It’s official: A giant, marine reptile that roamed the seas roughly 150 million years ago is a new species, researchers say. The animal, now named Pliosaurus funkei, spanned about 40 feet (12 meters) and had a massive 6.5-foot-long (2 m) skull with a bite four times as powerful as Tyrannosaurus rex. “They were the top predators of the […]
Posts Tagged ‘Russel T Sajeev’
Mayfly With Springtail Hitchhiker: Amber Specimen — 16 Million Years Old — Reveals Unknown Animal Behaviors
October 18th, 2012
riffin Stunning images, including video footage, from a CT scan of amber have revealed the first evidence of any creature using an adult mayfly for transport. Researchers at the University of Manchester say this 16-million-year-old hitchhiker most likely demonstrates activity that is taking place today but has never previously been recorded. Entombed in amber the tiny […]
Rare Evidence Of Dinosaur Cannibalism: Meat-Eater Tooth Found In Gorgosaurus Jawbone
October 16th, 2012
riffin University of Alberta researcher Phil Bell has found 70 million year old evidence of dinosaur cannibalism. The jawbone of what appears to be a Gorgosaurus was found in 1996 in southern Alberta. A technician at the Royal Tyrell Museum found something unusual embedded in the jaw. It was the tip of a tooth from another meat-eating dinosaur. […]
Cambrian fossil pushes back evolution of complex brains
October 15th, 2012
Riffin The remarkably well-preserved fossil of an extinct arthropod shows that anatomically complex brains evolved earlier than previously thought and have changed little over the course of evolution. According to University of Arizona neurobiologist Nicholas Strausfeld, who co-authored the study describing the specimen, the fossil is the earliest known to show a brain. The discovery will […]
Quantifying Rates of Evolutionary Adaptation in Response to Ocean Acidification
October 14th, 2012
riffin The global acidification of the earth’s oceans is predicted to impact biodiversity via physiological effects impacting growth, survival, reproduction, and immunology, leading to changes in species abundances and global distributions. However, the degree to which these changes will play out critically depends on the evolutionary rate at which populations will respond to natural selection imposed […]
“Thunder Thighs” Dinosaur Thrashed Predators to Death?
October 13th, 2012
riffin A newfound dinosaur species that used its “exceptionally powerful” thighs to kick predators likely had a bad temper to boot, one expert says. The 46-foot-long (14-meter-long) Brontomerus mcintoshi had an immense blade on its hipbones where strong muscles would have attached, according to a new study. “These things don’t happen by accident—this is something that’s clearly functional,” […]
Paleotemperature Proxies from Leaf Fossils Reinterpreted in Light of Evolutionary History
October 12th, 2012
riffin Present-day correlations between leaf physiognomic traits (shape and size) and climate are widely used to estimate paleoclimate using fossil floras. For example, leaf-margin analysis estimates paleotemperature using the modern relation of mean annual temperature (MAT) and the site-proportion of untoothed-leaf species (NT). This uniformitarian approach should provide accurate paleoclimate reconstructions under the core assumption that […]
New Fossils Suggest Ancient Origins of Modern-Day Deep-Sea Animals
October 11th, 2012
riffin A collection of fossil animals discovered off the coast of Florida suggests that present day deep-sea fauna like sea urchins, starfish and sea cucumbers may have evolved earlier than previously believed and survived periods of mass extinctions similar to those that wiped out the dinosaurs. The full results are published Oct. 10 in the open […]
Marine Worms Reveal the Deepest Evolutionary Patterns
October 10th, 2012
Riffin Scientists from the universities of Bath and Lincoln have revealed new findings on the evolutionary relationships and structure of priapulids — a group of carnivorous mud-dwelling worms living in shallow marine waters. The research, carried out by evolutionary biologists Dr Matthew Wills, Dr Sylvain Gerber, Mr Martin Hughes (all University of Bath) and Dr Marcello […]
Unique Ancient Spider Attack Preserved in Amber
October 9th, 2012
riffin Researchers have found what they say is the only fossil ever discovered of a spider attack on prey caught in its web — a 100 million-year-old snapshot of an engagement frozen in time. The extraordinarily rare fossils are in a piece of amber that preserved this event in remarkable detail, an action that took place […]



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