Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs

[Metallisuchus]

This past January, I visited Don Lessem's "Giant Mysterious Dinosaurs" exhibit at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and I thought I'd share some of my pics (my girlfriend took them actually) with you all.

Protoceratops

IMG_5699 by btrecords, on Flickr

Megaraptor claw. To my knowledge, there is still debate regarding whether or not this is a large dromaeosaur's toe claw or an allosaur's hand claw.

IMG_5684 by btrecords, on Flickr

Utahraptor claw.

IMG_5683 by btrecords, on Flickr

Giganotosaurus

IMG_5671 by btrecords, on Flickr


IMG_5663 by btrecords, on Flickr


IMG_5666 by btrecords, on Flickr


IMG_5674 by btrecords, on Flickr

Mapusaurus

IMG_5673 by btrecords, on Flickr


IMG_5672 by btrecords, on Flickr


--- To be continued...

[Sharptooth]

Great pics! As far as i know experts concluded that Megaraptor was indeed an allosaurid of some kind...

[Pachyrhinosaurus]

Nice pictures. From what I heard, megaraptor was supposed to be a spinosaurid, and the claw was homologous with that of baryonyx.

[Horridus]

Megaraptor's considered an allosauroid (see this paper http://www.springerlink.com/content/l496325vp2x32617/fulltext.html).  Quote from the paper:

Megaraptor was originally described on the basis of a fragmentary specimen from the Río Neuquén Formation (Turonian–Coniacian) of Neuquén, Argentina, which was interpreted as a coelurosaur (Novas 1998), due to the slender proportions of metatarsal III and the supposedly dromaeosaurid-like pedal ungual. A second specimen, comprising a more complete forelimb, vertebrae, a scapulocoracoid and a partial pubis from the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian–Santonian), demonstrated that the ungual belonged to manual digit I (Calvo et al. 2004), nullifying the proposed similarity with dromaeosaurids.

So the quote at the exhibition is balls (presuming they mean dromaeosaurs of course...) Are they implying that Utahraptor had toe claws on its hands, too....?

[ZoPteryx]

Wow, they have a Giganotosaurus and a Mapusaurus!   Impressive as they may be, this place needs to double check its facts.

[Metallisuchus]

I initially heard that it was a new species of dromaeosaur, only to hear later that it was probably an allosaurid claw. I just didn't want to take sides as I haven't read much into it. Just trying to avoid a nerd war 

The Mapusaurus wasn't full-sized. That particular specimen wasn't very big at all, maybe about my height and at about 1,000 lbs. when alive. Those are just rough estimates though - don't quote me on 'em.

Good catch, Horridus. Thought it was funny myself.

Pachyrhinosaurus - I find that even more believable than an allosaur. But have there been any discoveries of spinosaurids in South America?

[Metallisuchus]

Tsintaosaurus

IMG_5722 by btrecords, on Flickr

Oviraptor

IMG_5728 by btrecords, on Flickr

Amargasaurus

IMG_5659 by btrecords, on Flickr

Velociraptor 

IMG_5628 by btrecords, on Flickr

[Gwangi]

Pachyrhinosaurus - I find that even more believable than an allosaur. But have there been any discoveries of spinosaurids in South America?

Oxalaia and Irritator were both discovered in South America.

[Metallisuchus]

Pachyrhinosaurus - I find that even more believable than an allosaur. But have there been any discoveries of spinosaurids in South America?

Oxalaia and Irritator were both discovered in South America.

Thanks Gwangi. That helps me in believing that it just might be a spinosaur claw then.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

oh wow these are really nice. Thanks for sharing them. You remembered them !!! I love the pictures, and have always enjoyed seeing the mounts as much as the replicas if not more so.I like how they placed the smaller mounts inside those broken square shapes. Very dramatic. I wondered , is that all they had on the amargasaurus? The head and neck, or was the rest of it there in the dark area? Forgive me for asking but..oh well my name explains it right?

[Eriorguez]

Pachyrhinosaurus - I find that even more believable than an allosaur. But have there been any discoveries of spinosaurids in South America?

Oxalaia and Irritator were both discovered in South America.

Thanks Gwangi. That helps me in believing that it just might be a spinosaur claw then.

Too bad now we have a clade of Allosauroids named Megaraptora, as well as consistent proof Megaraptor is one, and incluiding stuff like Australovenator or Aerosteon.

[Metallisuchus]

oh wow these are really nice. Thanks for sharing them. You remembered them !!! I love the pictures, and have always enjoyed seeing the mounts as much as the replicas if not more so.I like how they placed the smaller mounts inside those broken square shapes. Very dramatic. I wondered , is that all they had on the amargasaurus? The head and neck, or was the rest of it there in the dark area? Forgive me for asking but..oh well my name explains it right?

Yes, sadly that's all they had on the Amargasaurus. They are among my favorite sauropods so I was hoping to see a full skeleton.

Monolophosaurus & Tuojiangosaurus

IMG_5652 by btrecords, on Flickr

Mamenchisaurus

IMG_5609 by btrecords, on Flickr

Bellusaurus

IMG_5591 by btrecords, on Flickr

Lufengosaurus

IMG_5580 by btrecords, on Flickr

Dilophosaurus

IMG_5566 by btrecords, on Flickr

Maiasaura juvenile & hatchling

IMG_5557 by btrecords, on Flickr

[Horridus]

Yeah, Megaraptor is very fragmentary but it isn't just a claw (it's also an arm ). There's enough to show that it isn't a spinosaur. Allosaurs often had big claws on their first digit...even Allosaurus itself.

[Metallisuchus]

Yeah, Megaraptor is very fragmentary but it isn't just a claw (it's also an arm ). There's enough to show that it isn't a spinosaur. Allosaurs often had big claws on their first digit...even Allosaurus itself.

Oh well, allosaurs are cool too. So with such a fragmentary find, do you think it's safe to assume it's a new species?

[Horridus]

Oh well, allosaurs are cool too. So with such a fragmentary find, do you think it's safe to assume it's a new species?

Well, people who know a lot more than I do think so...I guess the remains that they know of are distinct enough to determine that it's worthy of being a distinct genus. Its position has been reviewed in a few papers and nobody's thought it to be similar to a species in any other genus so far.

[DinoLord]

I haven't seen mounts of many of those species before. Looks like a neat exhibition! Is it temporary or permanent?

[Eriorguez]

Isn't that "Dilophosaurus" the sinensis one?

[Metallisuchus]

Temporary. And I'm not sure of dill species.

[s.foulkes]

Megaraptor's considered an allosauroid (see this paper http://www.springerlink.com/content/l496325vp2x32617/fulltext.html).  Quote from the paper:

Megaraptor was originally described on the basis of a fragmentary specimen from the Río Neuquén Formation (Turonian–Coniacian) of Neuquén, Argentina, which was interpreted as a coelurosaur (Novas 1998), due to the slender proportions of metatarsal III and the supposedly dromaeosaurid-like pedal ungual. A second specimen, comprising a more complete forelimb, vertebrae, a scapulocoracoid and a partial pubis from the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian–Santonian), demonstrated that the ungual belonged to manual digit I (Calvo et al. 2004), nullifying the proposed similarity with dromaeosaurids.

So the quote at the exhibition is balls (presuming they mean dromaeosaurs of course...) Are they implying that Utahraptor had toe claws on its hands, too....?

No what they are saying ,and yes its confusing , are that with the more recent find which has more of the fossils to describe shows that it is not a toe digit but a digit on the hand(manual digit) and on the first finger or as does allosaurus and baryonyx and not a foot mounted claw as in Dromaeosaurs. Yes i think its a new species and im wondering if it is more closly related to sinraptor (not a raptor speices) which is about the porportions of Allosaurus and looks simular somewhat too. need more of this fellow maybe a nice jugal bone would settle this.

[Horridus]

Megaraptor's considered an allosauroid (see this paper http://www.springerlink.com/content/l496325vp2x32617/fulltext.html).  Quote from the paper:

Megaraptor was originally described on the basis of a fragmentary specimen from the Río Neuquén Formation (Turonian–Coniacian) of Neuquén, Argentina, which was interpreted as a coelurosaur (Novas 1998), due to the slender proportions of metatarsal III and the supposedly dromaeosaurid-like pedal ungual. A second specimen, comprising a more complete forelimb, vertebrae, a scapulocoracoid and a partial pubis from the Portezuelo Formation (Turonian–Santonian), demonstrated that the ungual belonged to manual digit I (Calvo et al. 2004), nullifying the proposed similarity with dromaeosaurids.

So the quote at the exhibition is balls (presuming they mean dromaeosaurs of course...) Are they implying that Utahraptor had toe claws on its hands, too....?

No what they are saying ,and yes its confusing , are that with the more recent find which has more of the fossils to describe shows that it is not a toe digit but a digit on the hand(manual digit) and on the first finger or as does allosaurus and baryonyx and not a foot mounted claw as in Dromaeosaurs. Yes i think its a new species and im wondering if it is more closly related to sinraptor (not a raptor speices) which is about the porportions of Allosaurus and looks simular somewhat too. need more of this fellow maybe a nice jugal bone would settle this.

No, I was referring to Megaraptor and Utahraptor separately there. If you go back to the original posts, you'll see that the exhibition implies that Megaraptor is a dromaeosaur (it isn't), and they also imply that Utahraptor had an englarged claw on its hands as well as on each foot; they seem to be confusing Utahraptor and Megaraptor (an allosaur) in that regard.

The quote from the paper there was to back up my assertion that Megaraptor was an allosauroid; some people here were speculating that it might be a spinosaur.