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Fossil Friday Roundup: February 15, 2019

Featured Image: Teeth associated with Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia skeleton. From Gorscak and O’Connor (2019).

Papers (All Open Access):

  • Precise U-Pb age constrains on the Ediacaran biota in Podolia, East European Platform, Ukraine (SciRep)
  • Impact of abrupt sea ice loss on Greenland water isotopes during the last glacial period (PNAS)
  • Plant leaf tooth feature extraction (PLOS ONE)
  • First record of sexual size dimorphism in fossil Strombidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from the Miocene of Kutch, western India and its evolutionary implications (RSOS)
  • Geometric morphometric analysis in female freshwater crabs of Sarawak (Borneo) permits addressing taxonomy-related problems (PeerJ)
  • Physicochemical investigation of shrimp fossils from the Romualdo and Ipubi formations (Araripe Basin) (PeerJ)
  • Discovery of the middle Campanian (Late Cretaceous) “Soya Fauna” ammonoids in the Hidaka area, Hokkaido, Japan (Bulletin of the Hobetsu Museum)
  • Exploring the evolution and terrestrialization of scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) with rocks and clocks (Organism Diversity and Evolution)
  • Mating moths (Tineidae, Ditrysia, Lepidoptera) preserved as frozen behavior inclusion in Baltic Amber (Eocene) (PalaeoE)
  • Taxonomic validity of Petalodus ohioensis (Chondrichthyes, Petalodontidae) based on a cast of the lost holotype (Geology of the Intermountain West)
  • The Early Pliocene extinction of the mega-toothed shark Otodus megalodon: a view from the eastern North Pacific (PeerJ)
  • Distributional patterns of Aptian-Albian paleoichthyofauna of Brazil and Africa based on Track Analysis (AABC)
  • Geography of speciation affects rate of trait divergence in haemulid fishes (ProcB)
  • New microhylid frog genus from Peninsular India with Southeast Asian affinity suggests multiple Cenozoic biotic exchanges between India and Eurasia (SciRep)
  • Correction: Neuroanatomy of the Marine Jurassic Turtle Plesiochelys etalloni (Testudinata, Plesiochelyidae) (PLOS ONE)
  • A novel archosauromorph from Antarctica and an updated review of a high-latitude vertebrate assemblage in the wake of the end-Permian mass extinction (JVP)
  • Integrating gross morphology and bone histology to assess skeletal maturity in early dinosauromorphs: new insights from Dromomeron (Archosauria: Dinosauromorpha) (PeerJ)
  • A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia (ESRJ)
  • Phylogenetic analysis of Gondwanan basal eusauropods from the Early- Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina (Spanish J0urnal of Paleontology)
  • Additional sauropod dinosaur material from the Callovian Oxford Clay Formation, Peterborough, UK: evidence for higher sauropod diversity (PeerJ)
  • The braincase of Malawisaurus dixeyi (Sauropoda: Titanosauria): A 3D reconstruction of the brain endocast and inner ear (PLOS ONE)
  • A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania (PLOS ONE)
  • Baalsaurus mansillai gen. et sp. nov. a new titanosaurian sauropod (Late Cretaceous) from Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina (AABC)
  • A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China (AABC)
  • A mixed vertebrate eggshell assemblage from the Transylvanian Late Cretaceous (SciRep)
  • Fossils with Feathers and Philosophy of Science (Sys Bio)
  • Life and skeletal reconstructions of a mosasaur Phosphorosaurus using a three-dimensional computer graphics (3D CG) software: a highly promising reconstruction technique for fossil vertebrates (Bulletin of the Hobetsu Museum)
  • Exquisitely-preserved, high-definition skin traces in diminutive theropod tracks from the Cretaceous of Korea (SciRep)
  • Paravian Phylogeny and the Dinosaur-Bird Transition: An Overview (Frontiers in Earth Science)
  • Cassowary casques act as thermal windows (SciRep)
  • Transitions between foot postures are associated with elevated rates of body size evolution in mammals (PNAS)
  • The Development of Integration in Marsupial and Placental Limbs (IOB)
  • A new protodidelphid (Mammalia, Marsupialia, Didelphimorphia) from the Itaboraí Basin and its implications for the evolution of the Protodidelphidae (AABC)
  • A review of the Quaternary Scelidotheriinae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Tardigrada) from the Tarija-Padcaya basin, Bolivia (AABC)
  • Early and middle Miocene Sciuridae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Anatolia, Turkey (JVP)
  • The narial morphology of Metarhinus and Sphenocoelus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Brontotheriidae) (PalaeoE)
  • Fossil cetaceans from Duinefontein (Koeberg) an early Pliocene site on the southwestern Cape, South Africa (PalaeoE)
  • A large Late Miocene cetotheriid (Cetacea, Mysticeti) from the Netherlands clarifies the status of Tranatocetidae (PeerJ)
  • Embracing heterogeneity: coalescing the Tree of Life and the future of phylogenomics (PeerJ)

Preprints/PostPrints:

  • The concept of homolology and its potential application in palaeontological phylogenetics (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

 Meetings:

  • 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)

Funding Opportunities:

  • Jurassic Foundation Grant, Deadline February 15 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

  • When and why did the giant mega-toothed shark Otodus megalodon become extinct? (PeerJ Blog)
  • Prehistoric Crocodile Cousin Crushed the Bones of Its Prey Long Before T. Rex (Smithsonian)
  • Fossil Friday -crocodile skull (Valley of the Mastodon)
  • Bajadasaurus: Beast of the Week (PBW)
  • Bajadasaurus pronuspinax (Equatorial Minnesota)
  • Mongolian proto-thief dinosaur had egg-crushing jaws (PLOS Paleo)
  • Spectacular Fossil Bird Foot Preserved in Amber (Laelaps)
  • Finches Before There Were Finches: Eofringillirostrum and the Diversity of Stem-Passerines (Raptormaniacs)

Methods and Musings:

  • Protecting our Paleontological Heritage on U.S. Federal Lands (PaleoSociety)

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

  • How Evolutionary Biologist Emma Schachner Is Helping Explain The Rise Of The Dinosaurs (TedX)
  • Speaker Series 2019: Amateur Fossil Collector Maurice Stefanuk (1924-2016) (Royal Tyrrell Museum)
  • Episode 54 – Alfred Russell Wallace (Common Descent)
  • Jaws International (Time Scavengers)
  • Dr. Rehemat Bhatia, Foraminifera Geochemist (Time Scavengers)
  • Project Kevin Part 1: Field and Lab Work (RMDRC)

Art, Books, Culture, Fun:

  • Pappochelys: Cancer in Deep Time (LITC)
  • BRONTOSMASH! in a kids’ book (SVPOW)
  • Чем на самом деле интересен Bajadasaurus pronuspinax (Alioramus altai)

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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