 |
|
Dan Lagiovane,
Media Relations Manager |
|
For Immediate Release December 14, 2004
Pittsburgh … For the first time in almost 20 years, Carnegie Museum of Natural History will be putting a new dinosaur on permanent display. On Tuesday, December 14, the museum will unveil a new, unnamed species of dinosaur. It will go on permanent exhibit outside the museum's famous Dinosaur Hall and will remain there during the construction of the Dinosaurs in Their World project. The bizarre new dinosaur belongs to a group called the oviraptorosaurs, and is unlike any other known to science. Oviraptorosaurs were unusual theropods (generally meat-eating dinosaurs) that lived between 130 - 65 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. The new oviraptorosaur species lived in the Late Cretaceous, approximately 68 - 65 million years ago, and is the geologically youngest oviraptorosaur yet discovered. It is also the largest known, standing about seven feet (2.13 meters) tall and measuring nine feet (2.7 meters) long. In contrast, most other oviraptorosaurs are about three feet (0.9 meters) tall and six feet (1.8 meters) in length. Dozens of oviraptorosaur specimens have been found in Asia, particularly in Mongolia and China. In North America, however, members of this group were only known from fragmentary remains until 1998, when two partial skeletons of the new species were discovered in the fossil-rich Hell Creek badlands of northwestern South Dakota. Each of these incomplete skeletons includes some bones that are not preserved in the other. The two skeletons were combined, and their bones copied, to produce the mounted cast on exhibit. The new oviraptorosaur has a startling array of features. It is armed with long, intimidating claws, yet it has no teeth. The bones are lightweight, but strong. The skull is capped with an unusual crest. Interestingly, with its toothless jaws, relatively short tail, long spindly legs, and three-toed feet, the new oviraptorosaur looks more like a bird than a typical dinosaur. Indeed, based on several features in its skeleton, CMNH scientists believe that the oviraptorosaur is closely related to birds. Some museum personnel have even nicknamed it the "Chicken from Hell." Although most of the dinosaur skeletons on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History are made up of real fossilized bones, the oviraptorosaur skeleton is a cast. Dr. Matt Lamanna, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, along with several collaborators, is currently studying the actual bones of the oviraptorosaur. There are many questions surrounding this dinosaur. Questions that Dr. Lamanna and his fellow researchers hope to answer. "Most known oviraptorosaurs belong to the group Oviraptoridae, which includes the famous "egg-thief" Oviraptor," Lamanna said. "This creature belongs instead to a bizarre, poorly understood group of oviraptorosaurs called the Caenagnathidae. Caenagnathids share several skeletal features such as lower jawbones that are fused together, a hipbone whose forward portion is longer than its rearward portion, and a middle foot bone whose upper end is pinched between the upper ends of the other two foot bones. "The new oviraptorosaur is by far the most complete caenagnathid in the world. Its study will reveal the anatomy of this enigmatic group, and could provide insight into important questions surrounding the diet, behavior, and evolutionary relationships of caenagnathids and other oviraptorosaurs." The new dinosaur will also serve as a prototype representing how dinosaurs will be remounted and exhibited in the museum's forthcoming Dinosaurs in Their World project. Dinosaurs in Their World is an expansion and renovation project that will create additional space for dynamic, state-of-the-art exhibits that will integrate dinosaurs into the environments of their respective time periods. Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Dinosaur Hall currently houses 15 dinosaur skeletons in a space originally built for one. Several of these dinosaurs are among the world's most famous and complete specimens-among them, Diplodocus carnegii, or "Dippy," named after Andrew Carnegie, and Tyrannosaurus rex, or "T. rex," which was the first of its species ever found. The expanded dinosaur exhibits will occupy nearly three times the space as does the current Dinosaur Hall. The museum expansion will include the creation of a dramatic atrium, which will become the focus of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Dinosaurs currently on display in Dinosaur Hall will be remounted in scientifically accurate, active poses. A number of previously never-before-exhibited specimens will also be added to the halls. “The project is moving along at a brisk pace,” said Dr. Bill DeWalt, Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. “We will soon have a spectacular ‘first day’ attraction for our region that will feature our world-famous fossil collection.”
|