Category Archives: Science

Croft, Engelman, Dolgushina, Wesley, 2017, Diversity and disparity of sparassodonts (Metatheria) reveal non-analogue nature of ancient South American mammalian carnivore guilds: Proceedings of the Royal Society B, v. 285, 20172012.

What’s it about?

The phrase ‘carnivore guild’ refers to the ecological roles of carnivores (animals that feed on other vertebrates) in a particular region. In most modern areas where many carnivorous mammals co-exist, some are hypercarnivores (like cats), some are mesocarnivores (like dogs), and some are hypocarnivores (like armadillos). These last two groups (meso- and hypocarnivores) would be more loosely categorized as omnivores, with hypocarnivores only very rarely consuming other vertebrates, despite having the capability of doing so more often.

In this paper, the authors compare modern mammalian carnivore guilds with the extinct marsupial carnivore guild of ancient South America, to see if the general proportions of hyper-, meso-, and hypocarnivores are about the same. They find that the South American carnivore guild is substantially different from modern guilds.Continue reading “Carnivore Guilds: Are They the Same Everywhere? – #365papers – 2018 – 11”

Ntie, Davis, Hils, Mickala, Thomassen, Morgan, Vanthomme, Gonder, and Anthony, 2017, Evaluating the role of Pleistocene refugia, rivers and environmental variation in the diversification of central African duikers (genera Cephalophus and Philantomba): BMC Evolutionary Biology, v. 17.

What’s it about?

Researchers have suggested that during glacial times, tropical forests receded into restricted regions, wherein tropical forest animals were able to survive. After the glaciers receded, the forests spread again and the forest animals dispersed across the landscape. These restricted forested regions are called refugia. Because of the extended separation of the refugia, it is thought that animals and plants within would evolve and become distinct from those in other refugia.

This paper looks at a group of tiny deer called duikers. These deer live only in the thick forests of Africa. Through the study of fossil and modern DNA from duikers, these scientists studied the regional and subtle differences in DNA to attempt to prove or disprove the hypothesis that refugia existed in central Africa.Continue reading “Can We Prove That Some Mammals ‘Hid Out’ During Glacial Times? – #365papers – 2018 – 9”

Bell, Wu, and Chiappe, in press, Morphometric comparison of the Hesperornithiformes and modern diving birds: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

What’s it about?

The Hesperornithiformes are toothed birds that lived during the Cretaceous period. They are not directly related to modern birds, but clearly were birds that lived near water and foraged by diving, similar to modern cormorants, loons, grebes, and some ducks. In the past, some scientists have considered hesperornithiforms most similar to grebes and loons, but this paper shows that cormorants are a better modern analogue.Continue reading “Comparing Modern and Fossil Diving Birds – #365papers – 2018 – 7”

Boessenecker and Churchill, 2018, The last of the desmatophocid seals: a new species of Allodesmus from the Upper Miocene of Washington, USA, and a revision of the taxonomy of Desmatophocidae, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

What’s it about?

This paper first describes a new species of seal and then goes on to show where that seal, and the family it is in (the Desmatopocidae), fit within the evolutionary sequence of modern seals.Continue reading “Finding Family for Extinct Seals – #365papers – 2018 – 5”

Gaudin and Lyon, 2017, Cranial osteology of the pampathere Holmesina floridanus (Xenarthra: Cingulata; Blanca NALMA), including a description of an isolated petrosal bone: PeerJ 5:e4022; DOI 10.7717/peerj.4022

What’s it about?

This paper is a detailed description of several fossil skulls of the Holmesina floridanus, a pampathere that once lived in Florida. These skulls are then compared with other species of Holmesina from North and South America, and to skulls of other pampatheres.Continue reading “Understanding Variation in Body Shape and Size in Extinct and Unusual Mammals – #365papers – 4”

Foth and Rauhut, 2017, Re-evalutation of the Haarlem Archeopteryx and the radiation of maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs: BMC Evolutionary Biology, v. 17, 236.

What’s it about?

Archeopteryx is a fossil theropod that is known only from limestones of Bavaria, Germany. The Haarlem specimen is incomplete. Initially, it was thought to be a pterosaur, then was later discovered to be a dinosaur and assigned to the genus Archaeopteryx. The authors here show that though it is a dinosaur, it is actually not Archeopteryx and name a new genus, Ostromia.Continue reading “The Archaeopteryx that was neither Archaeopteryx nor Pterodactylus – #365papers – 2018 – 2”