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: February 8, 2019

Featured Image: A new study challenges the identity of a an isolated feather from the Jurassic Solnhofen limestone. From Kaye et al. (2018).

Papers (All Open Access):

  • First fossil harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) from Spain and notes on the fossil record of Opiliones (PalaeoE)
  • Tamilokus mabinia, a new, anatomically divergent genus and species of wood-boring bivalve from the Philippines (PeerJ)
  • Size, weapons, and armor as predictors of competitive outcomes in fossil and contemporary marine communities (Ecological Monographs)
  • The evolution of the axial skeleton intercentrum system in snakes revealed by new data from the Cretaceous snakes Dinilysia and Najash (Scientific Reports)
  • Ecomorphology and bone microstructure of Proterochampsia from the Chañares Formation (APP)
  • A new long-spined dinosaur from Patagonia sheds light on sauropod defense system (Scientific Reports)
  • Detection of lost calamus challenges identity of isolated Archaeopteryx feather (Scientific Reports)
  • A new baby oviraptorid dinosaur (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia (PLOS ONE)
  • Unique skull network complexity of Tyrannosaurus rex among land vertebrates (Scientific Reports)
  • Useful old casts: a comment on Hansford & Turvey (2018), ‘Unexpected diversity within the extinct elephant birds (Aves: Aepyornithidae) (RSOS)
  • Standing genetic variation as the predominant source for adaptation of a songbird (PNAS)
  • The evolution of the syrinx: An acoustic theory (PLOS ONE)
  • Oldest Finch-Beaked Birds Reveal Parallel Ecological Radiations in the Earliest Evolution of Passerines (Current Biology)
  • Estimating age‐dependent survival from age‐aggregated ringing data—extending the use of historical records (Ecology and Evolution)
  • Convergent gene losses illuminate metabolic and physiological changes in herbivores and carnivores (PNAS)
  • New records and diet reconstruction using dental microwear analysis for Neolicaphrium recens Frenguelli, 1921 (Litopterna, Proterotheriidae) (Andean Geology)
  • Climbing adaptations, locomotory disparity and ecological convergence in ancient stem ‘kangaroos’ (RSOS)
  • Recent dating of extinct Atlantic gray whale fossils, (Eschrichtius robustus), Georgia Bight and Florida, western Atlantic Ocean (PeerJ)
  • Ancient human genome-wide data from a 3000-year interval in the Caucasus corresponds with eco-geographic regions (Nature Comm)
  • kuenm: an R package for detailed development of ecological niche models using Maxent (PeerJ)
  • The R package divDyn for quantifying diversity dynamics using fossil sampling data (Methods in Ecology and Evolution)
  • Inferring species richness using multispecies occupancy modeling: Estimation performance and interpretation (Ecology and Evolution)

Preprints/PostPrints:

  • Cranial anatomy of the predatory actinopterygian Brazilichthys macrognathus from the Permian (Cisuralian) Pedra de Fogo Formation, Parnaíba Basin, Brazil (bioRXiv)
  • Timing the extant avian radiation: The rise of modern birds, and the importance of modeling molecular rate variation (PeerJ)

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:

Methods and Musings:

  • Data, text, and Simulation: Alisa Bokulich’s “Using Models to Correct Data: Paleodiversity and the Fossil Record.” (Extinct)
  • Learning New Methods (Time Scavengers)
  • Artificial Intelligence Can Identify Microscopic Marine Organisms (Link)

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

  • Memories of a Glacier in the Connecticut River Valley (Time Scavengers)
  • Prehistoric Beast at the Academy of Natural Sciences: Part 2 (PBW)

Art, Books, Culture, 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.

Back to top