Fossil Friday Roundup: March 31, 2017

Featured Image: Reconstruction of Crocuta spelaea in the vicinity of Los Aprendices Cave, feeding on the carcass of a specimen of Capra pyrenaica (illustration by Gianfranco Mensi). From Sauqué et al (2017)

Papers (All Open Access):

• The blueprint of the Amphiesmenoptera – Tarachoptera, a new order of insects from Burmese amber (Insecta, Amphiesmenoptera) (Fossil Record)
• Ecology, biofacies, biogeography and systematics of micromorphic lingulate brachiopods from the Ordovician (Darriwilian–Sandbian) of south-central China (Papers in Paleontology)
• A new tyrannosaur with evidence for anagenesis and crocodile-like facial sensory system (Scientific Reports)
• Recognizing sexual dimorphism in the fossil record: lessons from nonavian dinosaurs (Paleobiology)
• The Dinosaurian Ichnofauna of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Barremian) Broome Sandstone of the Walmadany Area (James Price Point), Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia (JVP)
• Exceptional preservation of soft tissue in a new specimen of Eoconfuciusornis and its biological implications (National Science Review Corrected Proof)
• A new species of Eutatus Gervais (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae) from the Late Pleistocene of the Northern Pampean Region, Argentina (PalaeoE)
• A new genus and species of Muridae (Rodentia) from the Quaternary deposits of the Denizli Basin, South-western Turkey (PalaeoE)
• Pleistocene cave hyenas in the Iberian Peninsula: New insights from Los Aprendices cave (Moncayo, Zaragoza) (PalaeoE)

Community Events and Society Updates:

• Seeking Nominations (March 31 deadline): The Raymond M. Alf Award for Excellence in Paleontological Research and Education (Link)
• Extinct Monsters: The Hybrid Identities of Fossil Mounts, Talk by Ben Miller at the Paleontological Society of Washington, April 19 (Link)

New and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• A New Dinosaur Family Tree (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• New Research Disproves Common Assumption on Cranial Joints of Alligators, Birds, Dinosaurs (Link)
• Speaker Series 2017: Sharing Under the Cretaceous Sea: Global Distribution Achieved by Halisaurine Mosasaurs Explained by a New Discovery from Japan (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Five minutes with Ornithoscelida (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Pinnipeds: Grey and Harp Seals (Synapsida)
• March of the Moa Part 2: Anatomy and Action (Life in the Cenozoic)
• How giant marine reptiles terrorized the ancient seas (Nature News)
• Walking in the footsteps of giants and gerbils: what fossil prints can tell us (Link)
• ‘Australia’s Jurassic Park’ the world’s most diverse (Link)
• Deinotheres for lunch? A sabertooth’s tough-skinned diet (Chasing Sabretooths)
• Ice Age Megafauna Were Ecosystem Engineers (Laelaps)
• Re-examining the dinosaur evolutionary tree (Letters from Gondwana)
• Introducing Daspletosaurus horneri (Letters from Gondwana)
• The Bite of the Bear Dog (Laelaps)

Specific Specimens:

• Paleo Profile: The Geni River Frog (Laelaps)
• Underwhelming Fossil Fish of the Month March 2017 (UCL Blogs)
• Fossil Friday – Paramylodon skull (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Paleo Profile: Isabel Berry’s Dinosaurs (Laelaps)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• It’s Utahraptor Week (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• 150 things about Canadian palaeo, part 7 – Current Canadian Palaeos (1) #FossilFriday (Musings of a Clumsy Paleontologist)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• What’s Lost When a Species Goes Extinct? (Extinct)
• Buried Treasure – Dave Hone (Dave Hone’s Archosaur Musings)
• Episode 5: The K-Pg Extinction (the “Dinosaur Extinction”) (Common Descent)
• This Mesozoic Month: March 2017 (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• I got all my rexes with me (Pseudocephalus)

Arts, Culture, and Fun:

• Join our “Drawing the Big Cats” safari! (Chasing Sabretooths)
• The Ozenkadnook Tiger Photo Revealed as a Hoax (Tetrapod Zoology)
• My contribution to Evolution: The Whole Story: sauropods (SV-POW)

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