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.

Journals
More Content
PLOS BLOGS The Official PLOS Blog
Browse all PLOS Blogs
Browse all PLOS Blogs

Fossil Friday Roundup: February 15, 2019

Ian Hamilton Fossil Friday Roundup

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.

Back to top