PhysOrg.com [USA], October 29, 2010
Though scientists have long known about conodonts from their fossilized
teeth, Texas Tech University graduate student Nicole Peavey said only
recently have scientists begun to understand these enigmatic and
relatively successful creatures. She will discuss them and how recent
findings may require new names for different species at a poster session
Monday (Nov. 1) at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of
America in Denver. "Conodonts are marginally related to fish, but not
really fish like we think of them," Peavey said. "They're kind of like
eels or hagfish or lampreys, but different. They may be close in shape
and lifestyle, but it's not a perfect comparison. That's like comparing
a modern mammal to a dinosaur. Conodonts went extinct at the end of the
Triassic period, about the time dinosaurs were evolving. The group is
gone, which makes them very mysterious. They don't have any living
relatives to compare them to."
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-scientist-toothy-microfossils.html
Found: First complete remains of early sauropod dinosaur
PhysOrg.com [USA], October 28, 2010
Scientists have discovered in China the first complete skeleton of a
pivotal ancestor of Earth's largest land animals – the sauropod
dinosaurs. The new species, tentatively dubbed Yizhousaurus sunae, lived
on the flood plains around Lufeng in the Yunnan Province of South China
about 200 million years ago. The species helps explain how the iconic
four-footed, long-necked sauropod dinosaurs evolved. Unlike the
120-foot-long, 100-ton sauropod giants that came later, Yizhousaurus was
about 30 feet in length, but it shows all of the hallmarks of later
sauropods: the beginning of a long neck, a robust skeleton and
four-legged posture. It also comes with an intact fossilized skull –
which is very rare and crucial for understanding its place in the
evolution of sauropods.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-early-sauropod-dinosaur.html
Halloween horror story -- tale of the headless dragonfly
PhysOrg.com [USA], October 26, 2010
In a short, violent battle that could have happened somewhere this
afternoon, the lizard made a fast lunge at the dragonfly, bit its head
off and turned to run away. Lunch was served. But the battle didn't
happen today, it happened about 100 million years ago, probably with
dinosaurs strolling nearby. And the lizard didn't get away, it was
trapped in the same oozing, sticky tree sap that also entombed the
now-headless dragonfly for perpetuity. This ancient struggle, preserved
in the miracle of amber, was just described by researchers from Oregon
State University in Paleodiversity, a professional journal. It announced
the discovery of a new sub-family of dragonflies, called
"Paleodisparoneurinae," in the oldest specimen of this insect ever found
in amber.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-halloween-horror-story-tale.html
Huge amber deposit discovered in India
PhysOrg.com [USA], October 25, 2010
Bees, termites, spiders, and flies entombed in a newly-excavated amber
deposit are challenging the assumption that India was an isolated
island-continent in the Early Eocene, or 52-50 million years ago.
Arthropods found in the Cambay deposit from western India are not unique
-- as would be expected on an island -- but rather have close
evolutionary relationships with fossils from other continents. The amber
is also the oldest evidence of a tropical broadleaf rainforest in Asia.
The discovery is published this week in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-huge-amber-deposit-india.html
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