Talk:Maiasaura

Picture

The picture on this article is a bit confusing. It doesn't seem the best, it sort of looks like a cat to me. Perhaps someone could upload a clearer picture — Preceding unsigned comment added by Phaldo (talk • contribs) 13:58, 28 December 2005

In what way does it look like a cat? User:Dinolover45, 27 April, 2010, 4:41 PM

?Maiasaura feces paper

See Palaios 22(5):554-566. doi: 10.2110/palo.2006.p06-087r. Seems these guys shat digested conifer wood(!) by the bucketful. Dysmorodrepanis 00:42, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Name of specie??

I´m a little confused here. I understood that the name of the specie was "Maiasaurus", ending on -US, rather then -A. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:2012:236:3300:3D63:5056:A68C:C15F (talk) 19:55, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

"Good mother reptile"?

Maiasaura is generally translated as 'good mother reptile'. But Ancient Greek μαία (maia) does not mean 'good mother' but 'midwife' and 'wet nurse'. I'm wondering whether the translation 'good mother reptile' is an error, or does it feel more "romantic" to say so instead of 'wet nurse reptile'. Neander (talk) 18:08, 22 March 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion:

• Maiasaura.jpg

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 00:54, 12 February 2023 (UTC)

First remains of Maiasaura... discovered by Laurie Trexler ? as late as 1978? No, no, no...

The article at this stage states: The first remains of Maiasaura were discovered in the Two Medicine Formation near Choteau, Montana in 1978 by Bynum, Montana resident Laurie Trexler. This holotype specimen was later described by paleontologists Jack Horner and Bob Makela in 1979 as the new genus and species Maiasaura peeblesorum.

This is definitely not true. The specimen that serves as the holotype had been apparently discovered by Laurie Trexler, why not, but that specific fossil (a skull, I think) is not "the first remains discovered of Maiasaura", not at all. In 1978, what made Bob Makela and Jack Horner focus on the site was, first of all, a shop located in Bynum, Montana and, after that, a visit to Marion Nehring at her residential house. The shop is famous now, the celebrated Trex Agate Shop (still now locally known as the "rock shop"). The following is what I assume is more or less an accurate chronology:

• Clifford "Trex" Trexler (1908-1962) and Marion Nehring (1912-2014) get married in 1927 and the two begin their life at the Nehring Homestead in Bynum, Montana (1). Another Clifford Trexler is their first son, born in 1933, not to be confused with his father (1). They have another son, Dave Trexler, born 1955.
• Clifford "Trex" Trexler (the one born in 1908) opens his Trex Agate Shop in 1937 (2) in Great Falls, in a building (3).
• Clifford "Trex" Trexler dies in 1962. After Clifford's death, Marion marries John Brandvold.
• In the early 1970s, John Brandvold buys in Bynum a former small catholic church that was originally erected to be a town school. Before the purchase, the church had remained closed since 1947.
• In these early 1970s the Brandvolds move their "Trex Agate Shop" business to that former church and continue selling rocks, minerals and fossils.
• At some point in the late 1960s, most probably in the 1970s (research might be done), Dave Trexler marries a lady called Laurie... who becomes Laurie Trexler, the very same Laurie Trexler who later will discover the holotype.
• In 1978 Bob Makela and Jack Horner arrive at the shop in Bynum. Not having found interesting fossils to them, they are about to leave, but then Marion Brandvold tells them that she has something else. Still at the shop, she shows them two tiny bones that Horner identifies as baby dinosaur bones. They follow her to her place, where she keeps the remains of at least four individuals in a coffee box. For years she and her husband John Brandvold had been trying to put these bones together. Then Makela and Horner go the site where these remains are apparently abundant (South of Choteau), the site now known as "Egg Mountain"... and all of this triggers the story of Maiasaura as we know it today.

Now, going back to Laurie Trexler (whose maiden surname I gnore), she might have found the fossilised piece that serves as holotype to the Maiasaura genus, and such find might have happened in 1978... but as seen in the previous steps in the process, other remains of Maiasaura have been discovered and collected by other people before Laurie Trexler enters the story.

More information at sources 4, 5 6.

In a nutshell: for many years since at least the 1970s, probably even since earlier times, anonymous people, wandering in Montana, must have found remains of Maiasaura in this area located South of Choteau (pieces of eggshell, bones, etc., identifying them as dinosaurian... or not). But far before Laurie Trexler marries Dave Trexler, at least three people have found and collected remains of Maiasaura: Clifford Trexler, Marion Trexler (later Marion Brandvold, née Nehring) and their son, Dave Trexler. So these three people, I think, should be appointed as the oldest known founders of known remains attributed to Maiasaura, though Laurie Trexler remains the discoverer of the piece that Makela and Horner chose as the holotype.

One source that presents Laurie Trexler as the discoverer of the species is The Old Trail Museum: In 1978, Bynum, Montana resident Laurie Trexler would discover a new species which would later be dubbed Maiasaura (7), adding Later in that same year, Marion Branvold would find more of the same species in a badlands area near Choteau (spelling mistake on "Branvold/Brandvold"), but this is inconsistent with Jack Horner telling us that in 1978 Marion Brandvold had already spent years trying to put together the bones of what he himself, Horner, describes as Maiasaura juvenile individuals 8. Thus, again, it is clearly wrong to pretend that Laurie Trexler discovered the first remains of the species. She "only" is the discoverer of the specimen that serves as holotype. All of this should be clarified in the article. Kintaro (talk) 01:12, 26 April 2026 (UTC)

Im' back with this source (The New York Times): 9. If I quote, It was Mr. Makela's discovery of some unusual duckbill dinosaur bones in the 1970's that led to a series of Horner expeditions culminating in the identification of the Maiasaur nests with their associated baby dinosaurs and fossilized eggs. Thus the discovery is shared by four people: John Brandvold, Marion Brandvold, Dave Trexel, and Bob Makela. The first three from the Trex Agate Shop in Bynum, and Bob Makela independently from them, most likely because he had been informed by Berkeley paleontologist Bill Clemens (8). Kintaro (talk) 16:29, 27 April 2026 (UTC)

Done! I brought the above suggested editions. Kintaro (talk) 22:54, 28 April 2026 (UTC)

"Attribution needed"

Hi @Ggoatcheese:. Thank you for your contributions, but please note that you are bringing "attribution needed" tags to sentences which wording comes from you alone. For example, there's an important difference between "Maiasaura, whose bones have been found by hundreds in the state of Montana, has been chosen as Montana's state fossil" and "Maiasaura is Montana's state fossil, chosen because of the frequency of Maiasaura fossil discovery in the state". If you add that tag to "because of the frequency of"... up to you not to put it that way! Kintaro (talk) 00:16, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Plus, there was no alleged "frequency in Montana" in this article. There's a bonebed in Choteau with hundreds of individuals, but that's all. Maybe one or two more sites in Choteau (one of them a nesting ground), and one more site in Canada. Therefore, we can't talk about "frequency in the state" in the case of the genus Maiasaura. You add the word "frequency" and at the same time you ask for attribution. Well... makes few sense... don't you agree? Kintaro (talk) 00:31, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

Ah, yes, I must have misunderstood the wording of the original, I see what you mean. I will revert that sentence back to its original wording. Thanks! Ggoatcheese (talk) 00:54, 16 May 2026 (UTC)

I mentioned that sentence as an example only. I still disagree with most of your editing, but it's ok... let's leave it as it is... Kintaro (talk) 07:44, 16 May 2026 (UTC)