A xiphisternal from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) of Alberta, Canada

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1661-1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Godfrey ◽  
Philip J. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Provincial Park

Xiphisternal elements of dinosaurs are only rarely recovered, probably because they seldom ossified and those that did were fragile and easily destroyed. An isolated but relatively complete, right xiphisternal element was collected from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. It apparently contacted the left xiphisternal, the sternum, and at least three costal cartilages. Similar in overall morphology to xiphisternals of Edmontonia, Nodosaurus, and Panoplosaurus, it can be referred to the ankylosaur family Nodosauridae.

An edentulous frog (Lissamphibia; Anura) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of southeastern Alberta, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 569-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Tooth Loss ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Relative Depth ◽  
Surface Form ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Park Area ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Provincial Park ◽  
Labial Surface

The frog Tyrrellbatrachus brinkmani, gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of seven incomplete maxillae from vertebrate microfossil localities in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation, in the Dinosaur Provincial Park area, southeastern Alberta, Canada. The maxillae are distinctive in a unique suite of features related to size, shape, and proportions of the bone, texture of the labial surface, form of the surface for inferred contact with the squamosal, form of the lamina horizontalis and the processus pterygoideus, relative depth of the crista dentalis, and in being edentulous (i.e., lacking teeth). The higher level affinities of Tyrrellbatrachus are uncertain, although certain features exclude it from several known families; for example, the presence of a processus pterygoideus excludes it from Gobiatidae (Late Cretaceous, Asia), whereas the presence of a crista dentalis and of a relatively unreduced pars facialis exclude it from Pipidae (Cretaceous–Recent, Africa and South America). The lack of teeth in Tyrrellbatrachus is notable because although tooth loss is widespread among extant anurans and has arisen independently multiple times, it has rarely been documented among Mesozoic anurans. Comparisons with the only other edentulous anuran from the Mesozoic of the Northern Hemisphere, namely Theatonius (late Campanian – late Maastrichtian, western USA), reveal no compelling similarities to support a close relationship between the two genera. Those taxa represent an early (Campanian) instance of independent tooth loss in anurans and, potentially, the oldest record of tooth loss in nonpipid anurans.

Origins of dinosaur bonebeds in the Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 655-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Seasonal Basis ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Scientific Attention ◽  
Flooding Events ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Warm Temperate ◽  
Provincial Park

Upper Cretaceous dinosaur bonebeds are common in Alberta, Canada, and have attracted continuous scientific attention since the 1960s. Since its inception, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology has documented the presence of hundreds of these sites and has been involved directly in the scientific study of many tens. Because many of these bonebeds have been used to address questions about the paleobiology and paleoecology of dinosaurs, questions have arisen about bonebed origins and preservation in the Cretaceous of Alberta. This study of 260 bonebeds delineates broad paleoenvironmental settings and associations, and taphonomic signatures of assemblages as a first step in assessing patterns of dinosaur bonebed origins in the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta. Bonebeds are known predominantly from the Belly River Group and the Horseshoe Canyon, lower St. Mary River, Wapiti, and Scollard formations. In these units, bonebeds are mostly associated with river channel and alluvial wetland settings that were influenced by a subtropical to warm-temperate, monsoonal climate. Most bonebeds formed in response to flooding events capable of killing dinosaurs, reworking and modifying skeletal remains, and burying taphocoenoses. The “coastal-plain-flooding hypothesis,” proposed in 2005, suggested that many bonebeds in the Dinosaur Park Formation formed in response to the effects of recurring coastal-plain floods that submerged vast areas of ancient southern Alberta on a seasonal basis. It remains the best mechanism to explain how many of the bonebeds were formed and preserved at Dinosaur Provincial Park, and here, is proposed as the mechanism that best explains bonebed origins in other Upper Cretaceous formations across central and southern Alberta.

Anatomical, morphometric, and stratigraphic analyses of theropod biodiversity in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Cullen ◽  
Lindsay Zanno ◽  
Derek W. Larson ◽  
Erinn Todd ◽  
Philip J. Currie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Morphometric Analyses ◽  
Variable Distribution ◽  
Taxic Diversity ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Broad Scale

The Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of Alberta, Canada, has produced one of the most diverse dinosaur faunas, with the record favouring large-bodied taxa, in terms of number and completeness of skeletons. Although small theropods are well documented in the assemblage, taxonomic assessments are frequently based on isolated, fragmentary skeletal elements. Here we reassess DPF theropod biodiversity using morphological comparisons, high-resolution biostratigraphy, and morphometric analyses, with a focus on specimens/taxa originally described from isolated material. In addition to clarifying taxic diversity, we test whether DPF theropods preserve faunal zonation/turnover patterns similar to those previously documented for megaherbivores. Frontal bones referred to a therizinosaur (cf. Erlikosaurus), representing among the only skeletal record of the group from the Campanian–Maastrichtian (83–66 Ma) fossil record of North America, plot most closely to troodontids in morphospace, distinct from non-DPF therizinosaurs, a placement supported by a suite of troodontid anatomical frontal characters. Postcranial material referred to cf. Erlikosaurus in North America is also reviewed and found most similar in morphology to caenagnathids, rather than therizinosaurs. Among troodontids, we document considerable morphospace and biostratigraphic overlap between Stenonychosaurus and the recently described Latenivenatrix, as well as a variable distribution of putatively autapomorphic characters, calling the validity of the latter taxon into question. Biostratigraphically, there are no broad-scale patterns of faunal zonation similar to those previously documented in ornithischians from the DPF, with many theropods ranging throughout much of the formation and overlapping extensively, possibly reflecting a lack of sensitivity to environmental changes, or other cryptic ecological or evolutionary factors.

The first record of spiral coprolites from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Judith River Group, Upper Cretaceous) southern Alberta, Canada

1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1191-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive E. Coy
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
First Record ◽  
Niobrara Formation ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

Spiral coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of North America are poorly known. Enterospirae (fossilized intestines) reported from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation of western Kansas (Stewart, 1978) were disputed by McAllister (1985), who felt they represented spiral coprolites similar to those described from the Permian by Neumayer (1904). Previously described coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta are small, unstructured, ellipsoidal forms thought to derive from a crocodilian or terrestrial, carnivorous reptile of necrophagic or piscivorous habits (Waldman, 1970; Waldman and Hopkins, 1970).

An elasmobranch assemblage from the terrestrial-marine transitional Lethbridge Coal Zone (Dinosaur Park Formation: Upper Campanian), Alberta, Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil R. Beavan ◽  
Anthony P. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Brackish Water ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Faunal Composition ◽  
First Occurrence ◽  
Marine Influence ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
First Time ◽  
Provincial Park ◽  
Upper Campanian

The change in depositional environments observed in the Cretaceous (Upper Campanian) strata in the region of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, from the proximal coastal plain deposits of the Oldman Formation to the lowland coastal plain deposits of the Dinosaur Park Formation, reveals an associated change in faunal composition. An assemblage collected from a microvertebrate site in the paralic deposits of the Lethbridge Coal Zone (uppermost Dinosaur Park Formation) reflects an increasing marine influence. Elasmobranch (sharks and rays) remains are the most abundant, both in terms of number of overall taxa and number of elements, and they are the best-preserved specimens. However, several brackish-water-tolerant osteichthyan taxa, and four reptile taxa (two marine and two terrestrial), were also recovered, although they exhibited evidence of extensive taphonomic reworking.The elasmobranch fauna collected from the Dinosaur Park locality is uncommon for vertebrate microfossil assemblages in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta and in equivalent beds in Montana. Seven of the 10 taxa collected from this site [Cretorectolobus olsoni Case, 1978; Eucrossorhinus microcuspidatus Case, 1978; Odontaspis aculeatus (Cappetta and Case, 1975); Archaeolamna kopingensis judithensis Siverson, 1992; Protoplatyrhina renae Case, 1978; Ischyrhiza mira Leidy, 1856; and Ptychotrygon blainensis Case, 1978] are recorded for the first time from the uppermost section of the Judith River Group in Alberta; Carcharias steineri (Case, 1987), represents the first occurrence within the upper Judith River Group from either Alberta or Montana.

The promise of taphonomy as a nomothetic discipline: taphonomic bias in two dinosaur-bearing faunas in North America

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Connor T. Leach ◽  
Emma Hoffman ◽  
Peter Dodson
Keyword(s):  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Jurassic ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Morrison Formation ◽  
Faunal Assemblages ◽  
Hell Creek Formation ◽  
The World ◽  
Fossil Preservation ◽  
Dinosaur Fossil ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation

The fossil record of dinosaurs is a rich, if biased, one with nearly complete skeletons, partial skeletons, and isolated parts found in diverse, well-studied faunal assemblages around the world. Among the recognized biases are the preferential preservation of large dinosaurs and the systematic underrepresentation of small dinosaurs. Such biases have been quantitatively described in the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, where large, nearly complete dinosaurs were found and described early in collecting history and small, very incomplete dinosaurs were found and described later. This pattern, apparently replicated in the Maastrichtian Hell Creek Formation of Montana, is so striking that it begs the question of whether this is a nomothetic principle for the preservation of dinosaur faunas elsewhere. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the very well-studied dinosaur fauna of the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Morrison Formation of the western United States. The Morrison Formation fails to show any correlation between body size and completeness, order of discovery, or order of description. Both large and small dinosaurs of the Morrison include highly complete as well as highly incomplete taxa, and both large and small dinosaurs were discovered and described early in collecting history as well as more recently. The differences in preservation between the Dinosaur Park Formation and the Morrison Formation are so striking that we posit a Dinosaur Park model of dinosaur fossil preservation and a Morrison model. Future study will show whether either or both represent durable nomothetic models for dinosaur fossil preservation.

CANADA'S FIRST KNOWN DINOSAURS: PALAEONTOLOGY AND COLLECTING HISTORY OF UPPER CRETACEOUS VERTEBRATES IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN, 1874–1889

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-218
Author(s):  
BRIGID E. CHRISTISON ◽  
DARREN H. TANKE ◽  
JORDAN C. MALLON
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Vertebral Centra ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
British North American ◽  
Diversity Dynamics ◽  
Provincial Park

The early collecting history of dinosaurs and other fossil vertebrates in Western Canada during the 1870s and 1880s is poorly documented. Initial finds were made by the British North American Boundary Commission and the Geological Survey of Canada in modern Saskatchewan and Alberta but, beyond a few well-publicized examples, little is known about precisely what was found and where. Much of the collected material is now housed in the collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Gatineau, Quebec, and a recent survey of these historic finds allows for the first comprehensive narrative regarding their identity and procurement. The collection is heavily biased towards vertebral centra and phalanges, reflective of both taphonomic and collecting biases. Given current understanding of Upper Cretaceous assemblages of North America, ornithomimids and small theropods are overrepresented, whereas ceratopsids and ankylosaurs are underrepresented. Fossils from the Belly River Group are best represented, after repeated visits to the areas of present-day Dinosaur Provincial Park and Ross Coulee near Irvine, Alberta. Taxonomic identification of the material has yielded numerous first Canadian occurrences, in addition to some first global occurrences. The latter include the first ever occurrences of Caenagnathidae (1884) and Thescelosauridae (1889). The Upper Cretaceous fossil record of Western Canada is among the richest in the world, and has been thoroughly studied over the last century. These fossils have informed our understanding of dinosaur behaviour, taphonomy, ecology, diversity dynamics, and extinction, among other aspects. But, like the animals themselves, the story of Canada's dinosaur-hunting legacy had humble beginnings—a story that has not been fully revealed before now.

A basal bird from the Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada)

2010 ◽  
Vol 147 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC BUFFETAUT
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
First Report ◽  
Dinosaur Park Formation ◽  
Provincial Park

AbstractA fragmentary bone from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) of Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada), originally described as a pterosaur tibiotarsus, is reinterpreted as the distal end of the tibiotarsus of a basal bird, probably an enantiornithine, on the basis of several distinctive characters. It is the first report of such a bird from the Dinosaur Park Formation and shows that this group was present, together with various more derived ornithurines, in the relatively high-latitude environments of Late Cretaceous western Canada.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document