For the first time ever, stygiomedusa gigantea, a gigantic jellyfish was caught on video by scientists in the Gulf of Mexico. There have only been 115 sightings of this deep sea jellyfish in the past 110 years.
Time and Place: Sometime between 215 and 203 million years ago, from the Norian to the Rhaetian ages of the Late Triassic
Found in the Laguna Colorada Formation of Santa Cruz, Argentina
Physical Description: Mussaurus was a fairly late “prosauropod” dinosaur, a group of dinosaurs that would one day evolve into sauropods (and, thus, the term “prosauropod” is only a useful convention, rather than a proper animal group name). As a prosauropod closely related to Sauropods proper, it also had bulky body size, a long neck, and well muscled limbs to support its bulk. However, it was primarily bipedal; showing a lack of musculature in the back associated with quadrupedalism. It was possibly able to walk on all fours if the situation demanded it. As a baby, however, Mussaurus was an obligate quadruped; and it transitioned to a primarily bipedal stance as it aged. In addition, Mussaurus in general shows a decent mosaic of traits associated with Sauropods and those associated with their ancestors; a transitional form on the evolution of this iconic group of dinosaurs. Mussaurus showed arched finger bones and robust hands bones, as well as stronger lower arm bones, which showcased the development of traits that would allow quadrupedal walking. They also had shorter hands, like in Sauropods, indicating they weren’t being used as much for grabbing food as in earlier “prosauropods” and thus were available to be used for walking. Finally, Mussaurus was able to passively pronate its hands (meaning, it was able to turn in its wrists somewhat), another trait that was necessary in the evolution of quadrupedal walking in the sauropod group.
In addition to these typical traits for its group, Mussaurus differed from other prosauropods in having a thin plate along the middle of the vertebrae of the trunk - a trait usually only seen in more early prosauropods, rather than a later one like Mussaurus - having a differently shaped shoulder, and having oddly curved foot bones. This probably indicates some sort of difference in the need of Mussaurus to utilize its back, as well as holding up its weight with its feet; though its difficult to say much more than that. In general, Mussaurus was about three meters in length, though it probably didn’t get much taller than a person when standing on two legs.
The integument of Mussaurus is unknown, though given its generally smaller size, it probably was covered in some form of protofeathers.
By I. J. Reid, CC BY-SA 3.0
Diet: As a medium sized herbivore, Mussaurus probably mainly browsed on low to medium levels of vegetation. Its hands, however, were probably not used in grabbing food; instead it mainly utilized its head in gathering food from branches and the undergrowth.
Behavior: Mussaurus mainly fed using its head and long neck, using the length of its neck to reach into foliage and gather food where it otherwise would not be able to reach. Unlike earlier prosauropods, it would not have used its hands as much to gather food, though it still could probably use them in the pursuit of plant material from time to time. As a biped, it would have walked on two limbs when needing to go faster, and potentially used a quadrupedal posture to aid in standing upright while feeding and in other more leisurely pursuits.
By Wandering Nork
Mussaurus is primarily famous for being originally named after infant individuals; these babies were only about 37 centimeters in length, about the size of a small lizard. They had taller heads than the adults, with short snouts, and larger eyes. It is probable, given that dinosaurs in general take care of their young, that this rendered the babies cuter to the adults, helping to trigger parental instincts. As such, Mussaurus probably lived in groups at least during the early stages of life, with the adults taking care of the babies until they were old enough to take care of themselves. It is uncertain whether or not Mussaurus lived in groups as adults.
Ecosystem: The Laguna Colorada Formation was a warm, wet environment; filled with ferns, Ginkgos, and other plant species. These smaller plants were also surrounded by conifer trees, indicating that Mussaurus mainly lived in a forest ecosystem. At least one other dinosaur is known from the area - a Heterodontosaurid herbivore, though little more is known about it. As such, though something must have preyed upon Mussaurus, we have no fossil evidence as to what.
Other: Mussaurus was originally named for its small size, given the first fossils of the animal were babies. However, Mussaurus clearly did not stay the size of a mouse; and now, the name is a misnomer. Still, Mussaurus provides extensive information on the growth sequence of prosauropod dinosaurs in the Triassic period.
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