Posts Tagged ‘Riffin T Sajeev’

Ancient DNA reveals history of extinct Caribbean monkey

Analysis of ancient DNA of a mysterious extinct monkey named Xenothrix — which displays bizarre body characteristics very different to any living monkey — has revealed that it was in fact most closely related to South America’s titi monkeys (Callicebinae). Having made their way overwater to Jamaica, probably on floating vegetation, their bones reveal they […]

Demise of Indus Valley civilization could have been a result of climate change.

More than 4,000 years ago, the Harappa culture thrived in the Indus River Valley of what is now modern Pakistan and northwestern India, where they built sophisticated cities, invented sewage systems that predated ancient Rome’s, and engaged in long-distance trade with settlements in Mesopotamia. Yet by 1800 BCE, this advanced culture had abandoned their cities, […]

evolution of animal ecosystem on islands

Islands have been vital laboratories for advancing evolutionary theory since the pioneering work of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the 19th century. Now, a new paper appearing in PLOS ONE from an international team of investigators describes two new fossil relatives of marsupials that shed light on how a unique island ecosystem evolved […]

WFS News:Evolution of High Tooth Replacement Rates in Sauropod Dinosaurs

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Evolution of High Tooth Replacement Rates in Sauropod Dinosaurs Citation: D’Emic MD, Whitlock JA, Smith KM, Fisher DC, Wilson JA (2013) Evolution of High Tooth Replacement Rates in Sauropod Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE 8(7): e69235. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069235 Editor: Alistair Robert Evans, Monash University, Australia Abstract Background Tooth replacement rate can be calculated […]

WFS News: Linking Geology and Microbiology

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Linking Geology and Microbiology: Inactive Pockmarks Affect Sediment Microbial Community Structure Citation: Haverkamp THA, Hammer Ø, Jakobsen KS (2014) Linking Geology and Microbiology: Inactive Pockmarks Affect Sediment Microbial Community Structure. PLoS ONE 9(1): e85990. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085990 Editor: Hauke Smidt, Wageningen University, Netherlands Pockmarks are geological features that are found on the […]

WFS News: Synthetic microorganisms and study of evolution

@ WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Scientists at Scripps Research and their collaborators have created microorganisms that may recapitulate key features of organisms thought to have lived billions of years ago, allowing them to explore questions about how life evolved from inanimate molecules to single-celled organisms to the complex, multicellular lifeforms we see […]

New species of ‘missing link’ between dinosaurs and birds identified

Known as the ‘Icon of Evolution’ and ‘the missing link’ between dinosaurs and birds, Archaeopteryx has become one of the most famous fossil discoveries in Palaeontology. Now, as part of an international team of scientists, researchers at The University of Manchester have identified a new species of Archaeopteryx that is closer to modern birds in […]

WFS News: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Species Diversity

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev Conserving the Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Species Diversity Conservationists have proposed methods for adapting to climate change that assume species distributions are primarily explained by climate variables. The key idea is to use the understanding of species-climate relationships to map corridors and to identify […]

WFS News: Oldest skeleton of a fossil flying squirrel

@WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev The oldest flying squirrel fossil ever found has unearthed new insight on the origin and evolution of these airborne animals. Writing in the open-access journal eLife, researchers from the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP) in Barcelona, Spain, described the 11.6-million-year-old fossil, which was discovered in Can Mata […]

WFS News: Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa

@ WFS,World Fossil Society,Riffin T Sajeev,Russel T Sajeev A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs A new species of a giant dinosaur has been found in South Africa’s Free State Province. The plant-eating dinosaur, named Ledumahadi mafube, weighed 12 tonnes and stood about four metres […]