back to article How I found a small, weird-looking horned dinosaur from eastern USA

Most of what we know about North American dinosaurs comes from the western half of the continent, while those of the east are something of a mystery. So little is known, in fact, that even a scrap of bone can shed light on their diversity. That is what happened while I was exploring the collections at the Yale Peabody Museum, …

  1. seven of five

    [...]horned, strong arms, huge talons, dwells in the east - its a bloody deathclaw I tell you!

    -- Harold

    (and how did you survive? I didn´t! Haha, ´loving that joke...)

  2. imanidiot Silver badge

    why is this on the reg

    I get that the Reg crew might be trying to diversify a bit but this article just doesn't fit AT ALL. At best its a missed attempt at filler material, but it feels a bit like sneaky product placement for the source site...

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Little Mouse

        Re: why is this on the reg

        Personally I think the spiral began when Ms Bee left and the original amanfrommars stopped posting...

        1. James Hughes 1

          Re: why is this on the reg

          Was about to post exactly this. Why? Nice article, but why?

          Death spiral? Could be.

        2. Hollerith 1

          Re: why is this on the reg

          Miss Bee remains a tender memory. But I think the bro-life in the office did her in.

        3. Sweep

          Re: why is this on the reg

          I think the original amanfrommars was stopped from posting. Possibly forcibly.

          I miss the moderatrix...

  3. Your alien overlord - fear me

    “Laramidia” in the west and “Appalachia” in the east.

    Why don't scientists get with the times - it should be "the West Coast" and "the East Coast" of America rater than these made up Narnia-esque names. It'd also get kids more into it. Yo yo, my man etc.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge

      Er, because there was no America to have a west and east coast at the time.

      As both Laramidia and Appalachia had a west and east coast in themselves, using that terminology would be ambiguous to anyone who knew anything about the subject under discussion.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Appalachia is not a new term, I could understand someone outside the U.S. not being familar with it and in this context it referred a larger area that it's modern usage. However it is well known in the US due to cultural and literary frequent use, not to mention the Appalachian Mountains are the second largest mountain range on the contenent which are a significant terain feature in over a quarter of the states.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    weird looking dinosaur

    Trumposaur? The Donaldosaur?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: weird looking dinosaur

      Please dont insult the dinosaurs, they are a fascinating set of creatures

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: weird looking dinosaur

      From the article:

      "So it makes sense that western dinosaurs and Asian dinosaurs are related: they simply walked from one continent to the other"

      If today's Deinomallia trumpeii reads that he'll be promising a wall down the Pacific Ocean.

  5. graeme leggett Silver badge

    A question on small sample size

    When faced with only a few pieces, how do palaeontologists rule out the possibility that they've dug up the Robert Wadlow or Warwick Davis of that species?

    As opposed to mistaking a juvenile of one species as the adult of new one - where I presume there are some hints in the bone structure.

    1. Chris Miller

      Re: A question on small sample size

      It's worse than that, Graeme - many specimens are known only from their teeth (which survive more readily than the rest of the skeleton) - Iguanodon means: has teeth like an iguana.

      I imagine reconstruction to go rather like this.

      1. graeme leggett Silver badge

        Re: A question on small sample size

        Found this on the early interpretations

        http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Palaeofiles/Frauds/reconstruction.htm

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: A question on small sample size - many specimens are known only from their teeth

        Cuvier's feather, or ex pede Hercules. It's a very longstanding problem.

  6. Martin Budden Silver badge

    If I comment about a Huffpost article on the Guardian website does anyone care?

    If I comment about a The Conversation article on El Reg does anyone care?

    Yes I know the real answer: nobody actually cares what I comment anywhere, and fair enough too... but that's not the point: the point is what is this article even doing here???

  7. Tikimon
    Thumb Up

    There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

    I don't have a problem with this article being here. If you're not interested in Science as a general category, don't bloody read it. One of the reasons I read the Reg is the broad coverage of all kinds of geek topics. As a polymath, I would find computer-nerd-only news boring. If that is what you crave, there are other sites to suit.

    1. Mark 85

      Re: There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

      Exactly. Diversity of knowledge is a good.. no.. make that: a great thing". If you're a one-trick pony, there's websites for that.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

      I think yanno is simply commenting that "El Reg" is not the website that it used to be and that reposting content from another website just means there is a dearth of original content.

      Page and Worstall contributed quite a bit of original content, but both authors were rather "controversial".

      Perhaps too much so for the current leaderships ability to protect them.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

        "Page and Worstall contributed quite a bit of original content, but both authors were rather "controversial"."

        I didn't find Worstall controversial; he writes a lot of good sense. But I did feel that from the point of view of the general reader of El Reg (among whom I count myself) he had probably about written himself out. We all only have a certain number of ideas sufficiently interesting or original to try on other people.

        Page also I thought had about run through his gamut. The truth is on climate change perhaps that it is now 1915 and both sides of the commentariat are in their trenches; there are local battles going on which make little difference to the overall position, little skirmishes between scouting parties and the occasional artillery bombardment of patches of mud. What is happening in the rest of the world passes them by. It simply isn't interesting to most people. The big issues are now IT issues, security, technology change, spying, malware and storage and they really aren't that sexy for most people.

        Perhaps we are now in a post-IT world, or perhaps I've just had too much dinner.

      2. imanidiot Silver badge

        Re: There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

        @AC, I'm well aware of the science header, but this article is just so far removed from the usual science articles posted here it makes my head spin. A "hardcore" paleontology article is just not something I would expect in the science section of the Reg.

        1. GrumpenKraut
          Happy

          Re: There IS a "SCIENCE" heading yanno...

          I do appreciate the (as you call it) "hardcore" style. Boiled down to nonsense or completely content free articles can be found at a great number of sites. I am happy the Reg is not doing this.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why the header photograph

    of deer bones?

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