Society Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Conference
ZDIG presented 4 posters and 1 talk by team members at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, in Albuquerque Oct. 17-20. It was wonderful to see old friends and share what we have been up to.
Students Ben Mohler, Kara Kelley and Jennifer Borst (all at University of Arizona), presented their first scientific presentations on specimens they helped discover, excavate and research with Douglas Wolfe and Andrew McDonald (Western Science Center) over the last 7 years. Ben presented on 3 different crocodilamorphs, Kara on a baby hadrosaur maxilla she discovered and Jen shared 3 different species of turtles, all from the Menefee Project. Western Science Center provided 3d prints of fossil specimens to add a 3rd dimension to the posters and creating great tools for researchers and students alike! 3d files of our specimens are available to the public at sketchfab, including of our new tyrannosaur Dynamoterror and new ankylosaur Invictarx.
Douglas and Andrew also presented new research from the Zuni Basin Paleontological Project.on Zuniceratops family relationships with co-author Eric Morschhauser and David Smith (Northland Pioneer College gave a great talk on Nothronychus biomechanics. This research is ongoing and part of larger publications to come.
ZDIG anticipates many more announcements from the Middle Cretaceous as we continue to work with students and citizen scientists to understand the “hothouse world” of this time period.
