A few more new refs...

["Jerry D. Harris" <jharris@dixie.edu>]

Inadvertently left off the last list...apologies if any are duplicates from 
previous announcements (I'm trying to do these from memory)...


Xing, D., Sun, C., Sun, Y., Zhang, L., Peng, Y., and Chen, S. 2005. New 
knowledge on Yixian Formation. Acta Geoscientia Sinica 26(1):25-30.


Cai, X.-F., Gu, Y.-S., and Li, C.-A. 2005. Geological characteristics of the 
formation of dinosaur footprint fossils in the Lanzhou-Minhe Basin. Journal 
of Stratigraphy 29(3):306-308.


Zhao, H.D., Zhao, L.G., Zhou, X.F., and Yang, X.P. 2005. Discovery of large 
vertebrate fossils on the south bank of the Muling River, Jixi, 
Heilongjiang. Geological Bulletin of China 24(3):281-284.


O'Connor, P.M. 2006. Postcranial pneumaticity: an evaluation of soft-tissue 
influences on the postcranial skeleton and the reconstruction of pulmonary 
anatomy in archosaurs. Journal of Morphology 267(10):1199-1226. doi: 
10.1002/jmor.10470.

ABSTRACT: Postcranial pneumaticity has been reported in numerous extinct 
sauropsid groups including pterosaurs, birds, saurischian dinosaurs, and, 
most recently, both crurotarsan and basal archosauriform taxa. By comparison 
with extant birds, pneumatic features in fossils have formed the basis for 
anatomical inferences concerning pulmonary structure and function, in 
addition to higher-level inferences related to growth, metabolic rate, and 
thermoregulation. In this study, gross dissection, vascular and pulmonary 
injection, and serial sectioning were employed to assess the manner in which 
different soft tissues impart their signature on the axial skeleton in a 
sample of birds, crocodylians, and lizards. Results from this study indicate 
that only cortical foramina or communicating fossae connected with large 
internal chambers are reliable and consistent indicators of pneumatic 
invasion of bone. As both vasculature and pneumatic diverticula may produce 
foramina of similar sizes and shapes, cortical features alone do not 
necessarily indicate pneumaticity. Noncommunicating (blind) vertebral fossae 
prove least useful, as these structures are associated with many different 
soft-tissue systems. This Pneumaticity Profile (PP) was used to evaluate the 
major clades of extinct archosauriform taxa with purported postcranial 
pneumaticity. Unambiguous indicators of pneumaticity are present only in 
certain ornithodiran archosaurs (e.g., sauropod and theropod dinosaurs, 
pterosaurs). In contrast, the basal archosauriform Erythrosuchus africanus 
and other nonornithodiran archosaurs (e.g., parasuchians) fail to satisfy 
morphological criteria of the PP, namely, that internal cavities are absent 
within bone, even though blind fossae and/or cortical foramina are present 
on vertebral neural arches. An examination of regional pneumaticity in 
extant avians reveals remarkably consistent patterns of diverticular 
invasion of bone, and thus provides increased resolution for inferring 
specific components of the pulmonary air sac system in their nonavian 
theropod ancestors. By comparison with well-preserved exemplars from within 
Neotheropoda (e.g., Abelisauridae, Allosauroidea), the following pattern 
emerges: pneumaticity of cervical vertebrae and ribs suggests pneumatization 
by lateral vertebral diverticula of a cervical air sac system, with sacral 
pneumaticity indicating the presence of caudally expanding air sacs and/or 
diverticula. The identification of postcranial pneumaticity in extinct taxa 
minimally forms the basis for inferring a heterogeneous pulmonary system 
with distinct exchange and nonexchange (i.e., air sacs) regions. Combined 
with inferences supporting a rigid, dorsally fixed lung, osteological 
indicators of cervical and abdominal air sacs highlight the fundamental 
layout of a flow-through pulmonary apparatus in nonavian theropods.


Dalla Vecchia, F.M. 2006. A new sauropterygian reptile with plesiosaurian 
affinity from the Late Triassic of Italy. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia 
e Stratigrafia 112(2):207-225.    (easily one of the most euphonious names 
to come down the pike in a while!)

ABSTRACT: Bobosaurus forojuliensis, gen. et sp. nov., is a large 
sauropterygian from the Alpine Late Triassic (Early Carnian, northeastern 
Italy). The holotype is a moderately disarticulated skeleton consisting of 
the tip of the rostrum, part of the neck (including the atlas-axis complex), 
the trunk, most of the tail, parts of the limbs, and the pelvic girdle. The 
new taxon is characterized by a mosaic of "nothosaurian" and "plesiosaurian" 
features. It exhibits characters that were previously considered 
autapomorphies of different sauropterygian taxa. Dorsal neural spines are 
very high as in Nothosaurus mirabilis, and each dorsal rib has a distinct 
uncinate process, a diagnostic feature of the placodont Paraplacodus. The 
atlas-axis complex has the plesiosaurian pattern but is peculiar in several 
details. The neural spines of the anterior cervicals have an arched anterior 
margin. The spade-shaped pubis lacks an obturator foramen and an 
articulation with the ilium, and is associated with a stout, 
"hourglass-shaped" ilium that has a twisted shaft. Apomorphic characters 
include: cervical centra higher than wide and "pear-shaped" in 
anteroposterior view, a peculiar zygapophyseal articulation of pectoral to 
"caudal" vertebrae like that found in the dorsal vertebrae of Simosaurus, 
but with a reversed anteroposterior polarity, high neural spines on all 
vertebrae, neural spine of "sacral" to mid-caudal vertebrae with a 
bottle-shaped profile in lateral view, peculiar mid-posterior cervical ribs, 
lightened skeleton, and a comparatively large humerus. The new taxon was a 
specialized surface swimmer with a stiffened trunk and large forelimbs. It 
represents one of very few Late Triassic eusauropterygian taxa. It is 
probably a pistosaurid or, alternatively, could represent a different clade 
closer to Plesiosauria, occurring in the gap between the late Anisian 
pistosaurids and the earliest Rhaetian plesiosaurs.


Veevers, J.J. 2006. Updated Gondwana (Permian-Cretaceous) Earth history of 
Australia. Gondwana Research 9(3):231-260. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2005.11.005.

ABSTRACT: Permo-Carboniferous glaciation, confined to icecaps and mountain 
glaciers, was followed by Permian coal measures and Early Triassic barren 
measures and redbeds, in the east terminally deformed in the mid-Triassic. 
Coal deposition resumed during the Late Triassic, and tholeiite was erupted 
in the southeast. After rifting, the western margin was formed by the 
opening of the Indian Ocean at 156 and 132 Ma. At 140 Ma, a brief glaciation 
affected central Australia. By the 99 Ma mid-Cretaceous, the southern margin 
was finally shaped by the opening of the southeastern Indian Ocean, the 
shoreline retreated to the present coast from the maximum Aptian shoreline 
of an epeiric sea, and the Eastern highlands were uplifted to produce the 
present morphology of Australia.
New data relate to the Permo-Carboniferous and Early Cretaceous glaciations, 
the Kiaman Reversed Paleomagnetic Interval, events about the 
Permian-Triassic boundary, including possible impact craters, advances in 
palynology, invertebrate paleontology, macrofloral paleontology, and 
paleobiogeography, the provenance of sediments by U-Pb ages and host-rock 
affinity of zircons, stable-isotopes and biomarkers in petroleum systems, 
coal environments, calibrating the time scale with U-Pb ages of zircons, 
fission-track thermotectonic imaging, geothermal energy, and terranes split 
off the western margin.