Some recent non-dino papers that may be of interest:
Free pdf:
Da-Qing Li, Chang-Fu Zhou, Lan Li, Jing-Tao Yang, Longfeng Li & MÃrton Rabi (2019)
The sinemydid turtle Ordosemys from the Lower Cretaceous Mengyin Formation of Shandong, China and its implication for the age of the Luohandong Formation of the Ordos Basin.Â
PeerJ 7:e6229
Free pdf:
Chronostratigraphic correlation of terrestrial Early Cretaceous biotas in China is highly problematic due to the lack of marine deposits, few absolute dates, and limited number of index fossils. This often leaves vertebrate faunas as one of the few potential tools for a preliminary biostratigraphy. Taxonomic identity of fragmentary fossils is, however, often uncertain and many faunas are insufficiently sampled. Turtles are one of the most common elements of Early Cretaceous biotas of Asia and their skeleton is frequently preserved more completely than that of other vertebrates- they yet receive little attention from vertebrate paleontologists. We here record the presence of the sinemydid turtle Ordosemys leios from the Lower Cretaceous Mengyin Formation of Shandong Province, China, best known for the first dinosaurs and Mesozoic turtles described from the country. Ordosemys is the third turtle reported from the Mengyin Formation along with Sinemys lens and Sinochelys applanata and the only other formation where Ordosemys is known to co-occur with Sinemys is the Luohandong Formation of the Ordos Basin (Inner Mongolia), the type and so far only horizon of Ordosemys leios. The presence of the crocodyliform Shantungosuchus may further define a fauna that is so far only known from these two formations. The stratigraphic position of the Luohandong Formation is poorly controlled and it has been placed anywhere between the Valanginian and Aptian. Published absolute dates from the Mengyin Formation and the numerous shared vertebrate and invertebrate taxa (now also including turtles) implies a Valanginianâearly Hauterivian age for the Luohandong Formationâin contrast to late Hauterivian-Albian as previously proposed using the temporal distribution of Psittacosaurus. The new specimen of Ordosemys leios preserves the only known manus of this species and ecomorphological analysis of limb proportions implies that it was a less capable swimmer compared to Ordosemys liaoxiensis coming from the younger Jehol Biota.
===
Free pdf:
C. J. Mayerl, J. P. Youngblood, G. Rivera, J. T. Vance & R. W. Blob (2019)
Variation in Morphology and Kinematics Underlies Variation in Swimming Stability and Turning Performance in Freshwater Turtles.Â
Integrative Organismal Biology 1(1): oby001Â
Among swimming animals, stable body designs often sacrifice performance in turning, and high turning performance may entail costs in stability. However, some rigid-bodied animals appear capable of both high stability and turning performance during swimming by propelling themselves with independently controlled structures that generate mutually opposing forces. Because such species have traditionally been studied in isolation, little is known about how variation within rigid-bodied designs might influence swimming performance. Turtles are a lineage of rigid-bodied animals, in which most species use contralateral limbs and mutually opposing forces to swim. We tested the stability and turning performance of two species of turtles, the pleurodire Emydura subglobosa and the cryptodire Chrysemys picta. Emydura subglobosa exhibited both greater stability and turning performance than C. picta, potentially through the use of subequally-sized (and larger) propulsive structures, faster limb movements, and decreased limb excursions. These data show how, within a given body design, combinations of different traits can serve as mechanisms to improve aspects of performance with competing functional demands.
===
Free pdf:
Ahmed A. Allam, Rasha E. Abo-Eleneen & Sarah I. Othman (2019)
Microstructure of scales in selected lizard species.
Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences 26(1): 129-136
In the present study, it was hypothesized that micromorphology of the surface of many lizard scales appears to mimic the topography of the habitat in which they live. Many authors have suggested that the microstructure of the superficial surface of scales have undergone important adaptations and have functional value in lizards. In this study, we investigated the variation and adaptation of the micromorphology and microstructure of the superficial surface of the dorsal and ventral scales from the mid-body region of Stellagama stellio (Agamidae), Stenodactylus petrii (Gekkonidae), Acanthodactylus boskianus (Lacertidae), Eumeces schneideri (Scincidae), Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (Scincidae), Scincus scincus (Scincidae), Varanus griseus (Varanidae), Chameleo chameleon (Chamaeleonidae). Skin specimens were prepared and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The dorsal and ventral scale surfaces had microstructure in the studied species and they exhibited unique patterns that somewhat resembled the topography of the microhabitats in which they lived. Similarity was detected in the three most related species, those having a common family, Scincidae. Ecomorphological relationships were detected between the dorsal and ventral scale microstructures and microhabitats. We conclude that environmental factors have observable influences on the microstructure of lizard scales.
====
M. Danto, F. Witzmann, S. K. Kamenz & N. B. FrÃbisch (2019)
How informative is vertebral development for the origin of lissamphibians?
Journal of Zoology (advance online publication)
The origin of lissamphibians remains unresolved and different origins within Paleozoic early tetrapods have been proposed. Both the vertebral morphology as well as the ossification sequence of the vertebrae are potentially important character traits to test these different hypotheses. Here, we aim to determine if vertebral formation and ossification sequence in lissamphibians and early tetrapods are valuable indicatives of phylogenetic relationships. To answer this question, we examined the vertebral development in growth series of different salamander taxa and compared the results with literature data on vertebral development in frogs, caecilians and early tetrapods. In salamanders, caecilians and early tetrapods, the vertebral centrum develops by chordacentral and perichordal centrum formation, whereas in frogs, no chordacentral centrum formation has been observed so far. In the salamander taxa studied here, the following chondrification and ossification sequences are observed: chondrification first of the neural arches and then of the centra followed by ossification first of the centra and then of the neural arches. In frogs, in contrast, the neural arches ossify prior to the centra and it can be assumed that this developmental sequence represents the ancestral condition for tetrapods, as it characterizes some stemâtetrapods and all temnospondyls from which growth series are known. However, the ossification sequence of the vertebral column is only incompletely known in stemâamniotes which makes a comparison with extant lissamphibians difficult. This indicates that the mode of centrum formation and the ossification sequence are highly variable and cannot be used to determine the origin of lissamphibians within early tetrapods.
====
====
Arnaud Brignon (2018)
RedÃcouverte du  crocodile de Sheppey  de Georges Cuvier (Crocodilus delucii Gray, 1831) et signification du  monitor de Sheppey  (London Clay, YprÃsien).
Rediscovery of Georges Cuvier's "crocodile de Sheppey" (Crocodilus delucii Gray, 1831) and signification of the "monitor de Sheppey' (London Clay, Ypresian).
Annales de PalÃontologie 104(4): 329-335
RÃsumÃ
Des dessins inÃdits de Georges Cuvier rÃalisÃs en 1809, alors quâil visitait la collection de la famille Deluc à GenÃve, rÃvÃlent les vertÃbres du crocodilien et du soi-disant  monitor Â, ou serpent, de Sheppey que Cuvier mentionna en 1824 dans la nouvelle Ãdition de ses Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles. La vertÃbre cervicale de crocodilien, holotype de Crocodilus delucii Gray, 1831, a pu ainsi Ãtre identifiÃe au MusÃum dâHistoire naturelle de GenÃve oà une grande partie de la collection Deluc est conservÃe. Ce spÃcimen dâintÃrÃt historique ne permet cependant pas de changer le statut de cette espÃce, considÃrÃe comme un nomen dubium, du fait du peu dâÃlÃments diagnostiques offerts par une vertÃbre isolÃe. Quant à la vertÃbre dâabord identifiÃe par Cuvier comme celle dâun  monitor Â, puis comme celle dâun serpent, elle sâavÃre appartenir au serpent marin Palaeophis toliapicus Owen, 1841. Cet article confirme que Cuvier est le premier à avoir signalà dans une publication la prÃsence de crocodiliens et de squamates dans la formation du London Clay (YprÃsien).
Abstract
Unpublished drawings made by Georges Cuvier in 1809, while visiting the collection of the Deluc family in Geneva, reveal the vertebrae of the crocodilian and the so-called âmonitor lizardâ or serpent of Sheppey that Cuvier briefly described in 1824 in the new edition of his Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles (Research on Fossil Bones). The crocodilian cervical vertebra, holotype of Crocodilus delucii Gray, 1831, was identified at the Natural History Museum in Geneva, where much of the Deluc collection is preserved. This specimen of historical interest does not make it possible to change the status of the species, which is considered as a nomen dubium, in view of the paucity of the diagnostic elements offered by an isolated vertebra. As for the second vertebra, first identified by Cuvier as that of a "monitor lizard", and then as that of a snake, it appears to belong to the marine snake Palaeophis toliapicus Owen, 1841. This paper confirms that Cuvier is the first to have reported in a published work the presence of crocodilians and squamates in the London Clay Formation (Ypresian).