"It is - still - the best zoological blog out there, period"
With six years of phd work on theropod dinosaurs behind him, Darren Naish mostly spends long hours in the library, hunched over his laptop. But he gets out sometimes, and picks up litter and pursues exotic lizards across the British countryside, aiming all the while to publish his technical work on obscure Cretaceous dinosaurs. He also messes around with pterosaurs, swimming giraffes, British big cats and stuff like that. He has given up on the stupid idea of being a dedicated academic and ekes out a living as a technical consultant, editor and author. He can be contacted intermittently at eotyrannus (at) gmail dot com. For more biographical info go here.
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Category: frivolous nonsense
Posted on: August 23, 2007 7:07 PM, by Darren Naish
Well done to whomever gets the most enlightenment out of the images shown here. As before, they're relevant to the conference I'm about to leave for and, again, all will be revealed when I get back. Many thanks to those who have been assisting with financial aid, and I look forward to meeting further Tet Zoo readers whom I haven't met before.
By the way, Tet Zoo the book is now go. As for the TV series...
YES! Send me a free issue of Seed.
If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $14.95. That's 50% off the cover price! If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
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Comments
Hmmm. Well, I know that the Crystal Palace "dinosaurs" are being cleaned up and refurbished after a century of collecting dust. That verterbral series, and the accompanying image, seem to depict a short-sailed allosaur, although that's just a wierd place for a sail. As for the largest image, I can only guess it's the metatarsal block of a theropod dinosaur. All of these things are...British in origin?
Is there a reason you didn't draw the allosauroid as a spinosaur? Because usually it's the spinosaurs who have really tall sails. Acrocanthosaurus is an allosaur, sure, but it's sail is low and probably covered in meat.
Posted by: Zach Miller | August 23, 2007 7:25 PM
That's _Becklespinax_. Also exaggerated dorsal neural spines aren't limited to spinosaurs, though Darren's image there has always seemed a bit hyperbolic to me ;)
Posted by: Nick Gardner | August 23, 2007 10:32 PM
Does it have anything to do with a recent article suggesting that the tall neural spines might have supported not a sail but a hump such as buffalo sport? That Crystal Palace dino looks like Hawkins may have intended that particular similarity.
Oh, and what will "Tet Zoo: The Book" be like? Broadly speaking. When you get back. There's a fiver in it for you if you give an informative answer. :-)
Posted by: Mike | August 23, 2007 11:08 PM
guesses as to the trio of pictures here -
* Mantell's Iguanadon shoulder-hump actually belonged to a predatory carnivore.
* the sail on an Allosaurid(or other) is going to go the way of the Iguanadon hump.
* like the Iguanadon's nasal horn, the Allosaurid sail is going to turn out to be for something different.
Posted by: Anthony Docimo | August 24, 2007 12:44 AM
Mmm, them's is some lovely thero-humps. I look forward to the follow up as I've always been luke-warm to the spinosaurids as dinosaurian pelycosaur reconstructions, although I'm still waiting for the hard sell either way.
But really, didn't you promise us something about super-pigeons...although it seems like the tet-zoo-spec community has already wandered off into cetacean centipedes. See what happens when you leave us hanging Darren?
Ooh, shiny!
Posted by: neil | August 24, 2007 3:03 AM
Never mind the TV series, when is the film coming out?
Posted by: Tristram Brelstaff | August 24, 2007 4:09 AM
I'd say the sail-backed allosaur is actually Becklespinax.
Posted by: Pedro Andrade | August 24, 2007 4:45 AM
Thanks for the comments. For some heavy clues on the pictures, go here.
What will Tet Zoo the book be like? It's going to be a tidied-up compilation of articles, mostly (if not entirely) from Tet Zoo ver 1. It's basically a desperate effort to try and rake in some cash... though I owe the idea to the mighty Karl Shuker.
And, Neil, you'll get your super-pigeons soon enough my friend :)
Posted by: Darren Naish | August 24, 2007 4:57 AM
Aha!
Megalosaurus, earlier referred to as Scrotum Humanum :)
I had blogged about it in 2006/
Posted by: Ishwar | August 26, 2007 3:17 AM
Well, actually, 'Scrotum humanum' was never used as a name; it was just a caption on a plate.
Posted by: Darren Naish | August 26, 2007 6:33 AM
I expect your right about it only being a plate label, but frankly who cares, it is one of those wonderfully ridiculous 'names' that brings a smile to the face on a dreary day (which today most definitely isn't). In fact anyone up for a totally fatuous attempt to petition for the supression of Megalosaurus in favour of Scrotum. I can just see learned professors havong meaningful discussions about the genus Scrotum, mothers clouting their six yearold lads for talking about Scrotum, etc. This joke just gets better the longer I think about it!
Posted by: mark lees | August 26, 2007 6:52 AM
And there's no reason to think "Scrotum humanum" is Megalosaurus either. It could be a contemporaneous form like Metriacanthosaurus or the unnamed Stonesfield abelisaurian instead.
Posted by: Mickey Mortimer | August 26, 2007 6:34 PM
I assume they are bits of dinosaurs misplaced on the animals. Iguanodon (thumb spkie on the nose), Megalosaurs (scrotum) and I imagine you are about to tell us that the posterior dorsal vertebrae of Becklespinx aren't.
Posted by: Dave Hone | August 27, 2007 7:02 AM
I really hope that there will be some day a post here about the actual morphology of dinosaurs with elongated dorsal spines.
Posted by: Sordes | August 27, 2007 10:09 AM
And it's more than just dinosaurs! Several pelycosaurs had sails, including Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. Also, a cute lil' amphibian, Platyhystrix, had a sizeable sail.
Posted by: Zach Miller | August 27, 2007 2:41 PM
What's this? Did somebody say "terror pigeons"?
Posted by: Nathan Myers | August 27, 2007 4:56 PM
Platyhystrix was a decidedly uncute dissorophid temnospondyl.
Posted by: David Marjanović | August 27, 2007 5:27 PM
"Tet Zoo the book is now go"
Sign me up!
And now, giant pigeons please.
Posted by: Steve Bodio | August 27, 2007 8:30 PM
the whole scrotum humanum. I was wondering if this might be a modern fable. Im sure i saw somewhere the same plate with something similar to "teste antediluvii" inscribed underneath with the explanation that it belonged to a giant who had been "testament to pre-flood times". Could this be the real caption? Somehow teste/testii whatever it actually was got transcribed to scrotum as a way to laugh at primitive types since thinking that fossil bones might belong to giants from long ago= not that silly but thinking that humeral ends are ballsacks= teh funnay!
Posted by: Ross | August 31, 2007 8:17 AM
Response to Ross: for the record, I have a copy of Plot's original 1677 plate in front of me right now, and you are right. The only label attached to the 'scrotum' is the number 4. His text on p. 131 describes how the specimen...
There's even more, but I have to stop here. Plot clearly knew what he was talking about, and wasn’t the one responsible for the whole ‘it’s a pertrified giant’s scrotum’ thing.
Posted by: Darren Naish | September 2, 2007 4:01 PM
I'm not saying anything as I saw the talk, other than to point out that Samuel Beckles was a very interesting chap with a very large collection- and the decidedly irritating habit of chopping up disarticulated material into 2 square centimetre sized blocks of matrix.
(Apologies for bailing on you last night- at least I got some kip).
[from Darren: glad you got back in one piece Dave, and didn't end up collapsing in a gutter or something. Good to catch up with you at the meeting.]
Posted by: Dave Godfrey | September 2, 2007 6:51 PM
> Platyhystrix was a decidedly uncute dissorophid temnospondyl.
I think a certain kawaii factor can't be ruled out for dissorophids, especially Cacops.
Posted by: johannes | September 3, 2007 4:28 AM
Ross: you're probably confusing this with Andrias scheuchzeri, the giant salamander of Öhningen. Scheuchzer's figure of this indeed has a caption "Homo diluvii testis" (Man, witness of the Flood). I have definitely seen the caption "Scrotum humanum" with the megalosaur bone, I think it was by someone named Brookes, in the 18th century.
Posted by: Lars Dietz | September 3, 2007 8:46 AM
Wow. I had no idea.
Posted by: David Marjanović | September 3, 2007 5:13 PM
Tet Zoo the book is now go.
Cool. Estimated date of arrival? Estimated size?
Posted by: RM1(SS) (ret) | September 6, 2007 10:23 PM
Just checked, and "Scrotum humanum" is attributed to Richard Brooks, 1763 ("Natural History of Waters, Earths, Stones, Fossils, and Minerals, with their Virtues, Properties, and Medicinal Uses; to which is Added, the Method in which Linnaeus has Treated these Subjects"). (capitalization and punctuation may vary)
Posted by: Justin Tweet | September 7, 2007 12:32 PM