New evidence from Poland suggests that trilobites migrated in single file, like some living arthropod species.
Exciting Evo-Devo Research on Fins and Hands
Carl Zimmer, at The New York Times, reports on recent research at the University of Chicago. Scientists trying to understand the evolutionary origins of tetrapods have discovered some fascinating similarities in the developmental processes that lead to fins (in fish) and digits (in tetrapods).
And here's the original paper, published in Nature.
Woolly mammoths persisted on St. Paul Island until quite recently, around 5,600 years ago.
This new research is remarkable both for the dating techniques used, and for the suggestion that a lack of freshwater resources might have done in the very last of the mammoths.
A BIG dinosaur footprint in Bolivia
This could be the largest carnivorous dinosaur track found so far. See a news report here.
The effort to reconstruct LUCA
New research is suggesting that LUCA--the last universal common ancestor of life on Earth--may have been an extremophilic microbe. It's a fascinating effort to draw inferences about organisms that lived way, way, back in deep time.
Tiny Arms: A Possible Evolutionary Convergence?
T. rex was not the only therapod with tiny arms. It seems the trait also evolved in the allosaurs. (Also, check out Leonard's essay on the topic!)
New Marsupial Lion
Extinct would like to welcome Microleo attenboroughi, a new (and diminutive!) Australian Marsupial Lion
Why did Stegosaurus have those plates?
Darren Naish, at Tetrapod Zoology, reflects on the functional morphology of Stegosaurus plates. What, if anything, were they for? Thermoregulation is a popular hypothesis, but how strong is the case for that, really?
New Ceratopsid!
Plos One* just published a description of a new ceratopsid, Spiclypeus shipporum (how many dang ceratopsid can there be?) based on a specimen named Judith (who had some really interesting pathology...). There's also a lovely new art-work by Michael Skrepnik, which you can see here.
*what makes a ceratopsid 'Boldly Audacious' is unclear to us here at Extinct, but we'd love to know why!
Atopodentatus: less flamingo, more hammer-head.
When you're inferring a critter's morphology and feeding strategies from a few incomplete finds, hypotheses can be pretty unstable. This is nicely illustrated in the dramatic shift Chun et al have just pushed in the mid-Triassic marine reptile Atopodentatus. Here's the article, and here's a nice summary in the guardian (with pictures!)
Drilling through the Chicxulub Crater
There's a new project to take core samples from the Chicxulub Crater, in Mexico. Interestingly, in addition to gaining new insights about the K-Pg mass extinction, the researchers are also hoping to learn something about the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Turner awarded thing.
Congratulations to our own Derek Turner, who has been awarded a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair at the University of Calgary (fast becoming *the place* for philosophy of paleontology?). Details here.
Hobbits older than first thought...
Homo floresiensis, the so-called 'hobbits', have been redated from around 12k to around 50k years ago. For those of us (Adrian) who just published articles based on the former date, that's a bit annoying. For everyone else, this possibly lines up the disappearance of H. floresiensis with the appearance of H. sapiens (which is suggestive...) and provides yet another reminder of how unstable dating can be... Here's the nature article, and here's a nice write-up in the guardian.
Ancient rhinoceros skull found; modern conception of "unicorn" lost
A Siberian research team just announced the discovery of a skull from the rhino species Elasmotherium sibiricum in 26000-year-old strata, suggesting that the species went extinct some 25000 years later than previously expected.
Some media outlets are reporting this as a discovery of a "Siberian unicorn." We at Extinct humbly suggest that journalists review some work that's already been done on the subject before resorting to such claims.
Frequent revisions of dinosaur names
Who knew that almost 50% of dinosaur names ultimately get dropped? And different scientists have better/worse track records when it comes to the validity of their dinosaur names.