New Papers Strikes Back

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

Some stuff for the sauropodophile in all of us...

Salgado, L., García, R.A., and Daza, J.D. 2006. Consideraciones sobre las 
láminas neurales de los dinosaurios saurópodos y su significado 
morfofunctional. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, n.s. 
8(1):69-79.

González Riga, B.J., and Astini, R.A. 2007. Preservation of large titanosaur 
sauropods in overbank fluvial facies: a case study in the Cretaceous of 
Argentina. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 23(4):290-303. doi: 
10.1016/j.jsames.2007.02.005.

ABSTRACT: Patagonia exhibits a particularly abundant record of Cretaceous 
dinosaurs with worldwide relevance. Although paleontological studies are 
relatively numerous, few include taphonomic information about these faunas. 
This contribution provides the first detailed sedimentological and 
taphonomical analyses of a dinosaur bone quarry from northern Neuquén Basin. 
At Arroyo Seco (Mendoza Province, Argentina), a large 
parautochthonous/autochthonous accumulation of articulated and 
disarticulated bones that represent several sauropod individuals has been 
discovered. The fossil remains, assigned to Mendozasaurus neguyelap González 
Riga, correspond to a large (18-27-m long) sauropod titanosaur collected in 
the strata of the Río Neuquén Subgroup (late Turoronian-late Coniacian). A 
taphonomic viewpoint recognizes a two-fold division into biostratinomic and 
fossil-diagenetic processes. Biostratinomic processes include (1) subaerial 
biodegradation of sauropod carcasses on well-drained floodplains, (2) 
partial or total skeletal disarticulation, (3) reorientation of bones by 
sporadic overbank flows, and (4) subaerial weathering. Fossil-diagenetic 
processes include (1) plastic deformation of bones, (2) initial 
permineralization with hematite, (3) fracturing and brittle deformation due 
to lithostatic pressure; (4) secondary permineralization with calcite in 
vascular canals and fractures, and (5) postfossilization bone weathering. 
This type of bone concentration, also present in Rincón de los Sauces 
(northern Patagonia), suggests that overbank facies tended to accumulate 
large titanosaur bones. This taphonomic mode, referred to as "overbank bone 
assemblages", outlines the potential of crevasse splay facies as important 
sources of paleontological data in Cretaceous meandering fluvial systems.


...and the theropodophile...

Maxwell, E.E., and Larsson, H.C.E. 2007. Osteology and myology of the wing 
of the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), and its bearing on the evolution of 
vestigial structures. Journal of Morphology 268(5):423-441. doi: 
10.1002/jmor.10527.

ABSTRACT: Emus have reduced their wing skeleton to only a single functional 
digit, but the myological changes associated with this reduction have never 
been properly described. Moreover, the intraspecific variability associated 
with these changes has not previously been examined, dissections having been 
restricted in the past to only one or two individuals. In this paper, the 
myology and osteology of the emu wing is described for a sample of five 
female birds. The emu showed a marked reduction in the number of muscles in 
the wing, even compared with other ratites. Many wing muscles showed 
diversity in structure, origin and insertion sites, number of heads, as well 
as presence-absence variation. This variability dramatically exceeds that 
found in flying birds. Evolutionary theory predicts that relaxed selection 
on vestigial organs should allow more variation to persist in the 
population, and corresponds to what is observed here. A large amount of 
fluctuating asymmetry was also detected, indicating reduced canalization of 
the wing during development.


...and, lastly, the, uh, champsosaurophile.

Vandermark, D., Tarduno, J.A., and Brinkman, D.B. 2007. A fossil champsosaur 
population from the high Arctic: implications for Late Cretaceous 
paleotemperatures. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 
248(1-2):49-59. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.11.008.

ABSTRACT: During the Late Cretaceous, Axel Heiberg Island of the high 
Canadian Arctic supported a sizable population of champsosaurs, a basal 
archosauromorph, amongst a community including turtles and a variety of 
freshwater fishes. Here we report that a large portion of the available 
champsosaur fossil assemblage is comprised of elements from subadults. This 
dominance of subadults is similar to that seen from low latitude sites and 
suggests that the champsosaur population was a well-established facet of the 
ecological community. Because of the sensitivity of juveniles to ice 
formation, the make-up of the Arctic champsosaur population further 
indicates that the Late Cretaceous (Coniacian-Turonian) saw an interval of 
extreme warmth and low seasonality. The Coniacian-Turonian date makes these 
choristoderes amongst the earliest in North America, apart from the Jurassic 
Cteniogenys and a single limb bone from the mid-Cretaceous.


I've also finally managed to lay my hands on the book from the 2005 Heyuan 
Dinosaur Symposium, and for those interested, here's the contents in 
alphabetical order by author (I couldn't find that these had been posted 
previously except a few individual papers, so forgive me if this is 
redundant!):

Buffetaut, E., Suteethorn, V., and Tong, H. 2006. Dinosaur assemblages from 
Thailand: a comparison with Chinese faunas; pp. 19-37 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, 
Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan 
International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Currie, P.J. 2006. The dinosaurs of Alberta; pp. 61-86 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, 
Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan 
International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Dong, H. 2006. Brief introduction to vertebrate fossils from the Heyuan 
Basin, Guangdong Province; pp. 1-9 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and 
Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur 
Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Godefroit, P. 2006. Latest Cretaceous hadrosaurid dinosaurs from 
Heilongjiang Province (P.R. China) and Amur region (far eastern Russia); pp. 
103-114 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers 
from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing 
House, Beijing.



Ji, S. 2006. Furculae of non-avian theropods and basal birds; pp. 115-128 in 
Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 
2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, 
Beijing.



Kobayashi, Y., Manabe, M., Ikegami, N., Tomida, Y., and Hayakawa, H. 2006. 
Dinosaurs from Japan; pp. 87-102 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and 
Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur 
Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Lee, Y.-N., and Lee, H.-J. 2006. Hasandong vertebrate fossils in South 
Korea; pp. 129-139 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. 
(eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. 
Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Lü, J., Azuma, Y., Dong, H., Noda, Y., and Qiu, L. 2006a. New troodontid 
dinosaur eggs from the Heyuan Basin of Guangdong Province, southern China; 
pp. 11-18 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers 
from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing 
House, Beijing.



Lü, J., Ji, S., Yuan, C., Gao, Y., Sun, Z., and Ji, Q. 2006b. New 
pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of 
western Liaoning; pp. 195-203 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, 
Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. 
Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Polcyn, M.J., Jacobs, L.L., and Lü, J. 2006. Unraveling distortion: an 
overivew of techniques for reconstructing flattened fossils; pp. 205-215 in 
Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 
2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, 
Beijing.



Taylor, L.H., Jacobs, L.L., and Downs, W.R. 2006. A review of the 
Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in the Nanxiong Basin; pp. 39-59 in Lü, J., 
Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan 
International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



Tong, H., Claude, J., Buffetaut, E., Suteethorn, V., Naksri, W., and 
Chitsing, S. 2006. Fossil turtles of Thailand: an updated review; pp. 
183-194 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.-N. (eds.), Papers 
from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing 
House, Beijing.



Winkler, D.A. 2006. Ornithopod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous Trinity 
Group, Texas, USA; pp. 169-181 in Lü, J., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, 
Y.-N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. 
Geological Publishing House, Beijing.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Director of Paleontology
Dixie State College
Science Building
225 South 700 East
St. George, UT  84770   USA
Phone: (435) 652-7758
Fax: (435) 656-4022
E-mail: jharris@dixie.edu
and     dinogami@gmail.com
http://cactus.dixie.edu/jharris/

"Trying to estimate the divergence times
of fungal, algal or prokaryotic groups on
the basis of a partial reptilian fossil and
protein sequences from mice and humans
is like trying to decipher Demotic Egyptian with
the help of an odometer and the Oxford
English Dictionary."
              -- D. Graur & W. Martin (_Trends
                  in Genetics_ 20[2], 2004)