Ben Creisler
Some recent items:
The SVP 2019 abstract:
FIRST PTEROSAUR (PTERODACTYLOIDEA) SPECIMENS FROM THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
KELLNER, Alexander W., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; RODRIGUES, Taissa, University Fed. Espirito Santo, Vitoria, Brazil; FIGUEIREDO, Rodrigo G., Alegre, Brazil; WEINSCHÃTZ, Luiz C., Universidade do Contestado, Mafra, Brazil; SOUZA, Geovane A., Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; COSTA, Arthur S., Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; MUELLER, Carsten W., Technical University Munich, MÃnchen, Germany; SAYÃO, Juliana M., Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, VitÃria de Santo AntÃo,Brazil
Our understanding of the paleobiodiversity of the Antarctic continent is still in its infancy. This limited information is also the case for Mesozoic reptiles, where the record consists mostly of fragmentary material. Concerning pterosaurs, there has been only a brief mention of a small humerus from Jurassic deposits of the continent. In 2006/2007 and from 2016 to 2019, expeditions coordinated by the Museu Nacional and carried out by researchers from several institutions collected a great number of fossils from the Antarctic Peninsula. Hundreds of specimens were recovered, mainly plants and invertebrates, but also isolated vertebrate bones. Among these are pterosaur elements. Two bones with a length of ~65mm that likely belong to the same element were collected in the James Ross Island. They were found isolated and close to each other in a flattened area formed by a moraine located at the Albernethy flats, between the Passo San Josà and the Crame Col. The sedimentary rocks of this region are regarded as the Lachman Crags Member, the basal unit of the Santa Marta Formation. The age of these deposits is Late Cretaceous (Santonian-Campanian). The most complete is preserved in three dimension and has the typical "boot-shape" of the distal end of pterosaur forth wing finger phalanges. The second bone, essentially comprising a thin bone lamina, was used for osteohistological sections. The bone microstructure is fibrolamellar. The vascular channels have a similar diameter and do not show any sign of anastomoses. They are longitudinal and composed only by primary osteons. No growth marks are perceptible. These osteohistological features are consistent with what has been observed in pterosaurs. Although not diagnostic beyond Pterosauria, compared with other distal ends of wing phalanges, the wing span of this Antarctic flying reptile ranges between 3 and 4 m, what is compatible with the Pterodactyloidea. A third pterosaur element comes from the nearby Vega Island, more specifically from the LÃpez de Bertodano Formation (Maastrichtian). The specimen consists of an elongated bone with a D-shaped transverse section. The cortex is thin (~1mm) and the total preserved length reaches about 140mm. Despite incomplete, this material can be identified as a wing metacarpal IV. It is robust and elongated, allowing its allocation to the Pterodactyloidea. Both specimens demonstrate the presence of derived pterosaurs during the Upper Cretaceous of Antarctica, indicating the cosmopolitan distribution of pterosaur in during the late Mesozoic Era.Â
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Iberian titanosaurs (in Spanish)
http://godzillin.blogspot.com/2019/10/titanosaurios-de-la-peninsula-iberica.html
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Correction: A nice pneumatic Allosaurus [cervical] dorsal
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Mike Archer wins the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's highest prize, the Romer-Simpson Medal
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Jingmai OâConnor: Paleontologyâs Wild Child
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videos:
The Case of the Dinosaur Egg Thief
PBS Eons
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Telling the Dinosaur Story
(Cretaceous just added)
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ORNITHOPODA. Hadrosaurs and relatives. size comparison.