Module 14

Question 1

Who was the first person to illustrate a dino femur in 1677

who identified the teeth, jaw and limbs of an ‘ancient lizard’ as Megalosaurus in 1824

who officially named the family of fossils we now know as the dinosaurs as ‘Dinosauria’, meaning terrible lizard in 1842

Answer 1

• Robert plot
• William Buckland
• Richard Owen

Question 2

what group of reptiles did dinos evolve form and when

Answer 2

Archosaurs near end late Tri

• some suspect divergence occur earlier in late Tri ~230ma

Question 3

what are the 2 broad groups dinos

whats the diff

Answer 3

Saurischia (forward pubis bone) and the Ornithischia (backwards pubis bone)

Question 4

Saurischia
- name meaning
- pubis bone orientation
- incl what dino
- dominated when

Answer 4

• ‘lizard hipped’ dinosaurs
• forward pubis bone
• incl 2 leg theropods (t rex), sauropods
• dominate Tri/Jur dino pop

Question 5

Ornithischia
- name meaning
- pubis bone orientation
- incl what dinos
- common when

Answer 5

• bird hipped dino
• pubis bone pionts backward
• hadrosaurs and Triceratops
• common Cre

Question 6

ex of an archosaur

Answer 6

Euparkeria
early Tri in S Africa
~50cm
could run 2 legs short distrance

Question 7

what does new research say about clasification of dinos

Answer 7

Saurischia and Ornithoscelida now

Ornithoscelida incl traditional ornithischians and the theropods

Question 8

Coelophysis

Answer 8

• one earlies dinos
• lived late tri in reas w/ drought/ lots flash flooding
• carnivore

Question 9

1.With respect to morphology, what are the three main ways in which Coelophysis differ from their reptile ancestors?

2.List 3 characteristics that contributed to Coelophysis being an excellent predator.

3.Using a chronological list of 3 steps, explain what is believed to have happened during the rapid burial of Coelophysis at Ghost Ranch.

5.What approximate speed is thought to be a normal walking pace for an adult Coelophysis? (in km/hr)

6.What approximate speed is thought to the fastest that an adult Coelophysis could have run? (in km/hr)

7.What size were fully grown Coelophysis relative to most adult dinosaurs?

8.How can paleontologists tell how old a specific Coelophysis was when it died?

9.What specific evidence suggests that Coelophysis may have been a cannibal? Why does further study bring this hypothesis in to question? (Hint: be specific)

Question 10

1.What are some possible explanations for the ‘Predator Gap’, where there are virtually no medium sized predators in the fossil record?

2.How much did “small” predatory dinosaurs weigh?

3.How long did T. rex potentially live for?

4.If the two medium predator skeletons identified by some as Nanotyrannus, do end up belonging to a juvenile T. rex, what new information does this give us about T. rex?

5.What does the information from Question 4 suggest about the prey each of these different aged T. rex groups have hunted?

6.How might the answer to Question 5 help explain the gap in medium sized predators?

Question 11

how to estimate the size of the muscle

Answer 11

size attachment areas on bone

muscles scars on bone

Question 12

how to tell skin texture in dino

Answer 12

skin impressions
- lots show scales in many patterns

Question 13

how to tell skin colour in dino

Answer 13

from pigment structures called meanosomes with diff shapes mean diff colours

• round= russets
• elongated= blck/grey

Question 14

where dino frills/fringes brighly coloured?

Answer 14

yes

Question 15

what is suggestion that feathers evolved for?

Answer 15

dispay

Question 16

1.Describe the color pattern called ‘countershading’.

2.What does the shading on the animal’s body suggest about where it lived? Why?

3.Why was this type of shading likely to protect against predators?

4.How could further research in to color patterns help us better understand predators?

Question 17

1.When did ‘protofeathers’ likely first arise?

2.Did some genera of the therapods include members with feathers?

3.Did some genera of the ornithischians include members with feathers?

4.What is Phylogenetic Bracketing?

5.Why did dinosaurs potentially develop feathers? (What are some of the potential functions of feathers?)

Question 18

what is the most common place for dinos to live

how where they well adapted for it

Answer 18

• on land
• most have legs brought well under body
• smaller bipedal prob fast

Dromaeosauridae, may have had a slightly different life style

Question 19

did dinos fly?

Answer 19

suggested that perhaps smaller forms like Microraptor, with its 4 wings, may have developed flight INDEPENDENT of birds

Question 20

did dinos burrow?

Answer 20

• yes
• Oryctodromeus cubicularis ( “digging runner of the lair”) has been found in burrows in southwest Montana. Specimens that have been found include an adult and two juveniles
• dino burrows found in Cre rock in Aus (polar 110 ma) maybe burrow to keep warm

Question 21

did dinos live in water?

Answer 21

semi - aquatic
(ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs are NOT dinosaurs!

Spinosaurus ate fish

Question 22

1.Could the sail of Spinosaurus have been used as a heat regulator or as storage for fat? Why, or why not?

2.What else could the sail of Spinoceras have been used for other than the functions suggested in Question 1?

3.What kind of environment did Spinosaurus live in, and what did the animal eat?

4.List THREE pieces of evidence from its skeleton that the researchers used to determine the answer to Question 3.

5.How do the researchers explain the presence of so many large predators in the Kem Kem beds when there are so few large terrestrial plant eaters?

6.How is it possible to find Spinosaurus fossils in the Sahara Dessert today?

Question 23

how to tell if dino was carnivore or herbivore?

Answer 23

Teeth (pointy= meat)

Question 24

how did sauropods eat?

Answer 24

• ate all the time
• peg/spoon like teeth
• grind then gulped food
• had gastoliths

Question 25

what is a gastrolith

Answer 25

in plant eating dino stomachs - polished stone help digestion

Question 26

what are possible hunting strategies carnivores

Answer 26

chase, wound and let die, coordinate in packs

Question 27

did dromaeosaurid dinosaur (the group to which velociraptors belong) hunt in packs?

Answer 27

maybe , have trackways together but hard to tell - group tracways found in E china

Question 28

Allosaurus

Answer 28

- top pred lat Jur - could reach 11m long -leg t rex but better arms

Question 29

what does the allosaurs brain look like

Answer 29

more crocodile less bird - large olfactory bulb (smell) - small cerebrum (evaluating, interpreting and processing data)

Question 30

what was found in Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Utah?

Answer 30

79 dinos with 2/3 being allosaurs - natural pred trap - muddy watering hole trapped dinos, rotting dino attract allosaurs - dino struggle to free themselves explain why dinos so mixed up

Question 31

who is big Al

Answer 31

allosaurus live late Jur 145 ma - nealy complet fossil found Wyoming in 1991

Question 32

1.Who is "Big Al" and in what geological period did he live? 2.In what type of sedimentary environment was he preserved? 3.Who are Big Al’s closest living relatives? 4.How long did it take for an allosaur to grow to full size? 5.Were allosaur brains more like birds or alligators? 6.Other than brain shape, what also suggests that allosaur feeding behavior may have been similar to that of alligators? 7.What do paleontologists think caused Big Al’s death?

Question 33

first and best place for evidence that some dinos may have been parental? who discovered it?

Answer 33

W Montana in Egg mountain - discovered by Jack Horner

Question 34

What was found on egg mountain?

Answer 34

lots egg shells and some juveniles Maiasaura (caring mother lizard) - nest closely packed and (less 7m apart) like seabird colony - had 30-40 ostrich sized eggs in circular or spiral patterns

Question 35

how did Maiasaura take care of there eggs could babies walk right away?

Answer 35

use rotting vegitation to help incubate eggs probably couldn't walk right away

Question 36

A different fossil depicts an adult surrounded by six young, suggesting these dinosaurs were living together as a family group at the time they died. This 160 million year old fossil demonstrates the oldest record of parental care in any reptile group. This 120 million year old fossil shows an adult dinosaur in charge of 34 juveniles, in a sort of dinosaur nursery.

Question 37

who published a paper that overturned that dinos where slow lumbering cretures

Answer 37

Bob Bakker

Question 38

What does Posture/gate tell about if dinos where endotherms (warm-blooded) or ectotherms (cold blooded)

Answer 38

Ectotherms like lizards and crocodiles have a sprawling gate endo like birds/mammals as well as most dinos had limbs directly under body - association is a weak argument though no direct link b/w posture and metabolism

Question 39

What does lots of channels through bone indicate what's an exception

Answer 39

- lots blood vessels allow fast exchange Ca/phosphates in blood crocs also have this bone from diff part body can show diff microstructure

Question 40

does O isotope ratio tell anything about metabolism?

Answer 40

expect mammals maintain temp so ratio same throughout skeleton no, study living mammals/birds found ration O16:O18 can vary from core to extremities

Question 41

what metabolism need more food? can ecosystem support more endo or ecto top pred? what's the prob with using this approach on dinos?

Answer 41

endotherms ectotherms dino fossils hard to find tells nothing about the prey dinos

Question 42

what metabolism could sauropods have what current animal is this similar to

Answer 42

gigantothermy large so low surface to volume area and generated a lot of heat by moving leatherback sea turtle

Question 43

what are all the possible dino metabolisms?

Answer 43

- ectotherm, endotherm, gigantotherm, unknown dino metabolism