.  What a find! 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Well, since we're already on tyrannosaurid skulls, I guess this was in order...

 

The one and only...

 

FMNH PR 2081 a.k.a. Sue the T. rex!

 

[Troodon]

How big can a cervical vertebra get well check this one out, see mans hand at bottom of photo.

 

Huge titanosaur neck vertebrae from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil courtesy of Daniel Martins

 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

@Troodon That's a neat vertebra

 

Skeletal remains of the enigmatic paravian Balaur bondoc, from the Maastrichtian of Romania. Specimen Nº EME PV 313

 

A small theropod from my country (yes I'm part Romanian)

[paulyb135]

On 8/3/2018 at 11:22 AM, Troodon said:

Brian Switek lets us see the latest prep images of Utah's Tyrannosaur, Teratophoneus at the Natural History Museum of Utah.  Looks like the one side, bottom, looks a bit better with a more complete set of chompers

 

Impressive! How easy is it to obtain chompers from this species?

[Troodon]

10 minutes ago, paulyb135 said:

Impressive! How easy is it to obtain chompers from this species?

Pretty difficult not much comes out of the Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah for collectors.

[TyBoy]

Boy  tyranno that skull is very impressive.  Wow that titanosaur vertebra is bigger than some dinosaurs.

Thanks for posting love this stuff

[Scuter]

Yes agreed a very cool and informational string of from Troodon, hey Bobby Rico is there any way you could tell me what geologic formation that sedimentary rock harboring the terror bird came from?

Has to be something like fort union formation, or something like that from the tertiary. 

 

P.S.- here are another cool gimps into the past brought to you by UV imaging! 

 

  

Pterosaurs

 

fossil shark of some kind.

 

interesting cite on UV imaging fossils: https://www.inverse.com/article/14376-what-did-dinosaurs-look-like-tom-kaye-finds-answers-feathers-with-lasers, and http://www.novuslight.com/structured-imaging-approach-improves-fossil-analysis_N6088.html 

 

[Troodon]

Some cool dino material

 

Tom Holt's presents this small Troodontid from Mei long

 

Also Ornithomimid  skulls and Gorgosaurus  below at Tyrrell 

 

 

Stu Pond shows us the hand  of NHMUK R5764. the holotype of Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis, with their distinctive thumb spikes.

 

 

 

Mateusz Wosik shows us  teeth likely belonging to the Tyrannosaurid,  Bistahieversor, from western New Mexico.  WOW

 

 

João Vasco Leite shows us this specimen which is the solo holotype bone, metacarpal I, of Rapator ornitholestoides, a theropod from Australia, housed at NHM London

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Troodon

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Skeletal remains of a French dromaeosaur, Pyroraptor olympius, from the Late Cretaceous "Grès à Reptiles" Formation of La Boucharde (Provence, SE France)

 

Diagram of Scipionyx samniticus, an Italian Cretaceous compsognathid. Everything in colour indicates soft tissue…

 

Bones and teeth found at a microsite in the "Tooth Draw Quarry" (Hell Creek Fm., South Dakota) - found this picture on the PaleoAdventures (commercial paleontology company) website

 

Opalised and articulated caudal centra of a theropod dinosaur; from the Albian of Lightning Ridge, Australia. Specimen held at the Australian Opal Centre.

 

[Troodon]

Saw this critter and had to post it

 

Evan Johnson-Ransom shared this photo

A Giant Silurian sea scorpion (the eurypterid Mixopterus

 

[Walt]

wow!  Looks so fake it has to be real!  Wait....that can't be right...

[Troodon]

Just a few cool Dinosaur skulls

 

 

Pinocchio Rex

Qianzhousaurus sinensis  from the Upper Cretaceous of China. Displayed in special exhibition at Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.

 

 

Tom Holt provided this photo of this Nodosaurs from AMNH

Meet Sauropelta edwardsorum

 

Alessandro Chiarenza

The pristine skull of a juvenile Gorgosaurus specimen from the Late Cretaceous (~76 million years ago) of Canada

 

 

Omar Rafael Regalado Fdez

Three skulls at the NHM: Adeopapposaurus, Leyesaurus and Herrerasaurus (left to right, top to bottom) Argentinian Dinosaurs

 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

From Hone & Tanke (2015) paper on Daspletosaurus material showing tyrannosaurid bite marks.

 

Extract from The American Naturalist (p. 626; July 1889), regarding the theropod genus Coelophysis. The piece was written by Cope.  

 

Skull of Edgarosaurus, a polycotylid plesiosaur from the Thermopolis Shale (Albian, Lower Cretaceous) of Montana

 

A bit of paleoart never hurts, right? Here's "Shellfish-eating Citipati", by Alvaro Rozalen

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Quite some time anyone has posted something in this thread, huh? Time to get this show back on track  

Thought it'd be neat to show off some cool Asian Deinonychosaur specimens...

 

Skull of Tsaagan mangas (from Mongolia) during initial preparation

 

Xixiasaurus henanensis from China

 

Various bones of Mahakala omngovae from Mongolia

 

The holotype specimen of Microraptor

 

Nearly-complete skeleton of Linheraptor exquisitus, a Chinese dromeosaur

 

How about some paleoart to wrap things up  

Liaoning Scene, by Emily Willoughby

 

 

Hope y'all liked this!

-Christian

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

A few opalised dromaeosaurid (raptor) teeth from the Early Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge (Australia) - note the nice colours on some of them  

 

Gorgosaurus skeleton from Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada). Collected and prepared by Darren Tanke.

 

Closeup of the skull:

 

 

-Christian

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Very special day today - Friday 7th December 2018 marks the one-year-anniversary of the Dinosaur Fossil Friday  

Nothing else to say - apart from "Happy Birthday", I guess . 

Enjoy!!

 

Complete Anomalocaris canadensis from the Cambrian Burgess Shale of Canada - photo by Jean-Bernard Caron (ROM)

 

Sometime ago, @Troodon posted in this thread a picture of an Albertan Edmontosaurus skull, in mid prep - here it is again, after quite a bit more prepwork  (photo from RTMP)

 

Take a look at this very 'rope-y' Eubostrychoceras heteromorph from Hokkaido  photo from a paper by Aiba et al. (PM me if you want the paper  )

 

Partial skeleton of the recently described edaphosaurid Gordodon kraineri - from the Permian of New Mexico (USA); photo from Mateusz Wosik (@PolishPaleo on Twitter) 

 

Drawer filled with Arkona Fm. crinoids (photo by David Clark @Clarkeocrinus on Twitter)

 

Skull of Velociraptor mongoliensis from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Photo from the American Museum of Natural History.

 

Multi-fossil plate with many Devonaster starfish and one phacopid trilobite; from the Arkona Fm. of south Ontario (Devonian) - another photo by David Clark from Twitter

 

Opalised jaw of the newly-named ornithopod dinosaur Weewarrasaurus pobeni - from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) of Lightning Ridge, Australia - picture from Bell et al. 2018's paper

 

Hope you all enjoyed this - feel free to chip in with your own DFF "Birthday specials"!

 

-Christian

 

 

Edited December 8, 2018 by The Amateur Paleontologist

[Zapsalis]

The theropods in this thread are stunning!  

[Zapsalis]

On 11/2/2018 at 1:32 PM, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

A few opalised dromaeosaurid (raptor) teeth from the Early Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge (Australia) - note the nice colours on some of them  

 

Gorgosaurus skeleton from Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada). Collected and prepared by Darren Tanke.

 

Closeup of the skull:

 

 

-Christian

Those opailzed dromaeosaurid teeth are beautiful! I wish I could own one. 

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

10 hours ago, Zapsalis said:

Those opailzed dromaeosaurid teeth are beautiful! I wish I could own one. 

Same... I'd love to have an opalised tooth  but they're pretty rare.. according to Drs. Elizabeth Smith and Phil Bell, opalised skull and tooth material is some of the rarest material from the opal fields - especially from theropods  

I'll try to get some more pics of opalised fossils for the next DFF - stay tuned  

-Christian

[The Amateur Paleontologist]

Hope you're all good today  

It's friday everyone! Can only mean one thing  

 

How about some nice cranial material for the last DFF of 2018?

 

Undescribed oviraptorid skull from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Specimen at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.

 

Skull of the Stenomyti holotype, a small aetosaur from the Late Triassic of Colorado - photo by Adam Marsh on twitter

 

Opalised skull of the Cenomanian turtle Spoochelys ormondea, from the opal fields of Lightning Ridge (Australia). Pictures from Elizabeth Smith's PhD (2009). Note the nice little colourful bands in (A)  

 

"@Stumbleghost" on twitter shows us the type specimen of Knoetschkesuchus langenbergensis, a small crocodylomorph from the Upper Jurassic of Germany.

 

 

Left maxilla and dentary of a Tylosaurus mosasaur from the Niobrara Chalk of western Kansas. Picture provided by Laura Wilson on twitter (@FHSU_Paleo)

 

 

Hope you all liked this! Let's hope 2019 will provide us with many more opportunities for new DFF's!!  

 

-Christian