Fossil Friday Roundup: October 6, 2017

Featured Image: Digestive tract (in yellow) of Phosphotriton, an Eocene salamander. From Tissier et al. (2017), CC-BY)

Papers (All Open Access):

• Insight into Central Asian flora from the Cenozoic Tianshan montane origin and radiation of Lagochilus (Lamiaceae) (PLOS ONE)
• Tip-dated phylogeny of whirligig beetles reveals ancient lineage surviving on Madagascar (Scientific Reports)
• Exceptional soft tissues preservation in a mummified frog-eating Eocene salamander (PeerJ)
• The Osteology of the Giant Snake Gigantophis garstini from the Upper Eocene of North Africa and Its Bearing on the Phylogenetic Relationships and Biogeography of Madtsoiidae (JVP)
• Isolated pliosaurid teeth from the Albian–Cenomanian (Cretaceous) of Annopol, Poland (AGP)
• Short note on a new anurognathid pterosaur with evidence of perching behaviour from Jianchang of Liaoning Province, China (Link)
• New whaitsioids (Therapsida: Therocephalia) from the Teekloof Formation of South Africa and therocephalian diversity during the end-Guadalupian extinction (PeerJ)
• Dinosaur footprints from the top of Mt. Pelmo:
  new data for Early Jurassic palaeogeography of the Dolomites (NE Italy) (Link)
• A new record of a possible ornithopod footprint
  from the Lower Cretaceous of Cabo Espichel (Sesimbra, Portugal) (Link)
• Regulation of root patterns in mammalian teeth (Scientific Reports)
• Mammalian distal humerus fossils from eastern Montana, USA with implications for the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction and the adaptive radiation of placentals (PalaeoE)
• Megachiropteran bats profoundly unique from microchiropterans in climbing and walking locomotion: Evolutionary implications (PLOS ONE)
• Network analysis of the hominin origin of Herpes Simplex virus 2 from fossil data (Virus Evolution)
• Critical comments on the genus Propachynolophus Lemoine, 1891 (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Equoidea) (Palaeo Vertebrata)
• Shorelines and vertebrate fauna of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, Utah, Idaho, and Nevada (UGA Pubs)
• Bird-like tracks from the Imilchil Formation (Middle Jurassic, Bajocian-Bathonian) of the Central High Atlas, Morocco, in comparison with similar Mesozoic tridactylous ichnotaxa (Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana)
• Late Triassic ecosystem variations inferred by palynological records from Hechuan, southern Sichuan Basin, China (Geol Mag)
• The Subeng vertebrate tracks: stratigraphy, sedimentology and a digital archive of a historic Upper Triassic palaeosurface (lower Elliot Formation), Leribe, Lesotho (southern Africa) (Link)
• Bringing ecology blogging into the scientific fold: measuring reach and impact of science community blogs (RSOS)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• Vote for the Top 10 Taxa of 2017, deadline November 15 (PLOS Paleo)
• Upcoming National Fossil Day Events, Part 1 (PLOS Paleo)
• Upcoming National Fossil Day Events, Part 2 (PLOS Paleo)
• National Fossil Day National Event in Washington, D.C., Oct. 11 (PLOS Paleo)
• Call for Nominations: Nat’l Academy of Sciences Elliot Medal, due Oct. 12 (Link)
• Principles of Vertebrate Functional Morphology, October 16–20, 2017, Barcelona, Spain (Link)
• The Fourth TetZooCon (Link)
• A history of life on Earth: A masterclass on evolution with experts from the Natural History Museum, November 19, 2017 (Link)
• The Science Ambassador Scholarship for female undergraduate and high school seniors, Deadline December 11, 2017 (Link)
• Trekking Across the GOBE: From the Cambrian through the Katian, IGCP 653 Annual Meeting, June 3-7, 2018, Athens, Ohio, USA (Link)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• Episode 81: Coccolithophores (Palaeocast)
• Underwhelming Fossil Fish of the Month September 2017 (UCL Blogs)
• Fossil points to early rise of ancient crocodiles (Link)
• Nanosaurus agilis: the smallest dinosaur you’ve never heard of (and for good reason) (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Crab-Eating Hadrosaurs (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• The Beginning of the Age of Giants (Laelaps)
• Secretary Birds: Weird, but Actually Not That Weird (Tetrapod Zoology)
• For Rodent Week, the Gift of Jerboas (Tetrapod Zoology)
• Miocene (Pt 3): The Elephants Reach Europe (Synapsida)
• Fossil Friday – cat skull fragments (Valley of the Mastodon)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• Poll: sauropod vertebra picture of the decade (SV-POW)
• Ten years of sauropod vertebrae! (SV-POW)
• Consciousness and paleobiological laws: E. D. Cope as philosopher (Extinct)
• Coming to a close… (Updates from the VMNH Paleo Lab)
• Entering the Nth Dimension of Terra-Forming, Macro-Plant Scavenging, Hive-Minded Hadrosaurs (Antediluvian Salad)
• Engaging the Public – The Experiment of the “Valley of the Mastodons” Workshop & Exhibit (PLOS Paleo)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Interview: Zoë Lescaze on Paleoart (Old Bones)
• Eleanor Gardner, Avian Taphonomist and Science Outreach Specialist (Time Scavengers)
• UO researcher honored with international paleontology award (Link)

Art, books, culture, and fun:

• Vintage Dinosaur Art: In the Days of the Dinosaurs – Part 1 (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)

Do you have some news, a blog, or something just plain cool you want to share with the PLOS Paleo Community? Email it to us at paleocommunity@plos.org, tweet it to us at @PLOSPaleo, or message us on Facebook.