paleontology
gregladen | January 4, 2008Its name is, unfortunately, "Open Paleontology Journal." Reminds me of the Soviet/Communist Era in Asia, where such a journal might have been named "The People's Paleontology Journal."
Details are here.
gregladen | January 3, 2008
New research published in Science on the origins of multicellular life reveals an interesting pattern. The Cambrian Explosion may have been samosamo.
What is evolution about? Why are there different species, rather than just one (or a few) highly variable species? Is there a close correspondence between the ecological "spaces" that organisms can fit and the adaptations ... represented by morphology, for instance ... of the species that do exist? Can you imagine a different world where instead of having 10,000 species of birds there is only one bird that is highly adaptable in its…
laelaps | December 22, 2007
Today's photo is of the famous sail-backed pelycosaur Edaphosaurus from the Permian red beds of Texas. As if its sail wasn't enough to puzzle paleontologists, the fact that the neural spines bear "cross bars" further adds to the mystery (I know of no other animal that has exhibited such a feature). I picked out this one, though, because today I'm off to the AMNH to meet up with fellow paleo-blogger Amanda (the "Self-Designed Student"), and will have plenty of photos to share when I return this afternoon.
gregladen | December 21, 2007Plant and animal fossils recently discovered from an island in the Bahamas tell a story of habitat change and human involvement in local extinction.
These finds are reported in a paper by Steadman et al. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Most people with an interest in natural history know about one or more regions that were at one time covered by "a great inland sea." For instance, if you live in the American Midwest, you probably know that much of this region was covered by such a sea, evidenced by extensive limestone beds and other geological manifestations. As…
gregladen | December 19, 2007Yet another missing link has been found! This new find links whales to quadrupedal land mammals.
Thewissen et al. report in Nature new fossil material from the Middle Eocene of Kashmir, India. This species (in the genus Indohyus is represented by a remarkable set of remains, including cranial and post cranial material. Previous studies using DNA had linked whales to the artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates such as deer, antelope, and bison). However, there is a great deal of uncertainty, and some contradictory evidence, as to where exactly in this group the whales arose.
Thewissen et al.…
laelaps | December 19, 2007A beautiful artistic reconstruction of Indohyus by Carl Buell.The study of the origin of whales has undergone so much change during my own lifetime that it's sometimes hard to keep up. When I was very young, Basilosaurus was the fossil whale representative, but being that it was already a whale it didn't solve the problem of whale origins. Newer discoveries of older cetaceans in Asia like Pakicetus, Ambulocetus, Kutchicetus, and Rodhocetus provided a group of transitional types that stunned vertebrate paleontologists, but a major debate loomed over these fossils. While it first appeared that…
gregladen | December 15, 2007OMG, look at this:
... oh wait, it's a fake. But an interesting fake. Read about it here, on Afarensis.
gregladen | December 12, 2007A team of U.S. and Chilean scientists working high in the Andes have discovered the fossilized remains of an extinct, tank-like mammal they conclude was a primitive relative of today's armadillos. The results of their surprising new discovery are described in an upcoming issue of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The partial skeleton was unearthed by the group in 2004 and found to represent a new species of glyptodont--a family of hard-shelled, grazing mammals that may have occasionally tipped the scales at two tons. The newly described animal, which was given the tongue-twisting name…
gregladen | December 12, 2007Fossils representing on of one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known, the African Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, were identified by Steve Brusatte, a student working at the University of Bristol. The fossils were originally located in Niger.
Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, a new species, was about 13 to 14 meters long, with a skull about 1.75 meters long. It is said that its teeth were the size of bananas. So think about that next time you are eating a banana.
Bits and pieces of this dinosaur genus have been previously located, some of those fossils (from Egypt) having been…
laelaps | December 12, 2007Update: I was able to get a copy of the Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis paper, I just need to school myself on allosaurids a little bit before I pot something about it.
So many fossils, so little time. For those of you with Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology subscriptions, there's a new paper out today describing a new species of theropod; Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis from Niger. That's not all, though. In the same issue of new species of glyptodont called Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis is described, so you'll definitely want to have a good look at the December issue. I haven't been…
clock | December 6, 2007As usual, they made a great website and you can have fun with the "hidden camera" and try to figure out how many little movies did they have to make for the trick to work (i.e., try to "roar" when the people are on different places on the screen):
In support of this upcoming special, National Geographic has asked that I invite you to experience Dino Central Park [http://www.dinocentralpark.com]. Featuring a hidden "webcam" in Central Park, the website allows users to scare the pants off of unsuspecting New Yorkers walking through the park by controlling a virtual Dino hidden in the bushes.…
gregladen | December 4, 2007According to this press release from Manchester..
Palaeontologist Dr Phil Manning, working with National Geographic Channel has uncovered the Holy Grail of palaeontology in the United States: a partially intact dino mummy.
Named Dakota, this 67-million-year-old dinosaur is one of the most important dinosaur discoveries in recent times - calling into question our conception of dinosaurs' body shape, skin preservation and movement.
The find is documented in the UK premiere of Dino Autopsy on Sunday 9 December at 9pm on National Geographic Channel. The special follows leading palaeontologists in…
gregladen | December 4, 2007The small fragments of bone are spread out on a workbench in tiny pieces that could fit into a matchbox, betraying the size of their owner: a fearsome sea predator considered the Tyrannosaurus Rex of the oceans.
... a pliosaur, a reptile that swam the oceans 150 million years ago and was so big it could swallow a grown man in a single gulp. [note: there were no people living at that time -gtl]
Bits of pliosaur fossils have previously been found in Germany, Britain and Argentina, but never have as many been found as this summer in the Svalbard archipelago off northern Norway in the Arctic.
"…
laelaps | November 30, 2007
Indricotherium, the largest land mammal that ever lived as far as we know, must have been an impressive sight as it browsed among the trees of the early Miocene landscape of central Asia. Back then it didn't have a scientific name, though, as taxonomists had yet to evolve, and that was probably just as well as there is a bit of a muddle over the moniker of this animal. Although it is sometimes called "Baluchitherium", the name Paraceratherium has priority as it referred to the remains of the same animal. On top of that, the creature I've referred to here as Indricotherium was called…
laelaps | November 28, 2007Things have been a little hectic lately, making me put off my long discussion on extinct sail-backed tetrapods, but today I heard about two new papers that definitely need some attention. A few bloggers have already mentioned the papers I have in mind, but I'm going to go ahead with my own thoughts on then anyway if for no other reason than to get the word out. If you're dying to know what I'm talking about, check out Zach's blog and a new addition to my blogroll, Vertebrate Paleontology Blog by Benjamin Burger, to find out more about some Cretaceous-oriented posts coming your way after I get…
laelaps | November 27, 2007
Since yesterday's photo of Syndyoceras was so popular, I thought I would put up a photo of another protoceratid artiodactyl, this time Protoceras celer. Often found in deposits that were in proximity to streams, this animal showed some sexual dimorphism in its ornamentation, males (like the one pictured above) being more ornate than females.
laelaps | November 26, 2007
Admittedly, I am often somewhat fixated upon fossil predators, but herbivores can be just as varied and interesting as anything that fed upon them. Syndyoceras cooki, a protoceratid artiodactyl of Miocene age, is one such animal, and the two horns protruding from the front of its snout would be fused to create the characteristic "slingshot" in some later forms of this group.
clock | November 15, 2007
Today is a super-exciting day for me and I hope you will find it exciting as well. Why?
Because today PLoS ONE published a paper I am very hyped about - Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur by Sereno PC, Wilson JA, Witmer LM, Whitlock JA, Maga A, et al.
Simultaneously with the publication of the paper at 10:30am EST today (and such perfect synchrony took a LOT of work, sweat and nail-biting!), the fossil itself will be unveiled at the National Geographic in Washington D.C. (and you'll see some snippets from there on TV tonight - more information on channels and times later).
First,…
laelaps | November 5, 2007
Even though I didn't get to go to SVP this year, my friends Julia and Neil were in attendance and were kind enough to send me a *signed* copy of Don Prothero's newest book, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters. Although I was already in the middle of a book when Prothero's book arrived at my door, I dropped what I was reading and started tearing through the glossy pages, and I have to say that I was impressed. Aside from the excellent illustrations by the talented Carl Buell (plus tons of photographs and other diagrams), Prothero's book doesn't hold back when it comes to…
laelaps | November 5, 2007
The next edition of the paleo-carnival The Boneyard is coming up this Saturday at Catalogue of Organisms, so be sure to get your entries to me (evogeek at gmail.com) or Chris (gerarus at westnet.com.au) soon!