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Fossil Friday Roundup: January 5, 2018

Featured Image: Cranium of Nothosaurus marchicus from Anisian of The Netherlands. From Voeten et al (2017), CC-BY.

Papers (All Open Access):

  • Probabilistic inversion of expert assessments to inform projections about Antarctic ice sheet responses (PLOS ONE)
  • Cave Ecosystems: Microbiological View (European Journal of Biology)
  • How water availability influences morphological and biomechanical properties in the one-leaf plant Monophyllaea horsfieldii (RSOS)
  • The largest early-diverging angiosperm family is mostly pollinated by ovipositing insects and so are most surviving lineages of early angiosperms (ProcB)
  • Exceptionally Preserved Punctatus triangulicostalis and Its Post-embryonic Development (Acta Geologica Sinica)
  • First record of Phormia regina (Meigen, 1826) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) from mummies at the Sant’Antonio Abate Cathedral of Castelsardo, Sardinia, Italy (PeerJ)
  • Evolutionary and structural analyses uncover a role for solvent interactions in the diversification of cocoonases in butterflies (ProcB)
  • An early chondrichthyan and the evolutionary assembly of a shark body plan (ProcB)
  • Le saumon pétrifié de Beaune : histoire de la découverte de l’holotype de Pachycormus macropterus (Blainville, 1818) (Geodiversitas)
  • Island- and lake-like parallel adaptive radiations replicated in rivers (ProcB)
  • Amphibian and reptile biodiversity in the semi-arid region of the municipality of Nopala de Villagrán, Hidalgo, Mexico (PeerJ)
  • The first record of albanerpetontid amphibians (Amphibia: Albanerpetontidae) from East Asia (PLOS ONE)
  • Synchrotron microtomography of a Nothosaurus marchicus skull informs on nothosaurian physiology and neurosensory adaptations in early Sauropterygia (PLOS ONE)
  • Bone histological correlates for air sacs and their implications for understanding the origin of the dinosaurian respiratory system (Biology Letters)
  • An Early Jurassic sauropod tooth from Patagonia (Cañadón Asfalto Formation): Implications for sauropod diversity (PEA Paleontologica)
  • LIDAR-based characterization and conservation of the first theropod dinosaur trackways from Arkansas, USA (PLOS ONE)
  • Rods and cones in an enantiornithine bird eye from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota (Heliyon)
  • Intra-tropical movements as a beneficial strategy for Palearctic migratory birds (RSOS)
  • First Report of Avian Tracks from the Cretaceous of Tibet, China (Acta Geologica Sinica)
  • Variability and variation in Dromiciops Thomas, 1894 (Marsupialia, Microbiotheria, Microbiotheriidae) (Journal of Mammalogy)
  • A Hystrix Linnaeus, 1758 incisor (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the Early Pleistocene of Senèze, France (Geodiversitas)
  • Deletion/loss of bone morphogenetic protein 7 changes tooth morphology and function in Mus musculus: implications for dental evolution in mammals (RSOS)
  • Diversity and disparity of sparassodonts (Metatheria) reveal non-analogue nature of ancient South American mammalian carnivore guilds (ProcB)
  • DNA recovery from wild chimpanzee tools (PLOS ONE)
  • Relief maps by Mario Strani at the Civic Museum of Natural History of Verona and at the Civic Didactic Museum of Natural Sciences “Mario Strani” of Pinerolo (Torino, Italy) (Museologia Scientifica)
  • Surfin’ endocasts: The good and the bad on brain form (PalaeoE)

Pre-Prints:

  • Stability, incumbency and ecological reorganization after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (BiorXiv)
  • A vertebrate microsite from a marine-terrestrial transition in the Foremost Formation (Campanian) of Alberta, Canada, and the use of faunal assemblage data as a palaeoenvironmental indicator (PaleorXiv)
  • A new species of troodontid theropod (Dinosauria: Maniraptora) from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Maastrichtian) of Alberta, Canada (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

  • Apply Now For The 2018 Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award, Deadline Jan. 18, 2018 (Paleontological Society)
  • DinoFest 2018, Jan. 20–21, 2018, Salt Lake City, Utah (Link)
  • Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists Annual Meeting, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16–18, 2018, Abstract Deadline January 12, 2018 (Link)
  • 2018 AIBS Congressional Visits Day In Washington, DC, April 17-18, 2018 (Paleontological Society)
  • Trekking Across the GOBE: From the Cambrian through the Katian, IGCP 653 Annual Meeting, June 3-7, 2018, Athens, Ohio, USA (Link)
  • North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

  • Underwhelming Fossil Fish of the Month December 2017 (UCL Blogs)
  • Get Well Soon, Titanosuchid (Palaeocast)
  • Where Are Utah’s Triassic Dinosaurs? (Laelaps)
  • OMNH 1811, a Camarasaurus dorsal from Black Mesa (SVPOW)
  • The giant brachiosaur cervical of Arches National Park (SVPOW)
  • Episode 25 – The Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction (Common Descent)
  • Top Fossil Discoveries of 2017 (Letters from Gondwana)
  • The Skye dinosaur footprint vandal: Lessons for assault on U.S. National Monuments (Earth Archives)
  • Paleo Profile: The Mountain Dolphin (Laelaps)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

  • Listen to Mark Hallett and Matt Wedel on the I Know Dino podcast (SVPOW)

Art, books, culture, and fun:


Do you have some news, a blog, or something just plain cool you want to share with the PLOS Paleo Community? Email it to us at paleocommunity@plos.org, tweet it to us at @PLOSPaleo, or message us on Facebook.

 

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