Announcement

Collapse

Natural Science 301 Guidelines

This is an open forum area for all members for discussions on all issues of science and origins. This area will and does get volatile at times, but we ask that it be kept to a dull roar, and moderators will intervene to keep the peace if necessary. This means obvious trolling and flaming that becomes a problem will be dealt with, and you might find yourself in the doghouse.

As usual, Tweb rules apply. If you haven't read them now would be a good time.

Forum Rules: Here
See more
See less

A dinosaur with a tail that looks like it came from roguetech™

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • A dinosaur with a tail that looks like it came from roguetech™

    Virtually everyone is familiar with the Stegosaurus and its kin which wielded a bunch of spikes at the end of its tail that could puncture a foe. Thanks to cartoonist Gary Larson that part even has an official name:

    Most people are also familiar with Ankylosaurs and the heavy "club" at the end of their tail that could break a large predator's leg.

    Recently researchers announced the discovery of a previously unknown dinosaur (a new genus of anklosaurian) with its own unique weapon on its tail. In this case a giant serrated blade that given its mass could rip and tear into an opponents flesh quite effectively.

    The remains were uncovered on the southern tip of Chile that lived at the end of the Cretaceous and is represented by a semi-articulated nearly complete specimen including its skull and mandible (lower jaw).

    The specimen is an adult and at a little over six feet long (1.8 meters) and 220 lbs. (100 kilos) is a rather small ankylosaur and yet only the tail is completely distinctive.


    Source: Newly unearthed dinosaur evolved 'large tail weapon' unlike any other


    n a southern and sparsely populated region of Chile, scientists excavated the skeletal remains of a naturally armored dinosaur that lived over 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period. Much to the team's surprise, they found it possessed a rather bizarre feature: a knife-like artillery in place of a tail.

    Although they echo beings straight out of fantasy novels, armored dinosaurs are a well-known crew. Ranging from the sharply adorned Kentosaurus to the curvy backed Hesperosaurus, paleontologists have already studied a long list of the physically shielded animals. But this new member of the warrior-like troop of beings piqued researchers' interest because of its specialized armament that could've once sliced through enemies.

    The ancient herbivore "evolved a large tail weapon unlike any dinosaur," the team said about the discovery in a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The dinosaur's oddly shaped backside is decorated with a whopping seven pairs of bony deposits fused together, emulating actual blades.

    AARqYzU.jpg
    A reconstruction of the newly unearthed dinosaur's tail


    "It was an animal with a proportionally large head and a narrow snout with a beak," Sergio Soto Acuña, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the University of Chile said. "However, the most notable feature is the caudal weapon: the posterior half of the tail is enclosed in a structure made up of fused bony plates that give the tail a very strange appearance."

    The team dubbed the 2-meter (about 6-foot-6-inch) long species Stegouros elengassen due to the rest of its body resembling the Stegosaurus genus -- aka Spike from The Land Before Time. Later, extensive DNA analysis and cranial examination revealed the animal to be more closely related to a dinosaur group called Ankylosaurs, but the team decided to keep the initial name.

    "I think this finding radically changes what we thought about the evolution of armored dinosaurs in the southern hemisphere," Acuńa said. "Our results show that they were not simple dispersal events of northern Ankylosaurs, but rather that they were a very ancient branch of primitive Ankylosaurs that evolved in isolation from other armored dinosaurs."

    He said that one of the most surprising outcomes about this discovery was the revelation of an entirely new lineage of Southern Hemisphere armored dinosaurs that had evolved its own posterior weaponry -- independently of plated dinosaurs, or Stegosaurs, and densely armored dinosaurs, or Euankylosaurs.

    Presumably, the dangerous appendage was used to defend against predators. But either way, Acuña adds, "This shows us that the fossil record of the Gondwanan continents can still have unexpected surprises for us."



    Source

    © Copyright Original Source



    The abstract from the paper Bizarre tail weaponry in a transitional ankylosaur from subantarctic Chile can be read below:

    ABSTRACT:

    Armoured dinosaurs are well known for their evolution of specialized tail weapons—paired tail spikes in stegosaurs and heavy tail clubs in advanced ankylosaurs1. Armoured dinosaurs from southern Gondwana are rare and enigmatic, but probably include the earliest branches of Ankylosauria2,3,4. Here we describe a mostly complete, semi-articulated skeleton of a small (approximately 2 m) armoured dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period of Magallanes in southernmost Chile, a region that is biogeographically related to West Antarctica5. Stegouros elengassen gen. et sp. nov. evolved a large tail weapon unlike any dinosaur: a flat, frond-like structure formed by seven pairs of laterally projecting osteoderms encasing the distal half of the tail. Stegouros shows ankylosaurian cranial characters, but a largely ancestral postcranial skeleton, with some stegosaur-like characters. Phylogenetic analyses placed Stegouros in Ankylosauria; specifically, it is related to Kunbarrasaurus from Australia6 and Antarctopelta from Antarctica7, forming a clade of Gondwanan ankylosaurs that split earliest from all other ankylosaurs. The large osteoderms and specialized tail vertebrae in Antarctopelta suggest that it had a tail weapon similar to Stegouros. We propose a new clade, the Parankylosauria, to include the first ancestor of Stegouros—but not Ankylosaurus—and all descendants of that ancestor.



    ac3ad00f-a785-4f00-9d48-bdae186834af.jpg
    Skeletal reconstruction along with photographs

    I'm always still in trouble again

    "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
    "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
    "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

  • #2
    Roguosarus Rex?

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Sparko View Post
      Roguosarus Rex?
      I'm even taller than it was long.

      I'm always still in trouble again

      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

      Comment


      • #4
        What ever happened to the Pinasaurus, anyway?

        You know, that big nasty thing that had a rolling pin for a tail?


        Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by mossrose View Post
          What ever happened to the Pinasaurus, anyway?

          You know, that big nasty thing that had a rolling pin for a tail?
          Two correct answers:

          A: It evolved

          2) Spinosaurus not Pinosaurus. picardfacepalmthumb.jpg

          I'm always still in trouble again

          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
            Two correct answers:

            A: It evolved

            2) Spinosaurus not Pinosaurus. picardfacepalmthumb.jpg
            No. It's a Pinosaurus!

            I know this for a fact.

            And it didn't evolve. So there!



            Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by mossrose View Post

              No. It's a Pinosaurus!

              I know this for a fact.

              And it didn't evolve. So there!

              You haven't figured out what I was implying it evolved into or else it would be a Code Yellow: PIN™ Alert here at roguetech

              I'm always still in trouble again

              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                You haven't figured out what I was implying it evolved into or else it would be a Code Yellow: PIN™ Alert here at roguetech
                I knew exactly what you were implying.

                And it's not true. The sweet old Pina/osaurus (different spelling depending on whether I forget how to spell it or not) was my pet! It just disappeared one day. After I sent it south of the border to do a job for me getting rid of a nuisance guy.


                Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                  I'm even taller than it was long.
                  So a midget dinosaur? That tail probably couldn't do much then against the normal sized dinos.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Sparko View Post

                    So a midget dinosaur? That tail probably couldn't do much then against the normal sized dinos.
                    "normal sized dinos"?

                    There were an awful lot of them ranging from chicken-size to a few hundred pounds. IIRC, various analysis place the average size/weight anywhere from modern cow to bison size.

                    Aside from that these guys lived on the far southern tip of Chile, or as the paper notes, from "subantarctic Chile." While the South Pole was largely ice free back then (same as the North Pole), the biggest carnivore known from the area lived in the Jurassic but another descent-sized (20' long half-ton-ish) therapod might have been around at the same time[1].

                    Keep in mind that like other ankylosaurs Stegouros elengassen had armor plates on its back called scutes that were embedded in the skin itself so they weren't relying solely on their "tail blade"



                    1. I'd have to check to be sure
                    Last edited by rogue06; 12-07-2021, 03:33 PM.

                    I'm always still in trouble again

                    "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                    "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                    "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Midget.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                        Midget.
                        So says the insignificant pirate

                        I'm always still in trouble again

                        "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                        "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                        "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Sparko View Post

                          So a midget dinosaur? That tail probably couldn't do much then against the normal sized dinos.
                          My guess would be that it evolved as a defense against a small cadre of predators in that specific area. If moved across the continent, it might get stepped on.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                            "normal sized dinos"?

                            There were an awful lot of them ranging from chicken-size to a few hundred pounds. IIRC, various analysis place the average size/weight anywhere from modern cow to bison size.
                            Does that correct for fossilization bias? All things being equal, a large carcass is less likely to be completely destroyed by scavengers than a small one.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by DaveTheApologist View Post
                              Does that correct for fossilization bias? All things being equal, a large carcass is less likely to be completely destroyed by scavengers than a small one.
                              I believe such things are factored in but by definition it's still going to be a guess.

                              If you ever run across the book The End of The Game by the photographer Peter Beard there is a series of aerial pictures of an elephant carcass being reduced to splinters in Africa in a stunningly short time that is quite the eye-opener.



                              I'm always still in trouble again

                              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                              Comment

                              Related Threads

                              Collapse

                              Topics Statistics Last Post
                              Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-18-2024, 12:15 PM
                              48 responses
                              135 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post Sparko
                              by Sparko
                               
                              Started by Sparko, 03-07-2024, 08:52 AM
                              16 responses
                              74 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post shunyadragon  
                              Started by rogue06, 02-28-2024, 11:06 AM
                              6 responses
                              46 views
                              0 likes
                              Last Post shunyadragon  
                              Working...
                              X