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: June 21, 2019

Featured Image: Isisfordia molnari sp. nov., a new basal eusuchian from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia From Hart et al. 2019.

Papers (All Open Access):

  • Microbially induced potassium enrichment in Paleoproterozoic shales and implications for reverse weathering on early Earth (Nature Communications)
  • A tectonically driven Ediacaran oxygenation event (Nature Communications)
  • A Continuous Palynological Record of Forest Clearing at Rano Kao (Easter Island, SE Pacific) During the Last Millennium: Preliminary Report (Quaternary)
  • Late Pleistocene speciation of three closely related tree peonies endemic to the Qinling–Daba Mountains, a major glacial refugium in Central China (Ecology and Evolution)
  • Experimental evidence for species-dependent responses in leaf shape to temperature: Implications for paleoclimate inference (PLOS ONE)
  • Quantifying intra- and interspecific variability in trilobite moulting behaviour across the Palaeozoic (PalaeoE)
  • First report of paired ventral endites in a hurdiid radiodont (Zoological Letters)
  • The Phylogeny and Evolutionary History of Arthropods (Current Biology)
  • Evolution of limb development in cephalopod mollusks (eLife)
  • Description and classification of bivalve mollusks hemocytes: a computational approach (PeerJ)
  • Nature and timing of biotic recovery in Antarctic benthic marine ecosystems following the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction (Palaeontology)
  • Pleistocene epilithic foraminifera from the Arctic Ocean (PeerJ)
  • New material of thelodonts from Lochkovian (Lower Devonian) of Qujing, Yunnan, China (Vertebrata PalAsiatica)
  • A new genus and species of pycnodontid fish Flagellipinna rhomboides, gen. et sp. nov. (Neopterygii, Pycnodontiformes), from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Lebanon, with notes on juvenile form and ecology (JVP)
  • Reconstructing reef fish communities using fish otoliths in coral reef sediments (PLOS ONE)
  • The African Aptian Francemys gadoufaouaensis gen. et sp. nov.: new data on the early diversification of Pelomedusoides (Testudines, Pleurodira) in northern Gondwana (Cretaceous Research)
  • Isisfordia molnari sp. nov., a new basal eusuchian from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia (PeerJ)
  • Vertebrate Microremains from the Pragian, Emsian and Eifelian of the Prague Basin (Czech Republic) (Link)
  • First Documented Pathologies in Tenontosaurus tilletti with Comments on Infection in Non-Avian Dinosaurs (SciRep)
  • Cretaceous dinosaur bone contains recent organic material and provides an environment conducive to microbial communities (eLife)
  • Digital dissection of the head of the rock dove (Columba livia) using contrast-enhanced computed tomography (Zoological Letters)
  • Untangling the Multiple Ecological Radiations of Early Mammals (TREE)
  • Caudal cranium of Thylacosmilus atrox (Mammalia, Metatheria, Sparassodonta), a South American predaceous sabertooth. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History)
  • First Fossils of Hyenas (Chasmaporthetes, Hyaenidae, Carnivora) from North of the Arctic Circle (Open Quaternary)
  • First mesonychid from the Clarno Formation (Eocene) of Oregon, USA (PalaeoE)
  • Evolution of facial muscle anatomy in dogs (PNAS)

Preprints and Postprints:

  • Late Cretaceous dinosaur remains and other tetrapod fauna from the vicinity of Tran town (Western Srednogorie) (PaleorXiv)
  • Evolutionary time explains the global distribution of freshwater fish diversity (bioRXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources: 

 Meetings:

  • North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)
  • Judith River Symposium (Great Plains Dinosaur Museum), Malta, Montana, June 28–30 (Link)
  • Dino Fest at the Science Museum of Minnesota, July 13, 10 am–4 pm (Link)
  • Cretaceous & Beyond: Paleo of Western Interior (Dickinson Museum), Dickinson, North Dakota, September 14–17 (Link)
  • Annual Meeting of the Paleontological Society (Paläontologische Gesellschaft), September 15–18, 2019, Munich (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy, Fossils and Fossilization:

  • Episode 63 – Sexual Selection (Common Descent)
  • Baby Pterosaurs Could Fly. So, Did They Need Their Parents? (Live Science)
  • Huge ‘Mukawa’ dino found in Hokkaido in ’03 is a new species (Link)
  • Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus and Dystylosaurus in 2019, part 2: what we found in Utah (SVPOW)
  • Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus and Dystylosaurus in 2019, part 2b: the size of the BYU 9024 animal (SVPOW)
  • Supersaurus, Ultrasaurus and Dystylosaurus in 2019, part 3: the material of Supersaurus (SVPOW)
  • Diplodocus skull and first three cervicals in 3D (SVPOW)
  • Titanosaur osteoderms: functions and conclusions (Equatorial Minnesota)
  • THE CALLS OF THE PAST: HOW DINOSAURS MIGHT HAVE COMMUNICATED (Blogosaur)
  • Iconic Fossil Feather Probably Didn’t Belong to Archaeopteryx (Laelaps)
  • Ghostly Traces of Ancient Behemoths (Mostly Mammoths)

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

  • California Academy of Sciences appoints Dr. Scott Sampson as new executive director (Link)
  • Meet Jingmai O’Connor, the Punk Rock Paleontologist (Rewire)
  • A Young Paleontologist Goes Viral (Dr. Neurosaurus)
  • Meet the Natural History Museum’s dinosaur hunters (NHM)
  • Deep Time is a masterpiece (Extinct Monsters)
  • Fossil Friday – Back from Field Work (Valley of the Mastodon)
  • Meet the Museum: McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture (Time Scavengers)
  • Paleontology and civic pride: Philip Currie inducted into Edmonton Hall of Fame (Link)

Methods and Musings:

Arts, Books, Culture, Fun:

  • Episode 8. The Doctor Is In, A #DeepTime Series (Smithsonian NMNH)
  • Завораживающие фото Кристиана Фойгта (Alioramus altai)
  • Eyewitness Guides: Dinosaur – 30 years on (part 1) (LITC)
  • James Herrmann’s Aquilops bust (SVPOW)

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