Archaeopteryx + Dystrophaeus + Sauroposeidon new Oklahoma state fossil? + Spinosaurus + Ceratosaurus + therapsids + Taotienimravus + more

[Ben Creisler]

Ben Creisler

bcre...@gmail.com

Catching up on some recent items:

Jingmai O’Connor will discuss Archaeopteryx at NHMU’s DinoFest Prehistoric Skies. Jan. 31-Feb. 1 will be a weekend of experts, workshops and special-collections access all focused on the creatures that filled the prehistoric skies.

https://attheu.utah.edu/facultystaff/150-million-year-old-fossil-is-the-link-between-birds-and-dinosaurs/

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Archaeopteryx, one of the world's first proto birds, has a set of weird, never-before-seen features, new study reveals

https://www.livescience.com/animals/dinosaurs/archaeopteryx-one-of-the-worlds-first-proto-birds-has-a-set-of-weird-never-before-seen-features-new-study-reveals

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NHMU’s DinoFest Invites Dinosaur Fans to Explore Prehistoric Skies (videos could be posted at some point)

https://nhmu.utah.edu/press/dinofest-2026-press-release

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How To Become a Pterosaur: Clues Lie With Lagerpetids

https://nhmu.utah.edu/articles/how-become-pterosaur-clues-lie-lagerpetids

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Why Aren’t Pterosaurs Dinosaurs?

https://nhmu.utah.edu/articles/why-arent-pterosaurs-dinosaurs

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Meet Utah’s Oldest Long-Necked Dinosaur: Dystrophaeus

https://nhmu.utah.edu/articles/meet-utahs-oldest-long-necked-dinosaur

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Lawmakers move to swap Oklahoma’s state fossil to Sauroposeidon after dinosaur identity crisis with Saurophaganax
House Bill 2970 would change the state fossil to Sauroposeidon proteles

https://okcfox.com/news/local/lawmakers-move-to-swap-oklahomas-state-fossil-after-dinosaur-identity-crisis

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Prehistoric Beast of the Week:

Torvosaurus

https://prehistoricbeastoftheweek.blogspot.com/2013/07/torvosaurus-prehistoric-animal-of-week.html

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Hesperosuchus

https://prehistoricbeastoftheweek.blogspot.com/2026/02/hesperosuchus-beast-of-week.html

***
Pachycephalosaurus

https://prehistoricbeastoftheweek.blogspot.com/2015/06/pachycephalosaurus-beast-of-week.html

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Ajkaceratops

https://prehistoricbeastoftheweek.blogspot.com/2026/01/ajkaceratops-beast-of-week.html

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Foskeia pelendonum: smallest herbivorous dinosaur in the world found in Burgos (in Spanish)
Foskeia pelendonum: hallan en Burgos al dinosaurio herbívoro más pequeño del mundo (with video)

https://fundaciondinosaurioscyl.blogspot.com/2026/02/foskeia-pelendonum-hallan-en-burgos-al.html

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Científico del CONICET describe un nuevo dinosaurio de 125 millones de años hallado en España

https://fundaciondinosaurioscyl.blogspot.com/2026/02/cientifico-del-conicet-describe-un.html

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Have Scientists Finally Figured Out the Spinosaurus? with Nizar Ibrahim
New Scientist (video)
55 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9DW4EgJ0zg&t=523s

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Ceratosaurus, saber-toothed theropod? Brian Curtice

https://www.fossilcrates.com/blogs/news/ceratosaurus-saber-toothed-theropod

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New Dino? Idaho State University Paleontologists Homing in on Possible New Species of Jurassic Ornithopod in Wyoming

https://www.isu.edu/news/2026-spring/new-dino-isu-paleontologists-homing-in-on-possible-new-species-in-wyoming.html

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Dinosaur dig on Victoria's Bass Coast in Australia uncovers more than 60 bones and fossils

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-11/dinosaur-dig-at-inverloch-finds-bones-and-fossils/105904132

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18 Dinosaurs Were Found Stacked Inside “Death Pits”. Turns Out, Those Holes Were Made By A Much Bigger Dinosaur
Having the longest neck of any animal ever discovered comes with its downsides

https://www.iflscience.com/18-dinosaurs-were-found-stacked-inside-death-pits-turns-out-those-holes-were-made-by-a-much-bigger-dinosaur-82483

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The Continuing Debate on Dinosaur Cognition (Tetrapod Zoology)

https://tetzoo.com/blog/2026/1/12/the-continuing-debate-on-dinosaur-cognition

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Identifying dinosaurs from their footprints is difficult – but AI can help by Paige dePolo

https://theconversation.com/identifying-dinosaurs-from-their-footprints-is-difficult-but-ai-can-help-274386

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Searching for dinosaur secrets in crocodile bones with Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/05/nx-s1-5693856/crocodile-farm-bones-dinosaur-growth-mystery

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Century of the little tyrant (Proceratosaurus) (in Czech)

https://dinosaurusblog.com/2026/02/10/stoleti-tyranskeho-prastrycka/

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Turtle fossil narrows timeline of Cretaceous species migration

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-turtle-fossil-narrows-timeline-cretaceous.html

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The [Cretaceous] Oceans of Kansas: When Amber Waves Were Blue with Michael J. Everhart
The Mitchell County Hist Soc. Annual Meeting held February 1, 2026 (video)
65 min.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNN4MPx3zmA

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Palaeocast Episode 172: Rhynchocephalians with Victor Beccari

https://www.palaeocast.com/rhynchocephalians/

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Mammal Origins [Therapsids]
NOVA PBS Official (video)
54 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23BGbVBxXdQ

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The Fossil Files Podcast 22. The dawn of dangerous seas in the Triassic
33 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt2IIDM1JUA

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Fossilized vomit reveals 290-million-year-old predator’s diet
Regurgitated material contains the prey of a hunter that lived before the dinosaurs

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossilized-vomit-reveal-predator-diet

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130 Million Years Ago, the World Caught Fire (from Flowering Plants)
PBS Eons
12 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtctulFL1wo

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Non-dino:

Evolution didn’t wait long after the dinosaurs died
Marine ecosystems began recovering within just a few thousand years after the asteroid strike

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/evolution-dinosaurs-chicxulub-asteroid

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Eocene (Pt 2): In the Jungles of Europe

https://synapsida.blogspot.com/2026/02/eocene-pt-2-in-jungles-of-europe.html

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Nevada boy who found an Eocene turtle fossil in Wyoming now helping work on its preservation

https://www.yourwyominglink.com/news/local/11-year-old-discovers-48-million-year-old-turtle-fossil-near-lander/article_64ff33b5-dad9-4b52-8809-2c51195d30bb.html

https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/nevada-boy-who-found-a-turtle-fossil-in-wyoming-now-helping-work-on-its-preservation/article_2c3350a2-d9b8-48b1-8402-024b6dfde637.html

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New sabertooth Taotienimravus flips the sabertooth script, with Steve Wroe
RealPaleontology
11 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3jsHUN16a0

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Argentavis: Giant relative of condors had a wingspan almost the size of a small plane (in Czech)

https://medium.seznam.cz/clanek/vladimir-socha-giganticky-pribuzny-kondoru-mel-rozpeti-kridel-jako-male-letadlo-238042

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How Many Mass Extinctions Were There? Beyond the Big Five
Nick Longrich Evolution and Paleontology
72 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9uBUgMVH3k&t=1717s

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[Russell Engelman]

If Oklahoma makes Sauroposeidon its state fossil this would potentially be the first time a state fossil has ever changed once it has been named, right?

[Jura]

It's an interesting question. I'm not sure of the answer. According to the National Parks Service, there are a handful of states with multiple state fossils.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/official-state-fossils.htm

Mississippi has three: Basilosaurus,  Zygorhiza, and "petrified wood"

Maryland has two:  Ecphora , and Astrodon

There are a few others too. Oftentimes it seems split between an invertebrate and a vertebrate. There's a fair few that use petrified wood as their state fossil, which seems like a cop-out.

It looks like there is no real hard and fast rule here. Oklahoma could change its state fossil or just add another one. 

[Russell Engelman]

I'm not sure those are all considered "state fossils". In Wyoming's case, Triceratops is considered the "state dinosaur", not the state fossil, and they named it as such to be a workaround to the issue of already having Knightia  named as the state fossil. The same thing happened with Ohio. They already had Isotelus as the state fossil so Dunkleosteus was named the "state fossil fish", but is not considered the state fossil. A lot of states have a separately named state dinosaur to capitalize on the public's dino mania.

The only thing I can find similar to this is when Texas changed its state dinosaur from Paluxysaurus to Sauroposeidon. But that was because the taxonomic name for that "entity" changed, it wasn't delisting the existing state dinosaur and naming a new one.

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[Mike Taylor]

I should note in passing that Matt Wedel, who did the descriptive work on Sauroposeidon and knows OMNH 53062 better than anyone in the world, is not at all convinced that Paluxysaurus is the same thing.

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[Thomas Richard Holtz]

In the case of Maryland, Ecphora is our State Fossil and Astrodon our State Dinosaur. (Of course, EVERY state has a State Avian Dinosaur).

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[Russell Engelman]

Totally agree with your point, Mike, was more referring to the general zeigeist that the two are seen as synonyms, especially among the public, even if specialists are more skeptical of the idea. I once had a prominent Cretaceous paleontologist send me a pretty nasty letter when I was a teenager because I referred to Paluxysaurus in a conversation as if it was a valid name (no joke), so apparently the synonymy is controversial enough among specialists that it's a hot-button issue for some.

The purported synonymy is supposedly why Texas changed their state dinosaur, but the actual animal it's meant to refer to hasn't changed. It's supposed to refer to the Texas bones and footprints (= Glen Rose) formerly referred to as "Pleurocoelus" (acknowledging there's no guarantee those all represent one taxon, either).

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[Gregory Paul]

TX might have done better to stick to Paluxysaurus since it refers directly to a geographic feature in the state, while Sauroposeidon is more generic. I might take a look into whether they are likely one and the same or not for the dinoguides. 

GSPaul

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.

[Milo Gaillard]

To Russel,

What? A prominent Cretaceous paleontologist got all pissy at you for treating Pauluxysaurus as a valid name? What the hell? There was no need for that paleontologist to get all aggressive. That just sounds childish.

I think the main reason why the paleontologist acted the way they did is because Sauroposeidon is a fairly significant taxon. It’s a strong contender for being the tallest dinosaur that’s ever been discovered and it’s Texas’ state fossil. I guess I can see why the paleontologist reacted they way he did, even though I personally see it as overreactive and probably childish.

-Milo

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On Feb 16, 2026, at 10:17, Russell Engelman <neovena...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Russell Engelman]

I don't think so. It wasn't like I called Sauroposeidon invalid. What happened was the newsletter for a museum my family were members of referred to the Glen Rose trackmaker as Sauroposeidon. At the time, it was generally accepted the trackmaker was "Pleurocoelus" or at that point Paluxysaurus. I had assumed some underpaid intern who wasn't super knowledgeable about dinosaurs wrote the article, and so teenage me sent a letter to the outreach department of the museum noting what I assumed was a typo.

Somehow this got kicked up the chain to the curator of vertebrate paleontology, who took grave offense at this. I didn't expect any response to my message so imagine my surprise when out of the blue I got this really nasty, personal letter from the vertebrate paleontology curator of a major museum. The letter basically called me a know-nothing and used some Mark Twain quote about how fools speak because they're too stupid to know when to keep quiet or something like that. I think I still have the letter somewhere in my house but can't check the exact quote offhand. The gist of the curators argument was "Sauroposeidon and Paluxysaurus were actually synonymous so ~nyeh". It was the first time I had ever heard of such an idea. IIRC my response was something like "sorry, sir, I'm a teenager".

I'm being a bit vague about the details here because the person who did this is still active in the field and I don't want to name names. My impression was they seemed to be a bit emotionally dysregulated for other reasons, so it might not be that Sauroposeidon versus Paluxysaurus was the sole cause of their reaction. But again, it wasn't like I called Sauroposeidon invalid or anything.

[Sean McKelvey]

Regardless, it's a woefully unprofessional way to respond to a letter. I don't think I would have taken it as well as you seem to have, Russell. You would hope the experts in this field of research would be more mature than that.

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