For A Few Spinosaurus More

As I intimated earlier – and to quote Monty Python — the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus has ceased to be.

Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, mount of the holotype IPHG (BSP) 1912 VIII 19. The only remaining photographic evidence known for the material. After Smith et al., 2006.

A Fistful of Spinosaurus

When I offered my hint at what Spinosaurus aegyptiacus looked like, here, I did so omitting newer material that had been recovered since the early 1900′s when the holotype was first recovered and described. My preference at the time was simply to offer a peak at a conclusion of the vertebrae, not to show-case further specimens and speculation on the cranial structure. New specimens of cranial material have been described since then, and some of these include portions of the rostrum, including maxilla and premaxilla.

Spinosaurus – a Hint

So last year, I illustrated a series of vertebrae into a novel arrangement, using a variety of cues to inform my decision. Note that this was done in order peek at a topic I’ve been hashing around in regards to potentially presenting in some formal venue, SVP perhaps.

The first step in this analysis was presented in the first post, in which I approached the unusual dorsal neural spines of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. Many people have approached this specimen, but only one of them has had the opportunity to do so in person: Ernst von Stromer. Sadly, von Stromer is no longer around to share in his understanding of a specimen lost to us through war, but much data persists, including an extraordinarily detailed descriptive paper, one whose model and layout (of description, exhaustive discussion, and comparison occurs well before the author names the form) I wished most modern taxonomists would use. But, I digress.