Viviparity in Mesozoic marine reptiles has traditionally been considered an aquatic adaptation. We report a new fossil specimen that strongly contradicts this traditional interpretation. The new specimen contains the oldest fossil embryos of Mesozoic marine reptile that are about 10 million years older than previous such records. The fossil belongs to Chaohusaurus (Reptilia, Ichthyopterygia), which […]
Archive for February, 2014
Terrestrial Origin of Viviparity in Mesozoic Marine Reptiles Indicated by Early Triassic Embryonic Fossils
February 13th, 2014 
Riffin CALGARY – A new fossil site in Canada
February 11th, 2014 Riffin CALGARY – A new fossil site discovered in Kootenay National Park may be one of the world’s most important, according to researchers. A century after the discovery of Yoho National Park’s 505 million-year-old Burgess Shale, officials say a new fossil site has been located just 42 kilometres away. The new Marble Canyon fossil bed was […]
Is there an ocean beneath our feet? Ocean water may reach upper mantle through deep sea faults
February 10th, 2014 Riffin Scientists at the University of Liverpool have shown that deep sea fault zones could transport much larger amounts of water from Earth’s oceans to the upper mantle than previously thought. Water is carried mantle by deep sea fault zones which penetrate the oceanic plate as it bends into the subduction zone. Subduction, where an oceanic […]
‘Steak-knife’ teeth reveal ecology of oldest land predators
February 7th, 2014 Riffin Source: University of Toronto The first top predators to walk on land were not afraid to bite off more than they could chew, a University of Toronto Mississauga study has found. Graduate student and lead author Kirstin Brink along with Professor Robert Reisz from U of T Mississauga’s Department of Biology suggest that Dimetrodon, a […]
Posted in Featured Post 
Tags: Dimetrodon, predators, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, Steak-knife, WFS, world fossil society 
No Comments »Bandringa fossils revealed
February 4th, 2014 Riffin Like salmon in reverse, long-snouted Bandringa sharks migrated downstream from freshwater swamps to a tropical coastline to spawn 310 million years ago, leaving behind fossil evidence of one of the earliest known shark nurseries. That’s the surprising conclusion of University of Michigan paleontologist Lauren Sallan and a University of Chicago colleague, who reanalyzed all known […]
Role of rare earths in interpreting certain fossils
February 3rd, 2014 Riffin Until now, interpreting flattened fossils was a major challenge. Now, a new approach for the analysis of such fossils has been developed by a team bringing together researchers from the IPANEMA unit (CNRS / French Ministry of Culture and Communication), the Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CNRS / MNHN / UPMC) […]
Bones of a previously unknown species prove to be one of the oldest seabirds
February 3rd, 2014 Riffin Fossils discovered in Canterbury, New Zealand reveal the nature of one of the world’s oldest flying seabirds. Thought to have lived between 60.5 and 61.6 million years ago, the fossil is suggested to have formed shortly after the extinction of dinosaurs and many marine organisms. Bones of the bird were discovered in 2009 by Leigh […]
Posted in Featured Post Tags: Bones, Riffin T Sajeev, Russel T Sajeev, seabirds, unknown species, WFS, world fossil society No Comments »Using rare earths to interpret certain fossils
February 2nd, 2014 Riffin Until now, interpreting flattened fossils was a major challenge. Now, a new approach for the analysis of such fossils has been developed by a team bringing together researchers from the IPANEMA unit (CNRS / French Ministry of Culture and Communication), the Centre de Recherche sur la Paléobiodiversité et les Paléoenvironnements (CNRS / MNHN / UPMC) […]
New Mid-Cretaceous (Latest Albian) Dinosaurs from Winton, Queensland, Australia
February 1st, 2014 Riffin Background Australia’s dinosaurian fossil record is exceptionally poor compared to that of other similar-sized continents. Most taxa are known from fragmentary isolated remains with uncertain taxonomic and phylogenetic placement. A better understanding of the Australian dinosaurian record is crucial to understanding the global palaeobiogeography of dinosaurian groups, including groups previously considered to have had Gondwanan […]
