Finished! Platecarpus skull pictures

I dress well

Its pretty side

Its other pretty side

Not much of an update, but I need to close out this project I've been blogging about. The world's largest Platecarpus planifrons skull is done and in the crate, ready to ship to Tucson. Hopefully I will never see it again!

Shark bites on the face

Platecarpus skull:shark bites and the rest

Things are finally moving out the door in preparation for the big Tucson gem and mineral show at the end of the month. I've been sidetracked for about a week on other projects (including getting a mosasur cast skeleton ready for shipment to Japan), but I've been able to throw a few hours here and there at the Platecarpus skull too.

Looking better but still not finished

As you know, it seems to be the largest specimen of Platecarpus planifrons ever recovered from Kansas, this coming from a student who has measured over 800 individuals. All parts are now assembled and there is just some restoration on teeth and the maxilla to complete before it gets paint on its restored parts.

It looks so happy!

An interesting thing about this specimen is that even though it was a pretty large critter (over 23 feet) it still ended up as a meal for a shark. The frontal, over the right eye, has the tips of 2 Cretoxyrhina teeth embedded in it, with gouges from several more. It also fits with scavenging behavior where shark bites on bones forward of the eye socket are rare, but pretty dang common towards the back of the skull, where all the meaty goodness of the jaw musculature is.

Ouuuuuch!

At least I hope that bite was after death. Otherwise it sure would hurt.

Last post before I'm out the door: World record Platecarpus

Jaws and skull bits in field jacket

It's holiday time again, which also means it's the last big push to get stuff finished before the Tuscon gem and mineral show. One of my last minute projects is reconstructing the largest Platecarpus planifrons skull ever discovered from the Niobrara. This critter, from Gove Co., Kansas, measures in with a skull a whopping 65cm (26 inches) long! Usually Platecarpus of any flavor from the Niobrara is hard pressed to break 50cm (20 inches).  Mike Triebold discovered this specimen in May of 2010, and it was about time to do something with it.

Some parts restored (partially)

This monster wasn't the top of the food chain though, the frontal has the tips of 2 shark teeth (most likely Cretoxyrhina) embedded in it, along with many scratches and gouges in the bone from scavenging.

Taking a ride on the Mosa-tissarie

Unfortunately, all that was recovered was the skull, though with lots of bone and not much meat, this is usually the most common parts of what remains of mosasaurs from the Niobrara. The bodies, especially the flippers and tail, tended to get chewed up first. The skull was partially eroded out and scattered, however there was more than enough present to make a good reconstruction of this animal. Hopefully sometime around the new year I'll be finished, and back on to preparing Thescelosaurus bits. Fingers crossed.

Show Thescelosaurus some love

When is a dinosaur not a dinosaur? When it's fairly dull I guess. Just look at Thescelosaurus. Not brainy, not much in the way of fangs, claws, armor, clubs, or anything else sexy. It's also a fairly rare dinosaur, with just a handful of reasonably complete specimens. We at the RMDRC have been lucky, preparing the only complete skull so far (on "Bert"), as well as now preparing a pretty dang complete skeleton, "Jonathan".

Right leg from the former display

Jonathan was discovered in 2006 in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. It was nearly complete, minus the tip of the tail and the head/neck where it had eroded out into the gully. Lying belly-up, once show prepped, it nearly looked like it died just yesterday.

Main jacket

Look at that cute little first chevron

We have now started to prepare all of the bones free of the matrix. We will restore them, mold them, reconstruct the missing bits, and offer a cast of this big Thescelosaurus (13-14 feet or 4m long) for sale to institutions. The original will be mounted in 3d on a steel armature. That last bit is a LOT of work, but it's also pretty satisfying and a bit of fun too, especially if you enjoy doing metal work!

Bonnerichthys dig: October 2011

On our last field expedition to Logan County this fall, we intended to try and recover the remains of a large Clidastes specimen located by one of our ranchers. That critter turned out to be a bit of a bust, however about 18 inches below it, we noticed another chunk of bone sticking out of the outcrop. Tracing it in, we eventually figured out it was a pectoral fin of the giant filter-feeding fish Bonnerichthys gladius. These fish are pretty darn rare, and since myself and Mike Triebold were co-authors on the paper naming this fish, we were pretty happy to find it.

Jacob Jett's feet for scale. The orange paint marks where we cut the slab with a chain saw

Detail shot of the distinctive fin of this strange fish

The chalk was very hard, but we were lucky enough to have all of our fancy air tools along with us after helping Mike Everhart with his Protostega dig earlier that week. That made life so much easier on our crew.

Preparation begins, with my hand for scale

The dig lasted just a day, and unfortunately it was just pectoral fins (and a few radials) preserved, the most common bits of this critter found. The fins themselves were 3 feet long, indicating a fish in the 15-foot range. We brought the specimen back to the lab and prepared it in a few days. Now what do we do with it?

The most intact fin, after the cleaning is finished

Daspletosaurus prep update

Jacob and I have been hammering away at the remaining small jackets of Pete III. By small I mean things less than the 4 ton main jacket monstrosity that we'll eventually have to confront. This week we've finished the left femur and ilium, along with a slew of gastral elements, vertebrae, and other bits and pieces.

Anterior dorsal of Pete III compared to Stan

The ilium has a strange mass of punky bone on the medial face of the pubic peduncle. We've seen a few instances of old age related pathology on this specimen, it wouldn't surprise me to find more.

Medial surface of left ilium, 42 inches long

Before long, we'll be started on the pathological tail section. Can't wait!

Caudal view of left femur.

Daspletosaurus prep restarts: this time with skull bones

While I was away soaking up pathogens at SVP in Las Vegas last week, paleotech Jacob Jett has been busy preparing some of the jackets from the weathered edge of Pete III's excavation. The bone was in difficult shape to begin with (earning the nickname "The pixelated Tyrannosaur" at SVP) before seeing several hundred Montana freeze-thaw cycles, making this prep work one of our greatest challenges to date. However, results are here! Skull bones so far include both quadrates, a jugal, both quadratojugals, a spenial, pterygoid and possible surangular, with more to come. No toothy bits yet though.

The left quadrate. Actually recognizable!

Dorsal vertebra #1, giving you an idea of the sheer size of Pete III. Transverse process span is 15 inches (38cm)

Surprise! Manual phalanx!

We still have many jackets (including the majority of the big 4-ton monstrosity) to prepare, however we're confident that the majority of the skeleton and perhaps 20-30% of the skull is here. Check back for more updates!