Fossil Friday Roundup: December 15, 2017

Featured Image: Reconstruction of the tick Deinocroton draculi on an immature feathered dinosaur. The reconstruction shows two unengorged males (left) and a female feeding to engorgement (right). Image by Oscar Sanisidro. From Peñalver et al (2017).

Papers (All Open Access):

• Differences between hard and soft phylogenetic data (ProcB)
• A Biased, Misleading Review on Early Angiosperms (Natural Science)
• The early Cambrian fossil embryo Pseudooides is a direct-developing cnidarian, not an early ecdysozoan (ProcB)
• Data on Molluscan Shells in parts of Nellore Coast, southeast coast of India (Data in Brief)
• Insights into the evolution, biogeography and natural history of the acorn ants, genus Temnothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Improving global paleogeography since the late Paleozoic using paleobiology (Biogeosciences)
• Vendozoa and selective forces on animal origin and early diversification: reply to Dufour and McIlroy (2017) (PhilosT)
• Ancient connections among the European rivers and watersheds revealed from the evolutionary history of the genus Telestes (Actinopterygii; Cypriniformes) (PLOS ONE)
• The shell morphology of the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) trionychid turtle Helopanoplia distincta (PeerJ)
• First direct archosauromorph remains from the Early-Middle Triassic transition of the Iberian Peninsula (PalaeoE)
• How lizards fly: A novel type of wing in animals (PLOS ONE)
• Rediscovery of the holotype of Clelandina major Broom, 1948 (Gorgonopsia: Rubidgeinae) with implications for the identity of this species (Wired Space)
• Discrete and continuous character-based disparity analyses converge to the same macroevolutionary signal: a case study from captorhinids (Scientific Reports)
• A Triassic plesiosaurian skeleton and bone histology inform on evolution of a unique body plan (Science Advances)
• First unambiguous dinosaur specimen from the Upper Triassic Chinle formation in Utah (Utah Geological Association)
• Incremental growth of therizinosaurian dental tissues: implications for dietary transitions in Theropoda (PeerJ)
• Parasitised feathered dinosaurs as revealed by Cretaceous amber assemblages (Nature Communicatons)
• Maaqwi cascadensis: A large, marine diving bird (Avialae: Ornithurae) from the Upper Cretaceous of British Columbia, Canada (PLOS ONE)
• A Paleocene penguin from New Zealand substantiates multiple origins of gigantism in fossil Sphenisciformes (Nature Communications)
• Biofilm assists recognition of avian trackways in Late Pleistocene coastal aeolianites, South Africa (Wired Space)
• Musculoskeletal networks reveal topological disparity in mammalian neck evolution (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Biochronology and paleobiogeography of late Cenozoic mammals of southern North America: a spatio-temporal approach (Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales nueva serie)
• Cranial osteology of the pampathere Holmesina floridanus (Xenarthra: Cingulata; Blancan NALMA), including a description of an isolated petrosal bone (PeerJ)
• Finding fossils in Malapa breccia – medical CT scanning or micro-CT scanning? (South African Journal of Science)
• External auditory exostoses in the Xuchang and Xujiayao human remains: Patterns and implications among eastern Eurasian Middle and Late Pleistocene crania (PLOS ONE)
• A critical assessment of the Protoaurignacian lithic technology at Fumane Cave and its implications for the definition of the earliest Aurignacian (PLOS ONE)
• Stone heat treatment in the Early Mesolithic of southwestern Germany: Interpretation and identification (PLOS ONE)

Pre-Prints:

• Revised age constraints for Late Cretaceous to early Paleocene terrestrial strata from the Dawson Creek section, Big Bend National Park, west Texas (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

• Apply Now For The 2018 Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award, Deadline Jan. 18, 2018 (Paleontological Society)
• Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists Annual Meeting, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16–18, 2018, Abstract Deadline January 12, 2018 (Link)
• 2018 AIBS Congressional Visits Day In Washington, DC, April 17-18, 2018 (Paleontological Society)
• 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:

• Platteville moss (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Top 10 Open Access Fossil Taxa of 2017: Gondwanagaricites magnificus (PLOS Paleo)
• Found in amber: Ticks with a taste for dinosaur blood! (Earth Touch News)
• Fossil Friday – crocodile jaw (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Reptilian Flamingos? (Extinct)
• The bizarre Halzkaraptor escuilliei (Letters from Gondwana)
• Top 10 Open Access Fossil Taxa of 2017: Daspletosaurus horneri (PLOS Paleo)
• The Bird Knee Challenge (What’s in John’s Freezer?)
• Miragaia: Beast of the Week (Prehistoric Beast of the Week)
• The Great Mammoth of Lincoln (Extinct Monsters)
• Tasmanian tigers were going extinct before we pushed them over the edge (Earth Touch News)
• Top 5 Human Evolution Discoveries of 2017 (PLOS SciComm)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

• Creating Digital 3-Dimensional Fossils (Time Scavengers)
• A Psychological Explanation for Kids’ Love of Dinosaurs (Link)
• How to Tell If a Dinosaur Is Fake (The Atlantic)
• Slam Dunk (Pseudoplocephalus)
• My Favourite Question (Palaeocast)

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

• Watch The CBS4 Special: The Thornton Triceratops (Link)
• The First Scientist to Study Dinosaur Footprints Thought Giant Birds Made Them (Atlas Obscura)
• Under the Sea in Kentucky (Time Scavengers)

Art, books, culture, and fun:

• The 2017 Survey of Paleoartists: Results (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• The Great 2017 Palaeoart Survey: some thoughts (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• The Tyrant in Bygone Days (2017) (Hirokazu Tokugawa’s Paleo Sculpture)

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