Episode 182 is all about Monolophosaurus a meat eating Chinese dinosaur with a single head crest.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Monolophosaurus

Appears in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder game, as well as Jurassic World: The Game (not originally in the game, but added in August 2015, and you can unlock it in the level 55 battle area), and will also be in the game Jurassic World: Alive

Tetanuran theropod that lived in the Jurassic in what is now Xinjiang, China (Shishugou Formation)

Type species (only species) is Monolophosaurus jiangi

Found a nearly complete skeleton in 1981 on a Canadian-Chinese expedition, and it took 3 years to excavate

Referred in the media in 1987 as Jiangjunmiaosaurus before it was officially described, and that was an invalid nomen nudum (naked name)

Dong Shiming mentioned it as Monolophosaurus jiangjunmiaoi in 1992, and by Wayne Grady as Monolophosaurus dongi in 1993, but there was no description so these are nomina nuda

Described in 1993/1994 by Zhao Xijin and Philip Currie and named Monolophosaurus jiangi

Genus name means “single-crested lizard”

Had one crest on top of its skull

Species name refers to Jiangjunmiao, an abandoned desert inn near where the specimen was found

Jiangjunmiao means “the temple of the general”, and there’s a local legend that a general was buried there

Holotype consists of a skull, lower jaws, vertebral column, and pelvis, and is either an adult or subadult

About 16.4 ft (5 m) long and weighed 1,500 lb (680 kg), though Gregory Paul estimated in 2010 that it was 18 ft (5.5 m) and weighed 1047 lb (475 kg)

Type specimen restored with plaster so it could be part of a traveling exhibit, and the left side is now in foam, which has made additional examination of the fossil difficult

Stephen Brusatte published two studies in 2010 redescribing the holotype, which was still the only known specimen at the time

Crest on top of its head was hollow, to save weight, and may have been for display

Crest runs from tip of snout (premaxilla) to over the nasals and towards the eyes (about three quarters the skull length), and is largely formed by nasal bones

Crest has a broad base and narrow top, with a flat upper surface

Nasal bone had lots of holes, with large air chambers, and nasal crest was rough with lots of bosses

Had a smaller horn behind the eye socket

Length of tail is not known (not found), but the base of the tail faces slightly downwards

Type specimen had a pathology (tenth and eleventh neural spines fractured and fused together)

Thomas Carr suggested in 2006 that Guanlong (theropod from the same formation with a crest) was a subadult Monolophosaurus. In 2010 Gregory Paul renamed Guanlong as a second species of Monolophosaurus, Monolophosaurus wucaii, but in 2010 Stephen Brusatte rejected this, and said that the Guanlong holotype was an adult, not a subadult

Originally thought to be a megalosaur and was often thought to be an allosauroid, though now thought to be a tetanuran

Thought to be most closely related to Chuandongocoelurus (another tetanuran that lived in the Jurassic in China)

Tetanurans are “stiff tailed” theropods with straight tails that had a series of tendons

Fun Fact:

Some crocodilians grow into a color to match the water they live in. And a new study shows that baby Sunda gharials can change the color of their belly to match the brightness of their environment.

This episode was brought to you by:

TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs.

Enter to win a TRX Dinosaurs-made 1:1 scale Velociraptor sculpture. It’s open to anyone in the US or Canada (except Quebec) ages 18 and older to win. Complete rules are at https://iknowdino.com/velociraptor-sculpture-sweepstakes-official-rules

This week’s link to enter is http://bit.ly/WinMe182