#astrodon

Happy 250th birthday, America!

Today's animal of the day is Astrodon johnstoni!

Image credit: Christopher DiPiazza

This large species of sauropod dinosaur lived during the Early Cretaceous period, around 112 to 110 million years ago, in what is now the eastern region of the United States. The first fossils of this dinosaur were found in Maryland in 1858 and consisted of a pair of teeth found in a pit used to mine iron ore. They were then given to a chemist named John D. Latchford, who then gave them to a dentist named Christopher Johnston. Johnston would cut one tooth in half, which revealed a unique star-shaped cross-section inside. Because of this, he would give this new dinosaur the name Astrodon, meaning "star tooth". However, because he neglected to give it a species name (Astrodon was just its genus name), it wouldn't be recognized by the scientific community until a paleontologist named Joseph Leidy gave it the name Astrodon johnstoni (after Johnston) in 1865, when it would finally be recognized. Sadly, because of this delay, Astrodon missed out on becoming the second species of dinosaur to be formally described in the United States. Instead, that title went to a basal sauropodomorph named Anchisaurus that was discovered by the infamous Othniel Charles Marsh.

The original two fossilized Astrodon teeth discovered in 1858 (photo credit Kenneth Carpenter)

Speaking of Marsh, in 1888, he would describe two new species of sauropod dinosaurs, both in the genus Pleurocoelus (P. nanus and P. altus). However, in 1903, it would be discovered that both of these species were actually one species, and both had very similar teeth to those of Astrodon (which was still only known from its teeth at the time). You all know where this is going. Yep, it turns out that both species of Pleurocoelus were actually Astrodon, but in Marsh's defense, no one knew what the rest of Astrodon looked like at the time, but knowing him, he was probably still rushing so he could one-up Edward Drinker Cope.

Image credit: cisiopurple on DeviantArt

Bone Wars drama aside, this was actually pretty good news since now it meant paleontologists had a lot more fossils of Astrodon and could actually tell what it looked like, besides its teeth. It was around 30 ft tall, 66 ft long, and weighed around 22 tons. Like all other large sauropods, it would have needed to eat a lot in order to support its massive size. Luckily, Astrodon would have lived in a lush river-side environment with lots of ginkgo and giant sequoia trees for it to feed on. It would have lived alongside armored herbivores like Priconodon and Paropanoplosaurus, as well as several carnivorous dinosaurs like the mysterious Capitalsaurus, the sickle-clawed Deinonychus (which may have hunted young Astrodons), and the hump-backed Acrocanthosaurus. In addition to these, Astrodon fossils have also been found alongside the remains of crocodilians, turtles, lungfish, and even freshwater sharks!

Image credit: Dmitry Bogdanov

here's today's #Paleostream sketches!!! today we drew Gaiasia, Pelagornis, Platyhystrix, and Astrodon

Some snaps I took of the Andromeda Galaxy tonight, sitting on the horizon, after I came back from shopping, i was tracking a star link satellite, and left it as my screensaver.

Results from todays flocking paleostream

We did Gaiasia

Pelagornis

Platyhystrix

Flocking Together #55

Gaiasia

Pelagornis

Platyhystrix