#Scott R. Tischler

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Australovenator wintonensis

By Scott Reid 

Etymology: Southern Hunter

First Described By: Hocknull et al., 2009

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Megaraptora, Megaraptoridae

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: About 95 million years ago, in the Cenomanian of the Late Cretaceous 

Australovenator is known from the Phimopollenites Pannosus Pollen Zone of the Winton Formation in Queensland, Australia 

Physical Description: Australovenator was a Megaraptor, a group of fairly mysterious predatory dinosaurs that consistently confuse people since they were first discovered through today. The known parts of Australovenator are rather sparse - limbs and some parts of the torso, and a bit of the tip of the mouth. These elements show an animal with long legs, fairly long arms (for a theropod) with giant hand claws, and a slender jaw. The rest of our understanding of its size and shape is really based on its relatives. It would probably have been 6 meters long and 2 meters tall, weighing only 1,000 kilograms - making it a very lightweight, potentially fast predator. It had extremely flexible hands as well - more flexible than other theropods, almost able to pronate (ie, make “bunny hands”, which is not possible in other theropods). It also had extremely strong feet, built for kicking. Given that it was slender and small, it would have probably been covered in fluffy protofeathers all over its body. 

By Ashley Patch 

Diet: Australovenator would have been a major predator, able to eat a wide variety of small and medium sized animals in its environment - potentially even larger animals if it was able to work in groups.

Behavior: The behavior of Australovenator is not greatly known, given how mysterious Megaraptorans are as a general group. However, the extremely strong foot bones found with extensive signs of breakage indicates that Australovenator did use its feet to kick at prey, similar to modern emus. This would have greatly bruised and damaged the prey, potentially even breaking bones and causing internal bleeding and organ damage. The extremely flexible arms would have allowed it to use them to manipulate objects, grab at food, and easily claw at prey. In fact, the very large hand claws are notable for the Megaraptorans, since they were originally thought to be the giant foot claws of giant Dromaeosaurs. This ability to claw at and maim prey would have helped Australovenator extensively in taking down prey. 

By José Carlos Cortés 

Were Megaraptorans social? We aren’t sure. Australovenator was a powerful predator, clearly able to take down other animals in its environment without much help. It may have worked in small groups in order to get food larger than it, such as the sauropod Diamantinasaurus, since there weren't larger predators in its environment. However, there is no direct evidence to support that. Furthermore, in plenty of locations, Megaraptorans are very rare, indicating they wouldn’t have grouped up together much. Still, they usually aren’t the largest predators in a place, so the jury is out for Australovenator. As a dinosaur, it would have probably taken care of its young, though in what way is a question. 

By PaleoEquii, CC BY-SA 4.0 

Ecosystem: The Winton Environment was a river basin, next to the former inland Eromanga Sea. This was a highly forested ecosystem with extensive swamps, creeks, lakes, and estuaries leading back to the sea. The dense vegetation made it a hotbed for herbivores, which were all sources of prey for Australoveantor. In fact, Australovenator was found directly with Diamantinasaurus, a 15 to 16 meter long sauropod (indicating that Australovenator may have been scavenging, or worked in a group and was killed by a group member). Other herbivores included the titanosaurs Wintonotitan and Savannasaurus, and the Somphospondylian Austrosaurus. There were a variety of Ornithischians there, though none were named, they may have been Rhabdodonts or Elasmarians; and there was at least one Ankylosaur (probably a basal Ankylosaurid). In addition, there was the large pterosaur Ferrodraco, and the narrow-snouted Crocodylomorph Isisfordia. 

By Ripley Cook 

Other: Megaraptors like Australovenator are a taxonomical quagmire. They are either closely related to the Carnosaurs - animals like Allosaurus and Giganotosaurus - or to early Coelurosaurs such as the Tyrannosaurs. It’s possible they are Tyrannosaurs, full stop, but an early group of them. Honestly, the question is still up in the air - but they combine a lot of the characteristics of the earlier theropods with the more bird-like ones, which leads to this confusion. Regardless, Australovenator was a very late derived Megaraptor, nested deep within the group.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut 

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Apesteguía, Sebastián; Smith, Nathan D.; Valieri, Rubén Juárez; Makovicky, Peter J. (2016-07-13). "An Unusual New Theropod with a Didactyl Manus from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina". PLOS ONE. 11 (7): e0157793.

Benson, R. B. J., M. T. Carrano, and S. L. Brusatte. 2010. A new clade of archaic large-bodied predatory dinosaurs (Theropoda: Allosauroidea) that survived to the latest Mesozoic. Naturwissenschaften 97:71-78.

Brougham, T., E. T. Smith, and P. R. Bell. 2019. New theropod (Tetanurae: Avetheropoda) material from the ‘mid’-Cretaceous Griman Greek Formation at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia. Royal Society Open Science 6:180826:1-18.

Carrano, M. T., R. B. J. Benson, and S. D. Sampson. 2012. The phylogeny of Tetanurae (Dinosauria: Theropoda). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 10(2):211-300.

Csiki-Sava, Z., S. L. Brusatte, and S. Vasile. 2016. “Megalosaurus cf. superbus” from southeastern Romania: the oldest known Cretaceous carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for earliest Cretaceous Europe-Gondwana connections. Cretaceous Research 60:221-238.

Hendrickx, C., and O. Mateus. 2014. Abelisauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Jurassic of Portugal and dentition-based phylogeny as a contribution for the indentification of isolated theropod teeth. Zootaxa 3759(1):1-74.

Hocknull, S. A., M. A. White, T. R. Tischler, A. G. Cook, N. D. Calleja, T. Sloan, and D. A. Elliot. 2009. New mid-Cretaceous (latest Albian) dinosaurs from Winton, Queensland, Australia. PLoS ONE 4(7):e6190:1-51.

Holtz, Thomas R., Jr.; Molnar, Ralph E.; Currie, Philip J. (2004). Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Halszka, Osmólska (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 71–110.

Leahey, Lucy G.; Salisbury, Steven W. (June 2013). "First evidence of ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the mid-Cretaceous (late Albian–Cenomanian) Winton Formation of Queensland, Australia". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 37 (2): 249–257.

Molnar, Ralph E.; Flannery, Timothy F.; Rich, Thomas H.V. (1981). "An allosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Victoria, Australia". Alcheringa. 5 (2): 141–146.

Novas, F. E.; Agnolín, F. L.; Ezcurra, M. D.; Canale, J. I.; Porfiri, J. D. (2012). "Megaraptorans as members of an unexpected evolutionary radiation of tyrant-reptiles in Gondwana". Ameghiniana. 49 (Suppl): R33.

Pentland, Adele H.; Poropat, Stephen F.; Tischler, Travis R.; Sloan, Trish; Elliott, Robert A.; Elliott, Harry A.; Elliott, Judy A.; Elliott, David A. (December 2019). "Ferrodraco lentoni gen. et sp. nov., a new ornithocheirid pterosaur from the Winton Formation (Cenomanian–lower Turonian) of Queensland, Australia". Scientific Reports. 9 (1): 13454.  

Porfiri, Juan D.; Novas, Fernando E.; Calvo, Jorge O.; Agnolín, Federico L.; Ezcurra, Martín D.; Cerda, Ignacio A. (2014). "Juvenile specimen of Megaraptor (Dinosauria, Theropoda) sheds light about tyrannosauroid radiation". Cretaceous Research. 51: 35–55.

Poropat, S.F.; Mannion, P.D.; Upchurch, P.; Hocknull, S.A.; Kear, B.P.; Kundrát, M.; Tischler, T.R.; Sloan, T.; Sinapius, G.H.K.; Elliott, J.A.; Elliott, D.A. (2016). "New Australian sauropods shed light on Cretaceous dinosaur palaeobiogeography". Scientific Reports. 6: 34467.

Salisbury, S. W., A. Romilio, M. C. Herne, R. T. Tucker, and J. P. Nair. 2016. The Dinosaurian Ichnofauna of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Walmadany Area (James Price Point), Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 16. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(6, suppl.):1-152.

Tucker, Ryan T.; Roberts, Eric M.; Hu, Yi; Kemp, Anthony I.S.; Salisbury, Steven W. (September 2013). "Detrital zircon age constraints for the Winton Formation, Queensland: Contextualizing Australia's Late Cretaceous dinosaur faunas". Gondwana Research. 24 (2): 767–779.

White, M. A.; Cook, A. G.; Hocknull, S. A.; Sloan, T.; Sinapius, G. H. K.; Elliott, D. A. (2012). Dodson, Peter (ed.). "New Forearm Elements Discovered of Holotype Specimen Australovenator wintonensis from Winton, Queensland, Australia". PLoS ONE. 7 (6): e39364.

White, M. A.; Falkingham, P. L.; Cook, A. G.; Hocknull, S. A.; Elliott, D. A. (2013). "Morphological comparisons of metacarpal I for Australovenator wintonensis and Rapator ornitholestoides: Implications for their taxonomic relationships". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 37 (4): 435–441.

White, Matt A.; Benson, Roger B. J.; Tischler, Travis R.; Hocknull, Scott A.; Cook, Alex G.; Barnes, David G.; Poropat, Stephen F.; Wooldridge, Sarah J.; Sloan, Trish (2013-07-24). "New Australovenator Hind Limb Elements Pertaining to the Holotype Reveal the Most Complete Neovenatorid Leg". PLOS ONE. 8 (7): e68649.

White, M. A., P. R. Bell, A. G. Cook, D. G. Barnes, T. R. Tischler, B. J. Bassam, and D. A. Elliot. 2015. Forearm range of motion in Australovenator wintonensis (Theropoda, Megaraptoridae). PLoS ONE 10(9):e0137709:1-20.

White, Matt A.; Bell, Phil R.; Cook, Alex G.; Poropat, Stephen F.; Elliott, David A. (2015-12-15). "The dentary of Australovenator wintonensis(Theropoda, Megaraptoridae); implications for megaraptorid dentition". PeerJ. 3: e1512.

White, Matt A.; Cook, Alex G.; Klinkhamer, Ada J.; Elliott, David A. (2016-08-03). "The pes ofAustralovenator wintonensis(Theropoda: Megaraptoridae): analysis of the pedal range of motion and biological restoration". PeerJ. 4: e2312.

White, Matt A.; Cook, Alex G.; Rumbold, Steven J. (2017-06-06). "A methodology of theropod print replication utilising the pedal reconstruction of Australovenator and a simulated paleo-sediment". PeerJ. 5: e3427.

Zanno, L. E.; Makovicky, P. J. (2013). "Neovenatorid theropods are apex predators in the Late Cretaceous of North America". Nature Communications. 4: 2827.

[thediaryofatheatrekid]

Casting Goals: Ragtime

This took me MONTHS!!!! I had literally scheduled this post and then decided I was going to post it early, but upon re-looking at the cast list I said “You can do better Paul” so I reverted it to a draft and removed about 10 people which then led to shuffling some people around and then casting new people. Throughout the entire process the only definite people that were in this entire process where Stephanie J. Block, Terrence Mann, Michael Luwoye, Brittney Johnson and Katrina Lenk. Everybody else was changing constantly!!

I also divided the ensemble into three sections: Citizens of New Rochelle, Harlem Citizens and Immigrants.

Stephanie J. Block as Mother

Will Swenson as Father

Zachary Levi as Mother's Younger Brother

Terrence Mann as Grandfather

Josh Groban as Tateh

Michael Luwoye as Coalhouse Walker, Jr.

Brittney Johnson as Sarah

Carla R. Stewart as Sarah’s Friend/Harlem Citizen

Ashley Blair Fitzgerald as Evelyn Nesbit/Citizen of New Rochelle

Katrina Lenk as Emma Goldman/Immigrant

Pomme Koch as Harry Houdini/Immigrant (Tateh u/s)

Jacob Tischler as Willie Conklin/Citizen of New Rochelle (Mother’s Younger Brother u/s)

Aaron C. Finley as J.P. Morgan/Citizen of New Rochelle (Father u/s)

Alan H. Green as Booker T. Washington/Harlem Citizen

Casey Garvin as Henry Ford/Citizen of New Rochelle (Mother’s Younger Brother u/s)

Nick Spangler as Stanford White/Citizen of New Rochelle

Amar Atkins as Harlem Citizen (Booker u/s)

Brittany Campbell as Harlem Citizen (Sarah u/s)

Grasan Kingsberry as Harlem Citizen

Monté J. Howell as Harlem Citizen (Coalhouse u/s)

Nikisha Williams as Harlem Citizen (Sarah’s Friend u/s)

Sumayya Ali as Harlem Citizen

Coleen Sexton as Citizen of New Rochelle (Mother u/s)

Devin Archer as Citizen of New Rochelle (Willie Conklin u/s, Ford u/s, White u/s)

Jeremy Stolle as Citizen of New Rochelle (Father u/s, Grandfather u/s)

Katie Ladner as Citizen of New Rochelle (Evelyn u/s)

Marie Eife as Citizen of New Rochelle (Mother u/s)

Timothy Hughes as Citizen of New Rochelle (Grandfather u/s, Morgan u/s, Ford u/s)

Ahmad Maksoud as Immigrant (Houdini u/s)

Cecelia Ticktin as Immigrant (Emma Goldman u/s)

Hannah Florence as Immigrant

Or Schraiber as Immigrant (Tateh u/s)

Robert Ariza as Immigrant (Houdini u/s)

Sharone Sayegh as Immigrant (Emma Goldman u/s)

Bligh Voth as Swing

Brandt Martinez as Swing

David Kaverman as Swing

Gabrielle Reid as Swing (Sarah’s Friend u/s)

Graham Scott Fleming as Swing (Morgan u/s, White u/s)

Grasan Kingsberry as Swing

Jenny Florkowski as Swing (Evelyn u/s)

Ken Robinson as Swing (Booker u/s)

Milika Cherée as Swing (Sarah u/s)

Honorable Mentions: Adam Kantor as Tateh Akron Watson as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. Alistair Brammer as Willie Conklin/Citizen of New Rochelle Anneliese Van Der Pol as Mother Ben Crawford as Father Brandon Uranowitz as Tateh Dee Roscioli as Mother Dee Roscioli as Emma Goldman/Immigrant (Mother u/s) Jarrod Spector as Mother’s Younger Brother Jasmine Cephas Jones as Sarah Jordan Donica as Coalhouse Walker, Jr. Katie Rose Clarke as Mother Teal Wicks as Mother

[scottryantischlerattorney-blog]

You never know how close you are to success until you get there.

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Marvel you are the Best!