HOME | DD

Description
After a brief summer break I'm back with a new entry of the "2020 in paleontology" series. In this case, I have depicted creatures whose description was published between July and August; while July was quite a prolific month, during August few fossil animals have been described. Now, let's move on to the descriptions:

- Irisosaurus yimenensis: a prosauropod from the Early Jurassic of Yunnan (S China), known mostly from remains of the anterior part of the animal. It was a close relative of Mussaurus, the prosauropod known from its ontogeny. Another prosauropod, Schleiteimia, from the Late Triassic of Switzerland, was also described during this time.

- Kongonaphon kely: a small lagerpetid from the Middle-Late Triassic of Madagascar, with long legs and probably an insectivorous diet. Kongonaphon was a very small lagerpetid, suggesting that the avemetatarsalian lineage experimented an abrupt miniaturization in its early evolution before the apparition of bigger forms in the dinosaur and pterosaur groups.

- Ankylorhiza tiedemani: a medium-sized cetacean from the Atlantic Ocean that lived during the late Oligocene. Its remains, firstly mistaken to belong to the genus Squalodon, were found in South Carolina, and show a mixture of characteristics of early cetaceans and modern odontocetes. The largest oligocene whale found to date, Ankylorhiza was a fast swimmer and an active predator, filling a similar ecological niche to that of modern orcas.

- Lusovenator santosi: an early charcharodontosaur from the Late Jurassic of Portugal (Lourinhã Fm). It is known from a couple of specimens, one of them probably a juvenile, which consist mainly on vertebrae, ribs and the hip bones. More theropods have been described in the last two months, but there was not enough space here for them. These include the Hell Creek alvarezsaurid Trierarchuncus, the Brazilian coelurosaur Aratasaurus, the caenagnathid Citipes and Vectaerovenator, from the Wessex Fm

- Collinsovermis monstruosus: this weird creature was firstly discovered in the 80s and named the "Collins' monster" as an homage to its discoverer, Desmond Collins. This spiky and small lobopodian (4cm long) was part of the Burgess Shale fauna, from the Middle Cambrian.

- Tongoenas burleyi: a flying pigeon of large size that lived in the Pleistocene-Holocene in the Tonga archipelago. It was probably a fruit-eating bird that helped to the dispersion of seeds across the islands. Surpassed in size only by Goura pigeons and dodos, Tongoenas went extinct after humans arrived to the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC (which may have affected negatively to those trees whose seeds helped to disperse).

- Eomakhaira molossus: a small carnivorous marsupial from the Oligocene of Chile, similar in size to the modern Tasmanian devil. The discovery of this mammal has helped to establish a relationship between groups of South American marsupials; including the saber-toothed thylacosmilines.

- Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis: this ankylosaur is only known from an incomplete ilium found in Late Cretaceous rocks from eastern China, so not much is known about it. By comparing it to the related Pinacosaurus, it is believed that this dinosaur was around 5m long and weighted around 2 tonnes.

- Oryctorhynchus bairdi: this rhynchosaur, which lived during the Middle-Late Triassic in what now is Nova Scotia (Canada), was previously thought to belong to the genus Hyperodapedon, which has a cosmopolite distribution. With only fragments of the skull and jaw known, this was an herbivorous reptile that lived in a semi arid environment.

The next part of this series will arrive at some point during October probably. Stay safe! : )

Other parts of the series:
- Part I: fav.me/ddq5x3f
- Part II: fav.me/ddtxi48
- Part III: fav.me/ddx8ez1
- Part IV: fav.me/de0jt8v
- Part VI: www.deviantart.com/diegooa/art…
- Part VII: www.deviantart.com/diegooa/art…
- Part VIII: www.deviantart.com/diegooa/art…

Description
After a brief summer break I'm back with a new entry of the "2020 in paleontology" series. In this case, I have depicted creatures whose description was published between July and August; while July was quite a prolific month, during August few fossil animals have been described. Now, let's move on to the descriptions:

- Irisosaurus yimenensis: a prosauropod from the Early Jurassic of Yunnan (S China), known mostly from remains of the anterior part of the animal. It was a close relative of Mussaurus, the prosauropod known from its ontogeny. Another prosauropod, Schleiteimia, from the Late Triassic of Switzerland, was also described during this time.

- Kongonaphon kely: a small lagerpetid from the Middle-Late Triassic of Madagascar, with long legs and probably an insectivorous diet. Kongonaphon was a very small lagerpetid, suggesting that the avemetatarsalian lineage experimented an abrupt miniaturization in its early evolution before the apparition of bigger forms in the dinosaur and pterosaur groups.

- Ankylorhiza tiedemani: a medium-sized cetacean from the Atlantic Ocean that lived during the late Oligocene. Its remains, firstly mistaken to belong to the genus Squalodon, were found in South Carolina, and show a mixture of characteristics of early cetaceans and modern odontocetes. The largest oligocene whale found to date, Ankylorhiza was a fast swimmer and an active predator, filling a similar ecological niche to that of modern orcas.

- Lusovenator santosi: an early charcharodontosaur from the Late Jurassic of Portugal (Lourinhã Fm). It is known from a couple of specimens, one of them probably a juvenile, which consist mainly on vertebrae, ribs and the hip bones. More theropods have been described in the last two months, but there was not enough space here for them. These include the Hell Creek alvarezsaurid Trierarchuncus, the Brazilian coelurosaur Aratasaurus, the caenagnathid Citipes and Vectaerovenator, from the Wessex Fm

- Collinsovermis monstruosus: this weird creature was firstly discovered in the 80s and named the "Collins' monster" as an homage to its discoverer, Desmond Collins. This spiky and small lobopodian (4cm long) was part of the Burgess Shale fauna, from the Middle Cambrian.

- Tongoenas burleyi: a flying pigeon of large size that lived in the Pleistocene-Holocene in the Tonga archipelago. It was probably a fruit-eating bird that helped to the dispersion of seeds across the islands. Surpassed in size only by Goura pigeons and dodos, Tongoenas went extinct after humans arrived to the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC (which may have affected negatively to those trees whose seeds helped to disperse).

- Eomakhaira molossus: a small carnivorous marsupial from the Oligocene of Chile, similar in size to the modern Tasmanian devil. The discovery of this mammal has helped to establish a relationship between groups of South American marsupials; including the saber-toothed thylacosmilines.

- Sinankylosaurus zhuchengensis: this ankylosaur is only known from an incomplete ilium found in Late Cretaceous rocks from eastern China, so not much is known about it. By comparing it to the related Pinacosaurus, it is believed that this dinosaur was around 5m long and weighted around 2 tonnes.

- Oryctorhynchus bairdi: this rhynchosaur, which lived during the Middle-Late Triassic in what now is Nova Scotia (Canada), was previously thought to belong to the genus Hyperodapedon, which has a cosmopolite distribution. With only fragments of the skull and jaw known, this was an herbivorous reptile that lived in a semi arid environment.

The next part of this series will arrive at some point during October probably. Stay safe! : )

Other parts of the series:
- Part I: fav.me/ddq5x3f
- Part II: fav.me/ddtxi48
- Part III: fav.me/ddx8ez1
- Part IV: fav.me/de0jt8v
- Part VI: www.deviantart.com/diegooa/art…
- Part VII: www.deviantart.com/diegooa/art…
- Part VIII: www.deviantart.com/diegooa/art…