Latest news with #MorrisonFormation
News.com.au
23-07-2025
- Science
- News.com.au
Eye-watering sum rare ceratosaur fossil sold for at auction
A rare Ceratosaurus fossil, one of only four known to exist, has sold at $46.5 million at a Sotheby's auction. Described in a statement by the auction house as 'one of the finest and most complete examples of its kind ever found,' it vastly surpassed the estimated value, which was listed last month at $6 million to $9 million. The dinosaur fossil was discovered in 1996 on privately owned land in Albany County, Wyoming, in Bone Cabin Quarry, an area known to be a rich source of fossils due to its location in the Morrison Formation, a rock unit from the Late Jurassic Period. The carnivorous predator is a theropod, a term classed for a diverse group of dinosaurs characterised by thin-walled bones and the ability to stand and run on their two hind limbs. The Ceratosaurus weighed up to two tons, and was easily distinguished by its nasal crest, elongate teeth, and a row of sharp bones running down the middle of its back and tail. It also featured a fourth clawed finger, which differed from its three-clawed theropod peers. While the $46.5 million price tag may seem steep, it's far from the first of its kind. Last year, Sotheby's made history with the stegosaurus fossil 'Apex', which fetched $68 million, nine times more than the presale estimate. In 2020, a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil, popularly known as 'Stan', was sold by auction house Christie's for $48 million. Mark Westgarth, an Associate Professor in Art History & Museum Studies at the University of Leeds, told CNN that the successful sale falls in line with the recent revival of interest in fossils and natural history. 'At the top end of the market … seems to be about an increasing desire for 'distinction,'' said Westgarth. 'These dinosaur specimens also have a particular aesthetic — they are sculptural and awe-inspiring.' There were six hopeful bidders competing for the Ceratosaurus, both online and over the phone. Cassandra Hatton, Vice Chairman and Global Head of Science and Natural History at Sotheby's said that there was an upturn in the number of people who registered to participate in the auction. 'I've had so many people who'd started off in this market who completely stopped because they'd been burned,' Ms. Hatton told the New York Times. 'A lot of those people who were excited years ago and got turned off are coming back.' The specimen, which is the only juvenile of its kind, has not been studied or described formally in publication, Sotheby's revealed. While the identity of the winning bidder has not been revealed, Ms Hatton has shared that the buyer intends to loan the specimen to a museum.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists discovered a mystery dog-sized dinosaur in Colorado
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. The bones of a small mystery dinosaur unearthed in Colorado have now been moved to London, England. The naming of the bones, which are part of a new species called Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, is part of an ongoing effort to draw more attention to smaller sets of remains. These fossils were first discovered in the Morrison Formation, a section of the United States that is renowned for providing us with some of the most iconic dinosaur fossils. While previous specimens like the stegosaurus and allosaurus have been discovered here, other, smaller creatures found in the area have often gone overlooked. One of these overlooked sets of remains belongs to the recently described Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae. Today's Top Deals XGIMI Prime Day deals feature the new MoGo 4 and up to 42% off smart projectors Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals One of the reasons for giving this dinosaur an official name and putting it up for observation in London is to help bring attention to other overlooked specimens from this part of the US. While the allosaurus and stegosaurus might be more exciting, they are far from the only dinosaur remains we've pulled out of Colorado. Sure, the bigger dinosaur remains are more impressive, but every set of remains we uncover helps us learn more about how the world operated back in ancient times when dinosaurs ruled the world. A new paper detailing the remains of the mystery dinosaur have been published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. And, as noted above, the dinosaur is now on display to see for yourself at the Earth Hall Mezzanine in London. Based on a breakdown of the new species, researchers believe it existed during the final stages of the Late Jurassic Period, roughly 152 to 145 million years ago. The look of the mystery dinosaur suggests that it was likely built for speedy, quick encounters where it could slip in and out, using its speed and agility to avoid becoming prey. It had long legs, and was roughly dog-sized, the researchers noted in their paper. Unfortunately, the way that the fossil was secured before being moved to the Natural History Museum in London has made it difficult to tell exactly how old the specimen was when it perished. Hopefully, future remains of the species will help us learn more about these mysterious dinosaurs and the part they played when they roamed the Earth. Scientists also recently uncovered the remains of another new dinosaur species after it sat in a jar in a museum for several years. More Top Deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 See the
CNN
29-06-2025
- Science
- CNN
New dog-sized dinosaur species discovered
Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur — one that was dog-sized and roamed what is now the United States around 150 million years ago alongside familiar dinosaurs like stegosaurus and diplodocus. The Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, as researchers named it, was about the same size as a Labrador retriever, with a tail that made up about half of its length, according to a study published in the Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday. Although many of its bones were unearthed from the Morrison Formation in Colorado in 2021-2022, its skull and parts of its vertebral column were missing, leaving scientists unsure of its precise length. 'These very small plant-eating dinosaurs are pretty rare (to find),' Professor Paul Barrett, a researcher at London's Natural History Museum who co-led the study, told CNN. 'Actually finding a substantially completed skeleton rather than a few bits and pieces of bones is not common and as a result they're fairly poorly known.' The skeleton will be displayed at the Natural History Museum from June 26. This dinosaur was quite 'lightly built' and weighed around the same as a collie, said Barrett. It was a herbivore and would have walked on its long hind legs, which 'suggests it was quite a speedy runner' allowing it to make a 'quick getaway' from predators, Barrett added. He and his colleague, Susannah Maidment, began investigating this specimen after a London art gallery, which was displaying the dinosaur, got in contact with them. They were eventually able to work with the gallery to find a donor who could help bring the skeleton to the museum. The species name honors that donor, Molly Borthwick, while the genus name is Latin for 'mysterious runner.' By carefully examining the bones, Maidment and Barrett concluded that this specimen had unique characteristics unlike any other previously known species. In particular, its thigh bone was particularly distinctive, with different sorts of muscle attachments than other dinosaurs, Barrett said. It is most closely related to Yandusaurus hongheenis, a three-meter- (9.8-foot) long dinosaur that has been found in China. This suggests the species was widely distributed, Barrett said, hypothesizing that other fossils of it simply haven't been found yet. Scientists believe this specimen was not yet fully grown as some of its vertebrae had not yet fused but, because of the way the fossil was prepared before it came to the Natural History Museum, they can't be certain. It is also not clear how the dinosaur died because there aren't any obvious signs of illness or injury in its bones. New species of dinosaurs are unearthed or identified relatively frequently, about once a week, said Barrett. But finding small dinosaurs like this is much rarer, partly because they're overlooked by fossil hunters searching for bigger, more impressive dinosaurs and partly because smaller skeletons are more likely to be ripped apart by predators and scavengers. Finding these smaller dinosaurs which are often left in the ground 'gives us a more complete idea of what those ecosystems were like,' Barrett said.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New dog-sized dinosaur identified after fossil mix-up
(NewsNation) — A new species of dinosaur the size of a Labrador retriever has been identified after scientists managed to untangle a fossil mix-up. Incomplete fossil remains of the newly named enigmacursor mollyborthwickae were initially discovered in modern-day Colorado in 2021-22 but were misclassified by scientists as being the remains of a nanosaurus. In a newly published report, scientists behind the discovery note that the small herbivore was about 3 feet long, with its tail making up about half of its length. Dinosaurs didn't roar like in the movies. Here's how they sounded According to the museum, the name enigmacursor roughly translates to 'puzzle runner' in Latin. Despite its small stature, this two-legged dinosaur had long legs, which allowed it to quickly move away from predators. 'We can speculate that Enigmacursor probably wasn't that old, as it doesn't seem to have many of its neural arches fused in place. However, the way the fossil was prepared before it was acquired by the Natural History Museum has obscured some of these details, so we can't be certain,' Paul Barrett, co-lead author, said. New 2-clawed dinosaur discovered in Mongolia The remains, which date back to roughly 150 million years ago, are now on display at the Natural History Museum in London, marking the museum's first new dinosaur on display since 2014. Unearthed from the Morrison Formation of the Western United States, the dinosaur is said to have roamed the same region as dinosaurs like the stegosaurus and diplodocus. 'While the Morrison Formation has been well-known for a long time, most of the focus has been on searching for the biggest and most impressive dinosaurs,' professor Susannah Maidment, co-lead author of the report, told the museum. 'Engimacusor shows that there's still plenty to discover in even this well-studied region and highlights just how important it is to not take historic assumptions about dinosaurs at face value.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Enigmatic 'runner' dinosaur from Colorado helps rewrite understanding of several Jurassic species
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A mysterious "runner" dinosaur, only about the size of a dog, scurried around the ancient floodplains of what is now Colorado around 150 million years ago, a new study finds. The two-legged herbivore, named Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, was around 3 feet (1 meter) long and 1.5 feet (0.5 m) tall. However, despite its small stature, the discovery of this dinosaur is having a big impact on scientists' understanding of several Jurassic species. A private fossil company excavated E. mollyborthwickae in Colorado between 2021 and 2022. The skeleton was later put up for sale, advertised as Nanosaurus, which is another type of small dinosaur from the same rock formation — called the Morrison Formation. After the Natural History Museum in London bought the skeleton, researchers found that not only is this new specimen not Nanosaurus, but the scientific classification of Nanosaurus and several other dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation are also unreliable. The Morrison Formation is home to many iconic dinosaur fossils, such as the plated Stegosaurus and the ferocious predator Allosaurus, which would have lived alongside E. mollyborthwickae during the Jurassic period (201.3 million to 145 million years ago). The new study, published Wednesday (June 25) in the journal Royal Society Open Science, highlights that researchers still have a lot to learn about the formation's smaller dinosaurs. "While the Morrison Formation has been well-known for a long time, most of the focus has been on searching for the biggest and most impressive dinosaurs," study co-lead author Susannah Maidment, a senior researcher at the Natural History Museum, said in an article published by the museum. "Smaller dinosaurs are often left behind, meaning there are probably many still in the ground." Related: Meet 'Dragon prince' — the newly discovered T. rex relative that roamed Mongolia 86 million years ago The skeleton was excavated by a company called Dinosaurs of America, LLC and acquired by the David Aaron art gallery in London, before the Natural History Museum purchased the fossils in 2024, according to the study. When the researchers got their hands on the alleged Nanosaurus, they began to look closely at the group, along with other small-bodied Morrison Formation dinosaurs. "Nanosaurus wasn't named based on many fossilised bones, but largely the preserved impressions of bones pressed into hardened sand that are very difficult to study," study co-lead author Paul Barrett, a paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum, said in the museum's article. "So, we turned to the other bones that have been referred to the group over the past century, but these weren't particularly well-preserved either." The fossil record for several small-bodied Morrison Formation dinosaurs is poor and incomplete, and it has undergone several scientific revisions, according to the study. Barrett and Maidment reviewed Nanosaurus and similar Morrison Formation species in a study published April 25 in the journal Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, concluding that by modern standards, none of them had distinct enough features or a unique combination of characteristics to be valid. For the new study, the researchers pored over the so-called Nanosaurus specimen and scanned it so they could create virtual 3D images of its fossilized bones. They determined that a unique combination of features, particularly in its legs, made the animal distinct enough from other dinosaurs. Their analysis found that its closest known relative was Yandusaurus hongheensis, a Jurassic herbivore from China. RELATED STORIES —T. rex may have evolved in North America after all, scientists say —Giant pterosaurs weren't only good at flying, they could walk among dinosaurs too —Dinosaurs might still roam Earth if it weren't for the asteroid, study suggests Barrett and Maidment created a new genus (group) for the specimen. The genus name, Enigmacursor, combines the words "enigma" — a reference to the mysteries surrounding its scientific classification — and "cursor," which means "runner" in Latin. The dinosaur's species name, "mollyborthwickae," honors museum donor Molly Borthwick, whose donation allowed the Natural History Museum to purchase the specimen, according to the study. The museum didn't disclose the cost of the specimen. "By studying its anatomy in detail, we've been able to clarify this species' evolutionary relationships, its taxonomy and the diversity of a previously poorly understood group of small dinosaurs," Maidment said in a statement.
