A team of paleontologists, including a University of Pennsylvania doctoral candidate, has described a new species of dinosaur based upon an incomplete skeleton found in western New Mexico. The new species,Jeyawati rugoculus, comes from rocks that preserve a swampy forest ecosystem that thrived near the shore of a vast inland sea 91 million years ago. […]
Posts Tagged ‘WFS’
Fossil of “Shield”-Headed Croc Found in Morocco
August 27th, 2012
riffin A new prehistoric croc sporting an odd head “shield” has been found in Morocco, according to a study published . Dubbed ShieldCroc, the animal’s head appendage was surrounded by blood vessels and covered with a sheath like those seen in frilled dinosaurs, including Triceratops. At 30 to 35 feet (9 to 11 meters) long, the […]
Cause of Dinosaur Boom relating to rise of Rocky mountain
August 26th, 2012
riffin The evolution of new dinosaur species may have surged due to the rise of the Rocky Mountains and the emergence of a prehistoric inner sea in North America, researchers say. Duck-billed and horned dinosaurs flourished in North America, reaching a peak about 75 million years ago, a time known as the Campanian. For instance, one Campanian […]
Story Of Prehistoric Climates From Fossil Wood
August 26th, 2012
Riffin New research into a missing link in climatology shows that the Earth was not overcome by a greenhouse period when dinosaurs dominated, but experienced rapid fluctuations in temperature and sea level change that resulted in a balance of the global carbon cycle. The study is being published in the March issue of Geology. “Most people […]
Debate on Dinosaur life
August 25th, 2012
riffin INTRODUCTION Some people think dinosaurs were cold-blooded; other people think dinosaurs were warm-blooded. Lots of scientists have studied the problem. There is information about posture, bone structure, and brain/body size. This essay will consider the evidence and try to come to a reasonable conclusion. THE BIG DEBATE They were reptiles, so they must have been […]
The Origin and Initial Rise of Pelagic Cephalopods in the Ordovician
August 25th, 2012
riffin During the Ordovician the global diversity increased dramatically at family, genus and species levels. Partially the diversification is explained by an increased nutrient, and phytoplankton availability in the open water. Cephalopods areamong the top predators of todays open oceans. Their Ordovician occurrences, diversity evolution and abundance patternpotentially provides information on the evolution of the pelagic food […]
Ocean Floor Sediments May Be Window on World’s Warmer Future
August 24th, 2012
riffin Analysis of seafloor sediment reveals lower oxygen levels in the ocean when the planet heated up 55.9 million years ago Digging into our planet’s past could help us prepare for a hot future. One dramatic spike in historical temperatures, the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), occurred around 55.9 million years ago. That time was marked by […]
Ancient fossils reveal how the mollusc got its teeth
August 23rd, 2012
riffin The radula sounds like something from a horror movie — a conveyor belt lined with hundreds of rows of interlocking teeth. In fact, radulas are found in the mouths of most molluscs, from the giant squid to the garden snail. Now, a “prototype” radula found in 500-million-year-old fossils studied by University of Toronto graduate student […]
Protection of Fossil Site By World Fossil Society
August 23rd, 2012
riffin CHENNAI: A writ plea has been made in the Madras High Court to declare Kolakkanatham fossil site in Ariyalur district as a paleontological heritage site. A vacation bench comprising Justices S Rajeswaran and KBK Vasuki, before which the public interest writ petition from Rajashree of Kalamassery in Kerala came up for hearing on Wednesday, ordered […]
Green River Formation
August 22nd, 2012
riffin Historical Background In 1856 Dr. John Evans collected the first fossil fish known to science from the Green River Formation. The Knightia eocaena was described by Dr. Joseph Leidy in Philadelphia. Although fossils had been reported from the area, this was the first described. And so begins the story of one of the greatest fossil sites known […]



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