Current date/time is Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:57 pm
The tallest known penguin genus has just been discovered, in two exciting flavors!
LiveScience Big bird: fossils of world's tallest penguin discovered (press release with life construction and photo)
Two new species of miniature camel have been discovered in Panama. This is the first we've heard of miniature camels south of Mexico.
University of Florida News - UF scientists name new ancient camels from Panama Canal excavation (press release)
Sauropoda: Somphospondyli This is the first time a titanosaur has been found in Montana. Unfortunately, it would seem they haven't identified the genus (unless the press left that detail out).
NBC Montana - MSU grad student discovers first of its kind dino in Montana (press release)
Permafrost preserves narrow-leafed campion fruits for 31,800 years While the lupine seeds once germinated from a 10,000-year-old lemming burrow were found to be modern, we have been able to successfully germinate 2,000-year-old seeds from palms in Israel. But now there's a new contender for the longest-preserved plant material in the world. Move over, Israeli palm tree seeds, Siberian fruits coming through!
Russian scientists have uncovered three Pleistocene narrow-leafed campion fruits and thousands of its seeds that are 31,800 years old, preserved in permafrost. They tried to plant the seeds, but they simply wouldn't germinate.
Remember...
Hemichordata: Graptolithina After the ice age the end of the Ordovician, the graptolites that remained didn't evolve quite as quickly as paleontologists expected. Rather, the evolutionary explosion was delayed by about 2 million years. Why?
UChicagoNews - Explosive evolution need not follow mass extinctions (press release with photos of fossils, David Bapst)
Pterosauria: Pteranodontoidea Special thanks to tklarenb for digging this one up!
A snaggle-toothed pterosaur has been covered from China. They're calling it the "hunting ghost dragon", and they're pretty convinced it didn't eat fish due to problems posed by its enormous teeth. Even if you don't read this one, I highly recommend viewing the photo of the fossil!
Wired - 120-million-year-old ‘ghost dragon’ pterosaur discovered in China (press release with photo and diagram of fossil)
Ceratopsidae: Triceratopsini Well, it's finally happened. A couple scientists have officially published something to challenge Scanella and Horner on their debunking of Torosaurus.
Scores:
Torosaurus: 2
Triceratops: 2
Longrich NR, Field DJ (2012) Torosaurus Is Not Triceratops: Ontogeny in Chasmosaurine Ceratopsids as a Case Study in Dinosaur Taxonomy. PLoS ONE 7(2): e32623. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032623
Condylarthra: Hyopsodontidae Tube sheep (Hyopsodus lepidus) - which are weasel-like, not sheep-like - may have been subterranean echolocators. If this is true, they would have been burrowing animals.
Orliac MJ, Argot C, Gilissen E (2012) Digital Cranial Endocast of Hyopsodus (Mammalia, “Condylarthra”): A Case of Paleogene Terrestrial Echolocation? PLoS ONE 7(2): e30000. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030000
Our friends in Canada have noticed two distinct scale types in Saurolophus! While comparing skin fossils from multiple specimens of Saurolophus, researchers realized that the scale structures hadn't been included in the species descriptions. Had they been, paleontologists may have been able to identify a new species simply by finding different scales! They're requesting that if anyone discovers a dinosaur species that they include the scales in the species description-- something that's never been done before.
Canada.com - Canadian researcher hails discovery as new 'way to approach paleontology' (press release with life reconstruction...
Alismatales: Posidoniaceae 40 patches of Neptune grass in the Mediterranean represent the oldest living organisms in the world-- each of these patches asexually reproduced from a specimen over 12,000 years old, most likely over 100,000 years old, and possibly even as old as 200,000 years!
The Telegraph - 'Oldest living thing on earth' discovered (press release with photo)
Crocodylomorpha: Aegyptosuchidae A Cretaceous croc named "Shield Croc" with a long snout and the largest known crocodile brain has been discovered in Morocco. It has a shield-like plate on its head and an "eyespot" that was perhaps used during courting displays. Dr. Holliday suggests the Cretaceous may not have been the age of dinosaurs, but rather the age of crocodiles.
MU News Bureau - New species of ancient crocodile, ancestor of today's species, discovered by MU researcher (press release with video, pictures)
Holliday C.M., Gardner N.M. (2012). A new...
A new family of prehistoric hermit crabs has been discovered, and the type species of the new fossil genus is named after Michael Jackson.
PhysOrg - Mesoparapylocheles michaeljacksoni: Fossil hermit crab named after Michael Jackson (press release with photo of fossil, and sketch of the only living species in the new family)
Osteichthyes: Aeduelliformes A new species of fish is the first fish fossil ever found near BYU.
Local News 8 - BYU-Idaho professor discovers rare fossil (press release with photo of fossil)
Scientists have found a new type of caddisfly trapped in amber in Myanmar.
Palerasnitsynus ohlhoffi on the Encyclopedia of Life
Ornithischia: Ornithopoda Global Press - New dinosaur, Yueosaurus Tiantaiensis, discovered in China (press release)
Permo-Triassic Extinction Event Canadian researchers have identified another deadly chemical released by the Siberian supervolcanoes: mercury.
The Province - Volcanic mercury deposits contributed to mass global extinction, Canadian scientists discover (press release with photo of Canadian glacier)
Permo-Triassic Extinction Event Geologists have been studying ancient Permo-Triassic volcanoes in Siberia, and they've found several gigatons of toxic fumes may have been released by these volcanoes! Talk about toxic!
Science Daily - Could Siberian volcanism have caused the earth's largest extinction event? (press release with aerial view of today's Siberian volcanoes)
Scientific American - Was Australopithecus sediba polygamous? Paleontologist answers reader questions about new early human fossils (blog interview)
Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae Cnews - New species of Canadian dinosaur discovered (press release with life reconstruction of head)
Globe and Mail - Alberta’s dinosaur feathers have paleontologists all atwitter (press release with photo of fossil, diagram illustrating hypothetical evolution of feathers)
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