S is for Smilodectes
Smilodectes is an extinct primate that lived in North America during the Eocene.
Credit: Ryan Somma CC 2.0 By-SA
S is for Smilodectes – #AtoZChallenge – 2017 – Uintan Mammals
Credit: Ryan Somma CC 2.0 By-SA
Category Archives: Paleontology
Credit: Ryan Somma CC 2.0 By-SA
R is for Reithroparamys – #AtoZChallenge – 2017 – Uintan Mammals
R is for Reithroparamys
Reithroparamys is another extinct rodent from North America. Species of this genus ranged from the late Paleocene into the mid-Eocene. Four species are known from this genus.
Q is for Quadratomus – #AtoZChallenge – 2017 – Uintan Mammals
Q is for Quadratomus
Quadratomus is an Eocene rodent. There are four species within this genus all of which lived in North America.
P is for Protylopus – #AtoZChallenge – 2017 – Uintan Mammals
P is for Protylopus
Protylopus is an extinct type of camel that lived from the middle to late Eocene in North America. It is the oldest known camel.
Credit: Robert Bruce Horsfall [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
O is if Ourayia – #AtoZChallenge – 2017 – Uintan Mammals
O is for Ourayia
Ourayia is a fossil primate, which, like Notoparamys, is related to tarsiers. Like many fossil mammals, it is best known for its teeth.
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Natural History,
Division of Vertebrate Paleontology, Yale University; peabody.yale.edu
Isostylomys: A Rodent of Unusual Size – #365papers – 2017 – 107
#365papers for April 17, 2017
What’s it about?
Isostylomys is (was) a giant rodent from the Miocene of Uruguay. By giant, I mean larger than the largest rodent today. I mean huge.
The authors here discuss the status of the genus and its relationships with other rodents. Importantly, they show how it is very possible that some species of South American large rodents might be juvenile forms of giant rodents like Isostylomys.Continue reading “Isostylomys: A Rodent of Unusual Size – #365papers – 2017 – 107”
The Shortest-Necked of the Long-Necked Elasmosaurs – #365papers – 2017 – 108
#365papers for April 18, 2017
What’s it about?
Elasmosaurids were marine reptiles that are considered a sub-group of the plesiosaurs. Distinctive features of elasmosaurids are their very long necks and small heads. Here, a new species of elasmosaurid is described that had a relatively short neck and was also fairly small.Continue reading “The Shortest-Necked of the Long-Necked Elasmosaurs – #365papers – 2017 – 108”
What Really Is Ichthyosaurus? – #365papers – 2017 – 106
#365papers for April 16, 2017
What’s it about?
Ichthyosaurus is (or was) a type of marine reptile that looked sort of dolphin-like.
Credit: Nobu Tamura CC BY 3.0
Here, the authors work to distinguish between three common species of Ichthyosaurus, I. communis, I. intermedius, and I. breviceps. The authors also present a better definition for the genus Ichthyosaurus.Continue reading “What Really Is Ichthyosaurus? – #365papers – 2017 – 106”
Body Size, Metabolic Rate, and Body Temperature in Giant Sloth Evolution – #365papers – 2017 – 105
#365papers for April 15, 2017
What’s it about?
Modern sloths are tiny, tree-dwelling herbivores that dangle below the branches and move very, very slowly. However, in the past, there were enormous sloths that ranged across the landscape.
This paper discusses both anteaters and sloths, the modern components of which have adaptations for eating diets of low nutrition. The fossil record of both closely related groups are studied, and the relationships between great size and inferred metabolic rate and diets are considered.Continue reading “Body Size, Metabolic Rate, and Body Temperature in Giant Sloth Evolution – #365papers – 2017 – 105”
N is for Notoparamys – #AtoZChallenge – 2017 – Uintan Mammals
N is for Notoparamys
Notoparamys was a marmot-sized rodent that lived in the earliest Uintan. It is a member of the rodent group Ischyromyidae, which included some arboreal (climbing) rodents.
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