Dal Sasso, C. & G. Brillante. 2005. Dinosaurs of Italy. – Bloomington, Indiana University Press

Abstract

Just over a decade ago, Italy barely even made it to the map of dinosaur discoveries. The overview in the first edition of ‘The dinosauria’ (Weishampel, 1990) lists a single theropod tracksite as the only evidence of dinosaurs in Italy. The map in the second edition of ‘The dinosauria’ (Weishampel et al., 2004) shows that this situation has changed dramatically in just a few years’ time. The story behind this dramatic change is covered in ‘Dinosaurs of Italy’, the English translation of Christiano Dal Sasso and Giuseppe Brillante’s 2001 book ‘Dinosauri italiani’. Dal Sasso, head of the Laboratory of Palaeontology of the Museo Civico Di Storia Naturale in Milan, provides a detailed and comprehensive account on the history and discovery of the first Italian dinosaur fossils.

The book, of course, deals in great detail with the discovery, preparation and research on the spectacular theropod dinosaur Scipionyx. The interesting bureaucratic history surrounding the discovery and research is also covered. Although Scipionyx certainly is one of the most spectacular dinosaur discoveries of the last decade worldwide, it is certainly not the only new discovery in Italy. The discovery and research of various dinosaur tracksites is described, as well as the challenging excavation job of the ‘Trieste hadrosaur’. Read more...