Dinosaurs, pterosaurs & marine reptiles of Isla Sorna

A final reminder about this week's quiz question before the answer is revealed tomorrow. You've been asked: Psittacosaurus was named by which famous American palaeontologist in 1923? Othniel Charles Marsh, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Barnum Brown or Edward Drinker Cope?


Today's dino:


Name: Pendraig
Pronunciation: Pen-drayg
Meaning of name: "Chief dragon"
Species: P. milnerae
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils, but is estimated to have measured around 1 metre long.
Family: Uncertain
Diet: Carnivore
First fossils found: Known only from vertebrae, a partial femur and a mostly complete pelvis discovered in the Pant-y-Ffynnon Quarry of South Wales, in 1952. Named by S. N. Spiekman, M. D. Ezcurra, R. J. Butler, N. C. Fraser and S. C. Maidment in 2021.
Lived: 215 to 201.4 million years ago during the Norian and Rhaetian stages of the Late Triassic in what is now South Wales.





Artist's impression of Pendraig

LadyPorthos , well done for correctly guessing the answer to this week's quiz question. You were asked: Psittacosaurus was named by which famous American palaeontologist in 1923? Othniel Charles Marsh, Henry Fairfield Osborn, Barnum Brown or Edward Drinker Cope?


Answer: Henry Fairfield Osborn. Living in what is now China, Thailand, Russia and Mongolia during the Early Cretaceous (125 to 105 million years ago), Psittacosaurus was a small, primitive Ceratopsian. Its fossils were first discovered in the Khuren Dukh Formation of Mongolia in 1922 and named by American palaeontologist, Henry Fairfield Osborn, in 1924. The name means "Parrot lizard", in reference to its parrot-like beak. During his career, Mr. Osborn named many different dino species including Ornitholestes, T-Rex, Albertosaurus, Pentaceratops and Velociraptor.


Today's dino:


Name: Volgatitan
Pronunciation: Vol-gah-tie-tan
Meaning of name: "Volga giant", after the Volga River which runs through central and southern Russia.
Species: V. simbirskiensis
Size: Estimated to have weighed around 17 metric tonnes.
Family: Uncertain. Likely Titanosaurid.
Diet: Herbivore
First fossils found: Known only from seven tail vertebrae discovered in the Ulyanovsk Oblast, western Russia. Named by Russian palaeontologists, Alexander Averianov and Vladimir Efimov, in 2018.
Lived: 132.6 to 125.77 million years ago during the Hauterivian stage of the Early Cretaceous in what is now western Russia.

Name: Dashanpusaurus
Pronunciation: Dah-shan-pu-sore-us
Meaning of name: "Dashanpu lizard", after the Chinese town where its fossils were discovered.
Species: D. dongi
Size: Uncertain due to a lack of fossils.
Family: Uncertain
Diet: Herbivore
First fossils found: Known only from a single, partial skeleton missing the skull, discovered in the Shaximiao Formation of Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Named by Peng Guangzhao, Ye Yong, Gao Yuhui, Shu Chunkang and Jiang Shan in 2005.
Lived: 165 million years ago during the Callovian stage of the Middle Jurassic in what is now southwestern China.







New quiz question: Bajadasaurus had several pairs of elongated spines protruding from which part of its body? Neck, back, tail or flanks?

I'll say tail.

Looks like a loudmouth. We need to feed it to keep it quiet. Anybody with a spare elephant or something?