First "New" Ceratopsid of 2011

The journal Cretaceous Research published an "accepted manuscript" by Nick Longrich in which he suggests that the McLargeHuge Pentaceratops specimen shown above (OMNH 10165) actually belongs to a separate genus, Titanoceratops, and that said genus is the earliest reprentative of the Triceratopsini, an end-Cretaceous group of giant chasmosaurine ceratopsids comprised of Eotriceratops and "Toroceratops."* Among other issues, Bill Parker has voiced his concern over the practice of journals posting unpublished manuscripts on their websites, a sentiment I share.

I'm going to hold off on my critique until Titanoceratops is actually published, but I'm a little iffy about the lines of evidence brought up in the manuscript. I had a few of the same problems with Mojoceratops, but I certainly wouldn't mind if the Austin Powers dinosaur remained viable, if only for it's awesome name. One positive is that the original skull of OMNH 10165 is lacking most of the frill--the reconstruction above is largely extrapolated. So, you know...there's that.

Godspeed, Titanoceratops. It looks like 2011 may be shaping up to be another good year for horned dinosaurs, valid or otherwise.

*Still waiting to see how this turns out. So sue me.

Say Hello to the New Guys

The Year of Ceratopsians continues with two new additions to the Chasmosaurinae: Utahceratops gettyi and Kosmoceratops richardsoni. I will give you two guesses as to where the former was discovered. Here's one hint: It's in the name. There was absolutely nothing about this animal that warranted a better, more imaginative moniker. Meanwhile, Kosmoceratops is heavily airbrushed, full of fashion advice, and knows the top ten ways to make your bull go wild in the bedroom. Another surprise is that Chasmosaurus irvinensis is renamed Vagaceratops irvinensis, as it turns out to be closer to Kosmoceratops than Chasmosaurus.

But seriously, this is fantastically exciting. The paper was published in PLoS One and is thus freely available for all. Check out the paper by clicking this lengthy link, but don't be surprised if you can't see the pictures or download the paper as a PDF. It would seem that PLoS One went on hiatus the second this paper was announced, thus going from "awesome free-access journal" to "cocktease."

But don't cry about it--go to The Internets, where people have been blogging about these new dinosaurs all morning. Do you want to know more? Click these links to do just that!

Archosaur Musings
The Open Source Paleontologist
Dinosaur Tracking
Dinochick Blogs

Don't get too excited: they're probably all just ontogenetic stages of each other.

Leviathan = Livyatan

I'm very late to the party here, but in case you weren't aware, that big raptorial whale that was discovered two months ago, originally named Leviathan, has been renamed Livyatan because the original name was found to be a junior synonym of Mammut, which sucks. To be fair, the name Livyatan conjured up much the same image: it's the Hebrew name applied to large marine monsters. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but hey.

Breaking: Mosasaurs Are Awesome

This is Platecarpus tympaniticus, and yes, it has a caudal fluke. Confused? I recommend clicking this link for the answers to all your questions.

Smashing, Baby!

Mojoceratops, International Chasmosaurine of Mystery

Nick Longrich describes a new chasmosaurine ceratopsid in the new issue of the Journal of Paleontology: Mojoceratops. It's name means exactly what you think it does, and Nick thought the name up over pints in a pub. Brilliant. It's about time somebody invoked soul when it comes to naming ceratopsids, what with their billboard frills and fancy horns.

Congrats to Nick, and I absolutely LOVE his illustration. I actually love Nick's dinosaur pictures generally. They're almost-but-not-quite cartoonish: they get the point across, but they have character. Don't know about the snow, though. Was it snowing in southern Alberta during the Late Cretaceous?

2010 really is the Year of the Ceratopsian.

Ceratopsian Volume Out Today!!!

EXCITING NEWS, EVERYBODY! As it turns out, we were all wrong about the constant delays! Yeah, we thought it was coming out on April 5th, then I told you recently that the publisher told me that it's actually been delayed until June 2nd, but GUESS WHAT? It's out NOW! And even BETTER, the first twenty people who order the book online will get it for FREE as an apology for the perpetual delays!




I had considered doing a post about some fake new fossil that proves BAND right after all, and that birds actually evolved from casids or something, but that would've been MORE plausible. April Fool's, everybody!

New Dromaeosaur on the Block

Meet Linhuraptor exquisitus, a new dromaeosaur from the Djadokhta Formation in Mongolia. Other dromaeosaurs in the area include Velociraptor mongolensis, V. osmolskae, Tsaagan mangas, and Mahakala omnogovae. I'm warry about the validity of the second taxon, and that last one might be a basal paravian, but hey, that's quite a crop of vicious little raptor dinosaurs. Linhuraptor is most closely related to Tsaagan and shares many unique characters with it, so the two likely form a monophyletic group. Additionally, the skeletal details of Linhuraptor place it nicely between the Chinese "microraptors" and the more advanced dromaeosaurids like Velociraptor and Deinonychus. Even individual taxonomic families have their own "transitional forms." There's a nice progression of skeletal features from Gondwanan unenlagiines up through microraptors and these new "Tsaaganines" (my own term) toward familiar dromaeosaurines.

The holotype is incredibly beautiful (hence the specific epithat) and complete. This picture is NOT the holotype, but a CAST of the holotype.


The most interesting part of the paper, for me, anyway, is buried in a wall of text on page 5. The authors write:

"On the basis of positional homologies, we identify the manual digits of Linheraptor as corresponding to the middle three digits of ancestral archosaurs, as is currently hypothesized for all maniraptorans (Xu et al. 2009)."

This is somewhat misleading. The authors have taken the rather bold step in implying that the Limusaurus argument--that a frame-shift occured in finger development to switch manual digits I-III to II-IV--is generally accepted. This is not true. Andrea Cau, Darren Naish, myself, and others have pointed out that Limusaurus' shrunken hands and stubby fingers are more a consequence of its lineage (ceratosaurs) than some grand frame-shift at the base of the Neotheropoda. Furthermore, based on the photos I'm looking at, the arms and hands of Linheraptor are incompletely preserved and not fully prepared. Without a complete, well-preserved hand in hand (HA!), the authors are making a big assumption about not just the manual development of Linheraptor, but all maniraptorans and, in citing Limusaurus specifically, all neotheropods. I think that's irresponsible at best, and axe-grinding at worst.

Anyway, the fossil itself is beautiful, it adds to the diversity of both Dromaeosauridae and Mongolia's raptor family, and it speaks to the evolutionary history of the group. I just wish that the authors had left that rather unneccesary remark about finger development out. It's not especially relevant, and comes off as chest-puffing.

Two Awesome Dinosaur Stories

Two new papers, hot off the virtual presses.

Xing Xu et al, “A Jurassic ceratosaur from China helps clarify avian digital homologies,” Nature 459:940 doi:10.1038/nature08124

Look, ma: no teeth! I remember seeing the presentation for this beastie (Limusaurus) at SVP last year and was very excited about it. You could almost call it the ceratosaur version of an alvarezsaur. It's got long legs, short little arms, a lengthy neck and toothless jaws (and, one would assume, a beak). That's cool enough, right? Well, even better, Limusaurus helps solve the riddle of why non-avian theropods retain digits I-III, but modern birds seem to have digits II-IV. BAND members have pointed to this inconsistency time and time again to invalidate a theropod origin for birds (like any of their "ancestors" have digits II-IV). Limusaurus may solve the problem, as it retains digits I-IV, but digit I is reduced to a single stumpy phalange. The authors suggest that this represents a transition, and that what we see as digits I-III in tetanurine theropods is actually digits II-IV, and that those digits have taken on the characteristics of digits I-III. I don't know how convinced I am of this--Limusaurus is ridiculously derived AS IS. Either way, it's an awesome theropod regardless of what its finger formula implicates.

Paul C. Sereno, Zhao Xijin, and Tan Lin
A new psittacosaur from Inner Mongolia and the parrot-like structure and function of the psittacosaur skull
Proc. R. Soc. B published online before print June 17, 2009, doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0691

Parrots crack nuts with their big curved beaks, and that's exactly what Sereno, Xijin & Lin are suggesting psittacosaurs did in this new paper. I'm not sure if they're describing another new species within the genus or simply a new well-preserved skull. National Geographic has a brief story about it, and if that's the skull they found, it's a nice-looking skull.

Thanks to Nick Gardner for sending me both papers. I'll have a tongue-in-cheek blog up about Limusaurus in the next few days.

You Say Goodbye...

And I say "heaven-o."

Hat-tip to PZ for alerting me to this story.

The Overhype--It Burns!

Surely you've all heard of Ida the Adapid by now. She has, perhaps, been oversold. She is not the "Holy Grail" of paleontology, nor does she cure cancer, though you wouldn't know that based on the mainstream media, who is going apeshit insane over this relatively vanilla fossil (save for its awesome preservation). No time right now to comment further, but read all those links and this one too for a pretty complete picture of the animal's relevance.

Ze Bonyard's Triumphant Return!

Remember the Boneyard? If not, click the corresponding tag. I will return to this humble blog on June 12th, so get those entries written and submitted to me either via comment or email (sillysaur at gmail dot com). I'm going to try and include important stories from the last few months, so anything you've written about Puijila, Tianyulong, Miragaia, etc., include it here. The Synapsid Art Show will be linked to, all that good stuff. Get those entries in, dear readers! This will be epic!

Rationality: 1, Kooks: 0

Yahoo! Our justice system steps up against idiocy. My faith in humanity has been (slightly) restored.

Gorgonopsids and Dicynodonts and Pelycosaurs, OH MY!

The newest art show at the Art Evolved! goes up today. Its theme: Permian synapsids, a wondefully diverse but, alas, poorly-known group of critters that deserve a whole lot more time in the spotlight. My own submission is painfully horrible and difficult to look at now. Forgive my feeble attempts at coloring things with Photoshop. The sketch had so much promise! I shall blog about my failings at a later date, but I eagerly await seeing what my talented colleagues came up with! Perhaps I shall throw together one of my "signature" pen & ink pieces tonight for inclusion...

Gaming News I Care About

"This is Earthend!"

Patapon 2 hits stores on May 5th. Bizarrely, Sony will be releasing it as DLC-only ($20). Even more bizarrely, you will still be able to go to Best Buy and buy the box. The box will include an instruction booklet and a download voucher. I can only assume this means Patapon 2 will not be an enormous game, space-wise. I'm very excited, for two reasons. First, Patapon may be my favorite PSP game, and one of most artistically brilliant games to hit any console ever. Second, it'll be the first time I've switched my PSP on in months. Sony just doesn't know how to support that machine. That's not all, though. Sony is rumored to be getting a real PSP sequel ready for release (PSP "Go!") that will lack a UMD slot entirely. The plan here, allegedly, is that Sony will begin releasing the most popular PSP games on the PSN. We're gonna need a bigger Memory Stick Duo...I'll probably learn more at E3 (I'm going to E3 this year).

Look, it's Mr. Fat!

I love my DSi. I really do, but I wish Nintendo would support it. The only notable DS release in the past...well, as long as I can remember...has been Pokemon Diamond, and it was released a few weeks before the DSi. I'd like those DSi-enhanced games Nintendo promised to come out sooner rather than later. Another point of contention: the DSiWare released so far has sucked. Tech demos and terrible "minigames" that they can't bring themselves to charge more than $5 for (and honestly, that's too much). Japan is getting a real DSi Virtual Console with classic GB/A games. Bring that over here, Nintendo of America! Don't sit on your damn duffs! Get with the program and remind me why the DSi is so awesome!

This is what happens when worlds collide!

Break out the champaigne bottles: Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is coming to the PSN and Xbox Live. IT will come "unlocked," with all 50+ characters available from the get-go. This is one of the most celebrated 2D fighters of all time, and I'm very excited about this. It's the superior Dreamcast code that's being ported over, with some interesting graphical improvements to compensate for the HD age. Players will have the option of playing with the original pixels, smoothed pixels, or yet smoother pixels. The game will not be coming to the Wii because of file size limitations. The game will cost $15 (must want), include a few different online modes, and support widescreen displays. I generally suck at 2D fighters (see Street Fighter, King of Fighters, and King of the Monsters) but as I recall, this one was pretty kickass.

All your Wesker are belong to us.

I'm still playing RE5--I just can't stop. In fact, I feel guilty for not playing my other games, like Bioshock and LittleBigPlanet. But here's the thing: I fucking love RE5. As if the main campaign doesn't provide enough excitement and replayability (Professional difficulty is a bitch), the online Versus mode is just as fun. It's basically Mercenaries with up to three other people, all competing for points. The only thing that drags Versus down is that you will sometimes end up playing with people in a game in Slayers (kill the zombies) who think they're playing Survivors (kill each other). So you're busy creating an awesome chain of zombie kills and suddenly some deuchbag comes up and starts shooting you in the back. What the fuck, man?! Kill zombies like you're supposed to! I really need to dig my headset out and start cursing these idiots during gameplay. Although I doubt they're going to stop. Then, if you kill them for being a cock, their mission in life becomes vengeance. God, I hate those morons. But when you get a group of good-natured people in a game, it's a great time!

If any of you readers out there want to join me for a rousing round of zombie-killin', my PSN handle is "Sillysaur." We shall battle together...for great justice!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm not usually one to toot my own horn, but I let myself do it at least once a year: my birthday. Today I turn 26, that ripe old age when colors begin dimming, and food tastes worse. I'm afraid it's all downhill from here, especially from the perspective of a CF patient, as I am now middle-aged. But hey, I got a bunch of cool birthday stuff. The in-laws sent me a Best Buy gift card, which I immediately used to acquire Tomb Raider: Underworld (it's so beautiful) and the final season of Fullmetal Alchemist. My parents, pitying me after that whole Guitar Hero: World Tour debacle (I told you about that, right?) sent me that game plus the guitar, but without the drum kit (good riddance). Finally, my darling wife bought me Bioshock, which has been called the most significant game yet developed in terms of social commentary, so I'm eager to play it.

Ironically, I'm at work today, and I'm not having my birthday dinner until tomorrow night. Scott and I are preparing for an EPIC debate in front of Gina's argumentative writing course on Wednesday. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Also, my once-a-year moment of superficiality. I present to you all The Most Genetically Perfect Woman on the Planet (aside from my wife, of course). I know, I'm a bad person.

Yahoo!

My boy won! I stopped watching the election coverage at 8 o'clock, and by then Obama had 338 electoral votes to McCain's meager 155. If that's not a mandate, I don't know what is. The man's got a big mess to clean up, but I believe he's up to the task. Palin was kicked offstage and will come back to Alaska, probably to a sympathetic populous. I wouldn't be surprised to see her run for senate in the future. Since Ted Stevens will probably will (by a slim margin) over Begich, even though Stevens is a convicted felon, Palin (or Parnell) will get to appoint their own senator once Uncle Ted is hauled from his senate seat and into the slammer. Alaskans can be very stupid sometimes.

So Palin would be running for senate against the person she appointed in 2012. She'll probably win. I don't think the national spotlight is in her best interest. When the lights go up, the cameras roll, and her cue cards are taken away, Palin tends to shoot herself repeatedly in the foot.

Sadly, thought the presidency is an enormous step forward for the country (both governmentally and culturally), several states took an equally huge step back by banning gay marriage and/or adoption rights, including California, where I thought such a ban would be virtually impossible. Since the Supreme Court ruled a few years ago that banning gay marriage in California was unconstitutional, about 18,000 gay and lesbian couples have tied the knot there. The question now is what the legal status of those unions is. So we like black people now, but we still don't like homosexuals.

But hey, it's over now, right? That's something.

It's OVER

Did you get out there and vote today, America? Because you really should. I did this morning, and it felt good. Now, aside from two weeks, maybe a month of post-election/campaign commentary, I think we're in the clear. "Talk of the Nation" and "All Things Considered" (two of my favorite NPR shows) will start discussing other things, and life will go back to normal.

I voted for Obama/Biden. Critical thought and rationality allowed me to do this. I'm not sure what percentage of the American people will follow my lead, however, as we tend to be skiddish, easily frightened, and deathly afraid of change. A lot of McCain's zinger labels stuck to Obama. I'm sure that right now, people are voting for McCain because they think Obama is a terrorist (thanks, Palin) or a socialist (do you know what Socialism IS?). Also, there's the whole McCain/Palin "anti-science" thing. That rubbed me the wrong way since Day 1. Palin doesn't understand why scientists do genetic research on flies (would she prefer we do our genetic research on people?), and McCain's science opinions fall in line with our current president's (makes...me...angry).

But no matter who you're voting for, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. My enthusiasm for Obama is matched only by my cynicism regarding American's inability to vote for somebody other than the old white man. I won't be surprised either way tomorrow morning. But I'm just glad it's over...pretty much over.

One Week Left...

...until Talk of the Nation and Science Friday (NPR shows) talk about something other than the election. I stopped caring so deeply about the presidential race a loooong time ago, because it feels like it's been going on for at least half of Bush Jr.'s second term. And it probably has. I tripped over a Time magazine from early last year and it was talking about the Republican race for the primaries. Ironically, it said that McCain wouldn't make it. I'm an Obama supporter, if for no other reason than Sarah Palin makes me cringe and McCain very well may die in the White House, then leaving Ms. Devil Bones in charge of both the country and the Big Red Button.

And, you know, I'm sick of all the name-calling from the McCain camp. Obama's not a socialist, or a terrorist, or a Muslim. I'm not even sure how these names ended up sticking. Are the American people that stupid?

(Yes, sometimes they can be)

Just one fine point: McCain's people are calling Obama a socialist because he wants to "spread the wealth," which is apparently a socialist tenant. I have to read more about socialism, but I always thought it was more about the government owning property and doling it out among the populous as it saw fit. Anyway, this is after McCain helped pass the bailout bill, in which every man woman and child in American "shares the wealth" by giving it to the government, who then uses that money to take partial control of the banking system. Seems...ironic.

But in all honesty, I'm ready for it to be over. I'm not going to lose my head over whether my boy wins or loses. I'll just be happy when the news is not dominated by gaffs, flubs, and stumps.

Paradoxical!

Just to be absolutely clear, Jack Thompson did not try to crucify Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (which has since spawned a cheesecakeer sequel, DoAX2). While this screenshot is from the Xbox 360 sequel, it is diagnostic of the original game as well.

Instead, he focused his laser-like hate beam at Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a game that looks unbelievably ugly even though it's a late-era PS2 game. Usually, the best-looking games come out late in a system's life (for various reasons). Rockstar did not follow this trend.

The original, uncensored screenshot is freely available online and not difficult to find. Here's the thing: If the Hot Coffee scene remained in the game, Rockstar assures us that it's not some violent rape scene--it's sex between two consenting adults (the woman is your character's girlfriend). But Rockstar thought even THAT was too much for the American market to handle, and bured the scene in the game's code, making it unaccessable to 99.9% of gamers. That 0.1% hacked the game, pulled the scene, and developed a patch that allowed other users to partake. Without Rockstar's permission.

So on the one hand, you have a game released in America that's pure and utter cheesecake, a game where chesty girls with itty bitty bikinis frolic on beaches and bounce around while playing volleyball (DoAX2 even brags about having exaggerated "breast physics," and they are). That's the entire game, out of the box, available to every user with an Xbox or Xbox 360. On the other hand, you have a consentual sex scene deleted by the developer and brought to the surface by hackers who illegally distributed a patch. What's worse? What's more damaging to "the children," who are always brought up in these stupid controversies.

Neither one is worse than the other! If anything, DoAX is worse because of the shameless objectification of women...which is yet ANOTHER topic for ANOTHER blog post. Geezus, we're getting into deeper waters here.

But I just wanted to demonstrate, even moreso, that Jack Thompson is a jackass. This was supposed to be brief.

Jack Thompson Finally Disbarred

Gaming's staunchest, most irritating critic (for all the wrong reasons) has finally been disbarred. Jack Thompson rose to fame during that awkward "Hot Coffee" controversy. Remember that one? Where a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sex scene that was essentially deleted by Rockstar games but later discovered in the game's code by hackers and brought to the surface via a user-created patch and distributed without Rockstar's approval?

Jack responded like any media jackel would--by ignoring the real issue (illegal mods) and focusing on the T&A, which Americans love to hate. He tried to get the ESRB dismantled and replaced by a government agency, and he tried to have several games banned in the United States, including "M-rated" games. This is a controversy I could cover in another blog post, but the point is that Jack Thompson is an attention whore and an idiot. He responded to criticism with threats. I had the displeasure of emailing him and telling him that while I agreed that parents need to keep an eye on the games their underage children play, you can't punish everyone else by banning certain games, and you can't blame the developers for user-developed mods.

He responded by basically covering his ears and yelling "LA LA LA" while threatening legal action. You're a real gentleman, Jack.

At any rate, his antics overflowed to games like The Sims and World of Warcraft, where user-generated patches had created "nude codes." It's a wonder Jack wasn't railing against Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball, which by default was somewhat raunchy (in a lighthearted manner), but also resulted in a user-generated "nude" patch.

The worst part is that politicians joined in. Hillary Clinton got on that bandwagon and started railing against the ESRB and gaming in general. These people act like the only video games out there are Grand Theft Auto and Postal 2. No mention is ever made of the Mario games, Tetris, or Ratchet & Clank, but I suppose it's tough to get media support when you're attacking Mario for stomping on turtle shells.

This is a topic I feel strongly about, not just because I'm a gamer myself, but also because I lean toward being a libertarian. I'll blog about this issue one of these days. For now, though, I'll leave you with Jack's douchebag response to being disbarred.