Fossil Friday Roundup: May 19, 2017

Featured Image:  The ammonite Subplanites rueppellianus, from Lomax et al (2017)

Papers (All Open Access):

• Carbonaceous and siliceous Neoproterozoic vase-shaped microfossils (Urucum Formation, Brazil) and the question of early protistan biomineralization (Journal of Paleontology)
• Lygistorrhinidae (Diptera: Bibionomorpha: Sciaroidea) in early Eocene Cambay amber (PeerJ)
• An 8.5 m long ammonite drag mark from the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Lithographic Limestones, Germany (PLOS ONE)
• Development of cyclic shedding teeth from semi-shedding teeth: the inner dental arcade of the stem osteichthyan Lophosteus (RSOS)
• First early Eocene lizards from Spain and a study of the compositional changes between late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic Iberian lizard assemblages (PalaeoE)
• Second discovery of a spinosaurid tooth from the Sebayashi Formation (Lower Cretaceous), Kanna Town, Gunma Prefecture, Japan (Bulletin GMNH)
• The Biomechanics Behind Extreme Osteophagy in Tyrannosaurus rex (Scientific Reports)
• Long-term association between the commensal Florida Mouse (Podomys floridanus) and the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) in the fossil record of Florida (Bulletin Florida Museum of Natural History)
• Morphology of an Early Oligocene beaver Propalaeocastor irtyshensis and the status of the genus Propalaeocastor (PeerJ)
• Reappraisal of the extinct seal “Phoca” vitulinoides from the Neogene of the North Sea Basin, with bearing on its geological age, phylogenetic affinities, and locomotion (PeerJ)
• Combining phylogenetic and demographic inferences to assess the origin of the genetic diversity in an isolated wolf population (PLOS ONE)
• A diffusion based study of population dynamics: Prehistoric migrations into South Asia (PLOS ONE)
• The ecology of de-extinction (Functional Ecology)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• Diversity in Paleontology Workshop GoFundMe (Link)
• PLOS Early Career Travel Award Program, Due May 31 (Link)
• Support the Excavation of the KU T.rex in Montana (Link)

New and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• This Amazing Fossil Rode To Los Angeles In A Beer Truck (Forbes)
• The Triassic’s Mystery Creature (Laelaps)
• Oldest known crocodiloid eggs discovered in Portugal (PLOS Paleo)
• Warm-bloodedness possibly much older than previously thought (Link)
• Fossil ‘Winged Serpent’ Is a New Species of Ancient Snake, Penn Doctoral Student Finds (Link)
• Not a lizard nor a dinosaur, tuatara is the sole survivor of a once-widespread reptile group (Link)
• Kneel Before Zuul (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• Mining for Ankylosaurs (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• The Amazing Dinosaur Found (Accidentally) by Miners in Canada (National Geographic)
• Let sleeping dragons lie (PLOS Paleo)
• Canada’s Unexpected Ostrich Mimic (Laelaps)
• The return of “Dinosaur skeletal anatomy” (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Dinosaur dimorphism, cryptic absence (Archosaur Musings)
• Whales, dolphins, and seals all follow the same evolutionary patterns (PLOS Paleo)
• Pinnipeds: Freshwater Seals (Synapsida)
• Speaker Series 2017: Discovery, Geological Context and Challenges of Dating a New Hominin, Homo naledi, from the Rising Star Cave, South Africa (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• Putting Pictures to data: The Case of the Hypothetical Ancestral Mammal (Extinct)
• Media Release: Industrial finds unearth palaeontological past (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Why we don’t need journal blacklists (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• Terrestrial floras at the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary in Europe (Letters from Gondwana)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Episode 158 – Shaena Montanari (Talk Nerdy to Me)
• Current Canadian Palaeos (2) – 150 things about Canadian palaeo, part 12 (Musings of a Clumsy Paleontologist)

Arts, Books, Culture, and Fun:

• Vintage Dinosaur Art: Dinosaurs (Books for Young Explorers) (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)

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