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Geobulletin
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News from the Geoblogosphere
by Stratigraphy.net
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Lithologs
, a new tool to create lithological/sedimentological logs online..
Blog post recommendation
The largest mosasaur on display in the world: Bruce the Tylosaurus pembinensis
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bruce-the-mosasaur-in-manitoba-now-largest-on-display-in-the-world-1.2707220
"Bruce the mosasaur in Manitoba now largest in the world" CBC News, 7/15/2014
"Bruce, Manitoba's famous ancient sea creature, has just become the largest of its kind on display anywhere in the world. The 13.10-metre-long mosasaur, a now-extinct marine reptile, had been known as the largest in Canada, but recent comparative research has revealed his status is global, in terms of fossils on public display. The research was done by the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Morden, Man., where Bruce's fossils and a full-scale reproduction are on display."
We knew Bruce was big, we knew he was the biggest in Canada, but we had never done a comparative analysis against other exhibited mosasaur throughout North America and the rest of the world
.
After doing a little research and consulting with mosasaur expert and Royal Tyrrell Museum palaeontologist Dr. Takuya Konishi, it turned out Bruce was even more significant than we realized.
- Peter Cantelon, Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre Executive Director
To read more about mosasaurs and Bruce, check out the CFDC's webpage: http://discoverfossils.com/education/mosasaurs.html
"Our famous “Bruce” is the world's largest publicly displayed mosasaur. Bruce is approximately 13 m (43 feet) long and was given the scientific name of
Hainosaurus pembinensi
s [=
Tylosaurus pembinensis
, see Bullard and Caldwell, 2010] by Dr. Elizabeth Nicholls in 1988. Bruce was discovered north of Thornhill, Manitoba in 1974 and the huge skeleton took almost two full field seasons to excavate. The skeleton is reasonably complete, with about 65 – 70% of the fossilized bones recovered."
The CFDC also has a page on the discovery of "Bruce" and the steps that were undertaken in the preparation and mounting of the skeleton, which is mostly a cast of the original material. http://discoverfossils.com/allaboutbruce.html
"Bruce" was originally referred to the genus
Hainosaurus
as the first New World species for this genus
H. pembinensis
, otherwise known from Europe. Lindgren (2005) expressed doubt over this referral, but it wasn't until five years later, that Timothy Bullard referred
H. pembinensis
to
Tylosaurus
(Bullard and Caldwell, 2010).
"Bruce" is probably not the largest mosasaur known, just the largest mounted skeleton. There are very large quadrates known for
Mosasaurus
that suggest a body length of 18 metres or longer.
As a final bit of minutiae, there still remains one North American species of
Hainosaurus
:
H. neumilleri
(Martin, 2007). Though fragmentary, no published objections to this referral exist and most authors seem to accept this as a valid example of NW
Hainosaurus
(Bullard and Caldwell, 2010; Konishi et al., 2010; Thompson, 2011).
The key references on this
Tylosaurus pembinensis
:
Nicholls, E. L. (1988). The first record of the mosasaur
Hainosaurus
(Reptilia: Lacertilia) from North America.
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
,
25
(10), 1564-1570.
Bullard, T. S., & Caldwell, M. W. (2010). Redescription and rediagnosis of the tylosaurine mosasaur Hainosaurus pembinensis Nicholls, 1988, as Tylosaurus pembinensis (Nicholls, 1988). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(2), 416-426.
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