As this week is Shark Week, it would be remiss of me, as the resident fishy person, not to jump on the bandwagon of "sharkery" and share with you some contenders for the weirder shark fossils out there, and some of the stories behind them. Now, unlike Shark Week, which often "jumps the shark" (see whatContinue reading "Shark Week: Fossil Shark Hall of Fame"
Fossil Friday Roundup: June 24, 2016
Featured image: Pablo Puerta, the head of Egidio Feruglio Paleontology Museum's technical laboratory in Trelew, Argentina, lies alongside a sauropod dinosaur femur. (AP Photo/Museo Paletontologico Egidio Feruglio, Jose Maria Farfaglia) Papers (all Open Access): A Re-Description of ‘Mycterosaurus’ smithae, an Early Permian Eothyridid, and Its Impact on the Phylogeny of Pelycosaurian-Grade Synapsids (PLOS ONE) First records of Canis dirus and Smilodon fatalis from theContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: June 24, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: June 17, 2016
Featured image: new species of ichthyosaur, Wahlisaurus massarae. Image by James McKay, copyright James McKay. Papers (all Open Access): A new species of Propalaeotherium (Palaeotheriidae, Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from the Middle Eocene locality of Aumelas (Hérault, France). (Link) Dentition of Subengius mengi (Mammalia: Plesiadapoidea) and a reassessment of the phylogenetic relationships of Asian Carpolestidae. (Link) PaleoceneContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: June 17, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: June 10, 2016
Papers: Unique Cellular Organization in the Oldest Root Meristem (Current Biology) Pleistocene Bovidae (Mammalia) from Malapa, Gauteng Province, South Africa (Palaeontologia Electronica) New dental material and redescription of Agerinia roselli (Primates, Adapiformes) from Les Saleres (early Eocene, NE Iberian Peninsula) (Palaeontologia Electronica) New lower jaw and teeth referred to Maxakalisaurus topai (Titanosauria: Aeolosaurini) and theirContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: June 10, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: June 3, 2016
Papers: Cranial Morphology of the Late Oligocene Patagonian Notohippid Rhynchippus equinus Ameghino, 1897 (Mammalia, Notoungulata) with Emphases in Basicranial and Auditory Region (PLOS ONE) Teeth of embryonic or hatchling sauropods from the Berriasian (Early Cretaceous) of Cherves-de-Cognac, France (APP) The Oldest Actinopterygian Highlights the Cryptic Early History of the Hyperdiverse Ray-Finned Fishes (Current Biology) NewContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: June 3, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: May 27, 2016
Featured image: Black Beauty, the T. rex fossil on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, AB, Canada. Image courtesy Royal Tyrrell Museum. Papers: An enigmatic aquatic snake from the Cenomanian of Northern South America (PeerJ) First record of Acanthuridae (surgeonfish) from the Miocene deposits of the Medvednica Mt. (Geologia Croatica) Causes and consequencesContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: May 27, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: May 20, 2016
This week's featured image is the skull of the new horned dinosaur Spiclypeus, from Mallon et al. 2016. Papers: Data Sources for Trait Databases: Comparing the Phenomic Content of Monographs and Evolutionary Matrices (PLOS ONE) A New Centrosaurine Ceratopsid, Machairoceratops cronusi gen et sp. nov., from the Upper Sand Member of the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian),Continue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: May 20, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: May 13, 2016
Lead image: Newly re-described Atopodentatus unicus (Image copyright: Y . Chen, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology) Papers: Inferring growth strategies and lifestyles using palaeohistology in extinct crocodylian ancestors (Open Access in PLOS ONE) A reappraisal of Polyptychodon (Plesiosauria) from the Cretaceous of England (Open Access in PeerJ) First nimravid skull from Asia (Open AccessContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: May 13, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: May 6, 2016
Papers: Fossil clitellate annelid cocoons and their microbiological inclusions from the Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica. Open Access at Palaeontologia Electronica. The oldest species of the relic extant genus Mesochria from Eocene Fushun amber of China (Diptera: Anisopodidae: Mycetobiinae (Lead Image above). Open Access at Palaeontolgia Electronica. Neandertal versus modern human dietary responses to climaticContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: May 6, 2016"
Fossil Friday Roundup: April 29, 2016
Papers: A Basal Lithostrotian Titanosaur (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) with a Complete Skull: Implications for the Evolution and Paleobiology of Titanosauria (Lead image above). Open Access in PLOS ONE New Miocene Fossils and the History of Penguins in Australia. Open Access in PLOS ONE. The phylogenetic relationships of basal archosauromorphs, with an emphasis on the systematics ofContinue reading "Fossil Friday Roundup: April 29, 2016"
Sarah Z. Gibson 