Dino of the Week: Lexivosaurus

Type Species: Lexivosaurus durobrivensis

Classification: Dinosauria – Ornithischia – Thyreophora – Stegosauria

Time Period: Middle Jurassic

Location: Europe (England, France)

Diet: Herbivore

Lexivosaurus is the first of the ‘standard-looking’ stegosaurs that would rise to prominence in the Late Jurassic. It’s been found in England and France, though it’s more common in England. The first discoveries were made near Lyons, France, and the fossil remains belonged to three individuals and included isolated bits of bones, plates, and spikes. The three individuals were a range of ages, from juvenile to adult, indicating a family group. Lexivosaurus’ name comes from the Lexovix people, one of the ancient Gallic tribal groups from what is now Lyons, France. 

Lexivosaurus was smaller than later stegosaurs, but it was ‘small’ only in comparison: it reached sixteen and a half feet long and weighed around two tons. It was a low-browsing herbivore that roamed the wooded islands that were scattered throughout the shallow seas of prehistoric Europe. Lexivosaurus has back plates that run from its neck to its tail; these plates are narrow and short rather than broad and angular, and it had several pairs of long spikes on the tail. These were likely defensive weapons used against attacking predators such as Magnosaurus, Poekipleuron, and Megalosaurus. Another defensive weapon was the meter-long shoulder spikes that projected from the upper rear part of the front limbs, below the characteristic twin rows of bony plates along the top of its neck and back. While older reconstructions of Lexivosaurus place the spines on the hips, modern paleontologists tend to put them on the shoulders. These spikes may have been used as visual displays – for courtship, fighting rival mates, or species identification – or they may have been defensive weapons, like the tail spikes. If a predator were attacking from the front, Lexivosaurus could thrust itself forward, driving the spikes into the flesh of its assailant. 

Dino of the Week: Bellusaurus

Type Species: Bellusaurus sui

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Sauropoda - Gravisauria - Eusauropoda - Neosauropoda - Macronaria

Time Period: Middle Jurassic

Location: China

Diet: Herbivore

Bellusaurus’ name is derived from the Latin bellus, meaning ‘small, delicate, beautiful.’ Seventeen individuals of this sauropod were found in a single quarry, suggesting that the herd had been killed in a flash flood. While this is tragic in its own right, the tragedy is compounded by the fact that they all appear to be juveniles. They measured only sixteen feet long, and bone studies indicate that they weren’t fully grown. One must wonder where the adults were when tragedy struck. Because there were no such things as ‘sauropod day cares’ (at least according to our understanding of sauropod social behavior), we must assume that the juveniles traveled with a much larger herd. One explanation is that when the flood hit, the larger adults were able to ‘weather the storm,’ but the lighter and smaller juveniles were swept away underfoot, only to be deposited miles away in a jumbled, rotting mess. A tragedy indeed. 

Dino of the Week: Magnosaurus

Type Species: Magnosaurus nethercombensis

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Theropoda - Carnosauria - Megalosauroidea -  Megalosauria - Megalosauridae - Eustreptospondylinae

Time Period: Middle Jurassic

Location: Europe (England)

Diet: Carnivore

Magnosaurus used to be classified as an early species of Megalosaurus. Along with many other as-yet-unidentified theropods, it was part of the ‘Megalosaurus Wastebin,’ a drop-off for disarticulated theropod remains that look a lot like Megalosaurus but may be other creatures. In 2010 a Cambridge University paleontologist Roger Benson took a detailed look at the remains of a juvenile theropod and realized that, because the jawbone had a number of characteristics unseen in any other dinosaur (including Megalosaurus), they must belong to an entirely new genera. Thus Magnosaurus, its own kind of theropod, came into existence. Magnosaurus reached about thirteen feet in length and weighed between five hundred pounds and half a ton, and it hunted among the wooded islands of prehistoric England. It may be one of the first ‘stiff-tailed’ tetanuran theropods, making it a distant ancestor of the better-known Cretaceous theropods Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. 

Dino of the Week: Lingwulong

Type Species: Lingwulong shenqi

Classification: Dinosauria – Saurischia – Sauropoda – Gravisauria - Eusauropoda - Neosauropoda - Diplodocoidea - Flagellicaudata - Dicraeosauridae 

Time Period: Early Jurassic

Location: China

Diet: Herbivore

Lingwulong was a sauropod that lived in southern Laurasia sometime between the late Toarcian stage of the Early Jurassic and through the Bajocian stage of the Middle Jurassic. The fossils discovered belong to seven to ten individuals at different stages of growth, indicating that they belonged to a family herd. These sauropods had U-shaped snouts and grew up to fifty feet in length. Lingwulong is considered a ‘neosauropod’ (or ‘new sauropod’), the group to which most sauropods belong. The neosauropods are composed of two subgroups: Diplodocoidea and Macronaria. The neosauropods were the largest land animals to have ever lived, and Lingwulong is the earliest known of the group. It’s considered a dicraeosaurid, a ‘sister group’ to the diplodocids. Dicraeosaurids are differentiated from the diplodocids by their relatively small body size and short necks. 

the month in snapshots

three of my loves at Naomi's first dentist appointment

Maggie likes to stand on the bookshelf with her hands behind her back, quietly judging us

Naomi loves taking selfies with her tongue out

we put in our membership at East River Church

the year in books [V]

The next installment in my 2022 Reading Queue is a series of books centered around the Hittites of the Bronze Age. As I'm studying the life of Abraham, I've found it helpful to polish up on my Bronze Age history. The Hittites are a fascinating study, especially since their empire was so short-lived. The book Peoples of the Old Testament World surveys a host of Old Testament-era nations - the Hittites included - and is an invaluable asset for any study of the Hebrew scriptures. 

the year in books [IV]

The next installment of my 2022 Reading Queue is a series of historical fiction centered around the World Wars. The first - All Quiet on the Western Front - takes place on the front line trenches during the Great War. Devastation Road is the story of a downed bomber pilot who has amnesia and is stuck in enemy territory. The Good Shepherd is C.S. Forester's classic story about the Atlantic War during World War Two, in which the main character - played by Tom Hanks in the remake titled Greyhound- is in charge of leading a convoy of supplies from New York to Great Britain in the midst of German U-boat attacks. Catch-22 is Joseph Heller's classic WW2 novel; it was an odd duck, to be sure! Here's the remake of The Good Shepherd: