Skip to content

When you choose to publish with PLOS, your research makes an impact. Make your work accessible to all, without restrictions, and accelerate scientific discovery with options like preprints and published peer review that make your work more Open.

PLOS BLOGS The Official PLOS Blog

Fossil Friday Roundup: November 17, 2017

Featured Image: Brachiopods (Eohadrotreta zhenbaensis) from the Cambrian of China. From Zhang et al. (2017).

Papers (All Open Access):

  • Stromatolites on the rise in peat-bound karstic wetlands (Scientific Reports)
  • Does fuel type influence the amount of charcoal produced in wildfires? Implications for the fossil record (Palaeontology)
  • Unlocking the biomineralization style and affinity of Paleozoic fusulinid foraminifera (Scientific Reports)
  • Centimeter-wide worm-like fossils from the lowest Cambrian of South China (Scientific Reports)
  • Response to “An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans” (PeerJ)
  • The ultimate legs of Chilopoda (Myriapoda): a review on their morphological disparity and functional variability (PeerJ)
  • Sediment tolerance mechanisms identified in sponges using advanced imaging techniques (PeerJ)
  • Post-metamorphic allometry in the earliest acrotretoid brachiopods from the lower Cambrian (Series 2) of South China, and its implications (Palaeontology)
  • Inner Ear Otolith Asymmetry in Late-Larval Cichlid Fish (Oreochromis mossambicus, Perciformes) Showing Kinetotic Behaviour Under Diminished Gravity (Scientific Reports)
  • Reconstructing pectoral appendicular muscle anatomy in fossil fish and tetrapods over the fins-to-limbs transition (Biological Reviews)
  • Overland movement in African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis): empirical dispersal data from within their native range (PeerJ)
  • Morphological and genetic evidence for a new karst specialist lizard from New Guinea (Cyrtodactylus: Gekkonidae) (RSOS)
  • Intraspecific variation in the diet of the Mexican garter snake Thamnophis eques (PeerJ)
  • Supradapedon revisited: geological explorations in the Triassic of southern Tanzania (PeerJ)
  • How can we reliably identify a taxon based on humeral morphology? Comparative morphology of desmostylian humeri (PeerJ)
  • Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Enamel Elongation (Amelogenesis) Rates for the Early Cretaceous Iguanodontian Dinosaur Lanzhousaurus magnidens (Scientific Reports)
  • The Small and the Dead: A Review of Ancient DNA Studies Analysing Micromammal Species (Genes)
  • Deciduous dentition and dental eruption of Hyainailouroidea (Hyaenodonta, “Creodonta,” Placentalia, Mammalia) (PalaeoE)
  • Gigantic lion, Panthera leo, from the Pleistocene of Natodomeri, eastern Africa (Journal of Paleontology)
  • Evolution of facial color pattern complexity in lemurs (Scientific Reports)
  • Elbow Joint Geometry in Bears (Ursidae, Carnivora): a Tool to Infer Paleobiology and Functional Adaptations of Quaternary Fossils (Journal of Mammalian Evolution)
  • Site of asteroid impact changed the history of life on Earth: the low probability of mass extinction (Scientific Reports)

Pre-Prints

  • Xenoposeidon is the earliest known rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur (PeerJ)
  • Functional and morphometric analysis of a middle Miocene bandicoot (Marsupialia, Peramelemorphia) skeleton from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Australia (PeerJ)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

  • A history of life on Earth: A masterclass on evolution with experts from the Natural History Museum, November 19, 2017 (Link)
  • November Webinar: A FOSSIL Feast, November 29 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm (Link)
  • The Science Ambassador Scholarship for female undergraduate and high school seniors, Deadline December 11, 2017 (Link)
  • Trekking Across the GOBE: From the Cambrian through the Katian, IGCP 653 Annual Meeting, June 3-7, 2018, Athens, Ohio, USA (Link)
  • North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

  • Study settles prehistoric puzzle, finds carbon dioxide link to global warming 22 million years ago (Link)
  • UWM geologists uncover Antarctica’s fossil forests (Link)
  • The first fossils described from Dinosaur National Monument (Equatorial Minnesota)
  • Is the vampire squid an octopus or a squid? (Fistful of Cinctans)
  • Remeasuring Pisanosaurus (Extinct)
  • Xenoposeidon is ten years old today! And it’s the oldest rebbachisaur! (SVPOW)
  • The Dinosaur Tree Debate Continues (Dr. Neurosaurus)
  • The Giant Extinct Otter and its Giant Bite (Dr. Neurosaurus)
  • Sex in the Slow Lane (Synapsida)
  • Fossil Friday – deer humerus (Valley of the Mastodon)
  • Paleo Profile: King of the Miocene Iberian Giraffes (Laelaps)
  • Swift pussy cat: Batallones’ little feline wonder revealed (Chasing Sabretooths)
  • A New Look at the Same Beast (Laelaps)
  • In Siberia, a perfectly preserved frozen cave-lion cub (Earth Touch News)
  • Cave Lion Mummy May Not Be What It Seems (Link)

Museums, Methods, and Musings:

Featured Folks and Fieldwork:

Art, books, culture, and fun:


Do you have some news, a blog, or something just plain cool you want to share with the PLOS Paleo Community? Email it to us at paleocommunity@plos.org, tweet it to us at @PLOSPaleo, or message us on Facebook

Back to top