Fossil Friday Roundup: December 7, 2018

Featured Image: The skull of Eretmochelys imbricata in four types of digital representation. From Raselli (2018). CC-BY.

Papers (All Open Access):

• Rapid microevolution during recent range expansion to harsh environments (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Raman and infrared spectroscopy investigation of the root fossil (rhizoliths) from the Carboniferous period, Piauí Formation, Parnaíba Sedimentary Basin, Northeast Brazil (Vibrational Spectroscopy)
• The coastal North Pacific: Origins and history of a dominant marine biota (Journal of Biogeography)
• Molecular palaeontology illuminates the evolution of ecdysozoan vision (ProcB)
• Re-description of Grammapsychops lebedevi Martynova, 1954 (Neuroptera: Psychopsidae) with notes on the Late Cretaceous psychopsoids (Zootaxa)
• Fossilized gut of the trilobite Lioparia bassleri and the distribution of exceptional preservation in the Cambrian Stage 4–Drumian Manto Formation of North China (Bulletin of Geosciences)
• Teller’s operculum; revising a rare operculate gastropod from the Silurian of Wisconsin (Laurentia) (Bulletin of Geosciences)
• Nautiloid cephalopods from the Rickard Hill facies of the Saugerties Member of the Schoharie Formation, eastern New York, USA (late Emsian, Devonian): A case study in taphonomy from glacial erratics (PalaeoE)
• Reappraisal of the Eocene whiptail stingrays (Myliobatiformes, Dasyatidae) of the Bolca Lagerstätte, Italy (Zoologica Scripta)
• New insights into the morphology of the Carboniferous tetrapod Crassigyrinus scoticus from computed tomography (EESTRSE)
• Physical and environmental drivers of Paleozoic tetrapod dispersal across Pangaea (Nature Communications)
• Comparative cranial morphology of the Late Cretaceous protostegid sea turtle Desmatochelys lowii (PeerJ)
• Macroevolution of sexual size dimorphism and reproduction-related phenotypic traits in lizards of the Chaco Domain (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
• Revision of Varanus marathonensis (Squamata, Varanidae) based on historical and new material: morphology, systematics, and paleobiogeography of the European monitor lizards (PLOS ONE)
• A new occurrence of the Late Triassic archosaur Smok in southern Poland (APP)
• Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia (PeerJ)
• Are endocasts good proxies for brain size and shape in archosaurs throughout ontogeny? (Journal of Anatomy)
• Melanosome diversity and convergence in the evolution of iridescent avian feathers—Implications for paleocolor reconstruction (Evolution)
• Medullary bone in an Early Cretaceous enantiornithine bird and discussion regarding its identification in fossils (Nature Communications)
• New prehistoric avifaunas from the Gambier Group, French Polynesia (PalaeoE)
• Exploring the hybrid speciation continuum in birds (Ecology and Evolution)
• Close-range photogrammetry of the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, Emery County, Utah (Geology of the Intermountain West)
• Tufamyidae, a new family of hystricognath rodents from the Palaeogene and Neogene of the Sperrgebiet, Namibia (Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia)
• Characterising the zegdoumyid rodent Tsaukhaebmys from the Ypresian/Lutetian of Black Crow, Namibia (Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia)
• Diamantochloris mandible from the Ypresian/Lutetian of Namibia (Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia)
• Propalaeoryx Stromer 1926 (Ruminantia, Pecora, Giraffomorpha) revisited: systematics and phylogeny of an African palaeomerycoid (Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia)
• Preliminary phylogenetic analysis of the Tragulidae (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla, Ruminantia) from Arrisdrift: implications for the African Miocene tragulids (Communications of the Geological Survey of Namibia)
• First record of Equus neogeus from the Abaucán River (Catamarca, Argentina) (Estudios Geológicos)
• A mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach 1799, Proboscidea) calf tooth from the Mousterian of Arbreda Cave (Serinyá, NE Iberian Peninsula) (Estudios Geológicos)
• Review the high frequencies of the inca bone in East Asian hominins (Quaternary Sciences)
• Identifying animal taxa used to manufacture bone tools during the Middle Stone Age at Sibudu, South Africa: Results of a CT-rendered histological analysis (PLOS ONE)
• 1.9-million- and 2.4-million-year-old artifacts and stone tool–cutmarked bones from Ain Boucherit, Algeria (Science)
• The multiple maternal legacy of the Late Iron Age group of Urville-Nacqueville (France, Normandy) documents a long-standing genetic contact zone in northwestern France (PLOS ONE)
• The preeminence of ethnic diversity in scientific collaboration (Nature Communications)

PrePrints and PostPrints:

• AGU 2018 Poster: Long-Term Recovery of Life in the Chicxulub Crater (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

 Meetings:

• 1st Palaeontological Virtual Congress, December 1–15, 2018 (Link)
• Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists, March 15–17, 2019, University of Oregon (Link)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• Exclusive: Sparkly, opal-filled fossils reveal new dinosaur species (NatGeo)
• Apatosaurus is — still — Just Plain Wrong (SVPOW)
• Munching and Migrating Megabeasts: Sauropod teeth illuminate migration patterns between Europe and Africa (PLOS Paleo)
• How brains, not brawn, helped the Tyrannosaur become king (Link)
• The most complete enantiornithine bird fossil from North America: “The stuff of legend to those in the paleo-ornithology community” (PeerJ Blog)
• Not the Pig Family: Fossil Peccaries and More (Synapsida)
• What half a pig head looks like (SVPOW)

Methods and Musings:

• Philosophical Metaphor & Philosophical Analysis (Extinct)
• Episode 49 – Fake Fossils (Common Descent)
• Why I don’t want to move country (Musings of a Clumsy Palaeontologist)
• China backs bold plan to tear down journal paywalls (Link)
• Our presentations are up at the 1st Palaeo Virtual Congress (SVPOW)
• Biggest extinction in Earth’s history caused by global warming leaving ocean animals gasping for breath (Link)

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

• Photos from Albuquerque (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Geological Society of America Meeting 2018 (Time Scavengers)
• Fossil Friday – dinosaur jacket (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Pete III Final Update: In Its Forever Home (RMDRC Paleo Lab)
• Interview with Paleontologist: Nathan Van Vranken (PBW)
• This woman brings dinosaur fossils home (NatGeo)
• Ron Fine, Citizen Scientist (Time Scavengers)
• Excursions with Tennessee’s Governor’s School (Time Scavengers)

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