Ben Creisler
Some recent papers:
Free pdf:
Vladimir Nikolov, Polina Pavlishina, Marlena Yaneva, Docho Dochev, Ralitsa Konyovska & Latinka Hristova (2018)
Late Cretaceous dinosaur remains and other tetrapod fauna from the vicinity of Tran town (Western Srednogorie).Â
Review of the Bulgarian Geological Society 79(3): 99â100
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Herein were present preliminary data on a new Late Cretaceous fossil site near the town of Tran (Western Srednogorie, Western Bulgaria), which yields a diverse terrestrial tetrapod fauna. Despite earlier finds of amber close to the fossil site (Minchev, 1958) suggesting the existence of terrestrial environments at the time, no tetrapod fossils were known from the area -- this is the first record of Mesozoic tetrapods from the Western Srednogorie.
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[2006 fossilÂized bone fragment]: Further analysis of the original specimen and a second partial bone revealed a suite of informative osteohistological characters, which allow for a tentative interpretation of these fossils as pertaining to a titanosaurian sauropod (Nikolov et al., in review).
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Two fossiliferous layers were recognized at the locality â from the upper layer have been excavated isolated dinosaur bone fragments, while from the lower one were excavated dinosaur bone fragments as well as fossils from crocodylomorphs and testudines (turtles and tortoises). The latter represent the first occurrence of Mesozoic crocodylomorphs and testudines in Bulgaria. Collected material indicates the presence of at least two groups of non-avian dinosaurs â features of one of the bones suggest that it may belong to a large theropod dinosaur (theropods are group of bipedal, mostly meat-eating dinosaurs, to which modern birds also belong).
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Silvina de Valais & Carlos CÃnsole-Gonella (2018)
An Updated Review of the Avian Footprint Record from the Yacoraite Formation (Maastrichtian-Danian), Northwestern Argentina.
Ichnos (advance online publication)
The Yacoraite Formation (MaastrichtianâDanian; Balbuena Subgroup; Salta Group), from Northwestern Argentina, represents a shallow epeiric unit which is the result of transgressions in the Andean basin of South America. Herein, we study the avian footprints from the Maimarà locality, Jujuy province, and Quebrada del TapÃn ichnosite, Salta province. The avian footprints from the Maimarà locality is less diverse, made up: cf. Alaripeda isp., Avipeda isp., cf. Gruipeda filiportatis, and cf. Gruipeda isp. The avian track record from the Quebrada del TapÃn ichnosite is composed of: cf. Alaripeda isp., Ardeipeda cf. egretta., Gruipeda filiportatis (=Yacoraitichnus avis) and others Gruipeda or compared to this ichnogenus, cf. Uhangrichnus isp., and several indetermined avian footprints. Both ichnological assemblages have tracks assigned to shorebirds or Charadriiformes. The facies distribution of trace fossils reinforces the overall model of a shorebird tracks dominance in moderate to low energy settings. This distribution can be divided into three sub-environments: (1) a moderate to high energy shoreline under wave action, (2) a supratidal body of ephemeral ponds, far away from direct wave influence and (3) a landward position, beyond the ephemeral ponds system. We have included all the ichnoassemblages within the shorebird ichnosubfacies as a subset of the Scoyenia Ichnofacies.
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Free pdf:
Paul V. Ullmann, Zachary M. Boles & Michael J. Knell (2018)
Insights into cranial morphology and intraspecific variation from a new subadult specimen of the pan-cheloniid turtle Euclastes wielandi Hay, 1908.
PaleoBios 35: 1-22
We describe a nearly complete skull and mandible of a subadult of Euclastes wielandi, a pan-cheloniid turtle recently recovered at the Jean and Ric Edelman Fossil Park at Rowan University in Mantua Township, New Jersey, which yields new information about the osteology, ontogeny, and intraspecific variation of this taxon. The specimen was collected from the earliest Danian Main Fossiliferous Layer (MFL) of the Hornerstown Formation. Although discovered immediately adjacent to remains of two pleurodires, Taphrosphys sulcatus and Bothremys sp., the skull and mandible can be definitively assigned to Pan-Cheloniidae based on its V-shaped basisphenoid and rod-like rostrum basisphenoidale. Among three pan-cheloniid taxa known from the MFL, the specimen is assigned to Eu. wielandi based on its low skull with dorsally-directed orbits, symphyseal swelling in the mandibular triturating surface, and high dorsum sellae. Comparisons with other specimens of Eu. wielandi and adults and juveniles of other pan-cheloniids revealed variations in the type and timing of cranial ontogenetic changes in the clade, as well as anatomical traits subject to intraspecific variation, such as the depth of the sella turcica, paths of the foramina nervi hypoglossi, and development of a precolumellar fossa. The relative contribution of the frontal to the orbital margin and precise path of the prefrontal-supraorbital scale sulcus are subject to individual variation in Eu. wielandi, as well as ontogenetic variation and bilateral asymmetry in other cryptodirans, signifying that the widespread use of frontal retraction in taxon diagnoses and as a phylogenetic character should be reconsidered. As in multiple other taxa, the mandibular triturating surface expands through growth in Eu. wielandi, demonstrating that increased durophagy with age was a common life strategy among Cryptodira.
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