Singin' In The New Papers

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

...or "New Papers in the Rain," I suppose (another credit to Sarah S. for 
the title!)

First, a new dromaeosaurid, brought to my attention by Kazuo Takahashi:


Lü, J.-C., Xu, L., Zhang, X.-L., Ji, Q., Jia, S.-H., Hu, W.-Y., Zhang, 
J.-M., and Wu, Y.-H. 2007. New dromaeosaurid dinosaur from the Late 
Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of Luanchuan area, western Henan, China. 
Geological Bulletin of China 26(7):777-786.

ABSTRACT: A new dromaeosaurid dinosaur Luanchuanraptor henanensis gen. et 
sp. nov. is erected based on the following characters: about 24 posterior 
serrations per 5 millimeters on the posterior carnia of teeth; the proximal 
and posterior extensions of the haemal arch are short and trifurcated; the 
elongated prezygapophyses of the distal-most caudal vertebrae wrapped the 
preceding vertebra and the caudal vertebrae bear a low, blade-like neural 
spine between the prezygapophyses; the medial surface of the coracoid is 
strongly concave; the shaft of the humerus is straight and the deltopectoral 
crest extends over almost the proximal half of the humerus. Luanchuanraptor 
henanensis represents the first dromaeosaurid dinosaur found outside the 
Gobi region and northeastern China in Asia.


Then some anatomy stuff:


Tsuihiji, T. 2007. Homologies of the iliocostalis, iliocostalis, and 
hypaxial muscles in the anterior presacral region of extant Diapsida. 
Journal of Morphology 268(11):986-1020. doi: 10.1002/jmor.10565.

ABSTRACT: Homologies of muscles of the m. longissimus and m. iliocostalis 
groups in the dorsal and cervical regions, as well as those of the 
subvertebral muscles and mm. intercostales externi that continue from the 
dorsal into the cervical regions, in extant Diapsida are proposed based on 
detailed dissections and published accounts of lepidosaurs, crocodylians, 
and birds. The morphology of tendons and innervation patterns suggest that 
the avian m. iliocostalis in the dorsal region include the homologs of both 
m. longissimus and m. iliocostalis in non-avian diapsids. The conserved 
nature of the morphology of tendons in palaeognath birds also revealed that 
the avian mm. intertransversarii in the cervical region consist of muscles 
of the both m. longissimus and m. iliocostalis groups despite having been 
treated as a single series of muscles, and thus are not homologous with 
muscles of the same name in Lepidosauria or Crocodylia. The avian mm. 
inclusi that lie medial to mm. intertransversarii are homologous with mm. 
intercostales externi in Lepidosauria and mm. intercostales externi and m. 
scalenus combined in Crocodylia. Innervation patterns suggest that a muscle 
(m. iliocostalis capitis) connecting the atlas rib and occiput in Crocodylia 
includes contributions from the subvertebral layer and m. cucullaris 
complex, and possibly m. iliocostalis as well. The present findings may 
serve as a basis for revising the currently used avian nomenclature so that 
it will reflect homologies of muscles with their non-avian counterparts.



And last, a couple new papers on the Morrison and Cedar Mountain Formations:


Greenhalgh, B.W., and Britt, B.B. 2007. Stratigraphy and sedimentology of 
the Morrison-Cedar Mountain Formation boundary, east-central Utah; pp. 
81-100 in Willis, G.C., Hylland, M.D., Clark, D.L., and Chidsey, T.C., Jr. 
(eds.), Central Utah - Diverse Geology of a Dynamic Landscape. Utah 
Geological Association Publication 36. Utah Geological Association, Salt 
Lake City.

ABSTRACT: The Cedar Mountain Formation has been the focus of numerous 
paleontological and geological studies aimed at understanding Early 
Cretaceous dinosaurs and tectonics. A major problem in these studies is that 
the contact between the Upper Jurassic Morrison and Lower Cretaceous Cedar 
Mountain Formations is notoriously difficult to identify where the Buckhorn 
Conglomerate is absent. Our stratigraphic and sedimentologic analysis of 
these formations in Utah and Colorado permits accurate recognition of this 
previously enigmatic contact. The top of the Morrison Formation is marked by 
increases in chert-pebble lags and channelized conglomerates overprinted by 
paleosols that exhibit iron concentrations, manganesecoated grains, intense 
red-purple-green mottling, and bleaching. These features indicate a period 
of reduced accommodation in the Tithonian.
    Where the basal Cedar Mountain Formation consists of the Buckhorn 
Conglomerate or a pebbly mudstone (debritic facies) of the Yellow Cat 
Member, comprising slightly reworked, angular fragments of Morrison 
Formation regolith, the formational contact occurs at the base of these 
members. The Buckhorn Conglomerate and the debritic Yellow Cat pebbly 
mudstone facies (1) interfinger with each other, indicating time 
equivalancy, (2) typically grade upsection into sandstones, and (3) comprise 
a depositional system that locally removes part or all of the paleosol that 
elsewhere caps the Morrison Formation. In the absence of the Buckhorn and 
debritic Yellow Cat facies, a fine-grained, maroon, calcareous paleosol 
marks the base of the Cedar Mountain Formation.
    A calcrete/silcrete paleosol complex, indicative of a 
multi-million-year depositional hiatus, commonly overprints the top of the 
Buckhorn Conglomerate, portions of the Yellow Cat Member, and in some cases, 
the Morrison Formation paleosol. Above the calcrete, the Cedar Mountain 
Formation consists of finegrained overbank deposits with caliche nodules or 
calcrete horizons (Ruby Ranch Member) and isolated to amalgamated sandstone 
lenses and beds.



Kowallis, B.J., Britt, B.B., Greenhalgh, B.W., and Sprinkel, D.A. 2007. New 
U-Pb zircon ages from an ash bed in the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison 
Formation near Hanksville, Utah; pp. 75-80 in Willis, G.C., Hylland, M.D., 
Clark, D.L., and Chidsey, T.C., Jr. (eds.), Central Utah - Diverse Geology 
of a Dynamic Landscape. Utah Geological Association Publication 36. Utah 
Geological Association, Salt Lake City.

ABSTRACT: A bentonitic ash bed 8.7 m below the top of the Upper Jurassic 
Morrison Formation near Hanksville, Utah, has been dated by laser ablation 
multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and gives a 
single-crystal U-Pb zircon age of 149.0 +2.5/-2.2 Ma. This age is 
statistically the same as the 149.3 ± 0.5 Ma age of an ash bed located 0.5 m 
below the top of the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation near 
Notom, Utah, about 25 km to the west. The Hanksville section has a short 
section of possible Cedar Mountain Formation (between 0.4 and 7.3 m thick) 
on top of the Morrison section. Two young contaminant zircons with a peak 
age of 122.5 Ma in the Brushy Basin ash sample indicate that the Cedar 
Mountain sediments present here are from the lowermost part of the Cedar 
Mountain Formation.


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

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