Fossil Friday Roundup: August 11, 2017

Featured Image: The skull of Moschops capensis AM4950 in photograph and reconstruction showing neural structures. From Benoit et al (2017).

Papers (All Open Access):

• The fossil history of pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) (Fossil Record)
• The late Maastrichtian Belemnella kazimiroviensis group (Cephalopoda, Coleoidea) in the Middle Vistula valley (Poland) and the Maastricht area (the Netherlands, Belgium) – taxonomy and palaeobiological implications (PalaeoE)
• A new chondrichthyan fauna from the Late Jurassic of the Swiss Jura (Kimmeridgian) dominated by hybodonts, chimaeroids and guitarfishes (Papers in Palaeontology)
• Synchrotron scanning reveals the palaeoneurology of the head-butting Moschops capensis (Therapsida, Dinocephalia) (PeerJ)
• The bony labyrinth of late Permian Biarmosuchia: palaeobiology and diversity in non-mammalian Therapsida (Palaeontologia africana)
• A test for paedomorphism in domestic pig cranial morphology (Biology Letters)
• Prehistoric mitochondrial DNA of domesticate animals supports a 13th century exodus from the northern US southwest (PLOS ONE)
• Isotopic analyses suggest mammoth and plant in the diet of the oldest anatomically modern humans from far southeast Europe (Scientific Reports)
• Early history of Neanderthals and Denisovans (PNAS)
• Using the Neandertal genome to study the evolution of small insertions and deletions in modern humans (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Are extinction opinions extinct? (PeerJ)

Pre-Prints:

• The remedial conservation and support jacketing of the neotype specimen of the dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus (PeerJ)
• A unique exceptionally well-preserved pterosaur skull from the Crato Formation of Brazil (PeerJ)
• Evolution of body size in Crocodylomorpha in a multi-regime evolutionary landscape (PeerJ)
• Project Airless: addressing the problem of pyrite oxidation in a large fossil collection (PeerJ)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• Diversity in Paleontology Workshop GoFundMe (Link)
• SVP Paleontology Education Workshop (Link)
• SVP Women in Paleontology Luncheon (Link)
• SVP 2017, August 23–26,  Calgary, Alberta (Link)
• SVPCA 2017, September 12–15, Birmingham, England (Link)
• Principles of Vertebrate Functional Morphology, October 16–20, 2017, Barcelona, Spain (Link)
• The Paleontological Society Student Ambassador Program (PS‐SAP), Deadline Sept. 1 (Link)
• 2017 Election Ballot is Open until August 15 (Paleo Society)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)
• Paleontology Field Internship, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, application deadline August 14 (Link)
• Call for Nominations: Nat’l Academy of Sciences Elliot Medal (Link)

New and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• Fossil Friday – Aviculopecten (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Dino hips discovery unravels species riddle (Link)
• Pisanosaurus revisited (Letters from Gondwana)
• The Statue-Like Ankylosaur (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• Borealopelta (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Meet Borealopelta markmitchelli (Letters from Gondwana)
• Evidence of Intense Predation Pressures on Ancient Megafauna (Palaeocast)
• Don’t believe the hype: Patagotitan was not bigger than Argentinosaurus (SV-POW)
• Some further thoughts on Patagotitan (SV-POW)
• Pagatotitan and the problem of body mass estimation (Letters from Gondwana)
• Paleo Profile: The Crested Thief (Laelaps)
• Perot Museum Scientist Co-Authors Paper on Discovery of Japan’s Oldest Fossil Bird (Link)
• Mountain Beaver, Boomer, Sewellel (Tetrapod Zoology)
• Valley of the Mastodons (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Extinction Mystery Solved? Fossil Evidence Suggests Humans Played a Role in Monkey’s Demise in Jamaica (Link)
• New 13 million-year-old infant skull sheds light on ape ancestry (Link)
• Experiencing the Irish Tetrapod Tracks (What’s in John’s Freezer)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• Valley of the Mastodons exhibit now open (Don’t Mess With Dinosaurs)
• Mastodons take over Hemet museum (Link)
• How science is communicated impacts how science is received: Early career researchers share their take on the future of #scicomm (PLOS ECR Community)
• Research papers, gender bias and peer-review (Biology Letters editorial)
• Nomenclature is for naming (SV-POW)
• In defense of the Phylogenetic Species Concept (Sympan)
• A 21st Century Hall of Mammals – Part 1 (Extinct Monsters)
• A 21st Century Hall of Mammals – Part 2 (Extinct Monsters)
• Elsewhere in the blogosphere update August (Fistful of Cinctans)
• The Future of Science is with our Youth (PLOS ECR Community)
• Should biologists cite preprints? (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• Specimen of the Week 304: Fossil Box 12 (UCL Blogs)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Museum prepares to fly Ottawa’s next one-tonne dino skull out of an Alberta hillside (Link)
• Mark A. Wilson, Paleontologist at The College of Wooster (Time Scavengers)
• OU dino-prof gets ahead in his job (Link)

Arts, Books, Culture, and Fun:

• Using a virtual skull to recreate Smilodon (Chasing Sabretooths)
• Vintage Dinosaur Art: Animals of Yesterday (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)

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