Fossil Friday Roundup: November 17, 2017

Featured Image: Brachiopods (Eohadrotreta zhenbaensis) from the Cambrian of China. From Zhang et al. (2017).

Papers (All Open Access):

• Stromatolites on the rise in peat-bound karstic wetlands (Scientific Reports)
• Does fuel type influence the amount of charcoal produced in wildfires? Implications for the fossil record (Palaeontology)
• Unlocking the biomineralization style and affinity of Paleozoic fusulinid foraminifera (Scientific Reports)
• Centimeter-wide worm-like fossils from the lowest Cambrian of South China (Scientific Reports)
• Response to “An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans” (PeerJ)
• The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability (PeerJ)
• Sediment tolerance mechanisms identified in sponges using advanced imaging techniques (PeerJ)
• Post-metamorphic allometry in the earliest acrotretoid brachiopods from the lower Cambrian (Series 2) of South China, and its implications (Palaeontology)
• Inner Ear Otolith Asymmetry in Late-Larval Cichlid Fish (Oreochromis mossambicus, Perciformes) Showing Kinetotic Behaviour Under Diminished Gravity (Scientific Reports)
• Reconstructing pectoral appendicular muscle anatomy in fossil fish and tetrapods over the fins-to-limbs transition (Biological Reviews)
• Overland movement in African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis): empirical dispersal data from within their native range (PeerJ)
• Morphological and genetic evidence for a new karst specialist lizard from New Guinea (Cyrtodactylus: Gekkonidae) (RSOS)
• Intraspecific variation in the diet of the Mexican garter snake Thamnophis eques (PeerJ)
• Supradapedon revisited: geological explorations in the Triassic of southern Tanzania (PeerJ)
• How can we reliably identify a taxon based on humeral morphology? Comparative morphology of desmostylian humeri (PeerJ)
• Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Enamel Elongation (Amelogenesis) Rates for the Early Cretaceous Iguanodontian Dinosaur Lanzhousaurus magnidens (Scientific Reports)
• The Small and the Dead: A Review of Ancient DNA Studies Analysing Micromammal Species (Genes)
• Deciduous dentition and dental eruption of Hyainailouroidea (Hyaenodonta, “Creodonta,” Placentalia, Mammalia) (PalaeoE)
• Gigantic lion, Panthera leo, from the Pleistocene of Natodomeri, eastern Africa (Journal of Paleontology)
• Evolution of facial color pattern complexity in lemurs (Scientific Reports)
• Elbow Joint Geometry in Bears (Ursidae, Carnivora): a Tool to Infer Paleobiology and Functional Adaptations of Quaternary Fossils (Journal of Mammalian Evolution)
• Site of asteroid impact changed the history of life on Earth: the low probability of mass extinction (Scientific Reports)

Pre-Prints

• Xenoposeidon is the earliest known rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur (PeerJ)
• Functional and morphometric analysis of a middle Miocene bandicoot (Marsupialia, Peramelemorphia) skeleton from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia (PeerJ)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• A history of life on Earth: A masterclass on evolution with experts from the Natural History Museum, November 19, 2017 (Link)
• November Webinar: A FOSSIL Feast, November 29 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm (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:

• Study settles prehistoric puzzle, finds carbon dioxide link to global warming 22 million years ago (Link)
• UWM geologists uncover Antarctica’s fossil forests (Link)
• The first fossils described from Dinosaur National Monument (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Is the vampire squid an octopus or a squid? (Fistful of Cinctans)
• Remeasuring Pisanosaurus (Extinct)
• Xenoposeidon is ten years old today! And it’s the oldest rebbachisaur! (SVPOW)
• The Dinosaur Tree Debate Continues (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• The Giant Extinct Otter and its Giant Bite (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• Sex in the Slow Lane (Synapsida)
• Fossil Friday – deer humerus (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Paleo Profile: King of the Miocene Iberian Giraffes (Laelaps)
• Swift pussy cat: Batallones’ little feline wonder revealed (Chasing Sabretooths)
• A New Look at the Same Beast (Laelaps)
• In Siberia, a perfectly preserved frozen cave-lion cub (Earth Touch News)
• Cave Lion Mummy May Not Be What It Seems (Link)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• 2. Peer Review: An early History (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• 3. Peer Review: The Modern Revolution (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• 4. Peer Review: Recent Studies (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• 5. Peer Review: Modern Role and Purpose (Green Tea and Velociraptors)
• The “Birds Are Not Dinosaurs” Movement (Tetrapod Zoology)
• Whose Fossils? (Old Bones)
• National Science Foundation Proposals (Time Scavengers)
• Meeting announcement: Sexual selection: patterns in the history of life (Archosaur Musings)
• Historical Perspective on the Dinosaur Family Tree (Letters from Gondwana)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Emily Rayfield (Trowelblazers)
• Fossil Collecting at Westmoreland State Park, Virginia (Time Scavengers)

Art, books, culture, and fun:

• Documentary Review: Walking with Beasts (Life in the Cenozoic Era)
• Terrible Lizards – a bestiary (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