S03E06 Dinosaur Species and Taxonomy

03/03/21 • 65 min

In this episode we take a look at the actual identification of dinosaurs. What makes a species a species and how does this apply to fossils that are a hundred million years old? From there we look to how dinosaurs get their names where things can go wrong when it comes to correctly identifying them. Our special guest this time out is Professor Chris Jackson, geologist and science communicator par excellence, who wants to ask Dave a very pertinent question about how dinosaurs are actually defined and so what is, and isn’t, a dinosaur.

Links:

An old blog post of Dave’s about why scientific names are important and using them correctly: https://www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2013/jun/19/dinosaurs-fossils

Another old blog post of Dave’s about the problem of variation in species and how different is different? https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/intraspecific-variation-and-taxonomy/

Links:

An old blog post of Dave’s about why scientific names are important and using them correctly: https://www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2013/jun/19/dinosaurs-fossils

Another old blog post of Dave’s about the problem of variation in species and how different is different? https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/intraspecific-variation-and-taxonomy/

Previous Episode

S03E05 Dinosaur Films

This week we have an extended interview and discussion with David Krentz on the public perception of dinosaurs and especially in film. David is a palaeoartist, but also works as a storyboard artist and character designer for Hollywood productions like the Marvel movies and has also produced and directed dinosaur documentaries so has seen things from all sides. So he’s the perfect person to bring in to chat about the creative processes and trade-offs between accuracy and realism and dramatic license, storytelling and spectacle.

Links:

An interview with David Krentz about his dinosaurian artwork by Dave https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/interview-with-david-krentz/

David’s Facebook page for his artwork https://www.facebook.com/davidkrentzart

Next Episode

S03E07 Dinosaur Evolutionary Relationships

Following on from last week's look at how dinosaurs get named, in this (Patreon picked) episode Iszi and Dave turn to the issue of dinosaur relationships. How do palaeontologists put together family trees and work out which species or group is related to which other one? And how easy and reliable is it when most dinosaurs are known from only fragments of skeletons rather than complete fossils? For our final normal episode of series 3 (have we really come this far already?) we are joined by Professor Sophie Scott who has a question about the sounds dinosaurs might have made.

Links:

Prof Sophie Scott CBE is Director of UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. RI Xmas Lecturer 2017 - listen to her podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-neuromantics/id1455641494

Here’s a link to a discussion between researchers about the vexed idea of the Ornithoscleida https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/07/a-discussion-not-a-war-two-opposing-experts-talk-dinosaur-family-trees

And here’s a link to an article about dinosaur origins and the question over the origins of the ornithischians https://news.mit.edu/2020/study-timing-dinosaurs-evolution-0729