If in the course of your life you were, young, passionate about nature, evolution, dinosaurs & Co, have per almeno un istante sognato di diventare, da adulti, dei paleontologi. La maggior parte di voi ha abbandonato quel leggiadro e romantico pensiero sotto suggerimento dei propri genitori, molto più propensi ad avere un figlio avvocato o medico, piuttosto che "barbone spazzaossa". Un'altra percentuale di voi, una volta raggiunta la maturità psicologica, ha optato per altre professioni ben più onorevoli, rispettate e soprattutto remunerative. I motivi di questa scelta sono tanti. Dall'onestissima e sacrosanta voglia di realizzarsi in una passione che si sente "più grande", magari scoperta più avanti nell'adolescenza o in maturità, alla pura indecisione post-caos-adolescenziale, le strade e i percorsi che possono portarci to choose "what to do with their lives" are many. Citing a Grand Old Man of paleontology, the "desire of the blades is almost like a rash illness, a required step in our growth that goes away as measles and chicken pox." But for one small part of our curiosity, admiration, fascination that this discipline takes over time, in an effort to make it an important part of our cultural background, do not vanish with age. We move to the stage "chronic" (to continue to use a medical metaphor). Unfortunately, not everything is so simple, especially in a country with a scientific-like ours, where opportunities for every young curious, driven and passionate, decreased exponentially. The causes of this frustration are manifold. One of these is that in our country, outside of a select few who in the last century have made their contribution (often amateur) we have not had a solid group of scholars engaged in growth culture of the discipline.
the most successful student of paleontology at the University twenties, 15 or 10 years ago, or maybe even less
, Professor in office could only offer to make a good argument on microcoralli of Giumbolandia on Cittalaggiù of shells, or on a nice Pescetto broken, if it was day grace. Maximum respect for the scholars of corals, molluscs and fish fossils, however, my comparison is only meant to deal with the situation of a guy who wants to study fossil bones, big bones, maybe dinosaur bones!!
Lately, however, there is hope ... A twenty-year old boy who
Surely the massification of culture of the last half century, with its powerful media, has brought more attention of all, though often in a distorted way and controversial, but always imaginative, the concept of the "paleontologist" and "traveler in the lost world." It is no coincidence that anyone born in the last 30 years knows what a T. 
rex. If this trend want to catalyze a cultural revolution, capable of allowing the students of our country to compete in skill and chance with far more "experts" (and dare I say "used") foreign scholars, it takes the hard work of many people who, with perseverance, sacrifice and an immense passion to be involved "in lifting the level." It 'a kind of
Paleontological Italian Renaissance 
rex. If this trend want to catalyze a cultural revolution, capable of allowing the students of our country to compete in skill and chance with far more "experts" (and dare I say "used") foreign scholars, it takes the hard work of many people who, with perseverance, sacrifice and an immense passion to be involved "in lifting the level." It 'a kind of . Fortunately for me, and that of others, something-today-it moves!
The very fact that this association exists is proof of quota. Within the symbol APPI there are a myriad of different people, toghether with a common passion, which each with its own power, their ability and aptitude, are doing much to build a mature vertebrate paleontology Italic, made up of scholars knowledgeable and professional, in a word "best".
Federico Fanti, Andrea Cau and Lukas Panzarin are three familiar names among those of the association. Have led, over the past 2 years, talk about a variety of different topics paleontological the first two excavations exotic and adventurous of Frederick, the exhibition of Andrea on why you should consider the birds today's living dinosaurs. Lukas has been a constant presence, quiet but industrious, an extraordinary artist (from enviable technical and scientific knowledge) that has built a name in international circles for the admirable graphic reconstructions of extinct animals.
Frederick and Andrew dela eventually published a study last summer on a new metriorinchide Italian,
Neptunidraco ammoniticus
, a prehistoric marine crocodile with important consequences for our knowledge of this group. Today when we speak of huge reptiles crocodiles appear immediately slow and menacing gaze, hidden in the mud, ready to attack the herbivore on duty at the ford of a river in the African savannah. Yet, these forms are not so archaic that one of the dozens of lineages
that in 250 million years have populated our land.
forms adapted to swamp life like today's, but also land, with speeds so changed as to make them look like greyhounds with the scales. Forms of small, medium or large size to rival a Tyrannosaurus for body length. And even marine species. Metriorhynchidae is a group of prehistoric marine crocodiles of the final part of the Middle Jurassic (about 165 million years ago). When in 1955, a mason of Portsmouth, Francesco Pasini, extracted from a quarry of some unusual Verona marble slabs, in which there were the bones of the crocodile, contacted the universities. After the seizure of the plates and some litigation, the fossils were divided up between the universities of Ferrara and Bologna to be allocated, after a few trials, a Metriorynchus , a kind of crocodile marine Upper Jurassic (about 150 million years ago ), well known to science at that time. Andrea and Federico, however, intrigued by the fossils, they discover that the pieces are in fact more ancient than previously thought, and belong to an unknown species. In the early studies of Portsmouth on the crocodile had been given to the fossil age about 155 million years, and after studying the fossil of Frederick and Andrew seems to date back 165 million years, about 10 million years earlier than previously thought. This has important consequences for the science of metriorynchidi, because until now it was thought that these lineages of crocodiles had not occurred before 160 million years, while Neptunidraco, being a primitive member of this group shows a much more pop- old group. Neptunidraco ammoniticus is then officially described as the oldest crocodile metryorinchide the world, found in Italy and studied by two young Italian professionals in the industry. But for the rebirth paleontological del nostro paese non è tutto!
Iguanacolossus e
Hippodraco nella ricostruzione di Lukas Panzarin (la barra equivale ad 1 metro) Questa settimana, il nostro paleo-illustratore Lukas Panzarin è autore insieme ad altri 6 studiosi anglosassoni di uno studio su due nuovi iguanodonti nordamericani,
Iguanacolossus fortis e
Hippodraco scutodens
dal Cretaceo inferiore (circa 130 milioni di anni fa) dello Utah. Lo studio, oltre a descrivere scientificamente l'età dei reperti, ricostruirne l'anatomia e le relazioni evolutive, presenta the beautiful images of the two animals made by our own Lukas.
Iguanocolossus
and
Hippodraco
, enrich the first underestimated the biodiversity of species of Iguanodon, among the first dinosaurs to be discovered, which are characteristic for their vaguely equine head and thumb formed by a plug of bone. As you can see these guys are busy! About Neptunidraco ammoniticus speak Andrea Cau and Federico Fanti, together with Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia who will speak on Tethyshadros insularis (the first dinosaur ornithischians Italian), the next APPI Day, Sunday, December 5: Do not miss !
Bibliografia:
- Bakker, Robert T., The dinosaur heresies, Penguin Books, New York, 1988 (1986)
-Cau, A., Fanti, F. 2010. The oldest known metriorhynchid crocodylian from the Middle Jurassic of North-eastern Italy:
Neptunidraco ammoniticus gen. et sp. nov., Gondwana Research
.
doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.07.007
-McDonald AT, Kirkland JI, DeBlieux DD, Madsen SK, Cavin J, Milner ARC & Panzarin L (2010) New Basal Iguanodonts from the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah and the Evolution of Thumb-Spiked Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE 5(11): e14075. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014075
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