Fossil Friday Roundup: October 13, 2017

Featured Image: Avicranium renestoi. Art by Matt Celeskey. From Pritchard and Nesbitt (2017).

Papers (All Open Access):

• Nuclei and nucleoli in embryo-like fossils from the Ediacaran Weng’an Biota (Precambrian Research)
• Embracing Uncertainty in Reconstructing Early Animal Evolution (Current Biology)
• The stalked filter feeder Siphusauctum lloydguntheri n. sp. from the middle Cambrian (Series 3, Stage 5) Spence Shale of Utah: its biological affinities and taphonomy (Paleontological Society)
• Is geography an accurate predictor of evolutionary history in the millipede family Xystodesmidae? (PeerJ)
• The geological record and phylogeny of spider wasps (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): A revision of fossil species and their phylogenetic placement (PLOS ONE)
• Heterochrony in the evolution of Trinidadian guppy offspring size: maturation along a uniform ontogenetic trajectory (ProcB)
• New data on Cretaceous freshwater hybodont sharks from Guangxi Province, South China (Research and Knowledge)
• Exceptional fossils from China highlight the origin and early diversification of ionoscopiform halecomorphs (Research and Knowledge)
• An extinct vertebrate preserved by its living hybridogenetic descendant (Scientific Reports)
• A new soft-shelled turtle (Trionychidae, Apalone) from the Late Miocene of North-Central Florida (Bulletin of the FMNH)
• Identification of the African–European Erymnochelys group (Pleurodira, Podocnemididae) in the Belgian fossil record: first finding of Eocenochelus eremberti outside its type locality (Fossil Record)
• Semicircular canals in Anolis lizards: ecomorphological convergence and ecomorph affinities of fossil species (RSOS)
• A rare new Pliensbachian plesiosaurian from the Amaltheenton Formation of Bielefeld in northwestern Germany (Alcheringa)
• A bird-like skull in a Triassic diapsid reptile increases heterogeneity of the morphological and phylogenetic radiation of Diapsida (RSOS)
• Unusual cranial and postcranial anatomy in the archetypal ankylosaur Ankylosaurus magniventris (Facets)
• The evolution of giant flightless birds and novel phylogenetic relationships for extinct fowl (Aves, Galloanseres) (RSOS)
• Flight aerodynamics in enantiornithines: Information from a new Chinese Early Cretaceous bird (PLOS ONE)
• Nuclear and mtDNA phylogenetic analyses clarify the evolutionary history of two species of native Hawaiian bats and the taxonomy of Lasiurini (Mammalia: Chiroptera) (PLOS ONE)
• New Pleistocene mammal site in Črni Kal quarry (Primorska region, Slovenia) with discussion on problems of protection and preservation of fossil sites in quarries (Geologija)
• The first hyaenodont from the late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania: Paleoecological insights into the Paleogene-Neogene carnivore transition (PLOS ONE)
• Evidence of a chimpanzee-sized ancestor of humans but a gibbon-sized ancestor of apes (Nature Communications)
• The Choiyoi magmatism in south western Gondwana: implications for the end-Permian mass extinction – a review (Andean Geology)
• Mass extinctions drove increased global faunal cosmopolitanism on the supercontinent Pangaea (Nature Communications)
• Technological variability at Sibudu Cave: The end of Howiesons Poort and reduced mobility strategies after 62,000 years ago (PLOS ONE)
• Altered cropping pattern and cultural continuation with declined prosperity following abrupt and extreme arid event at ~4,200 yrs BP: Evidence from an Indus archaeological site Khirsara, Gujarat, western India (PLOS ONE)
• Origin of the ornamented bâton percé from the Gołębiewo site 47 as a trigger of discussion on long-distance exchange among Early Mesolithic communities of Central Poland and Northern Europe (PLOS ONE)
• Formation of most of our coal brought Earth close to global glaciation (PNAS)

PrePrints:

• Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the White Hunter Local Fauna (PeerJ)
• An Early Devonian permineralized rhyniopsid from the Battery Point Formation of Gaspe (Canada) (biorXiv)
• Terrestrial evidence for the Lilliput effect across the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• Vote for the Top 10 Taxa of 2017, deadline November 15 (PLOS Paleo)
• Principles of Vertebrate Functional Morphology, October 16–20, 2017, Barcelona, Spain (Link)
• The Fourth TetZooCon, October 21, 2017 (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:

• ‘Mummified’ salamander fossil reveals its organs – and its last meal  (EarthTouch News Network)
• The Fall and Rise of Protoichthyosaurus (Tetrapod Zoology)
• Baby Food for Ichthyosaurs (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• The appearance and lifestyle of Thalassodromeus sethi, supercrested pterosaur (Mark Witton)
• Just How Good Is the Plesiosaur Fossil Record? (Laelaps)
• Was the ancestor of the giant sauropods a predator? (PLOS Paleo)
• Paleo Profile: The Small Whaitsiid (Laelaps)
• Fossil Friday – vole tooth (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Mass extinctions are great news for rats, bad news for diversity (Wired)
• Scientist shed new light on the mystery of the pygmy right whale (Link)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• PaleorXiv: Post-launch update (PaleorXiv)
• Fossils in Focus: Global Research of Ancient Alberta (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Compact Thescelosaurus Year Two (Equatorial Minnesota)
• National Fossil Day 2017 (Extinct Monsters)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Episode 19 – Women in Paleontology (Common Descent)
• Davey F. Wright, Paleontologist (Time Scavengers)
• Paleontology with Girls Inc. (Time Scavengers)
• Fossils on the Northern Neck (Updates from the VMNH Paleo Lab)

Art, books, culture, and fun:

• The punny, the peculiar & the unpronounceable: The best prehistoric animal names (EarthTouch News Network)
• Building a Pleistocene Pampean Panorama (Chasing Sabretooths)
• T-Rexcellent Pumpkins at the Roger Williams Park Zoo! (Dave’s Dinosaurs)
• Beasts of the Grand Staircase! (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)

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