How the New Papers Was Won

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

.....aaaaaaaaand off we go!  Dinos first:

Remes, K. 2007. A second Gondwanan diplodocid dinosaur from the Upper 
Jurassic Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania, East Africa. Palaeontology 
50(3):653-667. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2007.00652.x.

ABSTRACT: A new genus and species of diplodocid sauropod (Sauropoda, 
Diplodocoidea), Australodocus bohetii, is described. The type material from 
the Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) Tendaguru Beds of Tanzania, East Africa, 
consists of two successive mid-cervical vertebrae. These vertebrae do not 
show the extreme elongation of the cervical vertebrae that is diagnostic for 
Tornieria, and, apart from proportional differences, exhibit four 
autapomorphic characters not seen in other diplodocids: (1) pleurocoel 
weakly developed; (2) ridge posterolateral to the anterior condyle strongly 
posteroventrally orientated; (3) triangular pneumatic cavity ventral to the 
prezygapophysis, enclosed by the lateral ramus of the centroprezygapophyseal 
lamina and an anteriorly extended prezygodiapophyseal lamina; and (4) 
prominent prezygapophyseal process pointed, laterally keeled and surpassing 
the prezygapophysis anteriorly. Australodocus bohetii is the second 
diplodocid known from Tendaguru, and thereby the second diplodocid known 
from Gondwana. This impedes the customary reference of isolated East African 
diplodocid material to Tornieria, which can now only be assigned to 
Diplodocidae indet. The find supports previously proposed vicariance models 
of diplodocid palaeobiogeography.


Sánchez-Hernández, B., Benton, M.J., and Naish, D. 2007. Dinosaurs and other 
fossil vertebrates from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of the Galve 
area, NE Spain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 
249(1-2):180-215. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.01.009.

ABSTRACT: Since 1950, diverse assemblages of Mesozoic vertebrates have been 
described from the Galve area (Teruel Province, NE Spain). More than fifty 
taxa have been noted, including fishes, crocodyliforms, pterosaurs, 
dinosaurs and mammals. The Galve fossil sites occur in an Upper Jurassic to 
Lower Cretaceous succession spanning some 30 myr, divided into five 
formations, representing marginal marine and continental settings, with a 
Tithonian-early Barremian regression and a transgression from the Barremian 
onwards. New discoveries include teeth of the hybodont shark Lonchidion 
microselachos, spinosaurine theropods, Eusauropoda and the dryosaurid 
Valdosaurus. The 30-myr succession shows some possible evolutionary shifts, 
with a predominance of sauropods as herbivores in older strata, and 
ornithopods commoner in younger beds. There are some possible replacements 
among mammals in the latter part of the succession, with trechnotheres, such 
as spalacotheriids and dryolestoids, dominant in the El Castellar Formation, 
and multituberculates in the Camarillas Formation. Matching of the 
vertebrates from the Galve succession with those from age-equivalent units 
throughout Europe shows close similarity with the Purbeck-Wealden succession 
of southern England, among others. There are many similarities with dinosaur 
faunas from North America and Africa, but continent-scale faunal 
differentiation had clearly begun.


Pereda Suberbiola, X., Ruiz-Omeñaca, J.I., Hernández, J.M., and Pujalte, V. 
2006. Primera cita de un dinosaurio ornitópodo en el Cretácico Inferior 
(Berriasiense) del SO de la Cuenca Vasco-Cantábrica (Palencia, España). 
Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España 19(3-4):219-231.

ABSTRACT: Ornithopod vertebral remains from the Lower Cretaceous of Aguilar 
de Campóo are the first dinosaur fossils to be found in the province of 
Palencia (Castilla y León). The material consists of fragmentary dorsal and 
caudal vertebrae that probably belong to a single medium-sized individual 
(about 4-5 m total length). The fossiliferous beds are red sandstones of 
fluvial origin from the Arcera Formation, which belongs to the Cabuérniga 
Group (SW margin of the Basque-Cantabrian Region), of Early Cretaceous age 
(late Berriasian). The vertebrae can be assigned to the Ornithopoda because 
the centra are amphiplatyan to slightly amphicoelous (posterior articular 
surface) and exhibit irregular neurocentral sutures. A morphometrical study 
suggests that the material belongs to an ornithopod close to Camptosaurus, 
and so it is provisionally referred to Camptosauridae indet. This 
interpretation is in agreement with the age of the outcrop. The Palencia 
discovery is one of the few ornithopod records from the basal Cretaceous of 
the Iberian Peninsula.


....then on to non-dinosaurian archosaurs:

Holliday, C.M., and Witmer, L.M. 2007. Archosaur adductor chamber evolution: 
integration of musculoskeletal and topological criteria in jaw muscle 
homology. Journal of Morphology 268(6):457-484. doi: 10.1002/jmor.10524.

ABSTRACT: The homologies of jaw muscles among archosaurs and other 
sauropsids have been unclear, confounding interpretation of adductor chamber 
morphology and evolution. Relevant topological patterns of muscles, nerves, 
and blood vessels were compared across a large sample of extant archosaurs 
(birds and crocodylians) and outgroups (e.g., lepidosaurs and turtles) to 
test the utility of positional criteria, such as the relative position of 
the trigeminal divisions, as predictors of jaw muscle homology. Anatomical 
structures were visualized using dissection, sectioning, computed tomography 
(CT), and vascular injection. Data gathered provide a new and robust view of 
jaw muscle homology and introduce the first synthesized nomenclature of 
sauropsid musculature using multiple lines of evidence. Despite the great 
divergences in cephalic morphology among birds, crocodylians, and outgroups, 
several key sensory nerves (e.g., n. anguli oris, n. supraorbitalis, n. 
caudalis) and arteries proved useful for muscle identification, and vice 
versa. Extant crocodylians exhibit an apomorphic neuromuscular pattern 
counter to the trigeminal topological paradigm: the maxillary nerve runs 
medial, rather than lateral to M. pseudotemporalis superficialis. 
Alternative hypotheses of homology necessitate less parsimonious 
interpretations of changes in topology. Sensory branches to the rictus, 
external acoustic meatus, supraorbital region, and other cephalic regions 
suggest conservative dermatomes among reptiles. Different avian clades 
exhibit shifts in some muscle positions, but maintain the plesiomorphic, 
diapsid soft-tissue topological pattern. Positional data suggest M. 
intramandibularis is merely the distal portion of M. pseudotemporalis 
separated by an intramuscular fibrocartilaginous sesamoid. These adductor 
chamber patterns indicate multiple topological criteria are necessary for 
interpretations of soft-tissue homology and warrant further investigation 
into character congruence and developmental connectivity.


Tumarkin-Deratzian, A.R., Vann, D.R., and Dodson, P. 2007. Growth and 
textural ageing in long bones of the American alligator Alligator 
mississippiensis (Crocodylia: Alligatoridae). Zoological Journal of the 
Linnean Society 150(1):1-39. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00283.x.

ABSTRACT: Growth series of femora, tibiae, and humeri of the American 
alligator Alligator mississippiensis were examined to assess the 
relationship between bone surface textures and relative skeletal maturity. 
Element texture types were compared with both size-based and 
size-independent maturity estimates. Selected elements were thin sectioned 
to observe the histological structures underlying various surface textures. 
Results suggest little to no relationship between bone textures and skeletal 
maturity in Alligator. Controlling for additional factors suspected to 
affect textural variation - sexual dimorphism, seasonally interrupted 
growth, wild vs. captive habitat, and geographical range - provides little 
resolution. Indeterminate growth is almost certainly a factor; however, this 
alone cannot explain all observed variability. Histological analyses reveal 
that highly porous surface textures are often associated with zones composed 
of fibrolamellar bone; smoother textures are generally underlain by lamellar 
zones or annuli. Textures of intermediate porosity may be associated with 
more than one histological pattern. Until the factors affecting bone texture 
changes in modern crocodylians are better understood, it is recommended that 
the textural ageing method be applied with caution to studies of fossil 
archosaurs with crocodylian-like or unknown growth regimes.


...and then the little fuzzballs that were continually having to try and not 
be tromped into oblivion by dinosaurs:

Pascual, R., and Ortiz-Jaureguizar, E. 2007. The Gondwanan and South 
American episodes: two major and unrelated moments in the history of the 
South American mammals. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 14(2):75-137. doi: 
10.1007/s10914-007-9039-5.

ABSTRACT: The first steps in the history of South American mammals took 
place ca. 130 Ma., when the South American plate, still connected to the 
Antarctic Peninsula, began to drift away from the African-Indian plate. Most 
of the Mesozoic history of South American mammals is still unknown, and we 
only have a few enigmatic taxa (i.e., a Jurassic Australosphenida and an 
Early Cretaceous Prototribosphenida) that pose more evolutionary and 
biogeographic questions than answers. The best-known Mesozoic, South 
American land-mammal fossils are from Late Cretaceous Patagonian beds. These 
fossils represent the last survivors of non- and pre-tribosphenic Pangaean 
lineages, all of them with varying endemic features: some with few advanced 
features (e.g., ?Eutriconodonta and "Symmetrodonta"), some very diversified 
as endemic groups (e.g., ?Docodonta Reigitheriidae), and others representing 
vicariant types of well known Laurasian Mesozoic lineages (e.g., 
Gondwanatheria as vicariant of Multituberculata). These endemic mammals 
lived as relicts (although advanced) of pangeic lineages when a primordial 
South American continent was still connected to the Antarctic Peninsula and, 
at the northern extreme, near the North American Plate. By the beginning of 
the Late Cretaceous, the volcanic and diastrophic processes that finally led 
to the differentiation of the Caribbean region and Central America built up 
transient geographic connections that permitted the initiation of an 
overland inter-American exchange that included, for example, dinosaurian 
titanosaurs from South America and hadrosaurs from North America. The 
immigration of other vertebrates followed the same route, for example, 
polydolopimorphian marsupials. These marsupials were assumed to have 
differentiated in South America prior to new discoveries from the North 
American Late Cretaceous. The complete extinction of endemic South American 
Mesozoic mammals by the Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene, and the subsequent 
and in part coetaneous immigration of North American therians, respectively, 
represent two major moments in the history of South American mammals: a 
Gondwanan Episode and a South American Episode. The Gondwanan Episode was 
characterized by non- and pre-tribosphenic mammal lineages that descended 
from the Pangeic South American stage (but already with a pronounced 
Gondwanan accent, and wholly extinguished during the Late Cretaceous-Early 
Paleocene span). The South American Episode, in turn, was characterized only 
by therian mammals, mostly emigrated from the North American continent and 
already with a South American accent obtained through isolation. The 
southernmost extreme of South America (Patagonia) remained connected to the 
present Antarctic Peninsula at least up until about 30 Ma., and both 
provided the substratum where the primordial cladogenesis of "South 
American" mammals occurred. The resulting cladogenesis of South American 
therian mammals followed Gould's motto: early experimentation, later 
standardization. That is to say, early cladogenesis engendered a great 
variety of taxa with scarce morphological differentiation. After this early 
cladogenesis (Late Eocene-Early Oligocene), the variety of taxa became 
reduced, but each lineage became clearly recognizable distinctive by a 
constant morphologic pattern. At the same time, those mammals that underwent 
the "early experimentation" were part of communities dominated by archaic 
lineages (e.g., brachydont types among the native "ungulates"), whereas the 
subsequent communities were dominated by mammals of markedly "modern" stamp 
(e.g., protohypsodont types among the native "ungulates"). The Gondwanan and 
South American Episodes were separated by a critical latest 
Cretaceous-earliest Paleocene hiatus, it is as unknown as it is important in 
which South American land-mammal communities must have experienced 
extinction of the Gondwanan mammals and the arrival and radiation of the 
North American marsupials and placentals (with the probable exception of the 
xenarthrans, whose biogeographic origin is still unclear).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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)