Fossil Friday Roundup: January 27, 2017

Featured Image: Artist’s reconstruction of two individuals of Siamogale melilutra sp. nov. Art by Mauricio Antón. For more information, see first paper.

Papers (All Open Access):

• A new otter of giant size, Siamogale melilutra sp. nov. (Lutrinae: Mustelidae: Carnivora), from the latest Miocene Shuitangba site in north-eastern Yunnan, south-western China, and a total-evidence phylogeny of lutrines (Journal of Systematic Palaeontology)
• Integrated Chronology, Flora and Faunas, and Paleoecology of the Alajuela Formation, Late Miocene of Panama (PLOS ONE)
• Allometry of sexual size dimorphism in turtles: a comparison of mass and length data (PeerJ)
• A New Ophthalmosaurid (Ichthyosauria) from Svalbard, Norway, and Evolution of the Ichthyopterygian Pelvic Girdle (PLOS ONE)
• The first reported ceratopsid dinosaur from eastern North America (Owl Creek Formation, Late Cretaceous, Mississippi, USA) (PeerJ Preprints)
• Humans rather than climate the primary cause of Pleistocene megafaunal extinction in Australia (Nature Communications)
• Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Evidence of Prostatic Stones at Al Khiday Cemetery, Central Sudan (PLOS ONE)
• A new Early Jurassic (ca. 183 Ma) fossil Lagerstätte from Ya Ha Tinda, Alberta, Canada (Geology)
• Virtual Palaeontology Issue 7: A pageant of Palaeozoic tetrapods (Palaeontology)
• The Aggradational Successions of the Aniene River Valley in Rome: Age Constraints to Early Neanderthal Presence in Europe (PLOS ONE)

News:

• First-ever discovered trilobite eggs paired with fossil of the segmented creature (Link)
• New species of prehistoric palm discovered in Canada (Link)
• Watch How Fossils Get Cleaned and Prepared (Link)
• The Great Dinosaur Hand-Off: Interview with Jordan Mallon (Link)
• 80-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Collagen Confirmed (Link)
• Climate change helped kill off super-sized Ice Age animals in Australia (Link)
• Scientists map the genetic evolution of dinoflagellates for the first time (Link)
• Prized fossil find — the oldest, most complete iguanian in the Americas — illuminates the lives of lizards in the Age of Dinosaurs (Link)
• Ancient, scary and alien-looking specimen forms a rarity in the insect world – a new order (Link)
• Warning of vandalism to mammoth graveyards in Arctic from unscrupulous bone hunters (Link)
• Piecing together incredible Isle of Wight dinosaur discovery (Link)

Community Events and Society Updates:

• DinoFest 2017: January 28-29, Salt Lake City, Utah (Link)

Around the Blogosphere:

• Some lucky birds escaped dino doomsday (Link)
• With dinosaurs out of the way, mammals had a chance to thrive (Link)
• What on Earth is a Hyolith? (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• Replaying Life’s Tape – No Miracles Required (Extinct)
• Mammoth roundup (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Why “The Extinction of the Dinosaurs” is Misleading (The Meniscus)
• Meet Garganornis: The Giant, Flightless, Weapon-Winged Goose From Ancient Italy (PLOS Paleo)
• Sea-Surface Temperatures During the Last Interglaciation (Letters from Gondwana)
• Vintage Dinosaur Art: Dinosaurs (Herbert S Zim) (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• Saberkittens Were Double-Fanged for 11 Months (Laelaps)
• On a Prehistoric Journey in Colorado (A Central Coast Paleontologist)
• Celebrating Roy Chapman Andrews’ birthday (Shelf Life)
• Fossilised Hedgehog Ankles? (Synapsida)
• Entelodonts: Killer Jaws with Cloven Hooves (Life in the Cenozoic Era)
• The First American Interchange, part I: Paleocene pouches and pantodonts, southward bound (Sympan)
• Prancing Protoceratops and the ISMD (Taphovenatrix)
• What is the #BestCarcass? (Taphovenatrix)

Non-Paleo Blogs of Interest:

• What should we do now Beall’s List has gone? (SV-POW)

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