Fossil Friday Roundup: March 23, 2018

Featured Image: From Schlager et al (2018), CC-BY.

Papers (All Open Access):

• Retrodeformation of fossil specimens based on 3D bilateral semi-landmarks: Implementation in the R package “Morpho” (PLOS ONE)
• Experimental analysis of soft‐tissue fossilization: opening the black box (Palaeontology
• The fossilized birth-death model for the analysis of stratigraphic range data under different speciation modes)
• The fossilized birth-death model for the analysis of stratigraphic range data under different speciation modes (Journal of Theoretical Biology)
• A new yeti crab phylogeny: Vent origins with indications of regional extinction in the East Pacific (PLOS ONE)
• Morphology of the Early Jurassic Arietitidae and the effects of syn vivo serpulid infestations (Fossil Record)
• Evolution of reproductive strategies in dictyopteran insects—clues from ovipositor morphology of extinct roachoids (APP)
• Whirling in the late Permian: ancestral Gyrinidae show early radiation of beetles before Permian-Triassic mass extinction (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Diversification rates indicate an early role of adaptive radiations at the origin of modern echinoid fauna (PLOS ONE)
• Neopterygian phylogeny: the merger assay (RSOS)
• Postcrania of large dissorophid temnospondyls from Richards Spur, Oklahoma (Fossil Record)
• The first Oligocene sea turtle (Pan-Cheloniidae) record of South America (PeerJ)
• Lepidosaurian diversity in the Mesozoic–Palaeogene: the potential roles of sampling biases and environmental drivers (RSOS)
• Cenozoic aridization in Central Eurasia shaped diversification of toad-headed agamas (Phrynocephalus; Agamidae, Reptilia) (PeerJ)
• A tiny Triassic saurian from Connecticut and the early evolution of the diapsid feeding apparatus (Nature Communications)
• Tetrapod burrows from the Triassic Ermaying Formation of Shaanxi, China (Vertebrata PalAsiatica)
• Patterns of divergence in the morphology of ceratopsian dinosaurs: sympatry is not a driver of ornament evolution (Proc B)
• A new caenagnathid dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Wangshi Group of Shandong, China, with comments on size variation among oviraptorosaurs (Scientific Reports)
• Possible bite-induced abscess and osteomyelitis in Lufengosaurus(Dinosauria: sauropodomorph) from the Lower Jurassic of the Yimen Basin, China (Scientific Reports)
• The systematic position of the enigmatic thyreophoran dinosaur Paranthodon africanus, and the use of basal exemplifiers in phylogenetic analysis (PeerJ)
• First thyreophoran dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) of Luxembourg (Geologica Belgica)
• New partial dentaries of amphitheriid mammalian Palaeoxonodon ooliticus from Scotland, and posterior dentary morphology in early cladotherians (APP)
• A new dolphin from the early Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina: Insights into the evolution of Platanistoidea in the Southern Hemisphere (APP)
• Innovative assembly strategy contributes to understanding the evolution and conservation genetics of the endangered Solenodon paradoxus from the island of Hispaniola (GigaScience)
• Uniformity in variety: Antler morphology and evolution in a predator-free environment (PalaeoE)
• Camelus thomasi Pomel, 1893 from the Pleistocene type-locality Tighennif (Algeria). Comparisons with modern Camelus (Geodiversitas)
• A new species of Forstercooperia (Perissodactyla, Paraceratheriidae) from northern China with a systematic revision of forstercooperiines (American Museum novitates)
• Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists Annual Meeting 2018 Program with Abstracts. (PaleoBios)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

Meetings:

• 11th Annual SeAVP Conference, May 23–27, 2018, North Carolina (Link)
• Trekking Across the GOBE: From the Cambrian through the Katian, IGCP 653 Annual Meeting, June 3-7, 2018, Athens, Ohio, USA (Link)
• European Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists Annual Meeting, Caprica, June 26–July 1, 2018 (Link)
• 5th International Palaeontological Congress (IPC5), July 9–13, 2018, France (Link)
• Flugsaurier 2018 Circular, August 10–14, 2018, Los Angeles (Link)
• 78th Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), October 17–20, 2018, Albuquerque, New Mexico (Link)
• 2018 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, November 4–7, 2018, Indianapolis, Indiana (Link)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

Deadlines:

• The AWG Undergraduate Excellence in Paleontology Award, deadline April 15, 2018 (PaleoSociety)
• Analytical Paleobiology Short Course, July 19–August 15. Deadline to apply April 1, 2018 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• An Ammonite in Oregon (Dr. Neurosaurus)
• New echinoderm fossils from Anticosti Island, Quebec (Time Scavengers)
• Paleo Profile: The Fish from China (Laelaps)
• Ceratopsian horns and frills – what drove their evolution? (Archosaur Musings)
• Jinyunpelta: Beast of the Week (Prehistoric Beast of the Week)
• Cervical vertebrae of Suuwassea on display at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia (SVPOW)
• Thinking about sauropod skin (SVPOW)
• Speaker Series 2018: The World’s Best Preserved Armoured Dinosaur (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Episode 87: Archaeopteryx (Palaeocast)
• The Salt Glands of Iteravis (Raptormaniacs)
• Bisected pelican arm bones of the Oxford Museum of Natural History (SVPOW)
• Aepyornis femora of the Oxford Museum of Natural History (SVPOW)
• The Mystery of the Unnamed Scottish Pantothere (Giant Science Lady)
• Miocene (Pt 6): The Coming of the Mice (Synapsida)
• Fossil Friday – horse molar (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Long-Lost Horse Toes Found (Laelaps)
• New Understanding of Kenyan Paleoenvironments Opens Window on Human Evolution in the Area (GSA)

Methods and Musings:

• On when you don’t uncover a clear answer (Time Scavengers)
• I’m an entrepreneur? (Musings of a Clumsy Paleontologist)
• Academia & Parenthood: Advocating for Child-friendly Conferences (PLOS ECR Community)

Museums, Folks and Fieldwork:

• A Prehistoric Pit Stop at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research! (Dave’s Dinosaurs)
• Dragons and Dinosaurs at the Museum! (Time Scavengers)
• Visiting the Carnegie Museum of Natural History – Part 2 (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• Forgotten women of Paleontology: Elizabeth Anderson Gray (Letters from Gondwana)

Art, books, culture, and fun:

• Doomed predators: conveying the drama of carnivore entrapment in Batallones 3 (Chasing Sabretooths)
• Young Allosaurus and Dinotopia (Alioramus altai)
• Vintage Dinosaur Art: Dinosaurs, Giants of the Past (Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
• Dinosaurs in the Wild: a review (Mark Witton)

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.