More Antarctic Dinosaurs

RockDoctor writes "The highly respected palaeontology journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica has published its December number for free access on the Web, with the headline paper concerning new discoveries of dinosaurs from Antarctica. (Paper here, PDF.) The first major part of these discoveries was made in 1991, when isolated bones of a sauropod (a relative of the Apatosaurus, formerly known as Brontosaurus) were found associated with a theropod (ancestor or cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex). The sauropod has been named Glacialisaurus hammeri (the reason for the genus name is obvious, and Professor Hammer led the field expeditions under 'extremely difficult conditions'). The herbivore was some 25 ft. long and weighed 4 to 6 tons; at the time of life, the area was between 55 and 65 degrees south, suggesting a climate similar to the Falkland Islands or Tierra del Fuego."

Re:Antarctica?

[eviloverlordx]

So that's where Jesus hid them all!

I think you meant the Old Ones.

Re:Pop goes the theory

[moderatorrater]

Actually, the dinosaurs lived there before the continents moved to their current locations. It was quite a bit closer to the equator at that time, so whether or not the antarctic heating up is a good thing or a bad thing is still up in the air. Also, you seem to have switched your attacks from "global warming != bad" to "humans aren't causing it", which is somewhat confusing and makes your post harder to understand.

Re:Pop goes the theory

[MalleusEBHC]

From the article...

"This was probably due to the fact that major connections between the continents still existed at that time, and because climates were more equitable across latitudes than they are today," Smith said.

Can we just go one discussion without bringing up global warming? While it's midly related, this is more about Pangaea and where Antarctica was 190 million years ago.

Re:brontosaurus

[ackthpt]

Why did they change the name of the brontosaurus? I liked that name better.

C & D letter. It was too close to Brontesaurus, a collection of references to the works of Charlotte Bronte, which though never actually published, might be some day and in the spirit of things as they are these days, they had to give it up rather than fight a long, costly legal battle with Bronte's heirs.

Re:Formerly Brontosaurus??

[geekoid]

and don't bold the wrong part.

"The species Brontosaurus excelsus was named by its discoverer Othniel Charles Marsh, in 1879 and the designation persisted as an official term in the general public's literature until at least 1974, though it was recognized as a species of a previously-named genus, Apatosaurus, in 1903.."

So yes, we both learned the wrong name from poor school literature.

however, I had a brief flirtation with paleontology so I had learned the proper name in high school and I should have recognized that I was pretty unique in that matter.
For the record: paleontology was an interest for the same reason everything else was an interest in high school. There was a hot chick in the class.