A few more snuck in since I posted earlier...
Vullo, R., Buscalioni, A.D., Marugán-Lobón, J., and Moratalla, J.J. 2009. First
pterosaur remains from the Early Cretaceous Geological Magazine 146(6):931-936.
doi: 10.1017/S0016756809990525.
ABSTRACT: Pterosaur teeth from the Early Cretaceous Lagerstätte of Las Hoyas
(Spain) are described. We reassess the track from this site previously ascribed
to a pterosaur, concluding that it is a theropod footprint. The teeth belong to
two pterodactyloid taxa: a basal Istiodactylidae similar to Haopterus and an
indeterminate Ornithocheiridae. From a palaeoecological point of view, the
occurrence of such pterosaurs in the freshwater wetland palaeobiota of Las
Hoyas strengthens the evidence of the similarity of this Spanish locality to
the famous Early Cretaceous Lagerstätten of Liaoning in China.
Hinić-Frlog, S., and Motani, R. 2009. Relationship between osteology and
aquatic locomotion in birds: determining modes of locomotion in extinct
Ornithurae. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. doi:
10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01909.x.
ABSTRACT: The evolutionary history of aquatic invasion in birds would be
incomplete without incorporation of extinct species. We show that aquatic
affinities in fossil birds can be inferred by multivariate analysis of skeletal
features and locomotion of 245 species of extant birds. Regularized
discriminant analyses revealed that measurements of appendicular skeletons
successfully separated diving birds from surface swimmers and flyers, while
also discriminating among different underwater modes of swimming. The high
accuracy of this method allows detection of skeletal characteristics that are
indicative of aquatic locomotion and inference of such locomotion in bird
species with insufficient behavioural information. Statistical predictions
based on the analyses confirm qualitative assessments for both foot-propelled
(Hesperornithiformes) and wing-propelled (Copepteryx) underwater locomotion in
fossil birds. This is the first quantitative inference of underwater modes of
swimming in fossil birds, enabling future studies of locomotion in extinct
birds and evolutionary transitions among locomotor modes in avian lineage.
Lyson, T.R., and Joyce, W.G. 2009. A revision of Plesiobaena (Testudines:
Baenidae) and an assessment of baenid ecology across the K/T boundary. Journal
of Paleontology 83(6):833-853. doi: 10.1666/09-035.1.
ABSTRACT: Over the course of the last two decades, the baenid taxon Plesiobaena
has typically been thought to consist of two named species, Plesiobaena antiqua
(Campanian) and Plesiobaena putorius (Paleocene), along with an unnamed species
from the Maastrichtian, but the interrelationship of these three taxa was never
explored in an explicit phylogenetic context. Herein we present or re-describe
a number of relevant specimens and provide a cladistic analysis of Baenidae
using species only as terminal taxa. The phylogenetic analysis clearly reveals
that Plesiobaena in the traditional sense is a paraphyletic assemblage relative
to the clade formed by Gamerabaena sonsalla and Palatobaena spp., thus
demanding some nomenclatural adjustments. In particular, Plesiobaena putorius
is moved to a new genus, Cedrobaena, and the unnamed taxon from the
Maastrichtian is formally named Peckemys brinkman. Many of the new Cedrobaena
putorius and Peckemys brinkman specimens described herein were found at the
Turtle Graveyard locality in Slope County, North Dakota, along with four other
turtle taxa, increasing the turtle diversity of this locality to at least six
taxa. Although this indicates that Turtle Graveyard is the world's most diverse
fossil turtle thanatocoenosis, a comparable diversity is found in modern river
systems in the southeastern United States today. Our phylogenetic analysis
indicates that seven out of nine latest Cretaceous baenid turtle lineages
survived into the Paleocene, four of which are interpreted as being durophagous.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT 84770 USA
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and dinogami@gmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/
"The optimist thinks this is the best
of all possible worlds. The pessimist
fears it is true."
-- J. Robert Oppenheimer
"In nuclear war all men are cremated
equal."
-- Dexter Gordon