Re: New BBC series research

["K and T Dykes" <ktdykes@arcor.de>]

<<So, I'd love to hear from anyone about their 'favourite' beast which they 
think deserves the limelight, stunning fossils that tell us a lot about a 
particular species, group, or environment, unusual techniques that are 
revealing new findings - anything, really!  At this stage it is almost carte 
blanche.>>

/Repenomamus robustus/, a Lower Cretaceous roughly 40cm long (ignoring the 
tail) triconodont mammal killer, who enjoyed (judging by the preserved 
stomach content of one specimen) looking after /Psittacosaurus/ babies by 
tearing them to pieces and swallwing them.  Should the motherosaura have 
objected, then Rep's larger sister, /R. giganticus/ (about 70cm ignoring the 
tail) might have been willing to hold discussions.

/Castorocauda/, a perhaps Middle Jurassic (or maybe later) docodont mammal, 
who decided to fossilize her fur, some 'extra' lower jaw bones (most 
non-mammalian by today's standards, and the soft scale on its 
semi-aquatically adapted tail.  This is the finest fossil find of the entire 
21st century.

/Volaticotherium/.  A Middle Jurassic (or maybe later) mammalian glider.

/Xenocretosuchus/ of Siberia and a couple of not yet described tritylodontid 
Lower Cretaceous colleagues from Japan.  Tis oft assumed that non-mammalian 
cynodonts saw their mammalian 'descendants', and were so impressed with 
mammals that the non-mammal cynos all dropped dead.  Xenocret and Co 
demonstrate non-mammalian cynodonts were still breeding well into the 
Cretaceous.

All of those are obviously megastars and, along with /Eomaia/ (a kind of 
forerunner of placentals) and /Sinodelphys/ (ditto for marsupials) the first 
three mentioned are staggeringly telegenic.
Cheers
Trevor Dykes

Mesozoic eucynodonts
http://home.arcor.de/ktdykes/meseucaz.htm
"I've seen the /Castorocaudas/ of Longleat"