The Thermopolis specimen

futurepaleontologist1

MemberCompsognathusAugust 20, 20131273 Views4 Replies

Hey guys! It's been a while huh? I've been very busy what with me being in Yellowstone and school starting up again. Anyway, who's all heard of the Thermopolis specimen? No? Read about it. I went to see it in person a few days ago. Anyway, it's a very well preserved Archeopteryx found in Wyoming. This raises a few questions. #1 How? It's an Asian dinosaur and at the time Asia an North America weren't connected. #2 Why? We all know Wyoming is rich with fossils but why would we find one Archeaopteryx there and nowhere else in the U.S.? Any possible explanations? Any other questions? Lemme know!

Pity is for the living. Envy is for the dead. -Mark Twain

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August 20, 2013

Not sure. For one thing, Archeaopteryx is European. Anyways, it could be an extremely close cousin. Or like the dinosaur Torvosaurus. An American and European species. That's the best I could come up with.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

futurepaleontologist1
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August 20, 2013

Asian and European friend :) They were connected at the time

Pity is for the living. Envy is for the dead. -Mark Twain

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August 20, 2013

You just said Asian, that's why I mentioned Europe. Anyways, I still can't come up with another reason.

"Men like me don't start the wars. We just die in them. We've always died in them, and we always will. We don't expect any praise for it, no parades. No one knows our names." ―Alpha-98

The_Captn
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August 24, 2013

Hey there, thought I'd clarify a little: All existing full body-specimens of [i]Archaeopteryx[/i] have been found in Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) Lithographic Limestone sediments of the Solnhofen-area of Southern Germany. Because there are only 11 specimens plus one fossil feather they all got names, depending on where they were excavated or are displayed. The Thermopolis-specimen is just called that way because it is displayed in Thermopolis. The Berlin specimen is displayed in Berlin, Germany, the London specimen is displayed in London and so on. The Daiting specimen was found in a quarry in Daiting, Southern Germany. Funnily enough, there are some teeth from a coal mine in Portugal dating back to the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) that are attributed to [i]Archaeopteryx[/i] sp., but as the teeth of small coelurosaurians are all quite similar the primary description could be wrong. The publication describing the Thermopolis specimen can be found here: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/310/5753/1483 Cheers, The_Captn