I first became aware that there was possibly a new ceratopsian in the vaults of the Natural History Museum in London (NHM) back in 2007. I’d met
I was intrigued and at the same time that Mark began looking
at the material, a revision of the type specimen of Styracosaurus albertensis
was published near the turn of the year (Ryan et al 2007) and thinking that it
would be of help, I sent a copy off to Mark. I was too late – Mark had already
received it and was already engrossed in it! Things started to move on.
In June 2008 Mark commenced work on the specimen and, in his
own words:
“The specimens (which were from a bone bed) were prepared by
me in 2008/09 and the two large parietal elements were encased in extremely
hard iron-rich matrix and heavy plaster of Paris jackets. The bone itself was significantly
fractured - so much so that the combination of unyielding rock and fragile bone
made for an interesting (not to say nerve-wracking at times!) project. The images
show some of the preparation work and protective jacketing made for the
specimens, together with a couple of images from the last day, in March 2009,
when it was all completed.
A particular challenge was the removal of matrix from around
the cores of the pro-curved parietal hooks, which actually displayed some
lovely detail, and also from around the epiparietal, which was dangerously
thin.
I’m thrilled that my first involvement with a scientific
publication should be on such a significant specimen as Spinops.”
I am personally
delighted for Mark, not only because he is a damned good preparator, but
because he really is a nice guy and deserves his joint authorship. I hope it is
the first of many for him. Incidentally, Mark is also involved in the
instigation of a new volunteer programme at the NHM and the first workers have
now begun preparation of sauropod material collected in the 1980’s and, as Mark
points out:
“Another “new”
dinosaur may soon see the light of day!”
Amen to that!
Note
The images here are
reproduced with permission and are not to be used elsewhere without consent.
References
A new centrosaurine from the Late Cretaceous
of Alberta, Canada ,
and the evolution of parietal ornamentation in horned dinosaurs. Andrew A.
Farke, Michael J. Ryan, Paul M. Barrett, Darren H. Tanke, Dennis R. Braman,
Mark A. Loewen, and Mark R. Graham. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56 (4), 2011:
691-702 doi:10.4202/app.2010.0121
Ryan, M.J., Holmes,
R., and Russel, A.P. 2007. A revision of the late Campanian centrosaurine
ceratopsids genus Styracosaurus from the western Interior of North America.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27: 944-962.
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