Unusual New Species of Dinosaur Identified 49
cervesaebraciator writes "A new species of heterodontosaur, called Pegomastax, has been identified. Paul Sereno, a University of Chicago paleontologist, published a description of this species in a recent issue of ZooKeys. Although this diminutive (60 cm or less) species was herbivorous, it also possessed a set of sharp, stabbing canines in its parrot-shaped beak. Dr. Sereno holds that these canines where likely 'for nipping and defending themselves, not for eating meat.' Perhaps the most imaginatively intriguing aspect of all, the body of the Pegomastix might have been covered in porcupine-like quills, making for perhaps the least attractive dinosaur of all time. You can almost hear Dieter Stark screaming 'Helvetes jävlar!'"
New? (Score:2)
Wow, a new dinosaur. I thought they had been gone for many million years. Goes to show.
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Wow, a new dinosaur. I thought they had been gone for many million years. Goes to show.
New as in "previously unidentified" not as in "recently appeared".
It's also believed that this particular dinosaur could fly, and made a distinctive "whoooooooshing" noise as it flew past. (^_^)
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I understood that most surviving dinosaurs can fly.
Anyone else see the picture... (Score:1)
...and think: Skeksis?
Bless (Score:1)
Yet more evidence to prove the existence of God. Wait, hang on...
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Surely if you can troll, an omnipotent, omniscient deity could troll as well. See also: the platypus, the kangaroo, and this dinosaur.
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You forgot Rosy O'Donnel dude. Just making sure you covered everything.
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You forgot Rosy O'Donnel dude. Just making sure you covered everything.
Jurassic Pork.
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There were no homodontosaur's!
Det var som fan! (Score:2)
Didn't remember Dieter's scream for help when he was attacked by a flock of small dinosaurs. Now I do. Thanks.
Still, by that time he was already the most hated guy in the movie anyway.
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http://sv.bab.la/lexikon/svensk-engelsk/det-var-som [sv.bab.la]
Det var som fan.
I'll be damn.
Det var som fan!
Son of a bitch.
Det var som tusan.
I'll be dogged.
Det var som det var.
It was like that.
Det var som i en mardröm.
It was like a bad dream.
Det var som manna från himlen.
It was like manna from heaven.
Det var som att tiden stod still.
It was as though time had stopped.
Det var som ett riktigt äventyr.
It was like a real, live adventure.
Du kan sätta ner det var som helst.
You can set that down anywhere.
De
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Evolutionary lesson (Score:1)
Being hetero is not an effective species survival strategy if you're not attractive!
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The "hetero" and "dont" in the name refers to the characteristic thing about this group: the fact they have two very different types of teeth, one kind that is an array of chisel-shaped teeth used for grinding up plants, and a set of bizarre tusk-like teeth in the front that have always been a bit of a puzzle for a plant eater. If you read the paper, it reviews the whole group of them. A pretty strange bunch, not only Pegomastix.
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A homodontosaur might not be any more attractive, but at least he'd be more stylish.
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Er a homodontosaur isn't likely to reproduce, and would quickly go extinct.
Must be unique (Score:2)
Now that's got to be really unusual: a beak shaped like a parrot...
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"stabbing canines in its parrot-shaped beak"
Now that's got to be really unusual: a beak shaped like a parrot...
Can he talk?
Interesting Hypothesis (Score:5, Interesting)
Many dinosaurs may be facing a new kind of extinction—a controversial theory suggests as many as a third of all known dinosaur species never existed in the first place.
That's because young dinosaurs didn't look like Mini-Me versions of their parents, according to new analyses by paleontologists Mark Goodwin, University of California, Berkeley, and Jack Horner, of Montana State University.
The documentary makes a compelling case that juvenile examples of various species have been misidentified as a separate species of dinosaur.
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This seems commonsensical not just for paleontology but anthropology as well.
IANAA (I am not an anthropologist) but I've never understood how someone finds a chunk of bone that's 1/8 of a intact jawbone, and from that intuits that this is an entirely new species of hominid? The breathtaking breadth of natural human variation is apparent to anyone in a large crowd; how is some minute morphological difference of a FRACTION of a piece of bone suggestive enough that it reaches beyond that variation into indica
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There's two aspects to this:
1) if you've got morphological/statistical variation well outside of the norm on the part that you do have, then, yes, it may be justification for proposing a new species. Teeth, in particular, are highly diagnostic fossils, and whole new species are routinely described on that basis. You wouldn't do the same on the basis of, say, a single bit of finger bone;
2) every species proposed is a hypothesis about differences from other species. If you find more of the creature (more o
This is exactly what's happening. (Score:3)
The idea that a third of all described dinosaur species may be unrecognized juveniles is a bit ridiculous
I'm assuming you haven't investigated the phenomena being discussed.
Mammals and reptiles both tend to develop in a continuous fashion - infants look much like miniature adults, and a juvenile will look like a blending of the infant and adult forms. Many birds on the other hand do NOT develop in this fashion - a not-quite-adult Hornbill for example looks much like an almost-adult-sized infant, it's not until it reaches full maturity that it's skull undergoes a dramatic morphological change to acquire the "h
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"...This is no different from any other science where you make a hypothesis, test it with new evidence, and if it doesn't hold up, you toss it...."
Except that upon finding a new metorite, astronomers don't speculate that there's an entirely new planet they 'just haven't found yet'.
I appreciate your points, but it seems that there's a level of hyperbole in the declaration of new speciation that exceeds mere scientific method.
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Every time I read about a new species of dinosaur I keep this documentary in mind:
A Third of Dinosaur Species Never Existed? [nationalgeographic.com]
Many dinosaurs may be facing a new kind of extinction—a controversial theory suggests as many as a third of all known dinosaur species never existed in the first place.
That's because young dinosaurs didn't look like Mini-Me versions of their parents, according to new analyses by paleontologists Mark Goodwin, University of California, Berkeley, and Jack Horner, of Montana State University.
The documentary makes a compelling case that juvenile examples of various species have been misidentified as a separate species of dinosaur.
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Did you ever consider that with global warming, with the seas rising, that we are facing another meltdown (or boilup), similar in consequences to the ice age?
Parrot-shaped beak? (Score:3)
"least attractive" (Score:2)
Sorry to nitpick, but I think the less politically correct "Ugliest" is better than rating the "attractiveness" of a dinosaur, or for any animal for that matter.
Herbivore with sharp teeth? (Score:2)
So it is a herbivore, but all of its teeth are like those of a meat eater?
Yay right.
Herbivore with tusks? (Score:3)
Herbivore with tusks? That is unheard of!
They [wikipedia.org] definitely [wikipedia.org] do not [wikipedia.org] exist.
DId Jesus see one? (Score:1)
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I wonder if Jesus ever saw one of these?
It's unlikely, as Jesus [google.co.uk] is of a species [wikipedia.org] that only appeared in the late Cretaceous period [wikipedia.org], whereas Pegomastax [wikipedia.org] (the "new" dinosaur) was found in rocks associated with the early Jurassic [wikipedia.org] period.
I mean, they might have met, but the Pegomastax would have been really, really, *really* old by that time, and too set in his ways to accept this newfangled whippersnapper and his newfangled religion.
Maybe I'm picking nits here (Score:2)
There is one dinosaur species to be named. (Score:2)
How obscure can we get? (Score:2)
You can almost hear Dieter Stark screaming 'Helvetes jÃvlar!'"
Huh?