Tyler Lyson

Last updated

Tyler R. Lyson (born 1982 or 1983 [1] ) is an American paleontologist. He is the discoverer of the dinosaur fossil Dakota, a fossilized mummified hadrosaur. He has done significant research on the evolution of turtles and on the rise of mammals after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Lyson was born and raised in Marmarth, North Dakota, a tiny town near the Badlands, an area known for its dinosaur fossils. As a child he roamed the Badlands collecting fossils. He started a business escorting visiting fossil hunters around the area when he was in the fifth grade. His local middle school had only three students in its graduating class; he commuted to nearby Baker, Montana for high school. [1] He received his bachelor's degree in biology from Swarthmore College in 2006, [2] [3] and received a scholarship to study for his PhD in paleontology at Yale University, earning his PhD in 2012. [4] [1] After a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian Institution, he became the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in 2014. [5]

He found his first dinosaur, a hadrosaur, while in middle school. In 1999 when he was still in high school, Lyson discovered the Dakota dinosaur specimen while exploring the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota, on his uncle's ranch. The find is unique since the fossilized remains include skin and other soft tissues in a non-collapsed state; a very few other finds have occurred where petrified soft tissue has been preserved, but in a collapsed or crushed state. He also found and classified numerous specimens of prehistoric turtles, which became a lifelong research interest of his. [1]

Some of Lyson's research interests are focused around his field work in the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of southwestern North Dakota. He is currently working on two sites from this area: a large population of baenid turtles from a single locality and an exceptionally well-preserved hadrosaur dinosaur. Lyson is interested in the intraspecies variation found in baenid turtles and how this influences the interrelationships of the clade. Ultimately he plans to integrate this research with a more broad scale phylogenetic analysis of the transition of all turtle groups across the K/T boundary to determine the pattern of survival and extinction around this boundary. Lyson is also interested in soft tissue preservation found in dinosaurs. He plans to work on the recently collected hadrosaur dinosaur that has most of its integument preserved to determine how the soft tissue was preserved.

Lyson's work has been described in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Good Morning America. He is also the co-founder with Harold Hanks of the Marmarth Research Foundation, located in his hometown, which provides volunteers with hands-on field and laboratory work on fossils.

In 2015 Lyson appeared, as a paleontologist, in the PBS documentary film, Making North America . His quest to discover why mammals became predominant after the extinction of the dinosaurs was the subject of the PBS "Nova" series film, Rise of the Mammals. [6] The film recounts how he and a colleague searched for mammal fossils in Colorado but found very few. Then he examined a fossil found years before by Sharon Milito, a volunteer with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and catalogued in the museum's collection. The specimen mammal palate was found above the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary at Corral Bluffs, Colorado, indicating it followed the extinction of the dinosaurs, and was embedded in a concretion. Lyson and his colleagues decided to hunt for fossils embedded in concretions, and made unprecedented finds documenting the rise and early evolution of mammals. [7] [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marmarth, North Dakota</span> City in North Dakota, United States

Marmarth is the largest city in Slope County in the U.S. State of North Dakota with a population of 101 as of 2020 census. It is situated in the southwestern part of Slope County, along the Bowman County line in the southwestern part of North Dakota, just seven miles east of the Montana border. Marmarth was founded as a railroad town along the Milwaukee Road from Seattle, WA to Chicago, IL. By 1920, Marmarth had over 1,300 residents. The town's population declined during most of the 20th century and was only 101 in 2021. There is one restaurant and one bar still located in Marmarth in 2013.

<i>Brachylophosaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Brachylophosaurus was a mid-sized member of the hadrosaurid family of dinosaurs. It is known from several skeletons and bonebed material from the Judith River Formation of Montana, the Wahweap Formation of Utah and the Oldman Formation of Alberta, living about 81-76.7 million years ago.

<i>Edmontosaurus</i> mummy AMNH 5060 Exceptionally well-preserved fossil in the American Museum of Natural History

The Edmontosaurus mummy AMNH 5060 is an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of a dinosaur in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Discovered in 1908 in the United States near Lusk, Wyoming, it was the first dinosaur specimen found to include a skeleton encased in skin impressions from large parts of the body. It is ascribed to the species Edmontosaurus annectens, a hadrosaurid. The mummy was found by fossil hunter Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his three sons in the Lance Formation. Although Sternberg was working under contract to the British Museum of Natural History, Henry Fairfield Osborn of the AMNH managed to secure the mummy. Osborn described the fossil in detail in 1912, coining the name "dinosaur mummy" for it—several dinosaur mummies of similar preservation have been discovered since then. This specimen has considerably influenced the scientific conception of hadrosaurids. Skin impressions found in between the fingers were once interpreted as interdigital webbing, bolstering the now-rejected perception of hadrosaurids as aquatic animals, a hypothesis that remained unchallenged until 1964. Today, the mummy is considered one of the most important fossils of the AMNH.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Union Formation</span> Geologic formation in the northwestern United States

The Fort Union Formation is a geologic unit containing sandstones, shales, and coal beds in Wyoming, Montana, and parts of adjacent states. In the Powder River Basin, it contains important economic deposits of coal, uranium, and coalbed methane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakota (fossil)</span> Fossil Edmontosaurus annectens

Dakota is the nickname given to an important Edmontosaurus fossil found in the Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota. It is about 67 million years old, placing it in the Maastrichtian, the last stage of the Cretaceous period. It was about 12 m (40 ft) long and weighed about 7-8 tons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness</span> Wilderness in New Mexico, United States

The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a 45,000-acre (18,000 ha) wilderness area located in San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Established in 1984, the Wilderness is a desolate area of steeply eroded badlands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, except three parcels of private Navajo land within its boundaries. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, expanded the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness by approximately 2,250 acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinosaur Ridge</span> Natural heritage site in Colorado, United States

Dinosaur Ridge is a segment of the Dakota Hogback in the Morrison Fossil Area National Natural Landmark located in Jefferson County, Colorado, near the town of Morrison and just west of Denver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadrosaur diet</span>

Hadrosaurids, also commonly referred to as duck-billed dinosaurs or hadrosaurs, were large terrestrial herbivores. The diet of hadrosaurid dinosaurs remains a subject of debate among paleontologists, especially regarding whether hadrosaurids were grazers who fed on vegetation close to the ground, or browsers who ate higher-growing leaves and twigs. Preserved stomach content findings have indicated they may have been browsers, whereas other studies into jaw movements indicate they may have been grazers.

This is an overview of the fossil flora and fauna of the Maastrichtian-Danian Hell Creek Formation.

Gamerabaena is an extinct genus of baenid turtle which existed in North Dakota during the late Cretaceous Period. It is known from a single fragmentary skull that was found in the Maastrichtian-age Hell Creek Formation. It contains the species Gamerabaena sonsalla. Gamerabaena is similar to the genus Palatobaena, but it differs in its lack of a posterior expansion of the triturating surface, a somewhat rectangular skull, and a wide angle between the maxillae. Gamerabaena also has a lingual ridge on the inner side of the jaw that is not seen in Palatobaena.

Hutchemys is an extinct genus of softshell turtles from the late Cretaceous to the late Paleocene of New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and North Dakota, United States. It was first named by Walter G. Joyce, Ariel Revan, Tyler R. Lyson and Igor G. Danilov in 2009, and the type species is Hutchemys rememdium. H. rememdium is known from the holotype YPM PU 16795, which consists of a nearly complete postcranial skeleton, and from the referred specimen YPM PU 16781, found in the Ekalaka Member of the Fort Union Formation, Montana. Another referred specimen, YPM PU 14985, was found in the Cedar Point Quarry, Wyoming. The second species, H. arctochelys, is known from the holotype YPM PU 16319, a nearly complete carapace, and from the paratypes YPM PU 16320, YPM PU 16321, YPM PU 16322, YPM PU 16238. All specimens of H. arctochelys were recovered from the same quarry of the Tongue River Member, Fort Union Formation, near Burns Mine of Montana. A possible third species is represented by the unnamed specimen UCMP 130000 from the Paleocene Tullock Formation of Montana. Aspideretes? nassau (YPM PU 11566) from the Fort Union Formation, Duffy's Ranch of Sweet Grass County, Montana was also assigned to Hutchemys sp. A fourth species of Hutchemys, Hutchemys walkerorum, has been uncovered from the Hell Creek Formation of North Dakota. H. walkerorum is known from the holotype BDM 063, identified by the discovery and assembly of portions of its carapace. The fossil of H. walkerorum suggests that it was the only Hutchemys to live exclusively during the late Cretaceous era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baenidae</span> Extinct family of turtles

Baenidae is an extinct family of paracryptodiran turtles known from the Early Cretaceous to Eocene of North America. While during the Early Cretaceous they are found across North America, during the Late Cretaceous they are only found in Laramidia, having disappeared from Appalachia. The majority of lineages survived the K-Pg Extinction, but the family was extinct by the latest Eocene. The name of the type genus, Baena, appears to be of Native American origin. They are primarily found in freshwater deposits, and are considered to be aquatic, with a largely generalist habit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleontology in Montana</span>

Paleontology in Montana refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Montana. The fossil record in Montana stretches all the way back to the Precambrian. During the Late Precambrian, western Montana was covered by a warm, shallow sea where local bacteria formed stromatolites and bottom-dwelling marine life left tracks on the sediment that would later fossilize. This sea remained in place during the early Paleozoic, although withdrew during the Silurian and Early Devonian, leaving a gap in the local rock record until its return. This sea was home to creatures including brachiopods, conodonts, crinoids, fish, and trilobites. During the Carboniferous the state was home to an unusual cartilaginous fish fauna. Later in the Paleozoic the sea began to withdraw, but with a brief return during the Permian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleontology in the United States</span>

Paleontology in the United States refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the United States. Paleontologists have found that at the start of the Paleozoic era, what is now "North" America was actually in the southern hemisphere. Marine life flourished in the country's many seas. Later the seas were largely replaced by swamps, home to amphibians and early reptiles. When the continents had assembled into Pangaea drier conditions prevailed. The evolutionary precursors to mammals dominated the country until a mass extinction event ended their reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of paleontology in the United States</span>

The history of paleontology in the United States refers to the developments and discoveries regarding fossils found within or by people from the United States of America. Local paleontology began informally with Native Americans, who have been familiar with fossils for thousands of years. They both told myths about them and applied them to practical purposes. African slaves also contributed their knowledge; the first reasonably accurate recorded identification of vertebrate fossils in the new world was made by slaves on a South Carolina plantation who recognized the elephant affinities of mammoth molars uncovered there in 1725. The first major fossil discovery to attract the attention of formally trained scientists were the Ice Age fossils of Kentucky's Big Bone Lick. These fossils were studied by eminent intellectuals like France's George Cuvier and local statesmen and frontiersman like Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin, William Henry Harrison, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. By the end of the 18th century possible dinosaur fossils had already been found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wasson Bluff</span>

Wasson Bluff is the name applied to a series of imposing cliff faces on the north shore of the Minas Basin about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia. The cliffs, which stretch approximately one mile (1.6 km) from Wasson Brook in the east, to Swan Creek in the west, consist of 200-million-year-old rocks that have yielded a wide array of fossils including more than 100,000 bones from Canada's oldest-known dinosaurs as well as the smallest dinosaur tracks ever found. The fossils date from a critical time in the evolution of life, the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic geological periods, when mass extinctions led not only to the dominance of the dinosaurs, but also to the evolution of groups of vertebrates, such as fish, crocodiles, frogs and mammals, whose descendants are still alive today. The abrasive action of the tides, considered to be the world's highest, constantly exposes fossils on the cliff faces, shores and seabed.

<i>Anzu wyliei</i> Genus of caenagnathid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period

Anzu is a monospecific genus of caenagnathid dinosaur from North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Hell Creek Formation. The type species and only species, Anzu wyliei is known from numerous skeletons that preserve cranial and postcranial elements. It was named in 2014 by Matthew C. Lamanna, Hans-Dieter Sues, Emma R. Schachner, and Tyler R. Lyson.

Wendy Sloboda is a Canadian fossil hunter from Warner, Alberta. She has made fossil discoveries of dinosaurs and other extinct animals on several continents, with finds in Canada, Argentina, Mongolia, France, and Greenland. She is commemorated in name of the horned dinosaur Wendiceratops, remains of which she discovered in 2010, as well as the fossil footprint Barrosopus slobodai which she discovered in 2003.

<i>Edmontosaurus</i> mummy SMF R 4036 Dinosaur fossil in Naturmuseum Senckenberg

The Edmontosaurus mummy SMF R 4036 is an exceptionally well-preserved dinosaur fossil in the collection of the Naturmuseum Senckenberg (SM) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Found in 1910 in Wyoming, United States, it is ascribed to the species Edmontosaurus annectens, a member of the Hadrosauridae. The fossil comprises a nearly complete skeleton that was found wrapped in impressions of its skin, a rare case of exceptional preservation for which the term "dinosaur mummy" has been used. Notably, the horny beak is preserved with this specimen. Plant remains found within the thorax cavity had been interpreted as stomach contents, although later research questioned this identification. The mummy's hands are wrapped in skin impression, which was interpreted as evidence for interdigital webbing and an aquatic lifestyle in hadrosaurids; this hypothesis, although universally accepted once, is now widely refused. SMF R 4036 is one of the four best preserved hadrosaurid mummies, and was the second to be discovered. The find was made by fossil hunter Charles Hazelius Sternberg and his sons, who sold their numerous finds to various museums in North America and Europe. Only two years earlier the Sternbergs had discovered the Edmontosaurus mummy AMNH 5060 in the same region, which is now on display at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City.

Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough is a British documentary programme that aired on BBC One on 15 April 2022. Presented by David Attenborough, the documentary follows the final days of non-avian dinosaurs through the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, similar to BBC's Prehistoric Planet. Like that series, the programme's creatures were also made with computer-generated imagery.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Carroll, Sean B. (October 29, 2012). "For Dakota Paleontologist, It All Started With a Turtle". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "Mummified Dinosaur Found by Tyler Lyson '06 Is Ready for Its Closeup". Swarthmore College. 5 December 2007.
  3. ↑ Charles Q. Choi (2005-09-11). "Digging Up Dinosaur Bones in the Fossil-Rich Badlands". New York Times .
  4. ↑ Marina Lima (2006-04-20). "T-Rexes and Raptors and Pterodactyls, oh my! College Corner with Tyler Lyson". The Daily Gazette (of Swarthmore College).
  5. ↑ "Tyler R. Lyson, PhD". Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  6. ↑ Stephen Chester; Will Clyde; Karen Cuevas; Anjali goswami; Kirk Johnson; Tyler Lyson; Gussie MacCracken; Robert Masek; Sharon Milito; Ian Miller; Neil Shubin; Aeon Way-Smith; Lindsay Zanno. "Rise of the Mammals". Nova. Season 46. Episode 17. HHMI Tangled Bank Studios for WGBH Boston. Retrieved 1 November 2019. It was absolutely a light bulb moment.
  7. ↑ "NOVA: Rise Of The Mammals". KPBS Public Media, San Diego. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019. This story about the recovery of life reminds us of the incredible tenacity of life on Earth. It also reveals a different kind of tenacity — that of the dogged persistence of the scientists and volunteers who worked so hard to make this discovery," said NOVA Co-Executive Producer Chris Schmidt. "Now, thanks to them,we have a vivid picture of how our scorched planet came back to life.
  8. ↑ Seth Boster. "Unprecedented fossil discovery near Colorado Springs dates back 66 million years". Colorado Springs Gazette: Cheyenne Edition. You find one, there has to be more," Lyson recalled thinking. And he thought back to some of his digs in South Africa. There, it wasn't about following bits of bone — easy to do at Corral Bluffs — but instead about cracking concretions, particular egg-shaped rocks.There amid the bluffs Lyson spotted one. He took his hammer to it. "And I could see the cross section of a mammal skull staring back at me," he said. "I was immediately yelling at Ian. 'I just found a skull! Get over here!' "And he and the volunteers came running over. We just had this moment where we were all just celebrating.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.