Episode 252 is all about Dacentrurus, A wide-hipped stegosaur from the Jurassic in England.

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The Japanese “Mukawa dinosaur” now has an official name, Kamuysaurus japonicus source

A new study shows how T. rex warmed up using a specialized area on top of its head source Brian Engh used this research to create an amazing thermal-image illustration source

A marine turtle that got trampled by a sauropod in what is now Switzerland source

For those keeping tabs, the Dinosaurs of Utah PDF has been updated to include more species of dinosaurs (now >115) source

Here’s The Travel’s list of 10 dinosaur places to visit source

Jurassic Park and Jurassic World memorabilia will be auctioned off in London source

Crystal Palace dinosaurs had an open day on September 15 source

Magic Leap recently launched a Dinosaur Kit, which lets you assemble dinosaur skeletons from scattered bones—if you have the $2,000+ headset source

A maid of honor wore an inflatable T. rex costume to her sister’s wedding source

The dinosaur of the day: Dacentrurus

Stegosaur that lived in the Jurassic in what is now England

Not much known about its appearance

Dacentrurus was robust

Quadrupedal herbivore

Had plates and spikes

Some estimates as large as 33 ft (10 m) long and weighed up to 5 tons

Had a wide pelvis, 4.9 ft (1.5 m) wide

Very broad gut for a stegosaur

Had short hindlimbs but long forelimbs

Had similar proportions as Stegosaurus but the way the plates and spikes looked was different

Probably had two rows of small plates on the neck and two rows of longer spikes on the tail

Holotype has a small asymmetrical neck plate

Some think it had a shoulder spike, but it’s unclear

Originally was called Omosaurus

The name Omosaurus was already used for a phytosaur, so it was renamed to Dacentrurus in 1902

Joseph Leidy had named the phytosaur, Omosaurus perplexus in 1856

In 1874, James Shopland from the Swindon Brick and Tyle Company told Richard Owen about fossils in the Swindon Great Quarry

Owen sent William Davies to excavate the specimen, which was in clay. While trying to lift the clay piece, it crumbled

Eventually it made its way to London (3 tons), and prepared by Caleb Barlow

Omosaurus armatus was named in 1875, based on a skeleton found in the Kimmeridge Clay

Described by Owen in 1875 (named Omosaurus armatus), which means “upper arm” and refers to its robust humerus

The species name means “armed” in Latin, and refers to a large spike that Owen thought was on the upper arm

Holotype includes a pelvis, dorsal vertebrae, sacrals and caudal vertebrae, right femur, left forelimb, partial fibula, partial tibia, right neck plate and left tail spike

Many other species named, but no longer considered valid

Other species that were named (and no longer considered valid) included Omosaurus hastiger (named by Owen, and which means “spike bearer” or “lance wielder” because Owen thought there were spikes on the wrist), Omosaurus durobrivensis (named by John Hulke in 1887 but was renamed as Lexovisaurus in 1956), Omosaurus phillipsii (named by Harry Seeley in 1893 based on a femur), Omosaurus vetustus (named in 1910 by Friedrich von Huene based on a femur, the name means “the ancient one” and is now Eoplophysis), Omosaurus lennieri (named in 1911 by Franz Nopcsa based on a partial skeleton found in 1899 in Normandy, France, but that specimen was destroyed in 1944, during the allied bombing of Caen)

Only the type species, Dacentrurus armatus, is valid

Name means “tail full of points”

Frederick Augustus Lucas renamed Omosaurus armatus as Dacentrurus armatus in 1902 (name means “very sharp tail”)

In 1915 Edwin Hennig renamed most of the Omosaurus species to Dacentrurus

But many researchers still used the name Omosaurus until the 1950s

First stegosaur discovered (before Stegosaurus)

One of the best known stegosaurs from Europe

Dacentrurus found in England, France, Portugal, and Spain

Many stegosaur discoveries have been referred to Dacentrurus, as well as eggs found in Portugal

Peter Galton in the 1980s referred all stegosaur fossils from Late Jurassic deposits in western Europe to Dacentrurus, but in 2008 Susannah Maidment limited Dacentrurus armatus material to the holotype, and found most named species to be nomina dubia

In 2013, Alberto Cobos and Francisco Gascó described fossils found in Spain as Dacentrurus armatus (found two cervical vertebrae, one dorsal vertebra, and one caudal vertebra from one individual); this find shows intra-species variability of Dacentrurus

Variability could be because of ontogeny, sexual dimorphism or individual pathologies

Fun Fact: The brain of Psittacosaurus changed shape dramatically as it grew up.