Fossil Friday Roundup: February 15, 2019

Featured Image: Teeth associated with Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia skeleton. From Gorscak and O’Connor (2019).

Papers (All Open Access):

• Precise U-Pb age constrains on the Ediacaran biota in Podolia, East European Platform, Ukraine (SciRep)
• Impact of abrupt sea ice loss on Greenland water isotopes during the last glacial period (PNAS)
• Plant leaf tooth feature extraction (PLOS ONE)
• First record of sexual size dimorphism in fossil Strombidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from the Miocene of Kutch, western India and its evolutionary implications (RSOS)
• Geometric morphometric analysis in female freshwater crabs of Sarawak (Borneo) permits addressing taxonomy-related problems (PeerJ)
• Physicochemical investigation of shrimp fossils from the Romualdo and Ipubi formations (Araripe Basin) (PeerJ)
• Discovery of the middle Campanian (Late Cretaceous) “Soya Fauna” ammonoids in the Hidaka area, Hokkaido, Japan (Bulletin of the Hobetsu Museum)
• Exploring the evolution and terrestrialization of scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) with rocks and clocks (Organism Diversity and Evolution)
• Mating moths (Tineidae, Ditrysia, Lepidoptera) preserved as frozen behavior inclusion in Baltic Amber (Eocene) (PalaeoE)
• Taxonomic validity of Petalodus ohioensis (Chondrichthyes, Petalodontidae) based on a cast of the lost holotype (Geology of the Intermountain West)
• The Early Pliocene extinction of the mega-toothed shark Otodus megalodon: a view from the eastern North Pacific (PeerJ)
• Distributional patterns of Aptian-Albian paleoichthyofauna of Brazil and Africa based on Track Analysis (AABC)
• Geography of speciation affects rate of trait divergence in haemulid fishes (ProcB)
• New microhylid frog genus from Peninsular India with Southeast Asian affinity suggests multiple Cenozoic biotic exchanges between India and Eurasia (SciRep)
• Correction: Neuroanatomy of the Marine Jurassic Turtle Plesiochelys etalloni (Testudinata, Plesiochelyidae) (PLOS ONE)
• A novel archosauromorph from Antarctica and an updated review of a high-latitude vertebrate assemblage in the wake of the end-Permian mass extinction (JVP)
• Integrating gross morphology and bone histology to assess skeletal maturity in early dinosauromorphs: new insights from Dromomeron (Archosauria: Dinosauromorpha) (PeerJ)
• A new large Pliosaurid from the Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Sáchica, Boyacá, Colombia (ESRJ)
• Phylogenetic analysis of Gondwanan basal eusauropods from the Early- Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina (Spanish J0urnal of Paleontology)
• Additional sauropod dinosaur material from the Callovian Oxford Clay Formation, Peterborough, UK: evidence for higher sauropod diversity (PeerJ)
• The braincase of Malawisaurus dixeyi (Sauropoda: Titanosauria): A 3D reconstruction of the brain endocast and inner ear (PLOS ONE)
• A new African Titanosaurian Sauropod Dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous Galula Formation (Mtuka Member), Rukwa Rift Basin, Southwestern Tanzania (PLOS ONE)
• Baalsaurus mansillai gen. et sp. nov. a new titanosaurian sauropod (Late Cretaceous) from Neuquén, Patagonia, Argentina (AABC)
• A new saurolophine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong, China (AABC)
• A mixed vertebrate eggshell assemblage from the Transylvanian Late Cretaceous (SciRep)
• Fossils with Feathers and Philosophy of Science (Sys Bio)
• Life and skeletal reconstructions of a mosasaur Phosphorosaurus using a three-dimensional computer graphics (3D CG) software: a highly promising reconstruction technique for fossil vertebrates (Bulletin of the Hobetsu Museum)
• Exquisitely-preserved, high-definition skin traces in diminutive theropod tracks from the Cretaceous of Korea (SciRep)
• Paravian Phylogeny and the Dinosaur-Bird Transition: An Overview (Frontiers in Earth Science)
• Cassowary casques act as thermal windows (SciRep)
• Transitions between foot postures are associated with elevated rates of body size evolution in mammals (PNAS)
• The Development of Integration in Marsupial and Placental Limbs (IOB)
• A new protodidelphid (Mammalia, Marsupialia, Didelphimorphia) from the Itaboraí Basin and its implications for the evolution of the Protodidelphidae (AABC)
• A review of the Quaternary Scelidotheriinae (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Tardigrada) from the Tarija-Padcaya basin, Bolivia (AABC)
• Early and middle Miocene Sciuridae (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Anatolia, Turkey (JVP)
• The narial morphology of Metarhinus and Sphenocoelus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Brontotheriidae) (PalaeoE)
• Fossil cetaceans from Duinefontein (Koeberg) an early Pliocene site on the southwestern Cape, South Africa (PalaeoE)
• A large Late Miocene cetotheriid (Cetacea, Mysticeti) from the Netherlands clarifies the status of Tranatocetidae (PeerJ)
• Embracing heterogeneity: coalescing the Tree of Life and the future of phylogenomics (PeerJ)

Preprints/PostPrints:

• The concept of homolology and its potential application in palaeontological phylogenetics (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

 Meetings:

• PaleoFest, March 2–3, 2019, Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford, Illinois (Link)
• Western Association of Vertebrate Paleontologists, March 15–17, 2019, University of Oregon (Link)
• 11th Conference on Fossil Resources, Casper, Wyoming, May 30-June 2, 2019 (Link)
• North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

Funding Opportunities:

• Jurassic Foundation Grant, Deadline February 15 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

• When and why did the giant mega-toothed shark Otodus megalodon become extinct? (PeerJ Blog)
• Prehistoric Crocodile Cousin Crushed the Bones of Its Prey Long Before T. Rex (Smithsonian)
• Fossil Friday -crocodile skull (Valley of the Mastodon)
• Bajadasaurus: Beast of the Week (PBW)
• Bajadasaurus pronuspinax (Equatorial Minnesota)
• Mongolian proto-thief dinosaur had egg-crushing jaws (PLOS Paleo)
• Spectacular Fossil Bird Foot Preserved in Amber (Laelaps)
• Finches Before There Were Finches: Eofringillirostrum and the Diversity of Stem-Passerines (Raptormaniacs)

Methods and Musings:

• Protecting our Paleontological Heritage on U.S. Federal Lands (PaleoSociety)

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

• How Evolutionary Biologist Emma Schachner Is Helping Explain The Rise Of The Dinosaurs (TedX)
• Speaker Series 2019: Amateur Fossil Collector Maurice Stefanuk (1924-2016) (Royal Tyrrell Museum)
• Episode 54 – Alfred Russell Wallace (Common Descent)
• Jaws International (Time Scavengers)
• Dr. Rehemat Bhatia, Foraminifera Geochemist (Time Scavengers)
• Project Kevin Part 1: Field and Lab Work (RMDRC)

Art, Books, Culture, Fun:

• Pappochelys: Cancer in Deep Time (LITC)
• BRONTOSMASH! in a kids’ book (SVPOW)
• Чем на самом деле интересен Bajadasaurus pronuspinax (Alioramus altai)

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