2007
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Book review PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology (2007) Everhart, M.J. 2005. Oceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea. – Bloomington, Indiana University Press Book review by S. Sachs Mike Everhart is Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at FortHays State University and owner of the award winning homepage www.oceansofkansas.com. His book ‘Oceans of Kansas’ gives an overview of the Cretaceous of Kansas; including geology, taxonomy and history of the (mainly marine) fossils. The book is not a pure scientific book but rather written for the larger public; it has been named the featured book from Kansas for the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. Inve
2006
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Two fragmentary bones, part of a left ilium and an anterior dorsal vertebra, of a mosasaur are described and discussed. They were collected from the Upper Cretaceous (Lower Campanian) Heimburg Formation in Blankenburg am Harz and represent the first record of this group in Central Germany.
Juvenile ornithopod (Dinosauria: Rhabdodontidae) remains from the Upper Cretaceous (Lower Campanian, Gosau Group) of Muthmannsdorf (Lower Austria)
Full citation: Sachs, S. & Hornung, J.J. (2006) Juvenile ornithopod (Dinosauria: Rhabdodontidae) remains from the Upper Cretaceous (Lower Campanian, Gosau Group) of Muthmannsdorf (Lower Austria). Geobios 39: 415-425. [Request a pdf]
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The fragmentary remains of a juvenile rhabdodontid ornithopod from the Coal-bearing Complex of the Gosau Group (Lower Campanian, Grünbach syncline) at Muthmannsdorf near Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria are revised. The material, probably belonging to a single individual, includes a right dentary (lectotype of Iguanodon suessi Bunzel, 1871, designated herein), teeth, a fragmentary parietal, fragments of scapula, ?radius, femur, tibia, two vertebrae (lost) and a manual ungual. The lectotype dentary does not provide clear autapomorphies or sufficient diagnostic features to determine its position within the Rhabdodontidae at generic level. By this “Iguanodon suessi” Bunzel, 1871 and the genus “Mochlodon” Seeley, 1881, to which it was latter referred as type species, cannot be characterized sufficiently by differential diagnosis and these are best considered nomina dubia. Based upon combined character comparisons (mainly postcranial features) the Muthmannsdorf ornithopod is referred herein to Zalmoxes Weishampel, Jianu, Csiki and Norman, 2003, a genus so far known from the late Maastrichtian of Romania. It probably but not evidently represents a yet unnamed species, most closely related to Zalmoxes shqiperorum Weishampel, Jianu, Csiki and Norman, 2003. At the present state of knowledge the Austrian material is not further diagnostic at the species level and kept in open nomenclature as Zalmoxes sp.
2005
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The type specimen of Elasmosaurus platyurus Cope, 1868 from the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian) of Kansas, U.S.A. is redescribed. It consists of part of the skull (e. g., both premaxillae, parts of the maxillae, the occipital condyle and parts of the dentaries), the almost complete vertebral column, including the atlas-axis complex, as well as the pectoral and pelvic girdles (although the latter are now lost). The genus Elasmosaurus can be defined by two unambiguous autapomorphies, the presence of six premaxillary teeth and the high number of 71 cervical vertebrae. It also exhibits a number of advanced features, which are discussed and compared with other elasmosaurs.
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The pectoral girdle of Hydrotherosaurus alexandrae Welles 1943, an elasmosaurid plesiosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of California, USA, is redescribed. Some differences to the reconstruction presented in the original description, as well as newly discovered features of the pectoral girdle are discussed and a new reconstruction is provided.
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The skull and associate cervical vertebrae of an elasmosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern Queensland are described as a new species of Tuarangisaurus, Tuarangisaurus australis. They represent the oldest record of that genus and the first secure outside New Zealand. A phylogenetic analysis based on 19 characters of the skull and cervical vertebrae is undertaken. One tree is presented, including all valid members of the Elasmosauridae for which sufficient cranial material is known. The results give an example for the interrelationship of the Elasmosauridae and show the probable position of Tuarangisaurus.
2004
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Woolungasaurus glendowerensis erected by PERSSON, 1960, was based on an incomplete postcranial skeleton, comprising cervical, pectoral, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, an almost complete sacrum, as well as elements of the pectoral and pelvic girdles and of the fore and hind paddles. Following comparisons with specimens referable to all valid genera of the Elasmosauridae, this specimen and additional material is identified as belonging to the genus Styxosaurus. It is the earliest record of this genus and the first in the Southern Hemisphere.
2003
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Der berühmte Paläontologe Hermann von MEYER (Abb.1), ein Pionier der Erforschung fossiler Wirbeltiere, der im Jahr 2001 seinen 200sten Geburtstag hatte, hinterließ Spuren seiner weitgefächerten Forschungsarbeiten auch in der Pfalz. Bereits 1844 berichtete er in einer brieflichen Mitteilung an Prof. Heinrich Georg BRONN über einen Skelettrest aus dem Rotliegend von Münsterappel (Abb. 2), welchen er später (MEYER 1848) unter dem Namen Apateon beschrieb. Dieses Fossil, sowie weitere Stücke aus der gleichen Zeitperiode behandelt v. MEYER einige Jahre später (1858) ausführlich in seiner Monographie „Reptilien aus der Steinkohleformation in Deutschland“. Obwohl wir heute wissen, dass die von v. MEYER beschriebenen Stücke nicht zu den Reptilien, sondern in die Verwandtschaft der Amphibien ge
An ichthyosaur fragment from the Cretaceous of Northland, New Zealand
Full citation: Sachs, S. & Grant-Mackie, J.A. (2003) An ichthyosaur fragment from the Cretaceous of Northland, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 33(1): 307-314. [Request a pdf]
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The rostrum fragment of an ichthyosaur from Northland in New Zealand is described. The specimen appears to belong to the genus Platypterygius. It is the first Mesozoic marine vertebrate fossil reported from Northland and the first cranial element of a Cretaceous ichthyosaur from New Zealand. The fragment is, unfortunately, of uncertain provenance and could have come from the widespread Northland Allochthon (Early Cretaceous–Oligocene) or the allochthonous Houhora Complex (late Early Cretaceous) or Whatuwhiwhi Formation (latest Early to Late Cretaceous), perhaps by way of initial erivation from the Early Miocene Omapere Conglomerate.
2001
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The temnospondyl amphibian Sclerocephalus is described in four ontogenetic stages: larval, juvenile, adult and late adult. In particular the postcranial anatomy was observed. Some specimens preserve stomach contents, consisting of paramblypterid fishes and small amphibians (Micromelerpeton, Apateon). In one specimen, the remains of a small Sclerocephalus were found. Larval and juvenile individuals probably lived in a different habitat than adult and late adult ones. In the juvenile, adult and late adult stages, Sclerocephalus was the top predator in its environment.
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Als größtes Schaustück im großen Lichthof des Senckenberg Museums befindet sich in dessen Mitte die 18 m lange Skelettmontage des Diplodocus (Abb. 1). Die Knochen gelangten 1907 nach Frankfurt; als Geschenk des New Yorker American Museum of Natural History zur Eröffnung des neuen Museums im jetzigen Gebäude (die Schausammlungen waren zuvor im Eschenheimer Turm untergebracht). So wurde es dann am Eröffnungstag, dem 13. Oktober 1907, von Morris K. JESUP, dem Präsidenten des American Museum of Natural History, feierlich der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft übergeben. Damit war Frankfurt die erste Stadt Europas, die das Skelett eines amerikanischen Dinosauriers zeigen konnte. Zugleich aber war der Diplodocus das einzige montierte Skelett dieser Art außerhalb der Vereinigten Staaten (DREVERMANN, 1907, 1911) Derzeit
2000
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Reste von Mosasauriern aus der Oberkreide (Campanium) von Nordrhein-Westfalen werden beschrieben. Bei diesem Material handelt es sich um ein Kieferfragment (Maxillare), Paddelelemente, Rippenfragmente und Wirbel. Das Maxillare konnte der Gattung Leiodon zugeordnet werden und wird als Leiodon cf. mosasauroides beschrieben.
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In der Sammlung des Geologisch-Paläontologischen Museums der Westfälischen Wilhelms Universität in Münster wird der Skelettrest eines Plesiosauriers aufbewahrt, der aus dem mittleren Turon von Anröchte bei Lippstadt stammt. Über den Fundort und die Fundgeschichte liegen keine näheren Angaben vor. Der einzige Hinweis ist ein altes Etikett, auf dem die Realschule für Jungen und Mädchen in Anröchte als Eigentümer genannt ist. Der Fund besteht aus etwa 100 einzelnen Stücken. Bei den meisten Knochen sind, durch Witterungseinflüsse bedingt, keine Konturen mehr zu erkennen - ein Umstand, der eine Bestimmung erschwert oder ganz verhindert hat. Die Knochen, die identifiziert werden konnten, weißen darauf hin, daß es sich hier um ein Tier von etwa 6 Meter Körpergröße gehandelt hat (ermittelt durch