paleololigo

Dinosaur Fossils: Dating the Rock to Date the Bones – #365papers – 2017 – 137

#365papers for May 17, 2017

An, Kuang, Liu, Peng, Xu, Xu, Zhang, Wang, Chen, and Zhang, 2016, Detrital zircon dating and tracing the provenance of dinosaur bone beds from the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group in Zhucheng, Shandong, East China: Journal of Palaeogeography, v. 5, 72-99.

What’s it about?

Geochemical and sedimentological methods are used to determine the age and provenance (i.e. where did the sediments come from) of dinosaur-bearing rocks. The bones themselves could not be directly dated, but cannot be younger than the rocks they’re found in. Continue reading “Dinosaur Fossils: Dating the Rock to Date the Bones – #365papers – 2017 – 137”

How Do Populations of Giant Snails Cope Annual Changes? – #365papers – 2017 – 136

#365papers for May 16, 2017

Miranda and Fontenelle, 2015, Population dynamics of Megalobulimus paranaguensis (Gastropoda: Pulmonata) the the southeast coast of Brazil: Zoologia, v. 32, p. 463-468.

What’s it about?

This study used techniques described in yesterday’s paper to examine the annual changes in activity of a population of Megalobulimus paranaguensis snails in southeast Brazil. There are specific periods of time when more snails are active and when they are reproducing, based upon the environmental conditions such as evaportranspiration and precipitation. These snails are more active during the winter months and are dormant during the summer.Continue reading “How Do Populations of Giant Snails Cope Annual Changes? – #365papers – 2017 – 136”

Assigning an Age to a Giant Snail – #365papers – 2017 – 135

#365papers for May 15, 2017

Fontenelle and Miranda, 2012, The use of outer lip in age estimation of Megalobulimus paranaguensis (Gastropoda, Pulmonata): Strombus, v 19, p. 15-22.

What’s it about?

Megalobulimus is a giant snail that lives in South America. Using the thickness of the outer lip of the shell (where the snail sticks out of its shell), it’s possible to estimate the age of the snail.Continue reading “Assigning an Age to a Giant Snail – #365papers – 2017 – 135”

A New Cynodont and the Evolutionary Path to Mammals – #365papers – 2017 – 134

#365papers for May 14, 2017

Martinelli, Eltink, Da-Rosa, and Langer, 2017, A new cynodont from the Santa Maria Formation, south Brazil, improves late Triassic probainognathian diversity: Papers in Palaeontology, 1-23

What’s it about?

This paper is a description of a new species of non-mammalian synapsid from Brazil. Non-mammalian synapsids are vertebrates that are on the lineage toward mammals (and far removed from other reptiles), but lack the specific characteristics of the ear and jaw that distinguish mammals from all other vertebrates. This particular new species is based on a left lower jaw with most of its teeth.Continue reading “A New Cynodont and the Evolutionary Path to Mammals – #365papers – 2017 – 134”

How Did the Earth’s Crust Grow – #365papers – 2017 – 133

#365papers for May 13, 2017

Rozel, Golabek, Jain, Tackley, and Gerya, 2017, Continental crust formation on early Earth controlled by intrusive magmatism: Nature.

What’s it about?

The Earth didn’t always have continents. This paper explores how the planet’s first continents probably formed. The major hypotheses were that the continents formed by volcanic eruptions primarily, or by upwellings of magma that never erupted on the surface. It seems that the latter is most likely.Continue reading “How Did the Earth’s Crust Grow – #365papers – 2017 – 133”

Keratin Ain’t Gonna Make It – #365papers – 2017 – 132

#365papers for May 12, 2017

Saitta, Rogers, Brooker, Abbott, Kumar, O’Reilly, Donohoe, Dutta, Summons, and Vinther, 2017, Low fossilization potential for keratin protein revealed by experimental taphonomy: Palaeontology, p. 1-10.

What’s it about?

Keratin is a major protein making up hair and nails. The authors conduct experiments on modern keratin to emulate fossilization to test whether or not keratin is likely to fossilize. Based on these experiments, keratin should not survive the process of fossilization, though calcium phosphate and pigments might.Continue reading “Keratin Ain’t Gonna Make It – #365papers – 2017 – 132”

There is No Ankylosaur. There is Only Zuul – #365papers – 2017 – 131

#365papers for May 11, 2017

Arbour and Evans, 2017, A new ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Judith River Formation of Montana, USA, based on an exceptional skeleton with soft tissue preservation: Royal Society Open Science, v. 4, 161086.

What’s it about?

Here is a new species of armored dinosaur named after the demon Zuul the Gatekeeper of Gozer from the 1984 movie Ghostbusters. This fossil includes magnificent preservation of skin and dermal skeleton of the head and back and also of the tail club.Continue reading “There is No Ankylosaur. There is Only Zuul – #365papers – 2017 – 131”

Using Giant Snails to Understand Past Atmospheric Carbon – #365papers – 2017 – 130

#365papers for May 10, 2017

Macario, Alves, Carvalho, Oliveira, Ramsey, Chivall, Souza, Simone and Cavallari, 2016, The use of the terrestrial snails of the genera Megalobulimus and Thaumastus as representatives of the atmospheric carbon reservoir: Nature Scientific Reports, v. 6, 27395.

What’s it about?

Snails. It turns out that snails record evidence of their environment in their shells. The authors here show how shells from these two giant snails can be used to examine the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.Continue reading “Using Giant Snails to Understand Past Atmospheric Carbon – #365papers – 2017 – 130”

The Diversification of Homo and the importance of H. naledi – #363papers – 2017 – 129

#365 papers for May 9, 2017

Berger, Hawks, Dirks, Elliott, and Roberts, 2017, Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa: eLife 2017;6:e24234

What’s it about?

H. naledi is a small member of the genus Homo recently discovered and described from the Rising Star Cave in Africa. Here, the fossils are dated and found to be much younger than expected showing that several species of the genus Homo were living at the same time.Continue reading “The Diversification of Homo and the importance of H. naledi – #363papers – 2017 – 129”

Reconstructing Crumbly Elephants – #365papers – 2017 – 128

#365papers for May 8, 2017

Rabinovich and Lister 2016 The earliest elephants out of Africa: Taxonomy and taphonomy of proboscidean remains from Bethelehem: Quaternary International.

What’s it about?

Ancient relatives of elephants have been studied from a quarry near Bethlehem since the 1930’s. The preservation is poor, however. This paper reports on new specimens described using new methods (including CT scans) to better understand the identity and relationships of the fossils found.Continue reading “Reconstructing Crumbly Elephants – #365papers – 2017 – 128”