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On April 22, 2017, the March for Science reunited more than a million persons worldwide to protest against the attack on science, budget cuts and censorship. A fight that doesn’t over yet. But despite all that, 2017 was also an extraordinary year for palaeontological discoveries. My top list includes:

Borealopelta

Borealopelta markmitchelli, from the Early Cretaceous of Alberta, is a three-dimensionally preserved ankylosaurian, discovered in the Suncor Millennium Mine in Canada. The generic name Borealopelta is derived from “borealis” (Latin, “northern”) and “pelta” (Greek, “shield”). The holotype (TMP 2011.033.0001), with an estimated living mass of 1,300 kg, is an articulated specimen preserving the head, neck, most of the trunk and sacrum, a complete right and a partial left forelimb and manus, and partial pes. The skull is covered in dermal plates, which are overlain by their associated epidermal scales. Cervical and thoracic osteoderms form continuous transverse rows completely separated by transverse rows of polygonal basement scale. Osteoderms are covered by a thick, dark gray to black organic layer, representing the original, diagenetically altered, keratinous epidermal scales. The distribution of the film correlates well to the expected distribution of melanin, a pigment present in some vertebrate integumentary structures. The keratinized tissues in this nodosaur are heavily pigmented. The possible presence of eumelanin and pheomelanin, suggested it had reddish-brown camouflage. The evidence of countershading in a large, heavily armored herbivorous dinosaur also provides a unique insight into the predator-prey dynamic of the Cretaceous Period.

Isaberrysaura

Isaberrysaura mollensis gen. et sp. nov. is the first dinosaur recovered in the marine-deltaic deposits of the Los Molles Formation (Neuquén Province, Argentina), and the first neornithischian dinosaur known from the Jurassic of South America. The holotype of Isaberrysaura is an incomplete articulated skeleton with an almost complete skull, and a partial postcranium consisting of 6 cervical vertebrae, 15 dorsal vertebrae, a sacrum with a partial ilium and an apparently complete pubis, 9 caudal vertebrae, part of a scapula, ribs, and unidentifiable fragments. One of the most notable features of the discovery is the presence of permineralized seeds in the middle-posterior part of the thoracic cavity. The seeds were assigned to the Cycadales (Zamiineae) on the basis of a well-defined coronula in the micropylar region. The findings suggest the hypothesis of interactions (endozoochory) between cycads and dinosaurs, especially in the dispersion of seeds.

Junornis

Junornis houi, from the Yixian Formation of eastern Inner Mongolia, represents a new addition to the enantiornithine diversity of the Jehol Biota. The holotype (BMNHC-PH 919; Beijing Museum of Natural History), from the Early Cretaceous (~ 126±4 mya) of Yixian Formation, is a nearly complete and articulated skeleton contained in two slabs, and surrounded by feather impressions defining the surface of its wings and body outline. Based on the well-preserved skeleton and exquisite plumage of Junornis, it was possible make some estimation of its flight capacity. The body and wings of this bird were similar to those of modern passeriforms such as Alauda arvensis.

Shringasaurus

In the aftermath of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction (~252 Ma), well diversified archosauromorph groups appear for the first time in the fossil record, including aquatic or semi aquatic forms, highly specialized herbivores, and massive predators. Allokotosaurians, meaning “strange reptiles” in Greek, comprise a bizarre suite of herbivorous archosauromorphs with a high disparity of craniodental features. Shringasaurus indicus, from the early Middle Triassic of India, is a new representative of the Allokotosauria. The generic name is derived from ‘Śṛṅga’ (Shringa), horn (ancient Sanskrit), and ‘sauros’ (σαῦρος), lizard (ancient Greek), referring to the horned skull. The species name ‘indicus’, refers to the country where it was discovered. The holotype ISIR (Indian Statistical Institute, Reptile, India) 780, consist of a partial skull roof (prefrontal, frontal, postfrontal, and parietal) with a pair of large supraorbital horns. The fossil bones have been collected from the Denwa Formation of the Satpura Gondwana Basin. At least seven individuals of different ontogenetic stages were excavated in the same area. Most of them were disarticulated, with exception of a partially articulated skeleton.

Patagotitan

Patagotitan mayorum, originally discovered in 2010 by the rural farmer Aurelio Hernandez is the largest and the most complete titanosaur taxa recovered to date. The generic name Patagotitan is derived from Patago (in reference to the geographic origin of the fossils, Patagonia), and titan (symbolic of its large size). The species name honours the Mayo family (owner of La Flecha Farm, the place where the fossils were found). The holotype (MPEF-PV 3400), includes an anterior and two middle cervical vertebrae, three anterior, two middle and two posterior dorsal vertebrae, six anterior caudal vertebrae, three chevrons, dorsal ribs, both sternal plates, right scapulocoracoid, both pubes and both femora. Six individuals were found in the same quarry, distributed in three distinct but closely spaced horizons, corresponding to three different burial events. The first estimations of Patagotitan body mass suggest that it would weigh around 70 tons. The dorsal vertebrae preserved in Patagotitan, Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus allows distinguishing the new taxon from previously known giant titanosaurs from the ‘mid-Cretaceous’ of Patagonia.

References:

Brown, C.M.; Henderson, D.M.; Vinther, J.; Fletcher, I.; Sistiaga, A.; Herrera, J.; Summons, R.E. “An Exceptionally Preserved Three-Dimensional Armored Dinosaur Reveals Insights into Coloration and Cretaceous Predator-Prey Dynamics”. Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.06.071

Salgado, L. et al. A new primitive Neornithischian dinosaur from the Jurassic of Patagonia with gut contents. Sci. Rep. 7, 42778; doi: 10.1038/srep42778 (2017)

Liu D, Chiappe LM, Serrano F, Habib M, Zhang Y, Meng Q (2017) Flight aerodynamics in enantiornithines: Information from a new Chinese Early Cretaceous bird. PLoS ONE12(10): e0184637. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0184637

Saradee Sengupta, Martín D. Ezcurra and Saswati Bandyopadhyay. 2017. A New Horned and Long-necked Herbivorous Stem-Archosaur from the Middle Triassic of India. Scientific Reports. 7, Article number: 8366. DOI: s41598-017-08658-8

Carballido JL, Pol D, Otero A, Cerda IA, Salgado L, Garrido AC, Ramezani J, Cúneo NR, Krause JM. 2017 A new giant titanosaur sheds light on body mass evolution among sauropod dinosaurs. Proc. R. Soc. B 284: 20171219.

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1219

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