Apatosaurus louisae

 

Apatosaurus louisae (Holland, 1916) 

Dinosauria 

Sauropoda 

Diplodocoidea 

Diplodocidae 

Apatosaurinae 

Kimmeridgian - Tithonian (Late Jurassic) 

Morrison Formation 

Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming; United States 

Length: 21 - 23 m 

It has been hypothesized that Apatosaurus louisae used their long thick necks in intraspecific combat, similarly to modern day giraffes or elephant seals (Source: http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/pubs/svpca2015/abstract.html#gsc.tab=0). 

Monday, April 5th, 2021 

Tyrannosaurus rex

 

Tyrannosaurus rex (Osborn, 1905) 

Dinosauria 

Theropoda 

Tetanurae 

Coelurosauria 

Tyrannosauroidea 

Tyrannosauridae 

Tyrannosaurinae 

Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) 

Frenchman Formation, Hell Creek Formation, Lance Formation, Scollard Formation 

Western Canada, Western United States 

Length: 13 m 

Due to the overrepresentation of this genus in popular culture, it can be easy to forgot all that makes it unique: Tyrannosaurus had the largest teeth of any known dinosaur, as well as the most powerful bite of any terrestrial creature that has ever lived. Tyrannosaurus was also one of the few dinosaurs with binocular vision and had an excellent sense of smell. 

Thursday, March 4th, 2021 

Brontosaurus excelsus

Brontosaurus excelsus (Marsh, 1879)

Dinosauria

Sauropoda 

Diplodocoidea

Diplodocidae

Apatosaurinae

Kimmeridgian - Tithonian (Late Jurassic) 

Morrison Formation

Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah,Wyoming; United States 

Length: 22 m

Although regarded as a junior synonym of Apatosaurus for over 100 years since 1903, Brontosaurus has been revived once more as a valid genus after a 2015 analysis suggested that the dinosaur is distinct enough (primarily in vertebral features) from Apatosaurus to warrant its own genus. 

Link to 2015 paper: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4393826/ 

Saturday, July 25th, 2020 

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