Skip to content

When you choose to publish with PLOS, your research makes an impact. Make your work accessible to all, without restrictions, and accelerate scientific discovery with options like preprints and published peer review that make your work more Open.

PLOS BLOGS The Official PLOS Blog

Fossil Friday Roundup: January 25, 2019

Featured Image: First nearly complete specimen of the rare hupehsuchian Eretmorhipis carrolldongi (YAGM V 1401). From Cheng et al. (2018).

Papers (All Open Access):

  • Neoproterozoic glacial origin of the Great Unconformity (PNAS)
  • The revolution of crossdating in marine palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology (Biology Letters)
  • Burgess Shale fossils shed light on the agnostid problem (ProcB)
  • Caught in the act: priapulid burrowers in early Cambrian substrates (ProcB)
  • A large cockroach from the mesosaur-bearing Konservat-Lagerstätte (Mangrullo Formation), Late Paleozoic of Uruguay (PeerJ)
  • Basal polyphagan beetles in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar: biogeographic implications and long-term morphological stasis (ProcB)
  • A journey on plate tectonics sheds light on European crayfish phylogeography (Ecology and Evolution)
  • Age and pattern of the southern high-latitude continental end-Permian extinction constrained by multiproxy analysis (Nature Communications)
  • Hagfish from the Cretaceous Tethys Sea and a reconciliation of the morphological–molecular conflict in early vertebrate phylogeny (PNAS)
  • New sharks and other chondrichthyans from the latest Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of North America (Journal of Paleontology)
  • Cabindachanos dartevellei gen. and sp. nov., a new chanid fish (Ostariophysi, Gonorynchiformes) from the marine Paleocene of Cabinda (Central Africa) (Geologica Belgica)
  • Environment and evolutionary history shape phylogenetic turnover in European tetrapods (Nature Communications)
  • Morphological evolution and modularity of the caecilian skull (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
  • The skull anatomy and cranial endocast of the pseudosuchid archosaur Prestosuchus chiniquensis from the Triassic of Brazil (APP)
  • Early Triassic marine reptile representing the oldest record of unusually small eyes in reptiles indicating non-visual prey detection (Scientific Reports)
  • Evolutionary structure and timing of major habitat shifts in Crocodylomorpha (Scientific Reports)
  • Histological evidence of trauma in tusks of southern African dicynodonts (Palaeontologia africana)
  • The oldest record of Lambeosaurinae in Europe: phylogenetic implications (Fossilia)
  • Histological study of sauropod dinosaur bones from the historic Upper Jurassic Howe Quarry (Wyoming, USA): determination of an age range for every specimen (Fossilia)
  • A turiasaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Wealden Supergroup of the United Kingdom (PeerJ)
  • Digest: Evolution of shape and leverage of bird beaks reflects feeding ecology, but not as strongly as expected (Evolution)
  • Biogeography of Korea’s top predator, the yellow-throated Marten: evolutionary history and population dynamics (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
  • Evolutionary Tinkering of the Mandibular Canal Linked to Convergent Regression of Teeth in Placental Mammals (Current Biology)
  • Shifting faunal baselines through the Quaternary revealed by cave fossils of eastern Australia (PeerJ)
  • The Lowermost Tejo River Terrace at Foz do Enxarrique, Portugal: A Palaeoenvironmental Archive from c. 60–35 ka and Its Implications for the Last Neanderthals in Westernmost Iberia (Quaternary)
  • A Window into Africa’s Past Hydroclimates: The SISAL_v1 Database Contribution (Quaternary)
  • Hominin tracks in southern Africa: a review and an approach to identification (Paleontologica africana)
  • The functional importance of human foot muscles for bipedal locomotion (PNAS)
  • Combining legacy data with new drone and DGPS mapping to identify the provenance of Plio-Pleistocene fossils from Bolt’s Farm, Cradle of Humankind (South Africa) (PeerJ)
  • Limits of long-term selection against Neandertal introgression (PNAS)
  • Eco-evolutionary dynamics in a disturbed world: implications for the maintenance of ecological networks [version 1; referees: 2 approved (F1000 Research)

Preprints/PostPrints:

  • How macroecology affects macroevolution: the interplay between extinction intensity and trait-dependent extinction in brachiopods (bioRXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

 Meetings:

  • DinoFest 2019, January 26–27, 2019, Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (Link)
  • PaleoFest, March 2–3, 2019, Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford, Illinois (Link)
  • Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists, March 15–17, 2019, University of Oregon (Link)
  • 11th Conference on Fossil Resources, Casper, Wyoming, May 30-June 2, 2019 (Link)
  • North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

  • Fossils discovered at B.C.’s Burgess Shale add branch to tree of life (Link)
  • Revising echinoderm relationships based on new fossil interpretations (Time Scavengers)
  • Idaho State University researchers help create skull of ancient scissor-toothed shark, Edestus (Link)
  • Dating Old Crocs: What Fossil Chemistry Reveals About Earth History (Science Trends)
  • Tiny-headed Triassic Reptile Hunted like a Platypus (Giant Science Lady)
  • Pachyrhinosaurus: Prehistoric Beast of the Week (PBW)
  • Your Friends The Titanosaurs, part 8: Bonitasaura, Borealosaurus, and Brasilotitan (Equatorial Minnesota)
  • Did dinosaurs have a second brain to run their back ends? (SVPOW)
  • Birds have balance organs in their butts. Why is no-one talking about this?! (SVPOW)
  • The Raptormaniacs List of Extinct Cenozoic Birds (Raptormaniacs)
  • What we know (and don’t know) about the origin of placental mammals, part II: A primer on Mesozoic eutherians, and the search for the earliest placentals (SYMPAN)
  • Basilosaurus Munched Other Ancient Whales (Laelaps)
  • Murderous Whales of the Eocene Oceans (Synapsida)
  • How pygmy whales were affected by historical climate change (PLOS Paleo)
  • Fossil Friday – fox squirrels and vampire’s disease (Valley of the Mastodon)

Methods and Musings:

  • Outnumbered and Surrounded: Women Working in Male Dominated Research Fields (Link)
  • (Somewhat late) roundup of 2018 (Archosaur Musings)
  • Will citizen science take over? (GBIF Data Blog)

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

  • Cincinnati fossils come home (Link)
  • Paleontologist Mom (Field Secrets)
  • Specimen of the week 374: Hypsilophodon foxii cast (UCL)
  • Kevin Jiménez-Lara, Paleomammalogist and Paleobiogeographer (Time Scavengers)
  • State of Science: How Paleontologists Are Finding Fossils in Surprising Places (Link)

Arts, Books, Culture, Fun:

  • Book review – Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style (Second Edition) (The Inquisitive Biologist)

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.

Back to top