The four-winged dinosaur that ate birds

We now know that birds evolved from small, feathered dinosaurs. It’s easy to think that since birds are still around today, they must have come after their dinosaur* cousins, but that’s not true. In the Cretaceous period, dinosaurs were still around while their descendants flitted through the skies. And some dinosaurs made meals of their flighty relatives. Jingmai O’Connor from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered the remains of a small dinosaur called Microraptor that has the bones of small bird in its gut.

O’Connor analysed the fossil with Xing Xu, a Chinese scientist who has made a career from discovering beautiful feathered dinosaurs. Microraptor is one of his most important finds. This tiny animal, about the size of a pigeon, had four wings, with long feathers on both of its legs as well as its arms. It was, at the very least, a very competent glider, if not a true flier.



The dinosaurs specimen that O’Connor and Xu have studied isn’t the best preserved Microraptor around. However, it does clearly have the remains of a small bird in its gut, including the left wing and both feet. There aren’t enough bones to tell which species it was, but the distinctive shape of its leg bone singles it out as one of the enantiornithines, an extinct group of early birds. They were, after all, one of the most common groups of birds in the forests of China, where Microraptor hunted.

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New dinosaur species identified in Saskatchewan

A 66-million-year-old partial skeleton discovered in Saskatchewan has been confirmed as a new species of plant-eating dinosaur.

The new species has been named Thescelosaurus assiniboiensis (THES'-kel-oh-SAWR'-us ah-SIN'-ni-boy-EN'-sis) after Saskatchewan's Assiniboia district where it was found.

The specimen was collected from the Frenchman River Valley near Eastend in 1968, but was only identified in recent years.



Caleb Brown, who was part of the team to study the bones, says the new dinosaur is notable for its small size compared to other contemporary herbivores — it was similar in size to a white-tailed deer.

The partial skeleton can be seen at the T.rex Discovery Centre in Eastend and an exact cast is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.

The new dinosaur species is described in the December edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

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'Skin bones' assisted big dinosaurs survive

Bones involved entirely within the pores and epidermis of some of the most significant dinosaurs on World might have saved important vitamins to help the big wildlife endure and have their young in difficult times, according to new research by a group together with a Higher education of Guelph scientists. Guelph biomedical scientists Matthew Vickaryous co-authored a document publicized in Characteristics Emails about two sauropod dinosaurs -- an mature and a child -- from Madagascar.

The research advises that these long-necked plant-eaters used useless "skin bones" called osteoderms to store vitamins needed to sustain their huge pumpkin heads or scarecrows and to lay big egg grip. Sediments around the past show that the dinosaurs' atmosphere was highly temporary and semi-arid, with occasional droughts producing big die-offs.

"Our results recommend that osteoderms offered an inner source of calcium supplement and phosphorus when atmosphere and biological circumstances were demanding," he said. As a specialist in the Office of Biomedical Sciences in Guelph's New york Professional Institution, Vickaryous research how pumpkin heads or scarecrows build, create and build.

He labored with paleontologist Kristina Curry Rogers and geologist Raymond Rogers at Macalaster Institution in Mn, and paleontologist Erina D'Emic, now at Atlanta Lower Higher education on the research. Vickaryous assisted to experience the results of CT tests and fossilized cells cores taken from the dinosaurs.

Shaped like footballs cut lengthwise and about the size of a gym bag in the mature, these bone cells are the most significant osteoderms ever recognized. The mature specimen's bone cells was useless, likely due to considerable bone cells modifying, said Vickaryous.

Osteoderms were common among armoured dinosaurs. Stegosaurs had bony back clothing and longest tail rises, and ankylosaurs offered intensely armoured systems and bony longest tail organizations. These days these "skin bones" appear in such wildlife as alligators and armadillos.

Such bone cells were unusual among sauropod dinosaurs and have made an appearance only in titanosaurs. These big plant-eaters involved the largest-ever area wildlife. "This is the only number of long-necked sauropods with osteoderms," he said.

Other research indicates that women titanosaurs put lots of volleyball-sized egg. Present day crocodiles and alligators also lay grip of lots of egg and are known to reabsorb vitamins from their osteoderms.

The scientists found the new osteoderms along with two pumpkin heads or scarecrows of the titanosaur Rapetosaurus.

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"Gorgeous" Old Home Discovered Complete of Babies

A nest rich in fossilized dinosaur little ones has been seen in Mongolia, and the discover has paleontologists reexamining variations of adult care among the historical animals.

The around 75-million-year-old nest reveals 15 child people of Protoceratops andrewsi—a family member of Triceratops—entombed in historical fine sand dune build up. The nest was lately discovered by Mongolian paleontologist Pagmin Narmandakh in the local Djadokhta development.

The 2.3-foot-wide (0.7-meter-wide) nest is wonderful, according to Mark Fastovsky, a co-author on a document about the dinosaur nest publicized in the Nov release of the Paper of Paleontology.



Unlike other dinosaur nests found with traditional egg, the little ones in this nest appear to have been about a season old when they passed away.

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Inside The Giants Of Nature

Regular readers know that I am a big fan of the TV series Windfall Films In natural Giants (broadcast on Channel 4 here in the United Kingdom, and the known anatomy of crude oil in the U.S.).

It could in fact be the only thing worth watching TV. What is particularly noteworthy is that the brilliant, award-winning series on the biology anatomy and evolution of animals is loved by critics and the general TV-watching public, which is why ING is entering the third series.

This demonstrates a phenomenal success, and again my congratulations to all parties. I've been blogging about ING from the first screen (see link below) and have even managed to meet some key people and is a consultant for some of the episodes. Special ING sperm whales have recently hit the screens, and I aim to have a blog up soon.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing now that the series begins this week, the third Tuesday, August 30 (err, you have today), and Episode 1 is dedicated to the dromedary camel. Camels are strange strange strange - there is so incredibly flexible neck, a dilatable sac on the palate, are digitigrade (rather than unguligrade) feet ... All this and much more before getting humped. In any case, this is only intended as a quick heads up. I can not wait to watch and hope that you tune in, if possible. See the trailer here.

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New Dinosaur Species Identified In Saskatchewan

A skeleton of 66 million years, partially observed in Saskatchewan has been confirmed as a new species of plant-eating dinosaur.

The new species was named assiniboiensis Thescelosaurus (THES'-Kel-oh-oh-we-SAWR' SIN'-NI-boy-EN'-SIS), after Saskatchewan Assiniboia district, where he was found.

The sample was collected in the French valley of the river near Eastend in 1968, but has been identified in recent years.

Caleb Brown, who was part of the study team from the bones, says new dinosaur is notable for its small size compared to other herbivores present - which was similar in size to a white tail.

The partial skeleton can be seen on the Discovery Centre T. Eastend and cast exact Rex is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Regina.

The new dinosaur species is described in the December issue of Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.



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Dinosaurs Eat Bones Giant Aggressive?

Tyrannosaurus rex was a predatory dinosaur. It was a huge animal with huge jaws, lined with railroad spike tooth size that could be hit a prey animal with enough force to puncture the bone. At first glance one might think that the answer to the question "What do Tyrannosaurus rex eat?" Would be "something, it would be," but in a new paper published this week in the Journal Lethaia, paleontologists David Hone and Oliver Rauhut explains the truth about the eating habits of Tyrannosaurus dinosaurs and other large predators are much more complicated.



For years it was postulated that the Tyrannosaurus and its relatives (such as Albertosaurus and Daspletosaurus) activates the bones crushed and ingested as part of their normal diet. Compared to other large theropods such as Allosaurus and Giganotosaurus, T. rex had very robust skulls and teeth adapted for chewing appeared to be bones, not just cutting meat. Strangely, however, traces of feeding behavior is rare. Throughout the fossil record of dinosaur bones have been found with theropod snapping them contain scratches and bites that suggest that bone contact was accidental. Direct evidence of large predatory dinosaurs actively bone something to eat, and easily visible traces in the fossil record of mammals later, is almost absent.



Large theropods ingested some bones is a certainty, however. Coprolites (fossilized dinosaur feces or) large theropod often contains traces of bone, and these dinosaurs probably ingested fragments of ribs, vertebrae, bones and other relatively low during the feeding. It was not the use of bone as a food source in itself, as seen from the modern spotted hyena, but a by-product of other dietary habits. This would make more sense if those who Hone and Rauhut suggests large theropod dinosaurs fed mainly on young people.

A scene that shows a lot of documentary Allosaurus attacking an adult Diplodocus is a convincing recovery, but Perfect Rauhut and support these events were probably rare. It would be difficult and very dangerous, even for large theropods to kill an animal so large. Instead of large theropods probably feeding on the sick, old and young, such as large carnivores today. If this is correct, it could explain why juvenile dinosaurs are rare in the fossil record and the reason they are often in groups.

There is no doubt that large theropods, at least sometimes attack prey animals of adults, but young people would probably much easier to catch. Similarly, in young animals would be small enough that a large theropods could not be avoided by eating at least some bones during feeding smaller animals. Thus the presence of bone coprolites, bones and the lack of evidence supporting the use of theropods has been reconciled.

Hone and Rauhut As noted, however, assumptions about how the theropods hunted and eaten by the dam will be tested by further testing. It is possible that the fossils may help us understand the habits of large theropods were not saved or destroyed during the excavation, and it would be useful to paleontologists could keep these questions in mind, while in the field or the examination of specimens of age. Today does not appear that large theropods large bones crushed regularly for consumption, but it would be great if the evidence could not be found!



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Foreign Dinosaur Rewritten The History Of The Birds

A small egg flying dinosaur that lived more than 150 million years could help explain a key phase in the evolution of birds, say Chinese researchers.

The findings of paleontologists appear in the latest issue of Nature, where they admit the little dinosaur was "bizarre".



Nicknamed Epidexipteryx Today was a distant relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but no bigger than a kitten.


And even if it was covered with feathers, he could not fly.

The creature lived between 152 and 168 million years, according to the analysis of the fossil, found in Daohugou in Inner Mongolia, northern China.

And 'two feet was a predator, known therapod, who lived in the middle to late Jurassic period between 152 and 168 million years ago.

Probably weighed no more than 160 grams and fed opportunistically on eggs it found or has been, according to the newspaper.

E. hui lived shortly before the famous Archaeopteryx, which arrived on the scene about 150 million years ago and is widely regarded as the first bird.

Despite its many dinosaur features, Archaeopteryx, thought to have been capable of powered flight.

Role of feathers

One of the many questions about the "early bird" scenario is exactly why dinosaurs evolved feathers.

He feathers provide warmth, for example, or a means of flight, for a tree of life dino to jump or glide to safety from a position or find food?

The Chinese team, led by the fossil hunter Dr Xu Xing of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, according to a clutch of long, ribbon-like feathers on the tail E. Today pointing to another function.

They believe the unusual plumage was "integumentary ornamentation" - a decorative attachment that helped in mating.

Something like the peacock spreads his tail fan to attract the female, the dinosaur showing his feathers in the parade to show their ability.

E. Today the name is derived from a "feather display" in Greek compound and Yaoming Hu, a Chinese expert in Mesozoic mammals who died in April this year after a long illness, aged only 42.


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AI Used To Hunt Dinosaur Bones

All the emotions involved in collecting the remains of a creature that lived and died millions of years ago, definitely sounds like a lot of hard work.

This one, however, exhaust manifold, the reasons we decided not to pursue our dreams of a professional dinosaur hunters over the age of five years. Wandering around in the heat to dry desert in search of fragments of vertebrae, Dino sounds like something that is dedicated to finding fossils, we were able to assemble.

But Dinosaur Hunter chair can now be able to find the skeletons of long dead creatures without having to wander through the arid countryside for months.

A new system of artificial intelligence software has been developed, wrote of nature, which will take a lot of happiness that usually need to find samples.

"The role of luck in vertebrate paleontology is legendary," said Roger Anemone, one of the paleontologists involved in software development.

"People will say," I was out doing wazz and flowed from a fossil. "Everyone admits that it is a kind of crapshoot."

But it is expected that a neural network will be able to work more precisely how a fossil can be seated.

Currently the most advanced methods for Dino Hunting with satellite images that are virtually the same as those used by scientists for hundreds of years ago. This involves examining how others have made discoveries and research of rock of a certain age who can keep a few old bones before resorting back to clean the floor with their eyes.

However, estimates Anemone using the neural network could help to identify fossils in an intelligent way. He took satellite images of the study area shows pixels in six wavelength bands of light of different soil types, and indicates whether each pixel represents a fossil site.

The network was soon able to know which sites were more likely to keep the dinosaurs died, to identify 79 percent of public areas, which had been taken. The total number of pixels, it should be noted, 99 percent of the fossils in them.

The system has even been able to identify the sites before digging begins, with a team member Anemone wait after a discovery was made before revealing the computer had been on the same track.

Whether the traditional detective after a sensation is made obsolete by the computer system is not clear, but it is hoped that this will at least give some good advice on where to start looking.

The system is used at this time, searching for caves that might contain human remains at the beginning of the "Cradle of Humanity" in South Africa.

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Dinosaur Tracks Found At The Red Rock Conservation Area Outside Las Vegas

Nevada Federal paleontologists have confirmed the first official record of dinosaur tracks, after the visitors stumbled on dinosaur fossils 190 million years while Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside Las Vegas.

Scientists have recently discovered dinosaur bones in Nevada, but the discovery of Red Rock dinosaur footprints marks first documented in the state, said the Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon. The results are remarkable, because while the dinosaur fossils are well documented in the vicinity of Arizona and Utah, Nevada, until recently, was considered largely free of the dinosaurs.

The dozens of footprints were probably exposed on the ground of Red Rock for thousands of years, but went unnoticed in spite of the conservation area of ​​1.2 million annual visitors. The tracks are from the Early Jurassic period and were probably made by two feet, three-toed dinosaurs. Other 190-million-year follow-up made by arthropods or animals resembling scorpions and spiders were also found near dinosaur footprints.

Brent Breithaupt, a paleontologist Regional Bureau of Land Management, was part of a team, which helped to confirm the results of the end of October. The federal agency waited until Monday to share the discovery with the public. Officials did not say where the footprints were found the fossils, because they are fragile, and researchers are just beginning to analyze them.

"It's real depression. This is where the animals increased," said Breithaupt fossils. "Given the size, due to the manner and for comparisons with the feet of dinosaurs, we can say that it was small carnivorous dinosaurs, but what kind remains to be seen. "

It could take years for scientists to connect the dots. Researchers may begin searching the area of ​​the bones and teeth to learn more about extinct animals. Paleontologists also analyze the distance between the tracks to determine how fast the animals traveled.

The data is based on the size and form of imprint see the dinosaurs were the nails, which means that they were carnivores. The animals are able to reach 3 feet from nose to tail.

"These fossils are very important ... they are an integral and indispensable part of American heritage," said Breithaupt.

The results have spoken of the track Red Rock site, and represent a significant time travel. The fossils were probably buried deep underground layers of rock sediments compressed for years. While the modern lines formed in the southwest Nevada, the stones were probably exposed to the surface level, Breithaupt said.

Increased awareness of the existence of these fossils on the popular protected areas has fueled many dinosaur discoveries in recent years.

"These days, it is a fairly regular basis, so that there is a discovery of dinosaur footprints in a place in North America or other parts of the world," said Breithaupt.

But Breithaupt said the discovery of the unprecedented Red Rock marks a new era in research dinosaurs Nevada.

"People do not think about dinosaurs in Nevada and can not find the dinosaurs in Nevada, not to think of the bones or footprints," he said. "People may have erred in this area and do not know what they were looking at his feet."

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Dinosaur Died With A Companion At His Side

Elliot the large dinosaur, whose remains to be were found in the south Quotes state of Qld many in the past, could have passed away with a friend at its area, according to new traditional information.

Researchers led by Dr Bob Salisbury from the Higher education of Qld declared today that fossilised navicular bone found in a dig near Winton, central-western Qld, captured have provided what they think is a second dinosaur of the same types. They known as their find Betty.



"It's still not clear what induced their large, but whatever transpired, both carcasses finished up on the lenders of a billabong or on the curvature of a winding stream, somewhere in the center of a wide, intensely wooded seaside bare," Salisbury informed ABC Research Online.

The experts also found tooth from small therapods (medium scaled meat-eating dinosaurs) and small crocodiles with the dinosaur navicular bone. The truth that these tooth are damaged at their platform recommended these other creatures had been scavenging on the sauropod carcasses, Salisbury said.

Sauropods were large plant-eating dinosaurs with a extensive throat and longest tail, and a relatively small head. Their feet were huge, with even the tiniest ones having feet as solid as hardwood trunks. Better known sauropods include diplodocus, brachiosaurus and apatosaurus (previously known as brontosaurus).

The dig enhances results from in the past digs over the last season or so that provided the navicular bone of Elliot, a 98-95 million-year-old sauropod, the most significant dinosaur remains to be ever found in Quotes. Elliot was known as after the owner of the area where the past were found.

Salisbury had been mystified by the proven reality that many of Elliot's navicular bone seemed to be too small to fit in with him: "I was thinking this pet has got extremely uncommon size if they're the navicular bone that I think they are," he said.

But during this seasons dig, the development of several more navicular bone aided remedy the puzzle: "It's made out that the majority of the navicular bone that I at first thought belonged to Elliot actually belonged to this second, much scaled-down pet, which is known as Betty."

Mary was known as after palaeontologist Dr Betty Go and is 10-12 meters extensive, half the size of Elliot. Salisbury said that if Betty was indeed a member of the same dinosaur types, she could be a child. If not, it may be that ladies of the types were scaled-down than men. But the experts do not have enough of the right navicular bone yet to be 100% sure.

"So far we haven't found identical components - the same navicular bone that we can examine and say 'there we go, it's the same, and this one is greater than other'. But from what we've got so far, they probably are the same types."

Salisbury wants that next seasons dig of what is now the continuous Winton Old Venture will compromise this question. Although it might be tougher to ensure what sex Elliot and Betty were since this would rely on finding a very particular navicular bone in the dinosaur's tail: "It might be the other way around. It might be that Elliot is actually the 'she' and Betty is the 'he'," said Salisbury, including they could even be the same sex.

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Toe Dinosaur Found In South Pacific

Dinosaur dans le Pacifique Sud orteil

The premium sulla terra Evidenza che i Vivona vivevano dinosaur in the South Pacific isole remote è l'rivelare quello di di ricercatore Australian base.

Dr Jeffrey Stilwell, a paleontologist at Monash University in Melbourne, says he has discovered the fossilized foot, finger and spinal bones of carnivorous dinosaurs on the Chatham Islands, some 850 km east of New Zealand.

The discovery confirms Chathams were once connected to New Zealand with a finger, like extension, Stilwell says.

"Now that we've found dinosaur remains almost 1000 km to the east in the middle of the South Pacific."

He added the son team a sense of deje discovery of dinosaur fossils as well as In the Chatham than had been instrumental in the New Zealand Courts of last years 25.

While some dinosaur remains were found along the Antarctic Peninsula and South America, discovery is the first of its kind in the Southwest Pacific and is probably unique in the Southern Hemisphere, he said.

Stilwell first fossils were found by chance when he visited the Chatham Islands in 2003.

But he said a trip as a result of these islands in February gave a "large collection" of new fossils, which are being analyzed.



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The Arguments And Analysis Of Writing Home About American Scientific Observations Contact Extinct Giant Penguin Tuxedo Jumped To More Colorful Feather

Recent fossil record reveals that the penguins were not always so formal in their Downproof. Rather, some of the penguins at the end of the Eocene probably covered with red, brown and gray of the classic black and white, according to a new report. In addition to paint a better picture of ancient aquatic birds, the analysis of ancient pigments particles may offer clues to the evolution of a feather-and-animals.

The newly described species of feathered dinosaurs fossils were found, Inkayacu paracasensis, or about 36 million years ago in what is now Peru. Extinct bird was about two times higher than the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), which measures about 1.5 meters tall and weighs between 54.6 and 59.7 pounds, according to a new study, published online Sept. 30 in Science.

Apart from the mass of birds (it was noted that one of the largest known species of ancient penguin), which is colored feathers nanosized also a different size, shape and distribution as the feathers of the penguins of the times modern. These structures that contain melanin are known as melanosomes and have found fossils of dinosaurs 100 million years. After studies of melanosomes in six samples paracasensis I., the researchers noted that the particles were older and more densely packed than those found in existing species, an observation that provides clues about the color and physical characteristics.

"Before this fossil, we had no evidence of feathers [or] ... the colors of ancient penguins," Julia Clarke, a paleontologist at the University of Texas, and co-author of the report, said a prepared statement.

Some modern-day penguins are brown and gray interior, such as children, but researchers are convinced that I paracasensis the individual not only a phase. "Features the bones tell us that this particular fossil was a full grown adult, not young, so finding brown and shades of gray was a surprise," Dan Ksepka, assistant professor of sea, earth and atmospheric sciences from North Carolina State University and coauthor of the report, said a prepared statement.

But the color change could not have been just for show. A penguin's feathers have to be strong, because they face powerful forces of aquatic animal dives. "Melanin confers resistance to fracture, major materials such as feathers," say the authors. Therefore a change from brown to black could be functional at the nanoscale that the size of the body or the environment has changed.

"Looking at how these fossilized feathers differ from living penguins, we may be able to know why species like Inkayacu became extinct," said Ksepka.

Another researcher involved in the work was mainly excited dye in this ancient animal "Most of all, I think it's just cool to have a look at the color of a gem off," University of Yale said Jakob Vinther in a prepared statement.



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A Beautiful Nyctosaurus - Skeleton is found

I say "nice", but in reality it is really good. Nyctosaurus material are relatively few and far between, and it is certainly one of the best specimens.



Nyctosaurs I mentioned a few times before and even among pterosaurs are pretty strange creatures, including having lost the numbers 1-3. Carnegie was a pleasant material pterosaurs on the screen (always a good thing) and have overloaded the dreams of different parts of their dinosaur exhibits, it seemed a good time to go back to some (most) of their pterosaurs it well .

As you can see, this is largely a 3D model (as opposed to many other things to these people) and the skull, while the smashed up, it is particularly pleasant. Other things, as the feet and wrists are slightly informative than you might expect too much. One thing to note is that this individual was specifically mentioned by Chris Bennett, most likely * not * take a massive head-Crest. It seems that not all Nyctosaurus bore the "horn".



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Isle Of Wight Rock Gives Three Trace Fossils

A rock with three different footprints fossilized dinosaur were discovered on a beach on the Isle of Wight.

Provides evidence of life around the Bay Brook 130 million years.

Paleontologist Dr. Steve Sweetman found 50kg (£ 110) rock containing the prints of an adult Iguanodon, Iguanodon and a child-like theropod dinosaurs.



He said: "It 'important fossil evidence offers interesting an animal for which we have even the smallest fragments of bones."

Ideal conditions

Isle of Wight is a world-famous fossil, because of its habitat, if the ideal conditions for the dinosaurs to roam.

Dr Sweetman, vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Portsmouth, said rock has shown that a large plant-eating dinosaur Iguanodon wandered into a muddy river, leaving deep footprints 45 cm long and 50 cm wide (17 inches by 20in).

Dr Sweetman said: "There are hundreds of footprints on the beach at Bay Creek, but it is rare to find three in one, and the printing of small theropods is unique.
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"It 'been a very busy place full of life and the shadow of the great dinosaurs, little about them in all shapes and sizes were also successful," he added.

Dr Sweetman sought the owners of beach, the National Trust, to remove the sample before it is won.

Research has given the island Dinosaur Isle Museum.

Source from : http://www.bbc.co.uk

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New Dinosaur Species Discovered In Eastern China

Chinese scientists said Saturday they had discovered a new species of giant theropod dinosaurs in the eastern province of Shandong.

The new species is described as a close relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex (T. Rex), has been named "Zhuchengtyrannus magnus". Experts found it a unique paleontological upper jaw after examining the skull discovered and drilled in the city of Zhucheng.



It has been estimated at about 11 meters long and 4 meters high, weighs about 7 tons.

"We found two types of fossils of Tyrannosaurus here and the identity of others is still unclear," said Xu Xing, researcher of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"We named the new genus Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus, which means" Tyrant from Zhucheng 'because the bones are found in Zhucheng, "Xu says.

The bones were a couple of inches smaller than the corresponding bone in the largest specimen of T. rex, so there was no doubt that Zhuchengtyrannus was a huge tyrannosaur, Xu said.

According to Xu, Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus belonged to a specialized group of giant theropods called tyrannosaurines that existed in North America and East Asia during the Cretaceous period, dating back to around 65 to 99 million years.

All tyrannosaurs were carnivorous, bipedal animals that generally had small arms and large skulls. Among the tyrannosaurs were tyrannosaurines the largest and characterized by having only two fingers on each hand and large powerful jaws to deliver a bone crushing bite. They were probably both predators and scavengers.

The use of fossil quarry Zhucheng contains the largest concentrations of dinosaur bones in the world. At least 10 species of dinosaurs have been found in three rounds of excavations since 1960, including the Tyrannosaurus and Hadrosaurs.

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The Science Of Jurassic Park Who Plans To Turn A Chicken T-Rex

In the laboratory, the Rocky Mountains of Montana, a paleontologist who advised them to Spielberg's "Jurassic Park", says Nick Collins, how to use genetics to create a modern dinosaur.

It is one of the most memorable scenes in film history: Sagittarius Robert Muldoon and paleontologist Dr. Ellie Sattler in their job jeep and hit the pedal a few seconds before Tyrannosaurus rex bursting through the brush. "We must go faster," mumbles Jeff Goldblum - sorry, Dr. Ian Malcolm - at the rear of the car, as the fearsome beast gives chase.



There's only one problem - this nail-biting search for Jurassic Park would have never been described. "T-Rex could run," says Jack Horner, paleontologist and expert leaders-in-residence is a film director Steven Spielberg. Obviously, they do not know that in 1993. Also do not realize that the color was wrong. "Jurassic Park, dinosaurs were not very colorful," says Horner. "They were brown and green, in principle. Since then, we learned that dinosaurs were very colorful. I mean, have given rise to birds, and birds are colored."

But although scientific discoveries have excluded some of Spielberg's original ideas, they also raised the tantalizing prospect that idea in the hearts of three Jurassic Park movies - the establishment of modern dinosaurs - may be more realistic than ever.

Of course, if researchers to retrieve bits of dinosaur DNA, because they make movies that would not be in sufficient detail to bring to life T-Rex. But the development of genetic engineering could lead to the creation of the dinosaurs is based on the existence of creatures. In fact, this idea is not only the basis for the proposed fourth Jurassic Park - previous installments shall be released on Blu-Ray this week - but it is inspired Horner to take a sci-fi style, his own project by turning the chicken a dinosaur.

Discovery that birds descended from dinosaurs medium should be able to reverse the changes made by the development and return them, piece by piece, to a more dinosaur-like state. "I have long wanted a pet dinosaur, or something like that," Horner said when I visited his lab to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. "Jurassic Park was trying to create a dinosaur, to bring it back. We have learned that birds are dinosaurs, so I do not really need to do. But if you look at a bird, not a dinosaur exhibition, so we have to change them." Dino chicken project is actually a project to change the bird a few simple genetic engineering so it looks more like a dinosaur. "



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Dinosaurs Walked 200 Miles In Herds, Researchers Find

They lived 145 million years ago and were at least 20 times the size - but a bunch of old dinosaurs walked long distances to find food, such as wildebeest modern researchers have found.

Herds of Camarasaurus, a long-necked herbivores known as sauropods, traveled nearly 200 miles from the plains to the mountains to find the offer of food and water.

The trip was conducted on a seasonal basis up to 20 tons, 23 meters long animal traveled together across great distances.

The discovery was made by Henry Fricke, head of the department of geology at the University of Colorado, whose works were published in the journal Nature.

His research shows long-term researchers to believe that dinosaurs roamed the dry season, much like a modern herbivores, including wildebeest and caribou.

"I think it would have been rather slow time with the animals to eat, as they went, can only go a few miles at most, as they run up before turning around and heading back downhill" at he told the Times.

"Perhaps, at this rate could keep small and can be protected from predators by staying close to their parents enormous."

Isotopes found in tests conducted by the teeth enamel of dinosaurs, Dr. Fricke found that Camarasaurus lived both in the plains, where the dinosaur fossils were found, and the mountains about 200 miles.

Fossils of 145 years, which were found in the western United States, show that the herd had been drinking water from regions of high altitude and low altitude desert.

Dr. Fricke said that the trip would have been the plains and plateaus of noisy and smelly.

"I think a lot of noise - rustling of the trees as the leaves they eat, and lots of fart: the sauropods did not chew - they did their digestion in the gut," he said.

The research team, based in Colorado Springs, it is proposed to test the theory by studying the population Camarasaurus less arid environments.

They also carry out tests on the fossil teeth of predatory dinosaurs with the same isotope components, to see if they have followed their prey migration.

Camarasauraus means "lizard cameras," the Greek "dome camera," in reference to the inner cavities of the vertebrae of a dinosaur.

The species is derived from the Late Jurassic, and fossils are most commonly found in North America.

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Baby Dinosaur Nest Found

The researchers found 70 million years old nest full of baby dinosaur remains protoceraops.

The nest 15 Andrew Young dinosaur Protoceratops give clues to the behavior of the dinosaurs' as soon as possible.




Although many eggs have been associated with other dinosaurs, such as eating meat or some hadrosaurs Oviraptor duck-billed, the youngest in the same nest Dino is quite rare.

"For my part, can not think of another dinosaur model that preserves 15 young in the nest in this way," said lead author Dr. David Fastovsky of the University of Rhode Island Department of Geosciences.

The group's findings are presented in the Journal of Paleontology.

Fastovsky and colleagues analyzed the remains of dinosaurs with the nest, measuring about 70 centimeters in diameter and had round bowl. All were found in the Djadochta training Tugrikinshire, Mongolia, where it is believed that the sand "quickly overwhelmed and buried," the young, while they were still alive.

The researchers conclude that the dinosaurs 15 show all properties of youth. These include short snout, relatively large eyes, and an absence of adult attributes, such as protruding horns and frills associated with large adults of this species. At least 10 of all 15 fossil is complete.

Nest and its contents Protoceratops means that young people stayed and grew up in their nest for at least the early stages of postnatal development. Nest in turn means that the care of parents.

A large number of children, however, also suggests that young dinosaurs, mortality was high, except for predation, but also potentially stressful environment.

"Large switch may have been a way of ensuring the survival of animals that setting - although there was a lot of parental care", says Fastovsky. "Mongolia has been, then place a wide variety of theropod dinosaurs, some of whom may be children to eat like this."

"The most obvious of these, found in the same deposits, is (in) famous Velociraptor, a small theropod comfortable with bad breath, where the babies as they have done a good good good," says it.

Yet another discovery previously found in one place is the famous "fight against the dinosaurs" model, where a Velociraptor and Protoceratops appears to have been kept together "locked in what was apparently a mortal combat," said Fastovsky. Parents and other adults of the species of sheep-sized herbivores may then have spent most of their time fighting to avoid such a hungry predator.

Day and night hunter

In a separate study, Dr. Lars Schmitz UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology, and colleagues studied the bones around it would have been in the eyes of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs.

The results have allowed Schmitz and his team to conclude that this dinosaur plant eaters and are more active day and night. VelociRaptor, on the other hand, was primarily a nocturnal predator, such as night raids on nests protoceratops must have occurred in the Late Cretaceous.

Although the dinosaurs and children to their parents "had a good sense for notification on the closure of predators, the success rate of a night attack may be more than one attack during the day," says Schmitz.

Given the opportunity, and literally biting the dust (sand) or become dinner, it is not surprising that some small dinosaurs had many children.

"This story is definitely not your parents, living dinosaurs in the Cretaceous-steam-lush jungle that was in vogue a generation or two," says Fastovsky. "Now we know that dinosaurs lived everywhere and" n has almost everything on earth. "



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New Dinosaur Species Discovered In Alaska, Named In Honor Of Ross Perot

When paleontologist Tony Fiorillo is one of the most spectacular dinosaur discoveries in Alaska, a NOVA television crew was there to capture the moment. But now it seems that the skull he found in front of the cameras in 2006, the culmination of the 2008 NOVA documentary "Arctic Dinosaurs" is more important than previously thought.



The skull and bones from a steep bank to the Colville River arctic Alaska by species of horned dinosaur, which is not documented elsewhere.

Years of research by Fiorillo, curator at the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, and the careful reconstruction of Ronald Tykoski, head of the Y museum fossil preparator, has confirmed that it was a Pachyrhinosaurus type - a relative of Triceratops - had not been found elsewhere.

"Obviously, it is extremely exciting to be that the level of photographic documentation at the time of discovery. It will be better. This is the biggest dream possible," he said.

They named the dinosaur species Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum in honor of former presidential candidate Ross Perot and his family, major benefactors of the Museum of Dallas.

Fiorillo and results detailed in the scientific journal Acta Tykoski Palaeontologia Polonica, and during the weekend in Las Vegas, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting.

What makes this different from other species pachyrhinosarus is the array of horns, Fiorillo said. "We have a horn goes in another direction, a radically different direction," he said.

The discovery in Colville rock was not only a single sample or transfer of a normal Pachyrhinosaurus, Fiorillo said. The river was the cemetery 70 million years in more than one type of dinosaur, over time, hundreds of bones back was dirty and matted, he said.

The newly discovered species Pachyrhinosaurus was one of the dinosaurs that once roamed many on the north side. Colville River region showed the most fertile grounds for discoveries in the world of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous in the Arctic, including duck-billed, herbivorous hadrosaurs and pack hunting, meat-eating Troodon.

The discoveries of dinosaurs in Alaska have led scientists to reconsider theories about cold-blooded animals and why they became extinct about 65 million years. The results support the North Slope to the theory that at least some dinosaurs were warm-blooded, and therefore able to survive in cold climates.

At that point the geological history of Alaska was warmer than today, but far from tropical. The climate was like the size of Portland, Oregon to Calgary, Fiorillo said. But today, Alaska has been further north, because of continental drift, so even if the depth of seasonal fluctuations, he said.

Part of the North Slope dinosaurs were changes in the Arctic. Troodons for example, had very large eyes, which helped them to be life-threatening predators in the dark winter.

Fiorillo said he and his colleagues have yet to find anything on Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, there is an obvious function of the Arctic.

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Baby Dinosaurs Took A Lie In The Gobi Desert

The remains of the protoceratops clustered in their nest have been dug up in Mongolia. Scientists said the rare discovery shows these short-snouted, big-eyed dinosaurs remained in the nest after birth.

The bowl-shaped grave, which measures about 70cm in diameter, was uncovered in the Gobi desert. The siblings are believed to have been buried alive by sand.

Lead researcher David Fastovsky said: ‘I cannot think of another dinosaur specimen that preserves 15 juveniles at its nest in this way.

'Large clutches may have been a way of ensuring survival of the animals in that setting -- even if there was extensive parental care.

'Mongolia was, at the time, a place with a variety of theropod dinosaurs, some of whom likely ate babies such as these.'

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The Hunt For Dinosaur Fossils Isle Ruthless

Tons of rock have been disturbed at a site in the Jurassic Skye has been described as one of the boldest acts of fossil collecting in Scotland.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said the stone was cut off the rocks near Bearreraig Bay apparently conducted a search of valuable samples.

Skye said the agency was known as "Dinosaur Island" of Scotland, due to its important fossil record.


SNH has launched an appeal for witnesses to contact police.

Skye is the only place in Scotland, where dinosaur fossils have been found.

Bearreraig Bay, north of Portree is located in an area of ​​Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). A crowbar is believed to have been used for the price on some of the rock.

Dinosaur tracks have also been removed from Valtos Skye, the NHC said.

The material collected is Valtos paleontologists have used to explain what has been called Dino Stampede in Australia, a case in which a group of dinosaurs chased by a predator.

SNH said Bearreraig Bay digging had been done without the owner's permission or consent of SNH, which administers the SSSI.

Dr. Colin Macfadyen, SNH geologist also said that the actions are against the guidelines of the Scottish Fossil Code.

The codes allow the use of shovels, saws, rock and even explosives for the extraction of fossil fuels, but only when it was beneficial for paleontological research.

Dr Macfadyen said: "It is important to collect fossils for scientific and educational purposes, and is a popular pastime.

"It is better for falling rocks fossils found, collected and distress rather than being eroded and washed away by the tide.

"However, to accelerate the process of removing a large scale rock this thing alarming is irresponsible and illegal but also potentially dangerous to humans that the rocks have been weakened and destabilized."

Dr. Macfadyen said, promising to remove the material from SSSI SNH would have been necessary, but has not been applied.

He said rock rich in fossils had been damaged at the site Bearreraig Bay.

Dr. Neil Clark of the University of Glasgow Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Skye described as one of the sites of the world largest paleontology.

Its location is highlighted in numerous discoveries in the Middle Jurassic, about 170 million years ago.

Dr. Clark told BBC Scotland news website: "This is a shock is not something that happened before I heard of ..

"Not knowing exactly where the damage is, I can not say what they are looking for. And 'perhaps the plesiosaur."

He added: "All it took now lost to science."

Skye is involved in the early turtles known to have lived in water.

164-million years, fossils of reptiles have been found embedded in blocks of rock on the Bay Cladach a'Ghlinne Strathaird peninsula.

The new species has formed a missing link between ancient terrestrial turtles and their modern descendants, water.

Lost Eileanchelys Waldman, which translates as 'Turtle Island', has been reported in the journals of the Royal Society in 2008.

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Massive Volcanoes, Meteorite Impacts Delivered 1-2 Death Punch Dinosaur

Researchers at Princeton University found that a massive, prolonged bursts of the Deccan Traps in India, gradually get rid of species and grades took the chalk mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Marine sediments from the Deccan lava flows revealed that the species is known planktonic foraminifera - a measure widely used severity of prehistoric disasters - sold to a mega-Lava flows and volcanic activity induced by environmental stresses such as acid rain and climate change drastic . As the conditions worsened in the land, large, variedspecies (left) has been deleted. Up to seven or eight smaller species (right), who still remained diminished. Credit: Courtesy of Gerta Keller



(PhysOrg.com) - A cosmic double blow of huge volcanic eruptions and meteor strikes likely caused the mass extinction event in the late Cretaceous, which is famous for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years, according to two report from Princeton University to reject the prevailing theory that the extinction was caused by a single large meteorite.


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An Excellent Stegosaurus

The largest single source for me at the end to reach the Carnegie Museum is that it is also the first time I was a museum in the United States during the period. As such, although there are a number of shots, and even individuals floating around the world, I've seen from time to time, this is the first time I really saw a real material or high-quality casts of many taxa that are very fundamental to how we used to see the dinosaurs.






Stegosaurus is a true classic in this sense, and the only large animals to see. While hardly the work of ornithischians, this was something very special for me.
In the post yesterday I was determined to use the photographs, which showed only the holotype Tyrannosaurus. However, the exhibition is the second adult rex, installed first. There are two challenges in the dead hadrosaur is a wonderfully dramatic and evocative pose. This is great, not only because it is so present - two huge carnivores away, but simply to draw them.

I suspect that the average museum patron is a tendency to think of a skeleton of the species almost, so take a couple, with some (albeit small) differences, shows that there are a number of samples, all the differences stem from the growth natural population. Of course, it also helps them to have a variety of positions, which refers to the range of movement and ability.



All probably lost the most, but kind of thing that can get people to think, or ought to be remembered for a second time, and simply wonderful to see, if nothing else. Ultimately, this is a significant expense to tolerate second important type of mount, which is already present (and this guy!). Awesome stuff.

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The Tail Of The Devil: What Does Fossils

Cartoons in a pamphlet of A. Lund on the comet in 1857, allegedly to destroy the Earth in June, the 13th of that year (at the end of the kite has not yet decided to appear in the public domain image).

Single cause - the Chicxulub impact (in some interpretations, means "the devil's tail"), a meteorite - the faunal turnover at the end of the Cretaceous should explain all the observed changes in the fossil record. According to the scenario is the most popular mass extinction is mainly due to the consequences of the effect: the pressure wave storms and fire, were soon after the release of large amounts of gas vaporized rocks, rich in carbonates and sulfates. Gases react to form acid rain, water vapor and dust in the atmosphere solar irradiance blocked, causing a "nuclear winter" and blocking the photosynthetic activity of terrestrial plants, especially phytoplankton in the oceans. Without plants, not just the food chain collapsed.



A number of major groups of organisms have disappeared, and nonavian dinosaurs, marine and flying reptiles, the Ammonites, the main reef-building rudist clams or as well as mammals and dinosaurs modern bird has suffered drastic losses . Unlike other large terrestrial vertebrates that reptiles and amphibians in particular, are considered vulnerable to chemical or thermal modification of the environment, only a few casualties. Also insects, organisms spread now and then, shows almost no change. Terrestrial plants show mixed results, and some research suggests that after the destruction of vegetation by fire and inhibited the photosynthetic activity of ferns spread throughout the devastated landscape. But this increase of fern spores in the sediments, also called fern spike, which is known only to the few places in North America and a place in New Zealand, it is not (yet?) Found in sediment Eurasia.

In the realm of marine calcareous nannoplankton (as Coccolithophorids) and planktonic foraminifera (calcareous shells) decreased significantly, but the benthic foraminifera, diatoms, dinoflagellates and radiolarians (silica shells) show virtually no response. Brachiopods show marked decrease in diversity, however, molluscs (except rudists), gastropods and bivalves as weak shows a decline over time.

The disappearance of organisms with calcareous shells was seen as a consequence of acid rain and has changed the chemistry of the oceans and lakes. However, this scenario is in conflict with the survival of susceptible animals such as amphibians. Like many bivalves, gastropods and echinoderms, probably (the fossils of this group is not well studied) - organisms protected by calcareouhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifs shells or plates - show no significant changes.

The hypothesis of the effect of phototrophic phytoplankton survived decreased solar radiation and temperatures decreased by forming resting spores, however, radiolarians have thrived during the Cretaceous-Paleogene, and these bodies do not produce spores!

The dinosaur fossil record shows that fish almost 90% of the families have survived, it is difficult to explain if we assume that the base of the food chain, phytoplankton, has been greatly reduced by the effects of impact. Strange marine predators such as sharks and large reptiles, has experienced a significant total collapse.

Taking into account only some groups, such as planktonic foraminifera, nannoplankton, brachiopods, the Ammonites, and large reptiles, their decline can be explained by surface effects of impact on Earth's oceans. However, other organisms such as radiolarians, most molluscs, echinoderms, fish, and that flourished simultaneously in the same environment. The same pattern is observed in the terrestrial realm, some groups have suffered heavy losses, some people seem to be falling, but survived in the Paleogene, and some show no change.

Scenario at a glance, the answer for bodies at the end of the Cretaceous mixed model view, difficult to explain only a cause, or seem to be becoming more common.

A major problem has been prescribed, the period within which all these different groups experienced a decline or completely extinct. Places where a complete Cretaceous-Paleogene stratigraphy of the transition line are rare and most studied sites (especially in land deposits) are found in North America, probably the closest the effect. Available worldwide profiles are still few and far between, and scattered to decide if a meteorite was the only reason for the world and the sudden mass extinction.



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Fossilized Mites Reveal Interesting Methods Of Camouflage

The butterflies live in a difficult period, about 47 million years at a time when life was still trying to fill the void left by the extinction of dinosaurs great, they used their colors to blend with foliage, while nesting, according to Maria McNamara, a paleobiologist and post-doctoral researcher at Yale University. But given that today's green butterflies contain highly toxic cyanide to ward off predators, so the butterflies could also be used.



McNamara and his colleagues are looking for so-called structural colors: not produced by pigments, but those produced by body tissues. They were "read" by a few fossils found in Germany when they came across several butterfly species, all belonging to a group known as Lepidoptera, which includes butterflies. The fossils were well preserved - to the point where scientists can study the scales of feathers on the wings of small moths old, "who held the key to their structural color.

This may not seem a great discovery, but offers a lot of them, and also highlights an important part of the ecosystem. First, they had found all the colors are diurnal creatures, unlike most butterflies today, lying at night. The iridescent color was not, which means that it was absolutely the same from any angle (unlike some beetles), indicating that it was probably used for camouflage, and warning.

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The Details Of The Attack Shark Preserved In The Fossils Of Ancient Whale Bones

A piece of coast whale found in a mine in North Carolina, the band offers scientists a rare glimpse into the interactions between prehistoric sharks and whales about 3 - 4 million years ago during the Pliocene.

Three teeth marks on the rib of the whale indicates that once was severely bitten by an animal strong jaw. Judging by 6 inches between the teeth marks, scientists believe that the gunman was a mega Carcharocles megalodon shark teeth, or perhaps another species of shark that was alive at that time. The whale appeared to be an ancestor of a big blue bump.

"Certainly not expect to find evidence of animal behavior preserved in the fossil record, but this fossil proves that no predation," says Stephen Godfrey, a paleontologist at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland a Smithsonian research associate, who discovered fossils. "The shark may have disappeared with his mouth full, but not kill the whale"

Scientists have known whales survived, because "most of the fossil is covered by a fragment of bone is called bone tissue, which is formed rapidly in response to localized infection," said Don Ortner, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the authorities of the effects of disorders of bone. "Biomechanics bone is not very strong. Reshape the end of the compact bone of the body, but it takes time." CT to reveal evidence of inflammation consistent with infection of the bone marrow.

The presence of bone healing was incomplete and shows the dead whale, scientists believe that, between two and six weeks after the attack. The death of the whale may have been related to infection and injury, said Ortner. "We do not know why he died."

Based on the curvature of the jaw of the shark, as indicated in the arch of the impressions of your teeth, scientists believe that the shark was relatively small, between - 4 and 8 feet long.

Paleontology rich ", only a handful of fossils showing these types of interactions," says Godfrey. "There are lots of bite marks on the fossils to show how the animal is dead and his body was trapped. This dinosaurs fossil is one of the very few examples of how trauma clearly assigned to another animal, but also show that the victim survived the incident."

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Bonhams Auction Rare T. Rex Tooth

It's not often that an archaeological discovery goes to market in a few months, but the Natural History auction in Los Angeles Bonham dinosaur tooth 11 December, he had just discovered this summer will be for sale.

The piece is one of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex tooth ever found, measuring 5 inches 1 / 8 (linear) from the bottom up. It was excavated in the late summer of 2011, Garfield County, Montana. Thomas Lindgren, co-director of the board of Natural History Department at Bonhams, said the show: "The tooth is more massive than all the teeth in the famous T. rex Stan, and is probably more important than Sue, the famous T. rex that reside in the Field Museum in Chicago. "The tooth is the upper left corner of the mouth of the dinosaurs, the upper teeth first or second - the area at the mouth of T. rex with big teeth.



The piece was developed by the Institute of the Black Hills. The restoration was necessary for filling cracks. The epoxy filler is pigmented black light indicates the exact location of the restoration. This was done to maintain the integrity of this exceptional piece for scientific study, while fossil stabilization and improvement of their aesthetic qualities, and to increase their monetary value.

The piece is estimated to bring $ 25,000 to 30,000. Other highlights include the sale December 1 of the largest saber-toothed cat skull ever offered at auction, estimated at $ 50,000 to 60,000. A palm dinosaurs fossil flower of Wyoming's Green River Formation is estimated at $ 45,000 to 55,000. View Bonhams.com catalog.

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Koalas And Marsupial Lions: The Radiation Vombatiform

This is a recent article on tree-kangaroos really brought home to me how little marsupial information I posted here in the Tet Zoo. This drought marsupial really not intentional, because I think one of the most fascinating marsupial mammals. It 's just that I never found time to write them a lot. This seeks to address that part.

Kangaroos (macropods aka) consists of a large branch of the Australian marsupial called mostly vegetarian Diprotodontia. Characters in common connects diprotodontians diprotodonty (with only two cuts), squamosal epitympanic wing special case of the brain bone, and the presence of an additional band of fibers (called Fasciculus aberrans), which connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Monophyly is also well supported by Diprotodontia molecular characters.

In addition to macropods, opossums (petauroids and phalangeroids) are diprotodontians, as members of the clade koala, koala, Vombatiformes collectively. A variety of different topologies have been proposed for Diprotodontia but most studies find vombatiforms be the sister group of a macropod + "possum" clade (eg, Amrine-Madsen et al. 2003, Sánchez-Villagra and Horovitz 2003, Asher et al. 2004). We take care of macropods and possums at another time: The purpose of this article (and next) is the review, as briefly and succinctly as possible vombatiform radiation. Here we go.

So far been very few published phylogenies integrating data from fossils diprotodontians. There are basically Munson (1992), with Archer et al. (1999), Weisbecker and Archer (2008) and a number of other studies showing cladograms based on the work Munson. These trees are consistent, in koalas marsupial lions and being outside Vombatoidea, a tribe that includes diprotodontoids (Diprotodon and genealogy) and The Wombats. Vombatomorphia term has been used (eg Black 2007) for the group, which includes everything but the koalas, marsupial lions in which the cases are non-vombatoid vombatiforms vombatomorphian (adjacent, highly simplified cladogram help). Molecular phylogenies dated with a representative sample of fossils shows that the first differences within Vombatiformes (eg that between koalas and vombatoids) occurred in the Eocene (Beck, 2008).



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Large Field Of Dinosaur Tracks Found In Southwest Arkansas

The discovery of a large field of dinosaur tracks in Arkansas, researchers employed by using advanced technology and traditional techniques to learn all they can about the animals and the environment that existed 120 million years.

The site of the track in southwest Arkansas, covering an area of ​​about two football fields and contains traces of several species and fossilized traces of several animals of the same species, some have never been documented in Arkansas. The site will allow researchers to learn not only the creatures that once roamed across the region, but also on the climate during the Cretaceous period 115 to 120 million years ago.

"The quality of the tracks and the length of the tracks are an important site," said Stephen K. Boss, who led the project funded by the National Science Foundation. On the base of the rock in which the footprints were found, the researchers have a clear idea of ​​what was the weather.

"Image of the 'environment much more than on the shores of the Persian Gulf today. The air temperature was warm. The water was shallow and very salty," the chief said. "It 'been a difficult environment. We are not sure that the animals are done here, but clearly there were some rich people."




The most dramatic pieces can be found, as the three-fingered dinosaur, measuring about two feet long feet wide. Scientists believe that the fingerprints could include Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, one of the largest predators ever to walk the earth. The site also contains traces of giant sauropods, large, long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs as Pleurocoelus and Paluxysaurus. Other pepper prints the site, but it takes time for scientists to find out what other beings may have traveled in this area.

"With the trace, we can learn many things on the biomechanics of dinosaurs and behavior," said Brian Platt of the University of Kansas. "Dinosaur bones can be taken away by animals or washed into the sea But we know that nearly 120 million years, dinosaurs were walking through here."

Thanks to the accelerated grant National Science Foundation, the University of Arkansas Office of Research and Development, and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, a team of researchers spent two weeks studying the site, which is on private property. Besides scissors, brushes and plaster hand, some scientists took their computers. Cothren Jackson and Malcolm Williamson, researchers at the Department of Geosciences and Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University, documented the use of runways LiDAR, an acronym for "Light Detection and Ranging." Two different instruments were used to map the site.

First they used a Z + F Imager 5006i mounted on a platform. The imager is a scanner-based phase that emits a continuous beam of laser light that is swept landscape to measure and record up to 500,000 points per second.

The second device used to capture an overview of the site of the ridge above is a Leica Scan Station C10. This time-of-flight scanner incorporates discrete pulses of laser light at a rate of 50,000 per second, each recording a point in space. According to the way a given laser pulse, up to four return pulses are recorded by the receiver of the instrument. The location where each stem LiDAR pulse return is calculated, allowing researchers to study a "point cloud" representing the three-dimensional track.

Using LiDAR, researchers will be able to see a high resolution map of the slopes of the site and take detailed measurements of the height, width and depth of each track and the action of the treads. These measures will help to learn more about the animals' identities, movements and behavior.

While computer imaging can provide an overview of the dinosaurs, can rock samples from the site offer clues to the climate.

"Because we see here, fingerprinting, we know that this area was at one time outdoors," said Celina Suarez, a postdoctoral researcher at Boise State University, who will join the faculty of the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2012. This statement means that scientists can learn about the frequency of rainfall and the amount of evaporation that affect this site 120 million years. Use of this site and others, we can reconstruct a regional paleoclimates during the Early Cretaceous, which can help them make predictions about the future of Earth's climate.

"This site will add to the knowledge of the animal and the climate in the Cretaceous," said Boss. "Researchers will study the data in many years."

Other researchers involved in the project include earth sciences main candidate Terryl Daniels, senior geosciences major and Honors College students Alex Hamlin, Geosciences Major Junior Ryan Shell, Joann Kvam, program coordinator of the dynamics of the environment and Kenneth Kvam, professor of anthropology, all from the University of Arkansas, and Greg Ludvigson Kansas Geological Survey.



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Another Archaeopteryx

This is making the rounds for a few days so I would be very surprised if all the regular readers did not know already, but Archaeopteryx was found again. There is little information regarding the timing, but it is apparently, and unfortunately, in private hands. It 'almost complete and cracking kit foot (and beautiful and the curvature of the tail), although only a few bits of skull remained.

Helmut Tischlinger was kind enough to send me a copy of high resolution photos of the beast, and put them here. I'm pretty clear on its copyrighted material, and are "on loan" to me, so to speak. Please do not copy, download, link directly too, or used without the permission of his.

Source from : http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/another-archaeopteryx/

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Aurorazhdarcho - A Jurassic Azhdarchoid

Just a quick post on this little guy. Normally I'm not blogging as new taxa, like many others to cover them, and usually not much can be told from an outside perspective that is not in the paper. I have not much to add here, in this sense either, but it's good for me to see as I saw it hit the specimen at the office about Dino Frey on several occasions in recent years, while describing said "soon". Well, now you're off and Aurorazhdarcho born.

The sample is of course in excellent condition (photos above and below raised Frey et al., 2011) on the head and neck has disappeared. However, an impression remains in the sediments to show where they were originally and got an impression of their original size and shape, which is quite nice.

The most interesting thing is to identify it as a member of azhdarchoids. Most derivatives are groups of pterosaurs otherwise only known from the Cretaceous, Jurassic origin but can be expected if (and for some it is a big if) you agree that is a Germanodactylus dsungariptid and that this clade is the sister-taxon azhdarchoids. Certainly, some features that are unique to this group (the hind huge to begin with), and this identification seems good (although I must admit I have not read the document in detail), but as always with a test as is the lack of a major real shame.

Frey, E., Meyer, AC & Tischlinger, H. 2011. The oldest pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone azhdarchoid (Early Tithonian) in southern Germany. Swiss Journal of Geosciences in press.



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