DinoBlag: Shonisaurus

(A picture of the animal in question by Dmitry Bogdanov. It doesn't belong to me!)
Finally! A marine reptile gets some time in the spotlight. Shonisaurus is the largest of any marine reptile yet discovered. There are two species within the genus: S. popularis and S. sikanniensis, the latter being the larger of the two at an estimated 69 feet (21 meters) in length. Shonisaurus belongs to the family Shastasauridae within the order Ichthyosauria, and its closest relatives include Besanosaurus and Shastasaurus.

Shonisaurus lived during the Norian stage of the Upper Triassic, and has been found in Nevada, British Columbia, and possibly the Himalayas. It posesses several traits, such as relatively long and thin flippers, which seem to suggest that it does not belong to the main branch of the ichthyosaurian evolutionary tree, and instead belongs to a sort of offshoot from that group.

It posessed several conical teeth which existed only at the front of its mouth, and a rather large body for an ichthyosaur.

Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, etc.

But never mind all that golden eagle business. Look what I got!

It's so beautiful.

The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs is Gregory S. Paul's latest book, and has detailed information on nearly every recognized (and some unrecognized) species of dinosaur, from the tiniest ornithopod to the tyrant kings. Accompanying the book's descriptions are Paul's splendid - as usual - artwork. The book is the most up-to-date dinosaur encyclopedia on the market now, to the best of my knowledge.

The book details the geographic and chronological distribution of the various dinosaurs, the formation they were found in, their habitat, their eating habits, what separates them from their relatives, and other notes. The book is enlightening and scholarly, while simultaneously having the benefit of being accessible to those who are less dino-literate.

I give this book the official SR Seal of Approval, and would recommend it to any lover of dinosaur paleontology in a heartbeat.

In unrelated news, the whole leopard gecko thing kinda fell through. I hope to get one eventually, but for the foreseeable future, I won't be getting one. Need to get the time and money together to buy one.

Meanwhile, in dinosaur-land, a battle is being waged over the fate of Raptorex (shudder), with some alleging that it is yet another juvenile Tarbosaurus (see: Alioramus), and others defending it, on the grounds that a certain ridge on its pelvis distinguishes it from that Asian tyrannosaur.

Personally, I hope Raptorex's name vanishes into the taxonomical trashbin, never to be seen again.

News of supposed Middle Jurassic bird footprints in Africa... Given Africa's scant Mesozoic record, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this, and other unusual things in the future, may turn out to be true about this paleontological blank spot.

Hopefully, I'll give more updates in the near future and learn to stop slacking off. Wish me luck.