Fear and New Papers in Las Vegas

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

Another new batch o' stuff!  First, the straight-up dinosaurs:

Ye, Y., Peng, G.-Z., and Jiang, S. 2007. Preliminary histological study on 
the long bones of Middle Jurassic Shunosaurus and Omeisaurus from Dashanpu, 
Zigong, Sichuan. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica 46(1):135-144.


Lindgren, J., Currie, P.J., Siverson, M., Rees, J., Cederström, P., and 
Lindgren, F. 2007. The first neoceratopsian dinosaur remains from Europe. 
Palaeontology 50(4):929-937. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00690.x.

ABSTRACT: Shallow marine, nearshore strata of earliest Campanian 
(Gonioteuthis granulataquadrata belemnite Zone) and latest Early Campanian 
(informal Belemnellocamax mammillatus belemnite zone) age in the 
Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden, have yielded isolated leptoceratopsid 
teeth and vertebrae, representing the first record of horned dinosaurs from 
Europe. The new leptoceratopsid occurrence may support a European dispersal 
route for the Leptoceratopsidae, or may represent an entirely endemic 
population. The presence of leptoceratopsid teeth in shallow marine deposits 
contradicts previous hypotheses suggesting that basal neoceratopsians mainly 
preferred arid and/or semi-arid habitats far from coastal areas.



Then, from the "I wish I was a dinosaur" category (joke!):


Brochu, C.A. 2007. Systematics and taxonomy of Eocene tomistomine 
crocodylians from Britain and northern Europe. Palaeontology 50(4):917-928. 
doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00679.x.

ABSTRACT: The holotype of Dollosuchus dixoni (Owen) from the Early-Middle 
Eocene Bracklesham Beds of England is a set of mandibular fragments that 
cannot be distinguished from corresponding parts of other longirostrine 
crocodylians. An isolated humerus from the Bracklesham Beds is consistent 
with a gavialoid, but it cannot be referred to the holotype of D. dixoni. 
The name Dollosuchoides densmorei is established for the well-preserved 
skull and skeleton of a tomistomine from the Middle Eocene of Belgium that 
had been referred to D. dixoni. It can be clearly distinguished from the 
basal tomistomine 'Crocodilus' spenceri Buckland from the Lower Eocene of 
England, which cannot be referred to Dollosuchoides and is provisionally 
referred to Kentisuchus Mook. Although basal within Tomistominae, 
Dollosuchoides is more closely related to Tomistoma than to Kentisuchus.


Lastly, from the "here's how to do paleontology properly" camp:


Peterson, K.J., Summons, R.E., and Donoghue, P.C.J. 2007. Molecular 
palaeobiology. Palaeontology 50(4):775-809. doi: 
10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00692.x.

ABSTRACT: For more than a generation, molecular biology has been used to 
approach palaeontological problems, and yet only recently have attempts been 
made to integrate research utilizing the geological and genomic records in 
uncovering evolutionary history. We codify this approach as Molecular 
Palaeobiology for which we provide a synthetic framework for studying the 
interplay among genotype, phenotype and the environment, within the context 
of deep time. We provide examples of existing studies where molecular and 
morphological data have been integrated to provide novel insights within 
each of these variables, and an account of a case study where each variable 
has been tackled to understand better a single macroevolutionary event: the 
diversification of metazoan phyla. We show that the promise of this approach 
extends well beyond research into the evolutionary history of animals and, 
in particular, we single out plant evolution as the single greatest 
opportunity waiting to be exploited by molecular palaeobiology. Although 
most of our examples consider how novel molecular data and techniques have 
breathed new life into long-standing palaeontological controversies, we 
argue that this asymmetry in the balance of molecular and morphological 
evidence is an artefact of the relative 'newness' of molecular data. In 
particular, palaeontological data provide unique and crucial roles in 
unravelling evolutionary history given that extinct taxa reveal patterns of 
character evolution invisible to molecular biology. Finally, we argue that 
palaeobiologists, rather than molecular biologists, are best placed to 
exploit the opportunity afforded by molecular palaeobiology, though this 
will require incorporating the techniques and approaches of molecular 
biology into their skill-set.


Donoghue, P.C.J., and Benton, M.J. 2007. Rocks and clocks: calibrating the 
Tree of Life using fossils and molecules. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 
22(8):424-431. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2007.05.005.

ABSTRACT: A great tradition in macroevolution and systematics has been the 
ritual squabbling between palaeontologists and molecular biologists. But, 
because both sides were talking past each other, they could never agree. 
Practitioners in both fields should play to their strengths and work 
together: palaeontologists can provide minimum constraints on branching 
points in the Tree of Life with considerable precision, and estimate the 
extent of unrecorded prehistory. Molecular tree analysts have remarkable 
modelling tools in their armoury to convert multiple minimum age constraints 
into meaningful dated trees. As we discuss here, work should now focus on 
establishing reasonable, dated trees that satisfy rigorous assessment of the 
available fossils and careful consideration of molecular tree methods: rocks 
and clocks together are an unbeatable combination. Reliably dated trees 
provide, for the first time, the opportunity to explore wider questions in 
macroevolution.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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/

STORIES IN SIX WORDS OR LESS:

"Machine. Unexpectedly, I'd invented
a time"
              -- Alan Moore

"Easy. Just touch the match to"
              -- Ursula K. Le Guin

"Batman Sues Batsignal: Demands
Trademark Royalties."
              -- Cory Doctorow