WFS

Formation of sedimentary layers of white clay, Tamilnadu, India

Fossil site for wood fossils, Tamilnadu, India

Fossil site in Kerala, India

Fossil wood park maintained by geological survey of India at Tamilnadu

Cretaceous fossil sites india

Fossils in rack:-Cyad

Fossils in rack:-echiniderms

Fossils in rack:-Rastellum sp

Pre-historic seabed, Cretaceous period

WFS News: A new species of Late Cretaceous Peritresius sp. sea turtles found

May 6th, 2018

Riffin

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

A new species of Peritresius Leidy, 1856 (Testudines: Pan-Cheloniidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Alabama, USA, and the occurrence of the genus within the Mississippi Embayment of North America

Citation: Gentry AD, Parham JF, Ehret DJ, Ebersole JA (2018) A new species of Peritresius Leidy, 1856 (Testudines: Pan-Cheloniidae) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Alabama, USA, and the occurrence of the genus within the Mississippi Embayment of North America. PLoS ONE 13(4): e0195651. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195651

Editor: Thierry Smith, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, BELGIUM

Peritresius martini sp. nov., carapace, ALMNH 6191 (holotype) from the upper Campanian of Alabama, USA.(1) carapace in dorsal view and plastron in ventral view; (2) left peripherals 3–6, 9, & 11 in posterior view; (3) 10X magnified view of the dorsal surface of right peripheral 10; (4) hypothetical reconstruction of the complete shell with the preserved elements shown in gray. Abbreviations: p, peripheral; pyg, pygal; spg, suprapygal.

Late Cretaceous members of Peritresius belong to a diverse clade of marine adapted turtles currently thought to be some of the earliest representatives of the lineage leading to modern hard-shelled sea turtles (Pan-Cheloniidae). Prior studies have suggested that Peritresius was monospecific, with a distribution restricted to Maastrichtian deposits in North America. However, new Peritresius specimens identified from Alabama and Mississippi, USA, show that the genus contains two taxa, Peritresius ornatus, and a new species Peritresius martini sp. nov. These two taxa are characterized by the presence of a generally cordiform carapace with moderately serrated peripherals, well-developed ventral flanges beginning at the third peripheral, squarish umbilical and lateral plastral fontanelles, and a narrow bridge formed by the contact between the hyoplastron and hypoplastron. Peritresius martini sp. nov. can be distinguished by its lack of dermal ornamentation and the presence of a ‘rib-free’ 10th peripheral. These new specimens represent the first occurrences of Peritresius from the Late Cretaceous Mississippi Embayment and extend the temporal range of this genus back to the early Campanian. When tested within a global phylogenetic context, Peritresius is placed on the stem of Cheloniidae (Pan-Cheloniidae) along with Ctenochelys and Allopleuron hofmanni. The heavily vascularized and uniquely sculptured dermal elements of P. ornatus are interpreted here as potentially relating to thermoregulation and therefore may have been one of the key factors contributing to the survival of Peritresius into the Maastrichtian, a period of cooling when other lineages of Campanian marine turtles (e.g., Protostegids, Toxochelys, and Ctenochelys) went extinct.

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WFS News: Fossil study reveals first bird beaks had teeth

May 3rd, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

Researchers have pieced together the three-dimensional skull of an iconic, toothed bird that represents a pivotal moment in the transition from dinosaurs to modern-day birds.

Ichthyornis dispar holds a key position in the evolutionary trail that leads from dinosaurian species to today’s avians. It lived nearly 100 million years ago in North America, looked something like a toothy seabird, and drew the attention of such famous naturalists as Yale’s O.C. Marsh (who first named and described it) and Charles Darwin.

Scientists have pieced together the skull of a toothed bird that represents a pivotal moment in the transition from dinosaurs to modern-day birds.

Yet despite the existence of partial specimens of Ichthyornis dispar, there has been no significant new skull material beyond the fragmentary remains first found in the 1870s. Now, a Yale-led team reports on new specimens with three-dimensional cranial remains — including one example of a complete skull and two previously overlooked cranial elements that were part of the original specimen at Yale — that reveal new details about one of the most striking transformations in evolutionary history.

“Right under our noses this whole time was an amazing, transitional bird,” said Yale paleontologist Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, principal investigator of a study published in the journal Nature. “It has a modern-looking brain along with a remarkably dinosaurian jaw muscle configuration.”

Perhaps most interesting of all, Bhullar said, is that Ichthyornis dispar shows us what the bird beak looked like as it first appeared in nature.

“The first beak was a horn-covered pincer tip at the end of the jaw,” said Bhullar, who is an assistant professor and assistant curator in geology and geophysics. “The remainder of the jaw was filled with teeth. At its origin, the beak was a precision grasping mechanism that served as a surrogate hand as the hands transformed into wings.”

The research team conducted its analysis using CT-scan technology, combined with specimens from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History; the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Fort Hays, Kan.; the Alabama Museum of Natural History; the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute; and the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research.

Co-lead authors of the new study are Daniel Field of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath and Michael Hanson of Yale. Co-authors are David Burnham of the University of Kansas, Laura Wilson and Kristopher Super of Fort Hays State University, Dana Ehret of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and Jun Ebersole of the McWane Science Center.

“The fossil record provides our only direct evidence of the evolutionary transformations that have given rise to modern forms,” said Field. “This extraordinary new specimen reveals the surprisingly late retention of dinosaur-like features in the skull of Ichthyornis — one of the closest-known relatives of modern birds from the Age of Reptiles.”

The researchers said their findings offer new insight into how modern birds’ skulls eventually formed. Along with its transitional beak, Ichthyornis dispar had a brain similar to modern birds but a temporal region of the skull that was strikingly like that of a dinosaur — indicating that during the evolution of birds, the brain transformed first while the remainder of the skull remained more primitive and dinosaur-like.

“Ichthyornis would have looked very similar to today’s seabirds, probably very much like a gull or tern,” said Hanson. “The teeth probably would not have been visible unless the mouth was open but covered with some sort of lip-like, extra-oral tissue.”

In recent years Bhullar’s lab has produced a large body of research on various aspects of vertebrate skulls, often zeroing in on the origins of the avian beak. “Each new discovery has reinforced our previous conclusions. The skull of Ichthyornis even substantiates our molecular finding that the beak and palate are patterned by the same genes,” Bhullar said. “The story of the evolution of birds, the most species-rich group of vertebrates on land, is one of the most important in all of history. It is, after all, still the age of dinosaurs.”

Daniel J. Field, Michael Hanson, David Burnham, Laura E. Wilson, Kristopher Super, Dana Ehret, Jun A. Ebersole, Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar. Complete Ichthyornis skull illuminates mosaic assembly of the avian head. Nature, 2018; 557 (7703): 96 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0053-y
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WFS News: A new archaic baleen whale Toipahautea waitaki (early Late Oligocene, New Zealand) and the origins of crown Mysticeti

May 2nd, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

A new archaic baleen whale Toipahautea waitaki (early Late Oligocene, New Zealand) and the origins of crown Mysticeti

Cheng-Hsiu Tsai, R. Ewan Fordyce. A new archaic baleen whale Toipahautea waitaki (early Late Oligocene, New Zealand) and the origins of crown Mysticeti. Royal Society Open Science, 2018; 5 (4): 172453 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.172453

Geological map, excavation site and initial preparation of †Toipahautea waitaki OU 21981. (a) General map and geological horizon of †Toipahautea waitaki OU 21981; (b) excavation site of †Toipahautea waitaki OU 21981 with RE Fordyce as a scale bar (photo ©CH Tsai); (c) initial preparation of †Toipahautea waitaki OU 21981 by A. Grebneff (photo ©RE Fordyce); (d) scene of excavating †Toipahautea waitaki OU 21981 (photo ©RE Fordyce); the arrow marks the level of the typical basal Duntroonian brachiopod shellbed.

A new genus and species of extinct baleen whale ^†Toipahautea waitaki (Late Oligocene, New Zealand) is based on a skull and associated bones, from the lower Kokoamu Greensand, about 27.5 Ma (local upper Whaingaroan Stage, early Chattian). The upper jaw includes a thin, elongate and apparently toothless maxilla, with evidence of arterial supply for baleen. Open sutures with the premaxilla suggest a flexible (kinetic) upper jaw. The blowhole is well forward. The mandible is bowed laterally and slightly dorsally; unlike the Eomysticetidae, there are no mandibular alveoli, and the coronoid process is tapered and curved laterally. Jaw structure is consistent with baleen-assisted gulp-feeding. The age of early Chattian makes ^†Toipahautea a very early, if not the oldest named, toothless and baleen-bearing mysticete, suggesting that the full transition from toothed to baleen-bearing probably occurred in the Early Oligocene. Late Oligocene mysticetes vary considerably in jaw form and kinesis, tooth form and function, and development of baleen, implying a wide range of raptorial, suctorial and filter-feeding behaviour. More study may elucidate the function of jaws, teeth and baleen in terms of opportunist/generalist feeding, as in modern gray whales, versus specialized feeding. We here propose that early mysticetes, when transitioned from toothed to baleen-bearing, were generalists and opportunists instead of specializing in any forms of feeding strategies. In addition, two different phylogenetic analyses placed ^†Toipahauteaeither in a polytomy including crown Mysticeti, or immediately basal to the crown, and above †Eomysticetidae in both cases. Because the ^†Toipahautea waitaki holotype is an immature individual, it may plot more basally in phylogeny than its true position.

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

WFS News: Calcium Nodules as a Proxy for Quaternary Paleoclimate Change on China’s Loess Plateau

April 29th, 2018

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@WFS,World Fosssil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

Calcium Nodules as a Proxy for Quaternary Paleoclimate Change on China’s Loess Plateau

Citation: He W, He H, Zhu M (2015) Calcium Nodules as a Proxy for Quaternary Paleoclimate Change on China’s Loess Plateau. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0143928. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0143928

Editor: Juan A. Añel, Universidade de Vigo, SPAIN

Abstract

Changes in paleosol organic matter and the content of three forms of carbonate (PCaCO3, which represents CO3, and CaCO3).SOM, soil organic matter.

Different proxies have been used to investigate Quaternary paleoclimate change. Here, we used weathering of calcium nodules in paleosols on China’s Loess Plateau as a proxy for Quaternary paleoclimate changes to provide an alternative indicator of these changes. Paleosol and carbonate nodules were collected from Luochuan and Lantian counties in Shaanxi Province, China. We found that this approach allowed quantitative reconstruction of temperature, rainfall, soil mineral composition, and the effects of weathering and leaching. The changes in carbonate content in the loess and paleosol sequences were controlled by alternating dry and wet climatic conditions. Nodule formation conditions were directly affected by the leaching and migration of elements. The loess and paleosol sequences developed calcium nodules, and their formation was closely related to the rainfall and leaching characteristics of the paleoclimate. The paleoclimate and soil minerals affected the vegetation types and directly influenced changes in the soil. During formation of the calcium nodules, the surface vegetation evolved slowly, and the number of species and quantity of vegetation both decreased.

@WFS,World Fosssil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

WFS News: Forensic scanning technology reveals Dodo’s violent death

April 28th, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=hhpM5KZSNBg

CT Scans showing Lead shot in Oxford’s Dodo skull

The famous Oxford Dodo died after being shot in the back of the head, according to breakthrough research by Oxford University Museum of Natural History and WMG at the University of Warwick.

Using revolutionary forensic scanning technology and world-class expertise, researchers have discovered surprising evidence that the Oxford Dodo was shot in the neck and back of the head with a shotgun.

The significant and unexpected findings, made by Professor Paul Smith, director of the Museum of Natural History, and Professor Mark Williams from WMG at the University of Warwick, only became apparent when mysterious particles were found in the specimen during scans carried out to help analyse its anatomy.

The Oxford dodo specimen at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (credit WMG, University of Warwick). Credit: University of Warwick/Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Subsequent analysis of the material and size of the particles revealed that they are lead shot pellets, typically used to hunt wildfowl during the 17th century.

The findings cast doubt on the popular theory that the Oxford Dodo is the remains of a bird kept alive in a townhouse in 17th-century London.

Held at Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Oxford Dodo represents the most complete remains of a dodo collected as a living bird — the head and a foot — and the only surviving soft tissue anywhere in the world.

The researchers have shown that this famous specimen was shot in the back of the head and the neck, and that the shot did not penetrate its skull — which is now revealed to be very thick.

To conduct this research, the Dodo remains were securely transferred from Oxford to Professor Williams’ state-of-the-art scanning laboratory at WMG, where he used CT scanning technology and specialist 3D analysis software to analyse the bird’s skull and create a three-dimensional digital replica of it.

Professor Williams and his team gained an unprecedented level of insight to the precious dodo remains, looking inside the skull of the bird and discovering crucial information about its anatomy, as well as how it lived and died.

The Oxford Dodo originally came to the University of Oxford as part of the Tradescant Collection of specimens and artefacts compiled by father and son John Tradescant in London in the 17th century. CT scanning technology allowed researchers to see inside the famous specimen for the first time, revealing details without disturbing the remains or taking them apart.

Professor Paul Smith, Director of Oxford University Museum of Natural History, commented: “The Oxford Dodo is an important specimen for biology, and because of its connections with Lewis Carroll it is of great cultural significance too. The new findings reveal an unexpected part of history of this specimen as we thought the bird had come to the museum after being displayed as a live specimen in London.”

The researchers at WMG produced detailed scans of the dodo remains, and created a 3D model of the bird, which was analysed by the researchers at Oxford, who were able to confirm the findings.

The results of three years of collaborative research, these findings deliver ground-breaking fresh knowledge about this famous but mysterious creature that has been extinct since the mid-17th century.

Dodos were endemic to the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The first European accounts of the bird were made by Dutch explorers in 1601, after they rediscovered the island in 1598. The last living bird was sighted in 1662, and the dodo has subsequently become an icon of human-caused extinction.

Professor Mark Williams, leader of the Product Evaluation Technologies and Metrology Research group at WMG, University of Warwick, commented: “When we were first asked to scan the Dodo, we were hoping to study its anatomy and shed some new light on how it existed. In our wildest dreams, we never expected to find what we did.

“Although the results were initially shocking, it was exciting to be able to reveal such an important part of the story in the life of the world’s most famous extinct bird. It just goes to show that when you are carrying out investigative research, you never quite know what you are going to find.”

Dr Jay Warnett, Assistant Professor at WMG, commented: “At its core, the technology is the same as what is used in medical X-ray CT scanning. But because we weren’t limited by dose (because we were scanning an inanimate object rather than a person), it meant we were able to get a much higher resolution.

“Because of this higher resolution — going down to a fraction of the size of a human hair — this meant that we had a much bigger data challenge.”

Professor Mark Williams has employed the same digital forensics techniques to provide crucial evidence in over sixty major police trials, and to conduct crucial automotive research.

He has also used it to reveal long-lost details of other landmark historical and archaeological artefacts — providing answers that are only possible through using this pioneering scanning technology at WMG.

University of Warwick. “Dodo’s violent death revealed.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 April 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180421180509.htm>.

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

WFS News: Resolving the identity of Platylithophycus, an enigmatic fossil

April 27th, 2018

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@WFS,world Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

Resolving the identity of Platylithophycus, an enigmatic fossil from the Niobrara Chalk

(Upper Cretaceous, Coniacian–Campanian)

Citation:Allison W. Bronson, John G. Maisey. Resolving the identity of Platylithophycus, an enigmatic fossil from the Niobrara Chalk (Upper Cretaceous, Coniacian–Campanian). Journal of Paleontology, 2018; 1 DOI: 10.1017/jpa.2018.14

A photo of the Platylithophycus cretaceus specimen. The scale bar is 5 centimeters.
Credit: © Mike Eklund

Misidentified fossils are common in paleontology, but Platylithophycus has undergone a particularly problematic series of descriptions. The holotype of P. cretaceus comes from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Chalk of Kansas, and was first described as a calcareous green alga, based on the surface texture of the specimen. Later, Platylithophycus was re-identified as a sepiid cephalopod, based partly on a comparison of microstructure between P. cretaceus and the pen of modern squids. Platylithophycus then became part of the University of Nebraska teaching collection, where, according to paleontological legend, an undergraduate student suggested that the fossil’s tessellated surface looked a lot like shark cartilage. However, that interpretation has not been formally proposed until now. This work re-describes the holotype of Platylithophycus cretaceus as part of the branchial endoskeleton of an elasmobranch, based on both gross morphology and ultrastructure, including recognizable tessellated cartilage with intertesseral pores and joints.

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WFS News: Global Diversity and Phylogeny of the Asteroidea (Echinodermata)

April 24th, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

Global Diversity and Phylogeny of the Asteroidea (Echinodermata)

Citation: Mah CL, Blake DB (2012) Global Diversity and Phylogeny of the Asteroidea (Echinodermata). PLoS ONE 7(4): e35644. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035644

Editor: Jonathan H. Badger, J. Craig Venter Institute, United States of America

Members of the Asteroidea (phylum Echinodermata), popularly known as starfish or sea stars, are ecologically important and diverse members of marine ecosystems in all of the world’s oceans. We present a comprehensive overview of diversity and phylogeny as they have figured into the evolution of the Asteroidea from Paleozoic to the living fauna. Living post-Paleozoic asteroids, the Neoasteroidea, are morphologically separate from those in the Paleozoic. Early Paleozoic asteroid faunas were diverse and displayed morphology that foreshadowed later living taxa. Preservation presents significant difficulties, but fossil occurrence and current accounts suggests a diverse Paleozoic fauna, which underwent extinction around the Permian-Triassic interval was followed by re-diversification of at least one surviving lineage. Ongoing phylogenetic classification debates include the status of the Paxillosida and the Concentricycloidea. Fossil and molecular evidence has been and continues to be part of the ongoing evolution of asteroid phylogenetic research. The modern lineages of asteroids include the Valvatacea, the Forcipulatacea, the Spinlosida, and the Velatida. We present an overview of diversity in these taxa, as well as brief notes on broader significance, ecology, and functional morphology of each. Although much asteroid taxonomy is stable, many new taxa remain to be discovered with many new species currently awaiting description. The Goniasteridae is currently one of the most diverse families within the Asteroidea. New data from molecular phylogenetics and the advent of global biodiversity databases, such as the World Asteroidea Database (http://www.marinespecies.org/Asteroidea/) present important new springboards for understanding the global biodiversity and evolution of asteroids.

Paleozoic stem-group somasteroid and asteroids.
A. Ophioxenikos langenheimi (Somasteroidea) Blake & Guensburg, X-4751. B. Urasterella grandis (Meek) USNM 40885. Ordovician. C. Hudsonaster incomptus (Meek) USNM 40882 Ordovician. D. Jugiasspeciosus (Miller and Dyer). MCS 10806. Ordovician. E. Helianthaster rhenanus Roember . PWL 1983-21, Devonian. F and G. Paleaster clarki Clarke and Swartz USNM 144825. Devonian.

WFS News: Putnisite: A new Mineral

April 22nd, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

A University of Adelaide mineralogy researcher has discovered a new mineral that is unique in structure and composition among the world’s 4,000 known mineral species.

Published in Mineralogical Magazine, Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Dr Peter Elliott has described ‘putnisite’, found in a surface outcrop at Lake Cowan, north of Norseman in Western Australia.

Putnisite was recently discovered in Western Australia. Credit: Peter Elliott

“What defines a mineral is its chemistry and crystallography,” says Dr Elliott, who is also a Research Associate with the South Australian Museum.

“By x-raying a single crystal of mineral you are able to determine its crystal structure and this, in conjunction with chemical analysis, tells you everything you need to know about the mineral.

“Most minerals belong to a family or small group of related minerals, or if they aren’t related to other minerals they often are to a synthetic compound – but putnisite is completely unique and unrelated to anything.

“Nature seems to be far cleverer at dreaming up new chemicals than any researcher in a laboratory.”

The new mineral occurs as tiny crystals, no more than 0.5 mm in diameter and is found on a volcanic rock. It appears as dark pink spots on dark green and white rock which, under the microscope, appears as square, cube-like crystals. It combines the elements strontium, calcium, chromium, sulphur, carbon, oxygen and hydrogen – a very unusual combination. It has yet to be determined if the new mineral will have any practical use.

The mineral was discovered during prospecting by a mining company in WA and handed on to CSIRO for initial research and then to Dr Elliott for more detailed analysis.

Dr Elliott has researched 12 new Australian minerals in the past seven years and seven of those he found himself.

Two of these new minerals were discovered in South Australia – domerockite and hylbrownite – named respectively after Dome Rock, where the mineral was first was found, and Henry Yorke Lyle Brown, Government Geologist of South Australia from 1882-1912.

Putnisite has been named for Australian mineralogists Andrew and Christine Putnis.

Source: research from University of Adelaide.

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

WFS News: Collagen Fingerprinting: A New Screening Technique for Radiocarbon Dating Ancient Bone

April 19th, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

Collagen Fingerprinting: A New Screening Technique for Radiocarbon Dating Ancient Bone

Citation: Harvey VL, Egerton VM, Chamberlain AT, Manning PL, Buckley M (2016) Collagen Fingerprinting: A New Screening Technique for Radiocarbon Dating Ancient Bone. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0150650. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150650

Editor: Siân E. Halcrow, University of Otago, NEW ZEALAND

Skull from hutia, Capromys sp. (sample number 24, Bedding Plane II Cave, Cayman Brac) showing an example of the extent of mineralisation that is typical in Cayman Island assemblages.
Images show left (A), right (B), dorsal (C), ventral (D) and anterior (E) sides of skull. For interest, arrows indicate sites where sampling was achieved for 14C dating and ZooMS analysis

Collagen is the dominant organic component of bone and is intimately locked within the hydroxyapatite structure of this ubiquitous biomaterial that dominates archaeological and palaeontological assemblages. Radiocarbon analysis of extracted collagen is one of the most common approaches to dating bone from late Pleistocene or Holocene deposits, but dating is relatively expensive compared to other biochemical techniques. Numerous analytical methods have previously been investigated for the purpose of screening out samples that are unlikely to yield reliable dates including histological analysis, UV-stimulated fluorescence and, most commonly, the measurement of percentage nitrogen (%N) and ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C:N). Here we propose the use of collagen fingerprinting (also known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS, when applied to species identification) as an alternative screening method for radiocarbon dating, due to its ability to provide information on collagen presence and quality, alongside species identification. The method was tested on a series of sub-fossil bone specimens from cave systems on Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands), chosen due to the observable range in diagenetic alteration, and in particular, the extent of mineralisation. Six ¹⁴C dates, of 18 initial attempts, were obtained from remains of extinct hutia, Capromys sp. (Rodentia; Capromyidae), recovered from five distinct caves on Cayman Brac, and ranging from 393 ± 25 to 1588 ± 26 radiocarbon years before present (yr BP). All of the bone samples that yielded radiocarbon dates generated excellent collagen fingerprints, and conversely those that gave poor fingerprints also failed dating. Additionally, two successfully fingerprinted bone samples were screened out from a set of 81. Both subsequently generated ¹⁴C dates, demonstrating successful utilisation of ZooMS as an alternative screening mechanism to identify bone samples that are suitable for ¹⁴C analysis.

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WFS News: 50 Rare Dinosaur Footprints Found on Scottish Island

April 17th, 2018

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@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev

n 2015, palaeontologists found hundreds of sauropod tracks on the Isle of Skye, making the rocky island Scotland’s most significant dinosaur site. Now, as Nicola Davis reports for the Guardian, researchers have unearthed around 50 more footprints at a nearby site, which, unlike the previous location, includes the tracks of carnivorous dinosaurs.

The large footprints, described in a paper in the Scottish Journal of Geology, were discovered near a scenic headland known as Brothers’ Point. They date to the Middle Jurassic period, around 170 million years ago, when Skye was part of a subtropical island near the equator. Today, Skye is known for its windswept, mountainous landscape, but during the Middle Jurassic, the region was dotted with beaches, lagoons and rivers. Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the new paper, tells Davis that the prints were made by “dinosaurs walking in very shallow water.”

Sauropod footprint on the Isle of Skye. (Jon Hoad)

According to Michael Greshko of National Geographic, two researchers—Davide Foffa and Hong-Yu Yi—found the footprints in 2016, and Brusatte and his student Paige dePolo returned to the site the following year to further study the tracks. They used drones and cameras to map the site, explains a University of Edinburgh statement, and were able to make out many clear isolated footprints and two trackways.

Some of the prints were quite large (“as big as a car tire,” Davis writes), and appeared to have been made by a towering dinosaur walking on all fours. “[T]he dinosaur that fits the bill is a sauropod—one of these long-necked, pot bellied, brontosaurus-type dinosaurs,” Brusatte tells Davis. But other prints appeared to have been made by three-toed dinosaurs walking on their hind legs. Researchers believe that these tracks were left by theropods, a diverse group of bipedal dinosaurs that includes the Tyrannosaurus rex. The theropods roaming around on what is now Skye may have been a very early cousin of the T. rex, which lived during Cretaceous period.

In an interview with National Geographic’s Greshko, Brusatte explains that the Middle Jurassic was an important period in dinosaurs’ evolutionary history—a time when “the first birds took to the sky, the first tyrannosaurs were evolving, [and] the first really colossal sauropods were getting their start.” But fossils from the Middle Jurassic are rarely found, making Skye an important paleontological site.

The new discovery does add nuance to our understanding of how sauropods reptiles moved about. Paleontologists once believed that the gargantuan reptiles would have been unable to support their weight on land and were therefore amphibious. More recent research revealed that the animals did in fact lumber about on land—but the footprints on Skye indicate that at least some sauropods spent their time plodding through coastal waters.

“It wasn’t that the water was the only place they could live and just had to languish,” Brusatte tells Greshko. “Instead, we’re now saying that they were so dynamic and so energetic—that they were so successful—that they were probably exploring whatever environments they could.”

Source: Article By Brigit Katz,SMITHSONIAN.COM

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