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Fossil Friday Roundup: August 11, 2017

Featured Image: The skull of Moschops capensis AM4950 in photograph and reconstruction showing neural structures. From Benoit et al (2017).

Papers (All Open Access):

  • The fossil history of pseudoscorpions (Arachnida: Pseudoscorpiones) (Fossil Record)
  • The late Maastrichtian Belemnella kazimiroviensis group (Cephalopoda, Coleoidea) in the Middle Vistula valley (Poland) and the Maastricht area (the Netherlands, Belgium) – taxonomy and palaeobiological implications (PalaeoE)
  • A new chondrichthyan fauna from the Late Jurassic of the Swiss Jura (Kimmeridgian) dominated by hybodonts, chimaeroids and guitarfishes (Papers in Palaeontology)
  • Synchrotron scanning reveals the palaeoneurology of the head-butting Moschops capensis (Therapsida, Dinocephalia) (PeerJ)
  • The bony labyrinth of late Permian Biarmosuchia: palaeobiology and diversity in non-mammalian Therapsida (Palaeontologia africana)
  • A test for paedomorphism in domestic pig cranial morphology (Biology Letters)
  • Prehistoric mitochondrial DNA of domesticate animals supports a 13th century exodus from the northern US southwest (PLOS ONE)
  • Isotopic analyses suggest mammoth and plant in the diet of the oldest anatomically modern humans from far southeast Europe (Scientific Reports)
  • Early history of Neanderthals and Denisovans (PNAS)
  • Using the Neandertal genome to study the evolution of small insertions and deletions in modern humans (BMC Evolutionary Biology)
  • Are extinction opinions extinct? (PeerJ)

Pre-Prints:

  • The remedial conservation and support jacketing of the neotype specimen of the dinosaur Massospondylus carinatus (PeerJ)
  • A unique exceptionally well-preserved pterosaur skull from the Crato Formation of Brazil (PeerJ)
  • Evolution of body size in Crocodylomorpha in a multi-regime evolutionary landscape (PeerJ)
  • Project Airless: addressing the problem of pyrite oxidation in a large fossil collection (PeerJ)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

  • Diversity in Paleontology Workshop GoFundMe (Link)
  • SVP Paleontology Education Workshop (Link)
  • SVP Women in Paleontology Luncheon (Link)
  • SVP 2017, August 23–26,  Calgary, Alberta (Link)
  • SVPCA 2017, September 12–15, Birmingham, England (Link)
  • Principles of Vertebrate Functional Morphology, October 16–20, 2017, Barcelona, Spain (Link)
  • The Paleontological Society Student Ambassador Program (PS‐SAP), Deadline Sept. 1 (Link)
  • 2017 Election Ballot is Open until August 15 (Paleo Society)
  • North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)
  • Paleontology Field Internship, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, application deadline August 14 (Link)
  • Call for Nominations: Nat’l Academy of Sciences Elliot Medal (Link)

New and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

  • Museum prepares to fly Ottawa’s next one-tonne dino skull out of an Alberta hillside (Link)
  • Mark A. Wilson, Paleontologist at The College of Wooster (Time Scavengers)
  • OU dino-prof gets ahead in his job (Link)

Arts, Books, Culture, and Fun:


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