ITS TIME

FOR

DINOSAUR MARCH MADNESS 2k23!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starting NEXT WEEK, we begin the ultimate competition:

DMM: RISING STARS

These are ALL dinosaurs that have been discovered in the past five years!!! New friends from old times!!! Including such new fan favorites as Bajadasaurus, Jakapil, Meraxes, and Anachronornis - and that's only four of them!

From the weird to the wonderful, these dinosaurs are here to indicate that just because they were found recently, doesn't mean that they aren't destined to become icons like the names we already know and love. Get ready to learn about some new paleontological excitement - and debate angrily over which ones are better ;)

Round One will go from March 1st through the 7th

Round Two will extend from March 8th through the 14th

Round Three will then go from the 15th to the 21st

Round Four from the 22nd to the 28th

And the FINAL FOUR SHOWDOWN (Ornithischian Vs Sauropodomorph vs Nonavian theropod vs Bird) will occur from March 29th through April 4th!

Thanks to the new tumblr poll feature, reconstructions and mini factfiles for each dinosaur will be on the post with the poll itself! No need to leave tumblr, no personal research, no google quizzes - just rapid learning and immediate voting!

Get ready to vote! Get ready to debate! Get ready... for DINOSAUR MARCH MADNESS!

Round One Matchups under the readmore :)

(Type specimen of Miosurnia diurna, from Li et al., 2022)

Meaning of name: Miosurnia = Miocene Surnia [genus of the extant northern hawk-owl]; diurna = of the day [in Latin]

Age: Miocene (Tortonian–Messinian), between 6–9.5 million years ago

Where found: Liushu Formation, Gansu, China

How much is known: Nearly complete skeleton of one individual.

Notes: Miosurnia was an owl, and it is known from an exceptionally complete and well-preserved fossil specimen, allowing for a detailed understanding of its anatomy and possible ecology. It was likely closely related to the extant northern hawk-owl (Surnia ulula) and pygmy owls. Some of these owls are unusual in being active during the day, and the proportions of the sclerotic ring (a ring of bone embedded in the eyeball of some vertebrates) of Miosurnia suggest that it was a daytime hunter as well. It was also about the same size as the northern hawk-owl, probably weighing between 230–320 g. An unregurgitated pellet (mass of indigestible material) is preserved in the body cavity of the type specimen and appears to contain fragments of mammal bones.

Miosurnia indicates that diurnal habits had likely evolved in the lineage of owls leading to the northern hawk-owl and pygmy owls by the late Miocene. Along with the falcon Falco hezhengensis, also known from the Liushu Formation, it was likely one of the main avian predators of the small mammals in its ecosystem.

Factfiles:

Miosurnia diurna

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Diurnal Hawk-Owl from the Miocene 

Time: 7.25  to 11.1 million years old (Tortonian stage of the Miocene epoch, Neogene period)

Location: Liushu Formation, Gansu Province, China

Miosurnia was a small owl, weighing around 318 grams and having a similar overall size to its living relatives, the modern hawk-owls. And, like its living relatives, Miosurnia was diurnal (based on its eye shape) - a rarity in owls, mainly seen in Hawk-Owls and putative early members of the group. As such, this small clade of diurnal owls has a longer and more extensive range than previously thought. If so, it may have eaten a variety of small diurnal mammals, similar to small kestrels in many habitats today. This allowed it to live alongside a wide variety of other avian predators, including many Old World Vultures and falcons. Like other diurnal owls, Miosurnia lived in a large open habitat, and this was one right after the great grassland explosion of the Miocene. As the polar ice sheets grew, these large open habitats expanded across the planet, greatly affecting many ecologies. In addition to other birds of prey, Miosurnia shared its habitat with Panraogallus, ostriches, sandgrouse, Ergilornithids, and many mammals such as Cahlicotheris, Gomphotheres, horses, giraffids, and buff hyenas. 

Primoptynx poliotauros

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: First Owl from the Graybullian 

Time: 56 million years ago (Thanetian stage of the Paleocene epoch, Paleogene period) 

Location: McCullough Peaks, Willwood Formation, Wyoming 

Primoptynx is one of many early owl fossils, but it is unique - in that it’s currently the oldest known owl, appearing during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, soon after the end-Cretaceous. This owl was weird in a variety of ways, lacking many of the later adaptations that make owls unique among birds of prey. The weirdest thing, however, isn’t something it’s missing - its the unique morphology of the foot, where the first and second toes are much larger than expected, much like the feet of diurnal birds of prey (rather than those of owls). Primoptynx was also huge, bigger than other early owls known from the region such as Eostrix. While smaller members of the group at the time were eating small vertebrates, Primoptynx seems to have been adapted for eating much larger prey, such as mid sized vertebrates like those preyed on by Harpy Eagles and other larger birds of prey today. This not only shows that owls tried on a lot of ecological “hats” prior to settling into their modern niches, but also that large birds of prey were fixtures in ecosystems very early on in the Cenozoic. Since early fossils of diurnal birds of prey are comparatively rare, this fills in a major ecosystem gap for the Willwood and beyond. Diurnal owls, like Primoptynx, probably then went extinct due to the radiation of modern diurnal birds of prey (hawks, eagles, and falcons). In the Willwood, Primoptynx was surrounded by many other birds as well as mammals - such as weird stem-ducks and stem-chickens, Lithornithids, Gastornis, Sandcoleids, and a variety of early mammals, all of which would probably have made good prey items for Primoptynx.

Cryptogyps lacertosus

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Powerful Hidden Vulture 

Time: 770,000 to 55,000 years ago (Chibanian to Tarantian stage of the Pleistocene epoch, Quaternary period) 

Location: Throughout Australia, including Kalamurina, the Wellington Caves, and the Nullarbor Plain 

Today, there are no vultures in Australia. In fact, until recently, it seemed fairly clear that no vultures had lived in Australia - but now, we know they did! Originally thought to be an eagle, Cryptogyps was on the small size for a vulture, only bigger than the living Hooded Vulture - though it was about the size of the wedge-tailed eagle. However, it was proportioned similarly to other vultures, and between that and its great range across the entirety of Australia, it is logical to conclude that it lived similarly to other vultures, feeding primarily on carrion and going great distances to find it. It did not have the right musculature to be an active hunter like eagles and hawks. As such, Cryptogyps was a vital part of its environment, reducing the spread of disease and recycling nutrients and energy back into the food web like vultures today. Cryptogyps lived alongside a wide variety of weird megafuana present in Australia during the last ice age, including marsupial lions, giant demon-ducks (mihirungs), giant hippo-sized wombats, sheep-sized and fossorial echidnas, short-faced kangaroos, giant koalas, thylacines, giant maleefowls, huge monitor lizards, large crocodilians, and giant pythons - as well as cassowaries, regular kangaroos, emus, and other large animals that remain today. It was a weird place of which Cryptogyps was a small and important part, and would have been a regular sight in the skies to the first Indigenous Australians to settle on the continent!

Miosurnia diurna

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Diurnal Hawk-Owl from the Miocene 

Time: 7.25  to 11.1 million years old (Tortonian stage of the Miocene epoch, Neogene period)

Location: Liushu Formation, Gansu Province, China

Miosurnia was a small owl, weighing around 318 grams and having a similar overall size to its living relatives, the modern hawk-owls. And, like its living relatives, Miosurnia was diurnal (based on its eye shape) - a rarity in owls, mainly seen in Hawk-Owls and putative early members of the group. As such, this small clade of diurnal owls has a longer and more extensive range than previously thought. If so, it may have eaten a variety of small diurnal mammals, similar to small kestrels in many habitats today. This allowed it to live alongside a wide variety of other avian predators, including many Old World Vultures and falcons. Like other diurnal owls, Miosurnia lived in a large open habitat, and this was one right after the great grassland explosion of the Miocene. As the polar ice sheets grew, these large open habitats expanded across the planet, greatly affecting many ecologies. In addition to other birds of prey, Miosurnia shared its habitat with Panraogallus, ostriches, sandgrouse, Ergilornithids, and many mammals such as Cahlicotheris, Gomphotheres, horses, giraffids, and buff hyenas. 

Miosurnia

Miosurnia — вимерлий рід птахів родини совові (Strigidae) з пізньоміоценової формації Люшу провінції Ганьсу, Китай. Рід містить один вид, M. diurna, відомий за майже повним зчленованим скелетом.

Повний текст на сайті "Вимерлий світ":