Thursday, October 30, 2014

Halloween 2014: Thirteen Monsters

Since today is Halloween I feel it would be appropriate to focus on something monsters.  Monsters are cool since they can pretty much look like anything your imagination wants them to.  Many dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals are names after famous monsters, or have horror-themed aspects to their names.  Some are pretty obvious, others need to be translated in order to be understood.  Some of these names are featured in my post from 2013 about interesting dinosaur names.  I have illustrated a fun little painting of thirteen prehistoric animals all taking the physical forms of whichever monster or horror aspect they are named after.  Can you name them all?

Once you think you have been able to identify as many as you can I put the answers below, starting with the monsters at the top of the page, working down from left to right.

This plant-eating dinosaur's name means "dragon king from Hogwarts" because its skull resembles that of what a dragon from the Harry Potter universe's could look like.

This small ceratopid's name translates to "gryphon horn face".  Gryphons were creatures from folklore of various ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures which were half eagle and half lion.  The first ceratopid fossils found by people thousands of years ago are believed to have sparked the myth of the gryphon. 

Name means "gargoyle reptile".  This was an armored dinosaur that reminded the paleontologists who named it of a stone gargoyle. 

Anthracosuchus balrogus 

This crocodile's genus and species name translates to coal crocodile balrog.  A balrog is a demon, often associated with fire that wields a whip made of flames, from the Lord of the Rings universe.  The character, Gandalf, the grey wizard, battles one in The Fellowship of the Ring.   

Name means "devil horn face" because this ceratopian's horns bear a resemblance to those of demons in pop culture.


Name means "devil frog".  This prehistoric amphibian was the largest frog known to science.

Name means "monstrous murderer".  This was a tyrannosaurid and therefore was likely survived by killing other animals for food...therefore it was a murderer and a monster.  The name is really cool-sounding, okay?

Name means "gore king".  This was another tyrannosaurid predator that, since it also ate meat, was probably exposed to some gore now and again.  Is the name obvious?  Yes.  Is it cool enough to make this fact excusable?  I'd say so.


Name means "minotaur reptile" this was an armored dinosaur which was named after the minotaur, a monster from Greek Mythology with the head of a bull and body of a human, because of it's horns.

Name means "Medusa horn face".  This ceratopsian dinosaur was named after Medusa, a monster from Greek mythology called a Gorgon.  Gorgons had snakes for hair, the source of inspiration for this dinosaur's name since its horns were particularly curved and almost wavy like snakes.


Name means "Styx reptile".  This plesiosaur was named in honor of the River Styx from Greek mythology, which separates the land of the living from the underworld.


Name means "Charon reptile".  This duck-billed dinosaur was named after Charon, the being from Greek mythology who carries the dead across the Styx to the underworld.

Name means "demon from the river Styx".  Named because its impressive horn arrangement makes it resemble a demon that might lurk in the river of death in a Greek myth.

Hope you enjoyed my little monster-dinosaur fusion!  Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Disney Princesses Reimagined as Dinosaurs


First up we have Cinderella as a Sauropod.

You can't know for sure it won't fit until you try.  Go ahead...try.

 Then we have Ariel, from The Little Mermaid, if she were a Liopleurodon

More like the Lio Mermaid!  Get it?  ...Yeah you do.

It's Princess Jasmine, from Alladin, if she were a beautiful titanosaur! 

C'mon, carpet!  She want's to be shown the world!

Here is Mulan as a Yutyrannus!

I'll make a tyrannosauroid out of you.

You didn't honestly think I was going to leave out Frozen, did you?  Finally, here is Queen Elsa as a wooly mammoth. 

I wonder if that ice staircase she used would need to be reinforced a bit now...

There now Disney Princesses as dinosaurs (and other prehistoric beasts) is a real thing.  It exists.  I feel better now.  Maybe next year I will do even more, who knows?  Hope you all enjoyed this little Halloween-themed post.  Stay tuned, though!  I have one more much spookier Halloween-themed post up my sleeve for Friday! 

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Diabloceratops: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

Halloween is almost upon us!  Let's continue the theme from last week by checking out another dinosaur with a truly devilish flavor.  Enter Diabloceratops eatoniDiabloceratops was a centrosaurine ceratopid dinosaur, related to Styracosaurus, Nasutoceratops, and Pachyrhinosaurus, that lived in what is now Utah, USA, about 79 million years ago.  It measured about fifteen feet long from beak to tail (we don't know EXACTLY for sure since only the skull was ever found) and would have eaten plants.  The genus name, Diabloceratops, translates to "Devil Horn Face" in reference to this dinosaur's amazing horn arrangement, similar to those of depictions of devils in pop culture.  When alive, Diabloceratops shared it's habitat with the tyrannosaurid, Lythronax. (Which may have been an enemy in life!)

Life reconstruction of Diabloceratops eatoni by Christopher DiPiazza.

Diabloceratops is one of the the oldest large ceratopid found to date.  All ceratopids that have been found from older times are much smaller, like Protoceratops.  Not surprisingly, paleontologists suspect that despite it being classified as a centrosaurine ceratopid (large variety with thick noses) it also shared some characteristics with, and likely had a closer family history with its smaller relatives, like Protoceratops amongst its larger centrosaurine peers.  

Diabloceratops skull on display at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Diabloceratops' horn arrangement is truly amazing and nothing like it exists on any other dinosaur.  Most prominent were the two upturned horns above its eyes which are relatively short on the fossilized skull but in life would have had a layer of keratin covering them, making them significantly longer.  On either side of its tall, harp-shaped frill, sat another pair of long, curved horns.  Diabloceratops also had small, almost unnoticeable horns on its nose.  It is likely these horns were a form of communication, or possibly sexual display, amongst DiabloceratopsDiabloceratops' snout was particularly short, and down-turned, even amongst the other members of its family, of which short, deep snouts are a defining characteristic.

Hope you enjoyed our devilishly dark dinosaur for this week!  The Halloween fun isn't over yet, though!  Stay tuned all this week up through Friday for a few more scary treats from Jersey Boys Hunt Dinosaurs!


Kirkland, J.I. and DeBlieux, D.D. (2010). "New basal centrosaurine ceratopsian skulls from the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah", In: Ryan, M.J., Chinnery-Allgeier, B.J., and Eberth, D.A. (eds.) New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp. 117–140

J. I. Kirkland and D. D. DeBlieux. 2007. New horned dinosaurs from the Wahweap Formation, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah. Utah Geological Survey Notes 39(3):4-5

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2014: Ancient Mother Goes Pink



Sunday, October 19, 2014

Stygimoloch: Prehistoric Animal of the Week


Stygimoloch spinifer life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza.


Stygimoloch skull on display at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin.









Wednesday, October 15, 2014

National Fossil Day 2014






Same goes for some of those Typothorax bits.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Rhinorex: Prehistoric Animal of the Week


life reconstruction of Rhinorex condrupus by Christopher DiPiazza.







Thursday, October 9, 2014

Fossil Day at the Zoo
