Drinker
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- The term drinker may refer to someone who drinks alcohol. It may describe someone who does so within limits, but typically indicates alcoholism.
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| Drinker nisti Bakker et al., 1990 |
Drinker was a genus of hypsilophodont dinosaur from the late Jurassic period of North America. A relatively small dinosaur, Drinker was approximately 2 m (6 ft) feet long and may have massed up to 10 kg (22 lb).[1] It was named after renowned palaeontologist, Edward Drinker Cope, whose infamous "bone wars" with rival Othniel Charles Marsh produced many dinosaur fossils which are world-famous today. Although based on good remains, the lack of post-naming publications, combined with what Robert Bakker (one of its describers) has said and written about it, have led to some mystery surrounding this animal.
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[edit] History and Taxonomy
In 1990, Bakker, Peter Galton, James Siegwarth, and James Filla described the partial remains of Drinker nisti. Discovered by Siegwarth and Filla in upper Morrison Formation beds at Como Bluff, Wyoming, it was based on a partial subadult skeleton (CPS 106) including partial jaws, vertebrae, and partial limbs. Numerous additional specimens from the age spectrum found in the same area were referred to it, mostly consisting of vertebral and hindlimb remains, and teeth. The authors considered it to be too archaic to be a true "hypsilophodont", particularly in teeth lacking a strong central vertical ridge, and placed it with Othnielia (now Othnielosaurus) in a separate unnamed group.[2]
Bakker (1990) described its environment as swampy (lungfish teeth and marsh vegetation), and claimed that its broad feet with spreading toes were well-suited to such an environment, especially compared to the narrow-footed stegosaurs and sauropods found elsewhere in the Morrison.[3] However, he later claimed, in a 1993 television show [1] and other venues, that the animal had been found in burrows , although the relationship between the burrow location and swampy terrain has not been addressed in print. Also, the animal may have died in a swampy environment, but lived elsewhere.
Since 1990, nothing substantial has been published on this genus. It has sometimes been regarded informally as a possible synonym of Othnielia, but the latest reviews have kept it separate.[4][5] It has usually been regarded as a "hypsilophodont" of uncertain but basal affinities; Phyllodon from the Late Jurassic of Portugal may have been related.[6][5]
[edit] Paleobiology
If Drinker was indeed a burrower, it would be a first, as no fossorial nonavian dinosaurs are known. Otherwise, it appears to have been like other basal ornithopods: a small bipedal herbivore and lived alongside turtles, lungfish, and early mammals (Zofiabaatar, Foxraptor).[1] It is regarded as one of the smallest of all nonavian dinosaurs, although the size is controversial.
[edit] Trivia
The species name refers to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).[2]
Its putative close relative, Othnielosaurus (and Othnielia before it), is named for Cope's rival, O.C. Marsh.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Foster, J.R. (2003). Paleoecological Analysis of the Vertebrate Fauna of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), Rocky Mountain Region, U.S.A. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 23.
- ^ a b Bakker, R.T., Galton, P.M., Siegwarth, J., and Filla, J. (1990). A new latest Jurassic vertebrate fauna, from the highest levels of the Morrison Formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming. Part IV. The dinosaurs: A new Othnielia-like hypsilophodontoid. Hunteria 2(6): 8-14.
- ^ Bakker, R.T. (1990). A new latest Jurassic vertebrate fauna, from the highest levels of the Morrison Formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming, with comments on Morrison biochronology. Part I. Biochronology. Hunteria 2(6):1-3.
- ^ Norman, D.B., Sues, H.-D., Witmer, L.M., and Coria, R.A. (2004). Basal Ornithopoda. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H., (eds), The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press:Berkeley, pp. 392-412. ISBN 0-520-24209-2
- ^ a b Galton, P.M. (2006). Teeth of ornithischian dinosaurs (mostly Ornithopoda) from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of the western United States. In: K. Carpenter (ed.). Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, pp. 17-47. ISBN 0-253-34817-X
- ^ Rauhut, Oliver W.M. (2001). "Herbivorous dinosaurs from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Guimarota, Portugal". Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 112: 275-283.
