Canada's First Known Dinosaurs: Palaeontology and Collecting History of Upper Cretaceous Vertebrates in Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1874–1889

A recent survey of early dinosaur fossil collections from the Upper Cretaceous of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, including those from Dinosaur Provincial Park, reveals Canada's first known occurrences of several dinosaur taxa. These include the first Canadian and global records of Caenagnathidae (1884) and Thescelosauridae (1889), alongside numerous other significant finds. The study highlights collecting biases, with overrepresentation of ornithomimids and small theropods, while ceratopsids and ankylosaurs are underrepresented. The research, based on historic collections housed in the Canadian Museum of Nature, provides a comprehensive narrative of early paleontological efforts in Western Canada during 1874–1889, shedding light on the region's rich fossil record and its contributions to understanding dinosaur diversity, ecology, and extinction.

CHRISTISON, B. E., TANKE, D. H., & MALLON, J. C. (2020). CANADA’S FIRST KNOWN DINOSAURS: PALAEONTOLOGY AND COLLECTING HISTORY OF UPPER CRETACEOUS VERTEBRATES IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN, 1874–1889. Earth Sciences History, 39(1), 184–218. https://doi.org/10.17704/1944-6187-39.1.184