[Taxacom] New dinosaur from Montana

[John Grehan]

New dinosaur species from Montana

 

A husband and wife team of American paleontologists

has discovered a new species of dinosaur that lived 112 million years
ago

during the early Cretaceous of central Montana.

 

BUFFA LO, NY (October 16, 2009) -- The new dinosaur, a species of
ankylosaur, is documented in the October issue

of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. Ankylosaurs are the
biological version of an army tank. They are protected by

a plate-like armour with two sets of sharp spikes on each side of the
head, and a skull so thick that even 'raptors' such as

Deinonychus could leave barely more than a scratch.

 

Bill and Kris Parsons, Research associates of the Buffalo Museum of
Science, found much of the skull of the newly described Tatankacephalus

cooneyorum resting on the surface of a hillside in 1997. Because the
skull was 90% complete, it was possible to justify this fossil as a new

species.

 

"This is the first member of Ankylosauridae to be found within the Early
Cretaceous Cloverly Geologic Formation," said Bill Parsons, who

characterized the fossil as a transitional evolutionary form between the
earlier Jurassic ankylosaurs and the better known Late Cretaceous

ankylosaurs.

 

The skull is heavily protected by two sets of lateral horns, two thick
domes at the back, and smaller thickenings around the

nasal region. "Heavy ornamentation and horn-like plates would have
covered most of the dorsal surface of this dinosaur" said

Bill Parsons.

 

"For years, Bill and Kris have been collecting fossils from a critical
time in Earth's history, and their hard work has paid off," said

Lawrence Witmer, professor of paleontology at Ohio University who was
not involved with this study. "This is a really important find

and gives us a clearer view of the evolution of armored dinosaurs. But
this is just the first; I'm sure, of what will be a series of

important discoveries from this team."

 

Parsons also illustrated the dermal armour of this new species based on
the theory by Museum of the Rockies paleontologist

John R. Horner that there was an outer keratinous sheathing on it as
found in modern turtle shells and bird beaks. In his

new reconstruction, Parsons suggests that Tatankacephalus exhibited
complex and colorful patterns rather than the dull

appearance suggested in earlier ankylosaur portraits. "According to
Horner's theory, many other dinosaurs also had this kind

of sheathing and also may have been diversely colored" said Parsons.

 

As to its name, the broad, short horns on the back of its skull resemble
the horns found on a modern buffalo skull and Tatankacephalus loosely
translates as 'Buffalo head.' Parsons also noted, "of course any further
allusions to the city of Buffalo are completely intentional as well".

 

Bill Parsons works as a teacher at the Gow School in South Wales, NY,
and as scientific illustrator for the Buffalo Museum of Science. He is
also freelance dinosaur illustrator whose images have appeared on the
covers of Science, Nature, Time and Newsweek. The publication of
Tatankacephalus may be the first time that an established dinosaur
illustrator has discovered, prepared, researched, and published on a new
dinosaur taxon.

 

Pdf copy at
http://www.sciencebuff.org/research/current-research-activities/william-
parsons/

 

 

Dr. John R. Grehan

Director of Science

Buffalo Museum of Science1020 Humboldt Parkway

Buffalo, NY 14211-1193

email: jgrehan at sciencebuff.org

Phone: (716) 896-5200 ext 372

 

Panbiogeography

http://www.sciencebuff.org/research/current-research-activities/john-gre
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<http://www.sciencebuff.org/biogeography_and_evolutionary_biology.php> 

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http://www.sciencebuff.org/research/current-research-activities/john-gre
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<http://www.sciencebuff.org/systematics_and_evolution_of_hepialdiae.php>


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http://www.sciencebuff.org/research/current-research-activities/john-gre
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