Browsing by Author "Therrien, Francois"

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    A new tyrannosaurine (Theropoda:Tyrannosauridae) from the Campanian Foremost Formation of Alberta, Canada, provides insight into the evolution and biogeography of tyrannosaurids
    (Cretaceous Research (Elsevier), 2020-01-23) Voris, Jared Thomas; Therrien, Francois; Zelenitsky, Darla Karen; Brown, Caleb Marshall
    Upper Cretaceous tyrannosauroid material from North America was primarily known from upper Campanian through Maastrichtian formations until the recent discovery of derived tyrannosaurid taxa from lower-to-mid Campanian deposits in the southwestern United States. However, diagnostic material from contemporaneous deposits further north in Alberta (Canada) and Montana (USA) has yet to be documented. Here we report the discovery of a new tyrannosaurine tyrannosaurid from the mid- Campanian Foremost Formation of Alberta, Thanatotheristes degrootorum gen. et. sp. nov, which helps fill this gap. The new tyrannosaurine, diagnosed by five autapomorphies, is found to be the sister taxon to the late Campanian genus Daspletosaurus. Thanatotheristes is distinct from Daspletosaurus based on several features, and lacks at least two apomorphies of the latter taxon. Together, these taxa form the newly established Daspletosaurini, a clade of long-, deep-snouted tyrannosaurines endemic to northern Laramidia during the Campanian. Our study demonstrates that Tyrannosauridae is composed of several geographically-segregated clades rather than a series of monogeneric successive sister taxa as recovered by previous studies. The geographic segregation of tyrannosaurid clades within North America provides renewed evidence for provinciality among large theropods during the Late Cretaceous.
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    Applications of strontium concentrations and isotopes preserved in vertebrate enamel and enamel-like tissues to paleoecology studies of Silurian conodonts from Gotland, Sweden, and Cretaceous Dinosaurs and Plesiosaurs from Alberta, Canada
    (2021-07-06) Terrill, David; Henderson, Charles; Anderson, Jason; Henderson, Charles; Anderson, Jason; Therrien, Francois; Wieser, Michael; Katzenberg, Anne; Fricke, Henry
    Paleoecology is faced with the challenge of determining the behaviour of extinct animals without direct observation. Geochemical approaches offer one of the most promising avenues to study paleoecology problems such as potential migratory patterns. While original biochemical signals are often obscured in fossilized tissues as a result of diagenesis, tooth enamel is an exception due to its very high mineral content and low porosity. Though there are many potential biological signals preserved in fossil enamel, this thesis focused on the trace element strontium. By analyzing strontium isotope ratios preserved in the enamel of terrestrial dinosaurs, possible migratory behaviours were examined in both hadrosaurs and ceratopsians found at Dinosaur Provincial Park in the Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. The movements of a hadrosaur individual were determined to extend beyond the Dinosaur Provincial Park area to a location just under 100 km to the east of the park. In contrast, a herd of ceratopsians preserved in a bonebed were shown to have travelled as far as 200 km from either the north or west. Strontium isotope ratios were also examined in the enamel of plesiosaurs and enamel-like tissues of conodonts to determine if either group inhabited freshwater habitats. Plesiosaur teeth collected from fluvial deposits of the Dinosaur Park Formation were found to largely preserve a terrestrial signal, suggesting some plesiosaurs may have primarily inhabited freshwater environments. Conodont elements from Silurian marginal marine deposits in Gotland, Sweden were also examined with a focus on potential differences through ontogeny. The results confirmed the conodont taxa Ozarkodina confluens lived exclusively in marine settings and did not spawn or spend time in coastal freshwater environments. Finally, Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios were analyzed in an entire conodont community from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden. Results revealed convincing evidence for trophic partitioning between co-occurring conodont taxa. Compositional variations were observed between the two main tissues found in conodont crowns, white matter and lamellar tissue. These tissues occur in different proportions in different taxa, and these proportions need to be kept in mind when interpreting their geochemical data.
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    Description of juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus (Hadrosauridae: Saurolophinae) from the Upper Cretaceous Bearpaw Formation of southern Alberta, Canada, reveals ontogenetic changes in crest morphology
    (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (Taylor and Francis), 2019-03-19) Drysdale, Eamon T.; Therrien, Francois; Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Weishampel, David B.; Evans, David C.
    Three juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus, represented by articulated to disarticulated skeletons, are the smallest known individuals for the taxon. Cranial anatomy of the juvenile specimens indicates that diagnostic characters of P. maximus are ontogenetically variable. In the smallest individual, the crest and deeply excavated fossa at the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression are poorly developed or absent. The crest approaches adult-like morphology in large juveniles, whereas crest robusticity and the deep excavation of the circumnarial depression occur only in subadult and adult individuals. The shape of the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression is consistent between juvenile and adult individuals, potentially making this feature a reliable character for taxonomic identification at younger ontogenetic stages. The crest of P. maximus grows isometrically during ontogeny, unlike the positive allometric growth of lambeosaurine hadrosaur crests, suggesting that this taxon may have had soft tissue structures associated with the narial-crest region, rather than the bony crest itself, selected for sexual display. Recovered from sediments of the Bearpaw Formation deposited during the Baculites compressus ammonite zone and magnetochrons 33n.3n to 33n.2n, the juvenile specimens are stratigraphically younger than P. maximus specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Alberta) and contemporaneous with most specimens from the Two Medicine Formation (Montana), extending the temporal range of the taxon to 75.7–74 Ma. The occurrence of P. maximus in well-drained terrestrial deposits of the Dinosaur Park and Two Medicine formations and marine sediments of the Bearpaw Formation indicates that this taxon inhabited various paleoenvironments in western North America.
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    Dinosaur eggshells from the Santonian Milk River Formation of Alberta, Canada
    (Cretaceous Research (Elsevier), 2017-02-16) Zelenitsky, Darla Karen; Therrien, Francois; Tanaka, Kohei; Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu; DeBuhr, Christopher Leonard
    The North American fossil record of dinosaur eggshells for the Cretaceous is primarily restricted to formations of the middle (Albian–Cenomanian) and uppermost (Campanian–Maastrichtian) stages, with a large gap in the record for intermediate stages. Here we describe a dinosaur eggshell assemblage from a formation that represents an intermediate and poorly fossiliferous stage of the Upper Cretaceous, the Santonian Milk River Formation of southern Alberta, Canada. The Milk River eggshell assemblage contains five eggshell taxa: Continuoolithus, Porituberoolithus, Prismatoolithus, Spheroolithus, and Triprismatoolithus. These ootaxa are most similar to those reported from younger Campanian–Maastrichtian formations of the northern Western Interior than they are to ootaxa reported from older middle Cretaceous formations (i.e., predominantly Macroelongatoolithus). Characteristics of the Milk River ootaxa indicate that they are ascribable to at least one ornithopod and four small theropod species. The taxonomic affinity of the eggshell assemblage is consistent with the dinosaur fauna known based on isolated teeth and fragmentary skeletal remains from the formation, although most ornithischians and large theropods are not represented by eggshell. Relative to the Milk River Formation eggshell, similar oospecies occurring in younger Cretaceous deposits tend to be somewhat thicker, which may reflect an increase in body size of various dinosaur lineages during the Late Cretaceous.
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    Mandibular force profiles and tooth morphology in growth series of Albertosaurus sarcophagus and Gorgosaurus libratus (Tyrannosauridae: Albertosaurinae) provide evidence for an ontogenetic dietary shift in tyrannosaurids
    (Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (Canadian Science Publishing), 2021-01-26) Therrien, Francois; Zelenitsky, Darla Karen; Voris, Jared Thomas; Tanaka, Kohei
    The albertosaurines Albertosaurus sarcophagus and Gorgosaurus libratus are among the best represented tyrannosaurids, known from nearly complete growth series. These specimens provide an opportunity to study mandibular biomechanical properties and tooth morphology to infer changes in feeding behaviour and bite force through ontogeny in tyrannosaurids. Mandibular force profiles reveal that the symphyseal region of albertosaurines is consistently stronger in bending than the mid-dentary region, indicating that the anterior extremity of the jaws played an important role in prey capture and handling through ontogeny. The symphyseal region was better adapted to withstand torsional stresses than in most non-avian theropods, but not to the extent seen in Tyrannosaurus rex, suggesting that albertosaurine feeding behaviour may have involved less bone crushing or perhaps relatively smaller prey than in Tyrannosaurus rex. The constancy of these biomechanical properties at all known growth stages indicates that although albertosaurines maintained a similar feeding strategy through ontogeny, prey size/type had to change between juvenile and mature individuals. This ontogenetic dietary shift likely happened when individuals reached a mandibular length of ∼58 cm, a size at which teeth shift from ziphodont to incrassate in shape and bite force begins to increase exponentially. The fact that large albertosaurines were capable of generating bite forces equivalent to similar-sized tyrannosaurines suggests that no significant differences in jaw-closing musculature existed between the two clades and that the powerful bite of Tyrannosaurus rex is the result of its large body size rather than of unique adaptations related to a specialized ecology.
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    Two exceptionally preserved juvenile specimens of Gorgosaurus libratus (Tyrannosauridae, Albertosaurinae) provide new insight into the timing of ontogenetic changes in tyrannosaurids
    (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (Taylor and Francis), 2022-04-13) Voris, Jared. T.; Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Therrien, Francois; Ridgely, Ryan C.; Currie, Philip J.; Witmer, Lawrence, M.
    Known from dozens of specimens discovered since the early 20th century, Gorgosaurus libratus has arguably contributed more than any other taxon to our understanding of the life history of tyrannosaurids. However, juvenile material for this taxon is rare. Here, we describe two small, articulated Gorgosaurus specimens (skull lengths of ca. 500 mm) that help advance our knowledge of the anatomy and ontogeny of this taxon and of tyrannosaurids in general. The new specimens exhibit hallmark juvenile tyrannosaurid features, including long, low, and narrow skulls, large circular orbits, absent or incipient cranial ornamentation, ziphodont dentition, and an overall gracile skull frame. Comparison with other Gorgosaurus specimens of various ontogenetic stages allows for an examination of the timing of morphological changes that occurred through ontogeny in this taxon relative to other tyrannosaurids. Of particular note, Gorgosaurus and the larger Tyrannosaurus rex are found to have experienced similar ontogenetic transformations at similar percent skull length relative to the large known individuals for each respective taxon but at different absolute body sizes and biological ages, occurring at a larger size and older age in Tyrannosaurus than in Gorgosaurus. These results suggest a dissociation between the timing of cranial development and body size in tyrannosaurids. Finally, the recognition of ontogenetically invariant characters in Gorgosaurus makes it possible to determine the taxonomic identity of previously misidentified specimens.