Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Yet Another New Species: Abydosaurus mcintoshi


So far, 2010 is turning out to be quite a good year for dinosaur discovery. Abydosaurus mcintoshi was described this week by Chure et al. from skull and neck material found in Dinosaur National Monument. It dates from the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, about 105 million years ago.


Abydosaurus is a brachiosaurid, making it part of a relatively successful family of sauropod dinosaurs. More famous relatives, such as Brachiosaurus and Giraffatitan, are known mostly from the Late Jurassic, though some, such as Sauroposeidon, are also known from the Early Cretaceous. The brachiosaurids are a part of a group of sauropods known as macronarians, for their large nasal cavities (as opposed to those of diplodocoids).


Abydosaurus is notable for its relatively thin, peg-like teeth, which are quite different from those of the earlier Brachiosaurus. There is a marked change from the broad-crowned sauropod teeth of the Jurassic, which seems to have appeared independently among different sauropod groups throughout the Cretaceous. By the Upper Cretaceous, no broad-crown-toothed sauropods are found anywhere in the world.

1 comment:

  1. Amazing stuff! Abydosaurus skulls are the best quality I've ever seen, even the throat bones are preserved! I posted a video of this new discovery on my blog: http://paleoking.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-developments-and-new-blog.html

    Check it out.

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