The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is excited to announce the opening of a new fossil exhibit. Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway is an exhibit that brings together the best of the Burke Museum's fossil collection and the fossil-inspired artwork of celebrated artist Ray Troll to explore questions about evolution, extinction, and early life on Earth. The Burke Museum collaborated with artist Ray Troll and Seattle-born paleontologist Kirk Johnson to present this new exhibit exploring the abundance of fossils in our midst and how fossils shed light on Earth's past. Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway will travel nationally after closing in Seattle in late May 2010. The exhibit opens December 19. Please take a moment to visit the exhibits website at http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/cruisin/index.php.
Showing posts with label museum exhibits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label museum exhibits. Show all posts
A Fun Book Is Now A Fun Exhibit
The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture is excited to announce the opening of a new fossil exhibit. Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway is an exhibit that brings together the best of the Burke Museum's fossil collection and the fossil-inspired artwork of celebrated artist Ray Troll to explore questions about evolution, extinction, and early life on Earth. The Burke Museum collaborated with artist Ray Troll and Seattle-born paleontologist Kirk Johnson to present this new exhibit exploring the abundance of fossils in our midst and how fossils shed light on Earth's past. Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway will travel nationally after closing in Seattle in late May 2010. The exhibit opens December 19. Please take a moment to visit the exhibits website at http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/cruisin/index.php.
University of Wyoming Geology Museum in Trouble
Just in case you have not heard the Geology Museum at the University of Wyoming is slated to be closed and the two staff members let go. You can read more on this here and here and if you are outraged please sign the petition, or even better write a letter to the board of trustees and let them know you are tired of academia being squandered for sports programs and higher administrative salaries.
The Robo-aetosaur Paratypothorax andressorum
On his recent post on the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart Dave Hone featured a photo of a rare thing, an aetosaur mount. What Dave found so interesting about this mount; however, is that the missing portions of the skeleton have been filled in with burnished metal (see below).
The "robo-aetosaur" as Dave affectionately calls it, is the holotype specimen of Paratypothorax andressorum Long and Ballew 1985, and if I am not mistaken the actual osteoderms are used in the mount and are completely removable for study (Randy, Sterling, or Jeff will have to correct me on this if I am wrong).
The photo below is one of the dorsal paramedian plates of the left side of the holotype. Paratypothorax is a typothoracisine aetosaur and a member of the clade Paratypothoracisini (Parker, 2007). Members of this clade are characterized by paramedian plates that are much wider than long, have a distinct radial patterning, sharp anteromedial and anterolateral projections, a smooth anterior bar, and a medially offset dorsal eminence or boss.
Paratypothorax is also known from Greenland and the western United States. The best skeleton from the Chinle Formation was collected from Petrified Forest National Park by the Field Museum in 1982. The Petrified Forest specimen was described by Hunt and Lucas (1992) and again by Lucas et al. (2006) who assign it to Paratypothorax andressorum; however, this ID has not been accepted by all workers (e.g., Long and Murry, 1995) who suggest that it may be a new taxon.
Surprisingly the holotype specimen, which consists solely of armor, has never been completely described. Just as strange, even though the Petrified Forest specimen was not considered to be the same taxon as the German material by Robert Long and Karen Ballew, the species name given to the German material (collected in the 1800s and originally believed to be a phytosaur) was named for Chris Andress (the chief ranger at Petrified Forest) and his family (Long and Ballew, 1985).
Thanks to Dave Hone who sent me his photos of the Paratypothorax mount and secured permission to post the photos.
REFERENCES
Hunt, A.P. and S.G. Lucas. 1992. The first occurrence of the aetosaur Paratypothorax andressi (Reptilia, Aetosauria) in the western United States and its biochronological significance. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 66:147-157. DOI:10.1007/BF02989485.
Long, R. A., and K. L. Ballew. 1985. Aetosaur dermal armor from the late Triassic of southwestern North America, with special reference to material from the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 47:45-68.
Long, R. A., and P. A. Murry. 1995. Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the southwestern United States. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 4:1-254.
Lucas, S.G., Heckert, A.B., and L.F. Rinehart. 2006. The Triassic aetosaur Paratypothorax. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 37:575-580
Parker, W. G. 2007. Reassessment of the aetosaur “Desmatosuchus” chamaensis with a reanalysis of the phylogeny of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 5:41–68.
The "robo-aetosaur" as Dave affectionately calls it, is the holotype specimen of Paratypothorax andressorum Long and Ballew 1985, and if I am not mistaken the actual osteoderms are used in the mount and are completely removable for study (Randy, Sterling, or Jeff will have to correct me on this if I am wrong). The photo below is one of the dorsal paramedian plates of the left side of the holotype. Paratypothorax is a typothoracisine aetosaur and a member of the clade Paratypothoracisini (Parker, 2007). Members of this clade are characterized by paramedian plates that are much wider than long, have a distinct radial patterning, sharp anteromedial and anterolateral projections, a smooth anterior bar, and a medially offset dorsal eminence or boss.Paratypothorax is also known from Greenland and the western United States. The best skeleton from the Chinle Formation was collected from Petrified Forest National Park by the Field Museum in 1982. The Petrified Forest specimen was described by Hunt and Lucas (1992) and again by Lucas et al. (2006) who assign it to Paratypothorax andressorum; however, this ID has not been accepted by all workers (e.g., Long and Murry, 1995) who suggest that it may be a new taxon.Surprisingly the holotype specimen, which consists solely of armor, has never been completely described. Just as strange, even though the Petrified Forest specimen was not considered to be the same taxon as the German material by Robert Long and Karen Ballew, the species name given to the German material (collected in the 1800s and originally believed to be a phytosaur) was named for Chris Andress (the chief ranger at Petrified Forest) and his family (Long and Ballew, 1985).
Thanks to Dave Hone who sent me his photos of the Paratypothorax mount and secured permission to post the photos.
REFERENCES
Hunt, A.P. and S.G. Lucas. 1992. The first occurrence of the aetosaur Paratypothorax andressi (Reptilia, Aetosauria) in the western United States and its biochronological significance. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 66:147-157. DOI:10.1007/BF02989485.
Long, R. A., and K. L. Ballew. 1985. Aetosaur dermal armor from the late Triassic of southwestern North America, with special reference to material from the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 47:45-68.
Long, R. A., and P. A. Murry. 1995. Late Triassic (Carnian and Norian) tetrapods from the southwestern United States. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 4:1-254.
Lucas, S.G., Heckert, A.B., and L.F. Rinehart. 2006. The Triassic aetosaur Paratypothorax. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 37:575-580
Parker, W. G. 2007. Reassessment of the aetosaur “Desmatosuchus” chamaensis with a reanalysis of the phylogeny of the Aetosauria (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 5:41–68.
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