Some recent (and not so recent) papers:
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Dana J. Ehret and T. Lynn Harrell, Jr. (2018)
Feeding traces on a Pteranodon (Reptilia: Pterosauria) bone from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Mooreville Chalk in Alabama, USA.
PALAIOS 33(9):414-418. 2018Â
Pterosaur remains are exceptionally rare in the Late Cretaceous marine chalks of Alabama and the few specimens found are typically very fragmentary. We report the occurrence of a metacarpal of Pteranodon cf. longiceps from the Mooreville Chalk (Campanian, 83 million years old) of Dallas County, Alabama. The Pteranodon specimen exhibits serrated teeth marks on the surface of the bone and a second set of larger, unserrated teeth marks unlike those of any contemporary shark species. These feeding traces compare favorably with the tooth spacing and morphology of Squalicorax kaupi, and a small to moderate-sized saurodontid fish, such as Saurodon or Saurocephalus, respectively. In both instances, feeding traces appear to be scavenging events due to the lack of any healing or bone remodeling. During the Campanian, Dallas County, Alabama, was a shallow-marine environment comprising part of the Mississippi Embayment. It is hypothesized that the specimen represents a pterosaur that either fell into marine waters or was washed out from nearshore areas and then scavenged by both a chondrichthyan and osteichthyan. This type of scavenging behavior has been recorded on other taxonomic groups from Alabama during the Late Cretaceous. However, the fragile, hollow bones of pterosaurs make their preservation rare.
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Free pdf:
Yves Lepage, Eric Buffetaut & Gilles Lepage (2018)Â
The first photographs of a dinosaur excavation in Europe: Emile Savalle and the stegosaur from Octeville (Normandy, 1898).Â
Colligo, 1(1): 35-40Â
Free pdf:
Emile Savalle (1834-1902) was a keen amateur geologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist with a special interest in the geology and fossils of the cliffs near Le Havre, in Normandy. In 1898, he discovered a partial stegosaur skeleton in Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) sediments, which was excavated by the local natural history museum under the direction of Gustave Lennier, and was eventually described by Franz Nopcsa in 1911. The photographs taken by Savalle in 1898 are apparently the oldest surviving photo-graphic record of a dinosaur excavation in Europe.
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From last year and not yet mentioned.
Free pdf:
Bruce R. Erickson (2017)
History of the Ceratopsian Dinosaur Triceratops in the Science Museum of Minnesota 1960 â Present.
The Science Museum of Minnesota Monograph Vol. 12: Paleontology 37 pp.
NOTE:
The whole series The Science Museum of Minnesota Monographs in Paleontology is posted here with free links:
Older, but of likely interest to the DML:
Bruce R.ÂEricksonÂ(2016)Â
A New Skeleton of the Neosuchian Crocodyliform Goniopholis with New Material from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming.Â
Science Museum of Minnesota Monographs Volume 10: Paleontology. 32 pp.Â
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Spheniscus anglicus, sp. nov.
Bruce R.ÂEricksonÂ
(2015)Â
A New Species of Penguin from the Late Miocene of Chile, with Comments on the Stratigraphic Ranger of Palaeospheniscus.Â
Science Museum of Minnesota Monographs Volume 8: Paleontology. 28 pp.Â
***
Haplocanthosaurus
Bruce R.ÂEricksonÂ
(2014)Â
History of the Poison Creek Expeditions, 1976-1990.Â
The Science Museum of Minnesota Monograph Volume 8: Paleontology. 40 pp.Â
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Bimbisula melanodactylos, gen. et sp. nov.
Richard D.
Benson and
ÂBruce R.ÂEricksonÂ(2013)Â
A New Genus and Species of Booby (Sulidae: AVES) From the Pliocene of South Carolina, with a New Corollary to the Nature of Sister Taxa.Â
Science Museum of Minnesota Monographs Volume 7: Paleontology. 46 pp.
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Some recent non-dino papers that may be of interest:
Lorenzo Marchetti (2018)
Can undertracks show higher morphologic quality than surface tracks? Remarks on large amphibian tracks from the Early Permian of France.
Journal of Iberian Geology (advance online publication)
In tetrapod ichnology, the morphologic quality of tracks is widely termed preservation, including both formational and post-formational processes; this study follows this interpretation. The term undertrack is generally referred to poorly-preserved tracks found on the underlying layers of the actual trampled surface, which usually shows better-preserved tracks. This study, using the most recent concepts and techniques in tetrapod ichnology, aims to give a significant contribution to the understanding of the undertrack formation. The studied material includes some large temnospondyl tracks from the Early Permian of the LodÃve Basin (France), a trackway type material of Opisthopus and a pes-manus couple type material of Laoporoides (nomen vanum), both assigned to Limnopus. These specimens show a peculiar feature: manual footprints that are more distinct, more complete, deeper and classifiable (better-preserved) on the underlying layers (up to two underlying layers) compared to the actual trampled surface, which shows shallower, indistinct and unclassifiable manual tracks (poorly-preserved). Pedal tracks on the actual trampled surface are deformed and thus unclassifiable (poorly-preserved), and nearly non-impressed in the underlying layers. This is probably the result of the trackmaker differential weight of manual and pedal impressions on water-saturated fine-grained laminated sediments. This is the first convincing fossil evidence of a better preservation of the undertracks in certain substrate conditions, confirming what is known from laboratory experiments. As a consequence, caution is suggested in the interpretation of undertracks and surface tracks, and the term undertrack should not be used as a synonym for poorly-preserved tetrapod tracks, although these terms often coincide.
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James O. Farlow, Nathan J. Robinson, Morgan L. Turner, Jenell Black, and Stephen M. Gatesy (2018)
Footfall pattern of a bottom-walking crocodile (Crocodylus acutus).
PALAIOSÂ 33(9): 406-413
Drone footage of a large American crocodile bottom walking in shallow coastal water off Costa Rica was used to estimate oblique pace and stride lengths and pace angulations from autopodial touchdowns. The crocodile's pes stride lengths were longer but more variable than expected for an individual of comparable size high-walking on land, due in part to punting locomotion, but also to wave action moving the reptile's body. Pace angulations were also larger than expectations for a crocodile high walking on land. These features are also seen in fossil trackways, suggesting that trackways ascribed to âswimmingâ crocodylomorphs might better be characterized as made by bottom walking and punting reptiles.
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Free pdf:
Austropediomys marshalli gen. et sp. novÂÂ
Leonardo M. Carneiro, Ãdison V. Oliveira & Francisco J. Goin (2018)
Austropediomys marshalli gen. et sp. nov., a new Pediomyoidea (Mammalia, Metatheria) from the Paleogene of Brazil: paleobiogeographic implications.
Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 21(2):120â131
doi:10.4072/rbp.2018.2.03
The Pediomyiodea has been largely regarded as a Late Cretaceous North American metatherian lineage; however, some studies have suggested that a few South American taxa could be related to this family. Herein, Austropediomys marshalli gen. et sp. nov. from the Itaboraà Basin, Brazil (lower Eocene â Itaboraian SALMA), is described. Austropediomys gen. nov. represents the first report of a pediomyoid metatherian in the Paleogene of South America backed by a phylogenetic analysis. Several derived features in the upper molars support its belonging to the Pediomyoidea: presence of accessory 'conular-like' structures (here named conuloids) lingual to the conules; supernumerary stylar cusps; asymmetric stylar shelf, with parastylar shelf reduced to a narrow rim in M1; straight centrocrista; short and obliquely oriented prepacrista, which contacts StA in M2â3. The presence of âconular-likeâ structures lingual to the paraconule and metaconule is identified in Austropediomys gen. nov. and in Late Cretaceous pediomyoids as well, and results in the phylogenetic analysisas a synapomorphy of the Pediomyoidea. Austropediomys gen. nov. is autapomorphyc in the presence of enlarged conuloids on protocristae. The record of a pediomyoid in the Paleogene of South America increases the temporal and biogeographical range of this lineage. Also, our results support the hypothesis that several non-related metatherian lineages dispersed from North to South America via the Caribbean Plate, most probably during the latest Cretaceous, in an island-hopping or sweepstakes model.
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Free pdf:
Tamara L. Fletcher, Patrick T. Moss & Steven W. Salisbury (2018)
The palaeoenvironment of the Upper Cretaceous (CenomanianâTuronian) portion of the Winton Formation, Queensland, Australia.
PeerJ 6:e5513
Â
The Winton Formation is increasingly recognised as an important source of information about the Cretaceous of Australia, and, more broadly, the palaeobiogeographic history of eastern Gondwana. With more precise dating and stratigraphic controls starting to provide temporal context to the geological and palaeontological understanding of this formation, it is timely to reassess the palaeoenvironment in which it was deposited. This new understanding helps to further differentiate the upper, most-studied portion of the formation (CenomanianâTuronian) from the lower portions (AlbianâCenomanian), allowing a coherent picture of the ecosystem to emerge. Temperatures during the deposition of the Upper Cretaceous portion of the Winton Formation were warm, with high, seasonal rainfall, but not as extreme as the modern monsoon. The landscape was heterogeneous, a freshwater alluvial plain bestrode by low energy, meandering rivers, minor lakes and mires. Infrequent, scouring flood events were part of a multi-year cycle of drier and wetter years. The heavily vegetated flood plains supported abundant large herbivores. This was the final infilling of the great Eromanga Basin.
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