'Sarahsaurus' discovery shows opportunistic nature of dinosaurs

[Judi Lynn]

'Sarahsaurus' discovery shows opportunistic nature of dinosaurs
By Randy Boswell, Postmedia News October 6, 2010

The discovery of a new dinosaur species by a Canadian scientist and two U.S. colleagues is forcing a major rethink about the early evolution of the species, suggesting the giant reptiles were less competitive with rivals and more opportunistic in their northward migrations as they spread to North America some 200 million years ago.

Robert Reisz, a biology professor at the University of Toronto's Mississauga, Ont., campus, has co-authored a paper about the discovery with University of Texas paleontologist Tim Rowe and Hans-Dieter Sues, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Reisz and Sues were documenting fossils found in Arizona when they learned that Rowe was studying a separate site in the state with remains from the same, previously unknown species — a long-necked plant eater the team has called sarahsaurus.

Rowe's research had been stymied because the bones he collected didn't include anything from the specimen's head. Remarkably, the fossils Reisz and Sues were studying included a sarahsaurus skull.

More:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Sarahsaurus+discovery+shows+opportunistic+nature+dinosaurs/3634145/story.html

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

1. My first TA job was for Rowe's Age of Dinos class

They were a TA short that semester and admitted me into the grad program within ten minutes to fill the slot. Of the four of us, I was the only non paleo person. It was a fun class to TA

[lapfog_1]

2. story needs pictures...

"Sarahsaurus attacks T-rex"

[HopeHoops]

5. You beat me to it.

[jberryhill]

3. It used to migrate from the north...

...into warmer climates in order to grift before returning to its usual habitat, on a four year cycle.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. info released in 2010.. some links

http://palaeoblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/sarahsaurus-aurifontanalis-new.html

http://www.utexas.edu/news/2010/10/05/geosciences_dinosaurs-2/

google sarahsaurus for lots of pics