The SS Mount Temple Project ^©

Dinosaurs in the Deep ^©

Lost Specimens

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A bestiary of some of the extinct Dinosaur Provincial Park fauna lost on SS Mount Temple. Shown are the rare hadrosaur Parasaurolophus (right), and two aquatic Champsosaurus (lower left). Two of the three types of turtles also lost are shown on the prone log: macrobaenid (right) and trionychid (left). Drawing by Mr. Tracy Ford, Poway, California. © 2003.

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Although reported at the time as two hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs) being lost on Mount Temple, the shipment (in 22 wooden crates) included articulated skeletal portions of as many as four hadrosaurs. Some may have had skin impressions preserved. Research indicates the following materials were aboard Mount Temple and are now among the Dinosaurs in the Deep.

• Nearly complete adult hadrosaur skeleton. A Charles Sternberg letter dated August 21, 1916 reads “equal in value to the whole collection made during the first two months.” The Sternberg letters indicate that the bulk of this skeleton left in the first shipment. The skull material was sent in the lost shipment.



• Hadrosaur skull and neck, possibly Prosaurolophus. This specimen has been difficult to correlate to the Sternberg letters. Several specimens match the description. It is unclear whether these represent different specimens or are both the same. The crude field letter descriptions suggest the latter.



• Hadrosaur, slightly disarticulated, lying on right side. A field photograph, believed to have been taken of this specimen. By comparison, this appears to be the rare Parasaurolophus. If true, this would have been the first associated specimen of this rare animal found in the badlands of Alberta.



• Hadrosaur, large portion of the distal caudal vertebrae (tail) series.



• Described as “many bones of the skeleton of a Campsorarus [sic].”; this probably means the skeleton of the small aquatic reptile Champsosaurus.



• Many taxonomically diverse isolated surface-collected specimens. In Alberta, the Sternbergs had a tradition of collecting nearly all fossils exposed and loose on the surface. While these are undocumented in the BMNH letters, it is almost certain that many hundreds of surface collected dinosaur and other vertebrate fossils were lost.



• Complete carapace of the trionychid (soft-shelled) turtle Aspideretes.



• Small baenid turtle shell, an extinct family, possibly Boremys.



• Rare macrobaenid turtle shell, an extinct family. From the specimen description, this would likely have been a type specimen. It is believed by some researchers that freshwater macrobaenids were ancestral to some modern sea turtles. It is ironic then that the first fossil example of its kind from Alberta should end up on the ocean bottom.

Last Revision: April 15, 2003. © Copyright ssMountTemple.com, 2002/2003. All Rights Reserved. All Content Protected.