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Fossil Friday Roundup: November 9, 2018

Ian Hamilton Fossil Friday Roundup

Featured Image: Changchunsaurus parvus, from Chen et al. (2018), CC-BY.

Papers (All Open Access):

  • First U-Pb zircon ages for late Miocene Ashfall Konservat-Lagerstätte and Grove Lake ashes from eastern Great Plains, USA (PLOS ONE)
  • The Howiesons Poort lithic sequence of Klipdrift Shelter, southern Cape, South Africa (PLOS ONE)
  • Stability trophic cascades in food chains (RSOS)
  • Phylogeny, biogeography and taxonomic re-assessment of Multifurca (Russulaceae, Russulales) using three-locus data (PLOS ONE)
  • Sympatric and allopatric niche shift of endemic Gypsophila (Caryophyllaceae) taxa in the Iberian Peninsula (PLOS ONE)
  • Inner Workings: Hunting for microbial life throughout the solar system (PNAS)
  • Geophysical upheavals and evolutionary diversification of plant species in the Himalaya (PeerJ)
  • A well-preserved respiratory system in a Silurian ostracod (RSOS)
  • Evolution of Eye Reduction and Loss in Trilobites and Some Related Fossil Arthropods (Emerging Science Journal)
  • Sexual dimorphism in the Arachnid orders (PeerJ)
  • New records of brachiopods and crinoids from the Silurian (Wenlock) of the southern Urals, Russia (GFF)
  • Fossilization transforms vertebrate hard tissue proteins into N-heterocyclic polymers (Nature Communications)
  • Time wears on: Assessing how bone wears using 3D surface texture analysis (PLOS ONE)
  • Ophidiiform fishes from the Oligocene-early Miocene of Moravia, Czech Republic (Bulletin of Geoscience)
  • First record of a coelacanth fish from the Middle Triassic Meride Limestone of Monte San Giorgio (Canton Ticino, Switzerland) (RIPS)
  • Unique pelvic fin in a tetrapod-like fossil fish, and the evolution of limb patterning (PNAS)
  • Past vicariance promoting deep genetic divergence in an endemic frog species of the Espinhaço Range in Brazil: The historical biogeography of Bokermannohyla saxicola (Hylidae) (PLOS ONE)
  • The putative lissamphibian stem-group: phylogeny and evolution of the dissorophoid temnospondyls (Journal of Paleontology)
  • Amphibian life history in a temperate environment of the Mexican Plateau: dimorphism, phenology and trophic ecology of a hylid frog, Hyla eximia (=Dryophytes eximius) (PeerJ)
  • Histological analysis of post-eruption tooth wear adaptations, and ontogenetic changes in tooth implantation in the acrodontan squamate Pogona vitticeps (PeerJ)
  • X-ray computed microtomography of Megachirella wachtleri (Scientific Data)
  • Carbon and oxygen isotopic studies of the horizon of Kueichousaurus Fauna (Geology in China)
  • Goldfuß was right: Soft part preservation in the Late Jurassic pterosaur Scaphognathus crassirostris revealed by reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) and UV light and the auspicious beginnings of paleo-art (PalaeoE)
  • Pterosauria of the Great Oolite Group (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, England (APP)
  • Tooth development, histology, and enamel microstructure in Changchunsaurus parvus: Implications for dental evolution in ornithopod dinosaurs (PLOS ONE)
  • Geological records of fossils layer and death process and taphonomy of dinosaurs in Cretaceous in Tianyuan, Zhuzhou (Geology in China)
  • Multifaceted disparity approach reveals dinosaur herbivory flourished before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction (Paleobiology)
  • An record of the early Priotanancus and Stephanocemas from the North of the Junggar Basin, and its implication for the Chinese Shanwangian (Vertebrata PalAsiatica)
  • Contrasting evolutionary history, anthropogenic declines and genetic contact in the northern and southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) (ProcB)
  • Hominoid intraspecific cranial variation mirrors neutral genetic diversity (PNAS)
  • Niche adaptation and viral transmission of human papillomaviruses from archaic hominins to modern humans (PLOS ONE)

PrePrints and PostPrints:

  • Body-shape diversity in Triassic–Early Cretaceous neopterygian fishes: sustained holostean disparity and predominantly gradual increases in teleost phenotypic variety (PaleorXiv)
  • Enigmatic encrusting fossils from the Upper Devonian of Russia: probable Rothpletzella microproblematica preserved in three dimensions (PaleorXiv)

Community Events, Society Updates, and Resources:

 Meetings:

  • 1st Palaeontological Virtual Congress, December 1–15, 2018 (Link)
    • The 1st Palaeontological Virtual Congress: new abstract deadline, and registration payment methods (SVPOW)
  • North American Paleontological Convention June 23–27 2019 (Link)

Society News:

  • Help rebuilding the paleontology collections of Brazil’s National Museum (SVP)

Resources:

  • Paleo Society Elements of Paleontology Series: Strategies to teach Paleontology in the classroom (Link)

News and Views:

Animals and Anatomy:

  • Tiny Footprints, Big Discovery: Reptile Tracks Oldest Ever Found in Grand Canyon (Link)
  • Harpymimus: Beast of the Week (PBW)
  • We may never know how flexible sauropod necks were (SVPOW)
  • T. Rex Turned Like a Ballerina from a Slow-Motion Nightmare (LiveScience)
  • Diverticulum, diverticula (SVPOW)
  • Bitten Bone a Sign of a Cretaceous Snack (Laelaps)
  • Delicate Fossil Bird Reveals Prehistoric Plumage Patterns (Laelaps)
  • Episode 47 – Early Synapsids (“Proto-Mammals”) (Common Descent)
  • Saber-toothed cats with oral injuries ate softer foods than their uninjured counterparts, who may have provided injured cats with soft scraps (GSA)
  • The Pig Family: Fossil Pigs (Synapsida)
  • On Horses, In Solidarity (Extinct)

Methods and Musings:

Featured Folks, Fieldwork, and Museums:

Arts, Books, Culture, Fun:

  • Vintage Dinosaur Art: The Starfish Book of Dinosaurs and Early Animals (LITC)
  • FINALLY finding Louisville’s 1964 New York World’s Fair Triceratops! (Dave’s Dinosaurs)
  • Book review – Smilodon: The Iconic Sabertooth (The Inquisitive Biologist)

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.

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