Episode 561: Mark Witton and the King Tyrant. Plus a new alvarezsaurid theropod, Manipulonyx; A huge bonebed in Romania; new dinosaur fossils found at Dinosaur National Monument; and our first Dino Duels winners

News:

• There’s a new alvarezsaurid theropod, Manipulonyx reshetovi source
• Paleontologists have found thousands of fossils in a bonebed in Romania (Hateg Basin), including bones from titanosaurs and rhabdodontids source
• New dinosaur fossils have been found at Dinosaur National Monument source

Interview:

Mark Witton, a paleontologist, author, and artist, known for his research on pterosaurs and his work with museums, universities, and shows including Walking with Dinosaurs, Planet Dinosaur, Prehistoric Planet, and the IMAX film T. rex. He also has published a number of books, including the recently published King Tyrant. Follow him on bluesky and patreon @markwitton

Sponsors:

This episode is brought to you by the Colorado Northwestern Community College. Join them for two weeks digging up dinosaur bones in the field, preparing fossils in their lab, or in their new field geology program. For details go to CNCC.edu/paleo26

The dinosaur of the day: Inosaurus

• Dubious theropod that lived in the Early Cretaceous in what is now Niger (“Continental intercalaire” and Echkar Formation), and possibly also the Late Cretaceous in what is now Egypt (Bahariya Formation), though that’s unlikely
• Probably a small theropod, but robust, based on the vertebrae found
• Type and only species is Inosaurus tedreftensis
• Described in 1960 by Albert-Félix de Lapparent
• Fossils found in 1959 by de Lapparent, and included 18 vertebrae and a fragment of the tibia (top of the left shin bone), all grouped together
• Name means “In Tedreft lizard”
• Named after the site where it was found, In Tedreft
• Shin bone is small (widest point of it is 6.5 cm or 2.5 in)
• Vertebrae were compact
• The back bones are “massive and nearly square” in appearance
• Described some of the bones from In Tedreft as “very dark, nearly black, with a bluish tint on the surface” (though didn’t specify which ones, and he described more than 500 bones in the memoir)
• Also referred four other specimens to Inosaurus (more vertebrae) that were also found in Niger (Echkar Formation)
• De Lapparent described those four vertebrae as “remarkable by their weak elongation”
• And he referred fossils Ernst Stromer had described in 1934 from the Baharia Formation in Egypt to Inosaurus (three tail bones). However, although these caudal vertebrae look similar to the ones for Inosaurus, they are probably from an indeterminate theropod, and not Inosaurus
• Said that it seems to be related to the family Megalosauridae
• Considered to be a nomen dubium because the fossils are too fragmentary
• The Continental intercalaire goes from Algeria, Tunisia and Niger in the west to Egypt and Sudan in the east
• Continental intercalaire is similar to the Kem Kem Group in Morocco (with rivers and streams)
• Other animals that lived around the same time and place include coelurosaurs (theropods known for having stiff tails), crocodylomorphs, and fish
• From the Echkar Formation, other animals that lived around the same time and place include the theropods Bahariasaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Spinosaurus, sauropods like Aegyptosaurus and Rebbachisaurus, stegosaurs, crocodyliforms, and fish

Fun Fact:

As of mid-December 2024, 2,677 non-avian dinosaur species have been named, and 1,383 of them are still considered valid today.

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