Dakotaraptor steini

Dakotaraptor steini (DePalma et al., 2015)
Sauropsida
Diapsida
Archosauria
Dinosauria
Saurischia
Theropoda
Tetanurae
Coelurosauria
Maniraptora
Paraves
Dromaeosauridae (“Raptors”)
Eudromaeosauria

Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
South Dakota, United States
Hell Creek Formation

Length: 5.5 m

Tied with Utahraptor for being the largest known “raptor,” this swift predator shared her home with the considerably more common (and far larger) Tyrannosaurus.


Thursday, September 22nd, 2016

C. megalodon

Note: A digitally recolored version of the original, available here:
http://sounder1995.blogspot.com/2015/08/c-megalodon.html

C. megalodon
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Elasmobranchii
Selachimorpha / Selachii (Sharks)
Lamniformes
Lamnidae? Otodontidae?
(If Lamnidae) Carcharodon megalodon (Agassiz, 1843)
(If Otodontidae) Carcharocles megalodon (Jordan & Hannibal, 1923)

Middle Miocene to Late Pliocene
Worldwide

Length: Up to 18 m?

The largest shark of all time, she possesses one of the most powerful bite forces known to man and hunted whales as a regular part of her diet.

Estimated Bite Force: 108,514 N - 182, 201 N (Wroe et al., 2008)

Tuesday, September 20th, 2016

Triceratops prorsus

Note: A digitally colored version of the original, available here:
http://sounder1995.blogspot.com/2015/08/triceratops-prorsus.html

Triceratops prorsus (Marsh, 1890)
Sauropsida
Diapsida
Archosauria
Dinosauria
Ornithischia
Neornithischia
Marginocephalia
Ceratopsia (Horned Dinosaurs)
Ceratopsidae
Chasmosaurinae

Upper Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Hell Creek Formation
United States (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming)

Length: 7.9 – 9.0 m

Everyone’s favorite three horned face was a lot spikier than you we originally thought.

Thursday, September 15th, 2016

Collinsium ciliosum

Note: A digitally colored version of the original, available here:

http://sounder1995.blogspot.com/2015/08/collinsium-ciliosum.html

Collinsium ciliosum (Yang et al.)

Ecdysozoa

Panarthropoda

Stem-Onychophora (Velvet Worms)

Luolishaniidae

Early to Middle Cambrian

Yunnan Province, China

Length: 85 mm

With dorsal spines that managed to stay three dimensional even after 500 million years of geological activity, Collinsium was one particularly prickly invertebrate. Like her modern kin (velvet worms), she possesses Matryoshka doll style claws (and in her case, also spines) composed of layered chitin, the same carbohydrate that forms arthropod exoskeletons. Unlike velvet worms though, her kind were far more diverse in lifestyle and ecological niche. She, in fact, was a bona fide filter feeder and lacked eyes altogether (Those are armor plates before her antennae). The glory days of stem-Onychophora would come to an end by the end of the Cambrian, though. Onychophora has now dwindled down to just the velvet worms, all of them active terrestrial predators inhabiting humid environments.

Sunday, September 11th, 2016