Fossil Friday Roundup: September 21, 2018

Featured Image: Molfetta dinosaur tracks, photogrammetry derived 3D models and interpretations; 1-2, DEM and contour line map of a theropod footprint (contour lines have an interval of 0.2 cm). From Petti et al. (2018). CC-BY.

Papers (All Open Access):

• Quantifying the dark data in museum fossil collections as palaeontology undergoes a second digital revolution (Biology Letters)
• Vegetation response to exceptional global warmth during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (Nature Communications)
• Spirematospermum wetzleri (Heer) Chandler (Zingiberaceae) from the Miocene of Weichang, Hebei Province, North China and the phytogeographic history of the genus (Journal of Palaeogeography)
• Subfossil trees suggest enhanced Mediterranean hydroclimate variability at the onset of the Younger Dryas (Scientific Reports)
• Potential carbon storage in biochar made from logging residue: Basic principles and Southern Oregon case studies (PLOS ONE)
• Paleoparasitology in Russia, history and prospects (PalaeoE)
• Evolution of metazoan morphological disparity (PNAS)
• New suspension-feeding radiodont suggests evolution of microplanktivory in Cambrian macronekton (Nature Communications)
• The psychomyiid genus Palerasnitsynus (Insecta, Trichoptera) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Palaeodiversity)
• Systematics of the genus Aphrophila Edwards with description of fifteen new species (Diptera: Tipulomorpha: Limoniidae) (Zootaxa)
• Diversity of the Crinocheta (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea) from Early Miocene Chiapas amber, Mexico (Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas)
• Redescription of three syringothyridid brachiopod species from the lower Carboniferous of the South Kitakami Belt, Japan (Sci. Rep. Niigata Univ. (Geology))
• Middle Permian (Wordian) brachiopod fauna from Matsukawa, South Kitakami Belt, Japan, Part 2 (Sci. Rep., Niigata Univ. (Geology))
• The origin of the Pycnodonteinae and relationship between gryphaeas and true pycnodontes (APP)
• Drilling predation traces on recent limpets from northern Patagonia, Argentina (PalaeoE)
• Bryozoan genera Fenestrulina and Microporella no longer confamilial; multi-gene phylogeny supports separation (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society)
• The first report of terrestrial Petroxestes from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation, western Liaoning, China (Journal of Palaeogeography)
• New polybranchiaspiform fishes (Agnatha: Galeaspida) from the Middle Palaeozoic of China and their ecomorphological implications (PLOS ONE)
• An examination of the Devonian fishes of Michigan (PeerJ)
• Natural history and molecular evolution of demersal Mediterranean sharks and skates inferred by comparative phylogeographic and demographic analyses (PeerJ)
• Evolution in chronic cold: varied loss of cellular response to heat in Antarctic notothenioid fish (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Effect of climate change on distribution of species of common horned frogs in South America (PLOS ONE)
• A phylogenetic taxonomy of the Cyrtodactylus peguensis group (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae) with descriptions of two new species from Myanmar (PeerJ)
• Carcharodontosaurian remains (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal (Journal of Paleontology)
• Juvenile spinosaurs (Theropoda: Spinosauridae) from the middle Cretaceous of Morocco and implications for spinosaur ecology (Cretaceous Research)
• First endocranial description of a South American hadrosaurid: The neuroanatomy of Secernosaurus koerneri from the Late Cretaceous of Argentina (APP)
• The use of aerial and close-range photogrammetry in the study of dinosaur tracksites: Lower Cretaceous (upper Aptian/lower Albian) Molfetta ichnosite (Apulia, southern Italy) (PalaeoE)
• A new Eocene anagalid (Mammalia: Euarchontoglires) from Mongolia and its implications for the group’s phylogeny and dispersal (Scientific Reports)
• Short-tailed mice with a long fossil record: the genus Leggadina (Rodentia: Muridae) from the Quaternary of Queensland, Australia (PeerJ)
• Testing hypotheses for the function of the carnivoran baculum using finite-element analysis (ProcB)
• Karnatukul (Serpent’s Glen): A new chronology for the oldest site in Australia’s Western Desert (PLOS ONE)
• Maternal genetic features of the Iron Age Tagar population from Southern Siberia (1st millennium BC) (PLOS ONE)
• Spatial scale changes the relationship between beta diversity, species richness and latitude (RSOS)
• Is biodiversity aging? Heuristic questions on the taxonomic diversity in the Phanerozoic (Biodiversity Journal)

PrePrints and PostPrints:

• A re-interpretation of the ambulacral system of Eumorphocystis (Blastozoa: Echinodermata) and its bearing on the evolution of early crinoids (PaleorXiv)
• A new Lower Cretaceous ichthyosaur from Russia reveals skull shape conservatism within Ophthalmosaurinae (PaleorXiv)
• Hypothesis: Avian flight originated in arboreal archosaurs gliding on membranous wings (PeerJ)
• Bayesian tip dating reveals heterogeneous morphological clocks in Mesozoic birds (bioRXiv)
• Detecting archaic introgression using an unadmixed outgroup (PLOS ONE)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

Meetings:

• 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)
• 1st Palaeontological Virtual Congress, December 1–15, 2018 (Link)
  • The 1st Palaeontological Virtual Congress: new abstract deadline, and registration payment methods (SVPOW)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

Events:

• National Fossil Day 2018: Events UPDATED 9/21/18 (PLOS Paleontology Community)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• Researchers find Holy Grail of palaeontology – 558 million-year-old fat reveals earliest known animal (Link)
• The tyrannosaurus from the Southern Hemisphere (Letters from Gondwana)
• Why did dinosaurs get so big? (Discover Wildlife)
• A mystery dinosaur in the nation’s basement (Washington Post)
• Following in the Steps of a Peculiar Protomammal (Laelaps)
• What makes a mammal a mammal? Our spine, say scientists (NSF)
• Tiny fossils reveal how shrinking was essential for successful evolution (Link)
• Modified Munchies of Many Mouse-eared Myotises (Synapsida)
• Specimen of the week 359: The Infant Elephant Molar (UCL Blogs)

Methods and Musings:

• 3D Printing a Daspletosaurus Skull for Display (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Types of Fossilization: How Fossils Form (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Palaeocast is up for a People’s Choice Award in Canada! (Palaeocast)
• Picking Foraminifera for Stable Isotope Analyses (Time Scavengers)
• Fates of collections (Equatorial Minnesota)
• The Atterholt and Wedel (2018) SVPCA abstract and talk are now available on PeerJ Preprints (SVPOW)

Museums, Folks and Fieldwork:

• The Bay of Fundy, Part 2 (Time Scavengers)
• Episode 94: Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Palaeocast)

Arts, Books, Culture, Fun:

• Book review – The Palaeoartist’s Handbook: Recreating Prehistoric Animals in Art (The Inquisitive Biologist)
• Plus ça change, Tomistoma edition (SVPOW)
• Special Presentation: Animating Dinosaurs for Hollywood Movies (Inside the Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Dinosaurs: A Journey to the Lost Kingdom Book Review (LITC)
• The Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth’s Ultimate Trophy (The Inquisitive Biologist)

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