#heliothraupis

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

ITS TIME

FOR

DINOSAUR MARCH MADNESS 2k23!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starting NEXT WEEK, we begin the ultimate competition:

DMM: RISING STARS

These are ALL dinosaurs that have been discovered in the past five years!!! New friends from old times!!! Including such new fan favorites as Bajadasaurus, Jakapil, Meraxes, and Anachronornis - and that's only four of them!

From the weird to the wonderful, these dinosaurs are here to indicate that just because they were found recently, doesn't mean that they aren't destined to become icons like the names we already know and love. Get ready to learn about some new paleontological excitement - and debate angrily over which ones are better ;)

Round One will go from March 1st through the 7th

Round Two will extend from March 8th through the 14th

Round Three will then go from the 15th to the 21st

Round Four from the 22nd to the 28th

And the FINAL FOUR SHOWDOWN (Ornithischian Vs Sauropodomorph vs Nonavian theropod vs Bird) will occur from March 29th through April 4th!

Thanks to the new tumblr poll feature, reconstructions and mini factfiles for each dinosaur will be on the post with the poll itself! No need to leave tumblr, no personal research, no google quizzes - just rapid learning and immediate voting!

Get ready to vote! Get ready to debate! Get ready... for DINOSAUR MARCH MADNESS!

Round One Matchups under the readmore :)

SAUROPODOMORPHA (and miscellany)

Gnathovorax vs Mbiresaurus Bagualosaurus vs Issi

Ngwevu vs Kholumolumo Bagualia vs Amanzia

Lingwulong vs Bajadasaurus Lavocatisaurus vs Ruixinia

Abditosaurus vs Ibirania Australotitan vs Mansourasaurus

ORNITHISCHIA

Sanxiasaurus vs Changmiania Iyuku vs Sinocephale

Bisticeratops vs Crittendenceratops Kelumapusaura vs Gobihadros

Ajnabia vs Tlatolophus Jakapil vs Bashanosaurus

Stegouros vs Patagopelta Spicomellus vs Jinyunpelta

NONAVIAN THEROPODA

Berthasaura vs Vespersaurus Spectrovenator vs Riparovenator

Asfaltovenator vs Meraxes Suskityrannus vs Maip

Daurlong vs Natovenator Bannykus vs Ambopteryx

Caihong vs Hesperornithoides Falcatakely vs Janavis

NEORNITHES (BIRDS)

Vorombe vs Prodontopteryx Asteriornis vs Panraogallus

Anachronornis vs Conflicto Annakacygna vs Nasidytes

Aviraptor vs Cryptogyps Miosurnia vs Primoptynx

Danielsraptor vs Heracles Eofringillirostrum vs Heliothraupis

[squawkoverflow]

A new variant has been added!

Inti Tanager (Heliothraupis oneilli) © abcdefgewing

It hatches from , and undefined eggs.

squawkoverflow - the ultimate bird collecting game          🥚 hatch    ❤️ collect     🤝 connect

[new-dinosaurs]

Heliothraupis oneilli Lane et al., 2021 (new genus and species)

(Illustration of male [above] and female [below] individuals of Heliothraupis oneilli by Daniel F. Lane, from Lane et al., 2021)

Meaning of name: Heliothraupis = sun small bird; oneilli = for John P. O'Neill [American ornithologist]

Suggested common name: Inti tanager

Age: Holocene (Meghalayan), extant

Where found: Forests and woodlands in Cusco, Peru and the Machariapo Valley, La Paz, Bolivia

How much is known: At least 17 collected specimens (16 males and one female) are held in museum collections.

Notes: Heliothraupis is a tanager, an extremely diverse group of songbirds from the American tropics. There are over 380 species of tanager known, and many of them are difficult to tell apart. Male individuals of Heliothraupis, however, are easily recognizable, with an orange head crest, a dark streak above each eye, and a bright yellow face and underside. Their yellow and black color scheme bears some resemblance to orioles of the genus Oriolus (which are not closely related to tanagers). Female Heliothraupis, on the other hand, have a brownish band across their chest and a mostly olive head, and they lack a head crest.

Despite being brightly colored, Heliothraupis is rarely seen, as it appears to spend most of its time hidden in dense vegetation. The oldest verified sighting of one dates to 1993, and the species was not recognized as potentially new to science until the early 2000s. If not for the loud and distinctive song of the male, it is likely that it would be even less frequently recorded.

Based on the relatively few observations that have been made so far, Heliothraupis probably breeds in the Machariapo Valley of western Bolivia, but spends its non-breeding season along the lower slopes of the Andes in southeastern Peru. This type of migratory behavior is uncommon among tanagers. In both its breeding and non-breeding range, Heliothraupis appears to prefer habitats dominated by bamboo and similar plants. Examination of stomach contents and behavioral observations suggest that it feeds mostly on insects and occasionally on fruits.

The closest living relative of Heliothraupis seems to be the black-goggled tanager (Trichothraupis melanops). Given that these two species look very different from one another, the describers of Heliothraupis chose to gave it a new genus instead of classifying it in the same genus as T. melanops.

Prior to being scientifically described, Heliothraupis was known by several nicknames in the birding community, including “San Pedro tanager”, “Manu Road tanager”, and “Kill Bill tanager”. The authors’ proposed common name, “inti tanager”, is derived from the Quechua and Aymara words for “sun”, referencing the bird’s bright yellow plumage.

Reference: Lane, D.F., M.A. Aponte Justiniano, R.S. Terrill, F.E. Rheindt, L.B. Klicka, G.H. Rosenberg, C.J. Schmitt, and K.J. Burns. 2021. A new genus and species of tanager (Passeriformes, Thraupidae) from the lower Yungas of western Bolivia and southern Peru. Ornithology advance online publication. doi: 10.1093/ornithology/ukab059

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Round Two: Heracles vs Heliothraupis

Heracles inexpectatus

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Unexpected Herculean Parrot 

Time: 16 to 19 million years ago (Burdigalian stage of the Miocene epoch, Neogene period) 

Location: St. Bathans Fauna, Bannockburn Formation, Aotearoa  

Heracles was a truly alarmingly large parrot, related to modern day Kea, Kaka, and Kakapo, known from the fantastic avifauna of St Bathans. Standing more than two feet tall and weighing about fifteen pounds, this animal was much larger than any expected from the St Bathans fauna, which represented the initial colonization of Aotearoa (Zealandia) after it returned above sea level. Heracles is also the largest known species of parrot, ever. It was presumably flightless, though it is uncertain if it was nocturnal like its living relative the Kakapo. Its exact ecology is still uncertain, given the material known from Heracles is limited and its living relatives have very disparate ecologies, though it is possible it was omnivorous similar to the Kea and Kaka today. The St Bathans fauna lived in a freshwater lake system, in a subtropical emergent rainforest. Separated from land bridges, the fauna was dominated by birds, with early relatives of the Kiwi, New Zealand Wrens, Adzebills, and Wedge-Tailed eagles found in the fauna, as well as somewhat modern looking Moas. Smaller flamingos, large fruit pigeons, and a huge variety of geese and other waterfowl are known. In addition, frogs, tuataras, other lizards, crocodilians, turtles, and many different types of fish are known from this fascinating ecosystem. 

Heliothraupis oneilli

Photograph by John C. Mittermeier, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: O’Neill’s Tanager of the Sun God Inti 

Time: Unknown to the present, Holocene, Quaternary 

Location: Western Bolivia and Southern Peru, South America 

Rarely do we get to talk about a newly discovered living species of bird, but this is one of those excellent times! This bird, a bright yellow tanager with a distinctive black stripe across its eye, was found in the Neotropics - specifically in the Yungas region. Given that Latin America has the largest number of bird species in the world, it makes a certain amount of sense that we may have missed some! First spotted in the nineties, it was properly identified and described over the course of the 2010s. The distinctive appearance of this tanager lead to it being nicknamed the “Kill Bill Tanager”, in reference to its similarity to Uma Thurman’s yellow jumpsuit outfit. Distinct in appearance and population from other tanagers, it was deemed not only a separate species, but an entirely separate genus. It is migratory, breeding in the northern Machariapo Valley and going down to the eastern Andes for the nonbreeding season. It lives in deciduous forests, and breeds in bamboo grasses. It is a loud and vocal bird, making distinctive songs and choruses that happen long after the dawn chorus of most other birds. As it lives in a fairly isolated region of these countries, its habitat is not particularly threatened at this time.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Eofringillirostrum vs Heliothraupis

Factfiles:

Eofringillirostrum boudreauxi, E. parvulum 

Artwork by @otussketching, written by @zygodactylus

Name Meaning: Dawn Finch-Beak (Boudreaux’s or Small) 

Time: 54 to 48 million years ago, in the Ypresian of the Eocene 

Location: Sandwich Beds, Fossil Butte Member, Green River Formation, Wyoming; and the Messel Formation near Darmstadt, Germany 

Today, over half of the birds known in the world are passerines, or “perching birds”. Unfortunately, these birds on average are small and delicate, leading to their not having the most robust fossil record compared to other birds. However, the fossils of passerines we do have tell us an interesting story about their evolution. Eofringillirostrum, despite being a very early member of the total-passeriform group (ie, it isn’t a true passerine, but close), shows how many of the traits we see in modern representatives occurred fairly early on in their evolution. Eofringillirostrum had a finch-like beak, similar to living species, that would have been helpful in eating small hard seeds - a niche not easily exploited. While we often think of birds as “seed-eaters”, this is not common and only exploitable by certain species - and, apparently, some early passerine relatives like Eofringillirostrum. This indicates that different early relatives of passerines were already doing very similar ecological jobs to their living relatives, even while many other bird types were exploiting passerine-like niches (such as the many types of stem-mouse birds that lived at the time). Both the Messel Pit and the Fossil Butte environments were tropical forests, emerging right after the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum; both were associated with fossil lakes, which allowed for rapid preservation of a variety of early animals that show how “modern” life first diversified in the Paleogene period. As such, Eofringillirostrum just has too many neighbors to list - including so many kinds of birds its a little overwhelming. Eofringillirostrum, in this environment, would have been one of many different species of birds, and weirdly modern looking among them! 

Heliothraupis oneilli 

Photograph by John C. Mittermeier, written by @zygodactylus 

Name Meaning: O’Neill’s Tanager of the Sun God Inti 

Time: Unknown to the present, Holocene, Quaternary 

Location: Western Bolivia and Southern Peru, South America  Rarely do we get to talk about a newly discovered living species of bird, but this is one of those excellent times! This bird, a bright yellow tanager with a distinctive black stripe across its eye, was found in the Neotropics - specifically in the Yungas region. Given that Latin America has the largest number of bird species in the world, it makes a certain amount of sense that we may have missed some! First spotted in the nineties, it was properly identified and described over the course of the 2010s. The distinctive appearance of this tanager lead to it being nicknamed the “Kill Bill Tanager”, in reference to its similarity to Uma Thurman’s yellow jumpsuit outfit. Distinct in appearance and population from other tanagers, it was deemed not only a separate species, but an entirely separate genus. It is migratory, breeding in the northern Machariapo Valley and going down to the eastern Andes for the nonbreeding season. It lives in deciduous forests, and breeds in bamboo grasses. It is a loud and vocal bird, making distinctive songs and choruses that happen long after the dawn chorus of most other birds. As it lives in a fairly isolated region of these countries, its habitat is not particularly threatened at this time.

DMM Round One Masterpost

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

DMM ROUND TWO MASTERPOST

Ornithischians

Changmiania vs Sinocephale

Bisticeratops vs Gobihadros

Tlatolophus vs Jakapil

Stegouros vs Spicomellus

Sauropodomorphs

Mbiresaurus vs Bagualosaurus

Kholumalumo vs Amanzia

Bajadasaurus vs Lavocatisaurus

Ibirania vs Australotitan

Nonavian Theropods

Berthasaura vs Ceratosuchops

Asfaltovenator vs Maip

Daurlong vs Ambopteryx

Caihong vs Falcatakely

Avians (Neornithes)

Vorombe vs Asteriornis

Conflicto vs Annakacygna

Cryptogyps vs Miosurnia

Heracles vs Heliothraupis

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IT'S DINOSAUR MARCH MADNESS!!!