A new species of Lungfish from the Late Devonian of northwest Australia.

Lungfish are an ancient group of Vertebrates more closely related to the Tetrapods (terrestrial Vertebrates) than to other groups of Fish. They get their name from their ability to breath air, which is useful in anoxic or seasonal waters; all modern species are freshwater and most can no longer use their gills to extract oxygen from water, though ancient Lungfish are known to have originated in fully marine waters. The group have a fossil record dating back to at least the Devonian, and were one of the most numerous Fish groups in the Palaeozoic.

In a paper published in the journal Palaeontology on 9 January 2012, Alice Clement of the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra describes a new species of Lungfish from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation of northern Western Australia.

The Gogo Formation is a Fossil Lagerstätte in the Kimberly Region of Western Australia. It is noted for its diverse fish fauna, which are preserved in limestone concretions, and recovered by slowly dissolving  the concretions in weak acid. The deposits were laid down in anoxic lagoons behind algal reefs in the Late Devonian.

The location and outcrop distribution of the Gogo Formation. Clement (2012).

The new species of Lungfish is described from a single specimen from a limestone concretion from the Long Wells Area. It is placed in the genus Rhinodipterus, which has previously only been known from Europe and Russia, and given the specific name kimberleyensis, meaning 'from Kimberly'.

The skull of Rhinodipterus kimberlyensis in dorsal (A & B) and lateral (C & D) views. B & D are interpretive drawings based upon A & C. Abbreviations: A, skull roof bone A; art.c.r, articulation surface for cranial ribs; art.mnd, articulation surface for mandible; B, skull roof bone B; f.a.orb, foramen for orbital artery; ft.hy, hyomandibular facet; gr.op, groove for ophthalmic superficialis nerve VII; gr.v.jug, groove for jugular vein; hy.sp, facet for hyosuspensory ligament; I, skull roof bone I; J, skull roof bone J; L, skull roof bone L; med.cav, median cavity; n.I, foramen for olfactory nerve I; n.II, foramen

for optic nerve II; n.X, foramen for vagus nerve X; olf, olfactory canals I; orb, position of orbit; p.o.sc, orbital sensory canal pores; p.l, pit line; pr.I, posterior projection of I bone; psph, parasphenoid; qu, quadrate; sc, scales; sp.occ, spino-occipital nerve foramen; t.p, tooth plate; X, skull roof bone X; Y1, skull roof bone Y1; Y2, skull roof bone Y2; Z, skull roof

bone Z. Arrow indicates midline. Clement (2012).

Rhinodipterus kimberlyensis appears to have been a long snouted fish, with limited dentition and oral a mouth that did not open to a very high angle. This implies that it was probably a suction feeder targeting soft-bodied prey. This is a common strategy among modern Fish, and is also the primary feeding method in Walruses.

The skull of Rhinodipterus kimberlyensis in ventral (A & B) anterior (C)  and anterioventral (D) views. B is an interpretive drawing based upon A. Abbreviations: art.c.r, articulation surface for cranial ribs; cr.dl, dorsolateral cristae; cr.m, median crista; crp, corpus of parasphenoid; dent, dentine; ec.cav, extracranial space; ext, anteromedial extension of pterygoid and prearticular tooth plates; ext, anteromedial extension of pterygoid and prearticular tooth plates; f.a.ic, foramen for internal carotid artery; f.a.occ, foramen for occipital artery; f.a.orb, foramen for orbital artery; f.a.ps, foramen for efferent pseudobranchial artery; gr.op, groove for ophthalmic superficialis nerve VII; gr.v.jug, groove for jugular vein; med.cav, median cavity;  n.X, foramen for vagus nerve X; olf, olfactory canals I; psph, parasphenoid; pt, pterygoid; stk, stalk of parasphenoid; t.p, tooth plate; t.r, tooth row. 

See also New species of Devonian Tetrapod from the northeast of Greenland, A novel Coelacanth from the Early Triassic of British Columbia, Live birth in a Middle Triassic Coelacanth, New Tetrapodomorph Fish from the Devonian of Nevada and Boney Fish on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

A Jurassic Turtle bone-bed from the far northwest of China.

Turtles are aquatic reptiles with a shell that encases their body, and into which the head and limbs can be retracted at least partially. They have a fossil record that dates back to the Late Triassic, about 220 million years ago, and they have been an important part of many marine and freshwater ecosystems ever since. Their exact relationship to other reptiles is difficult to determine from morphological evidence since their bodies have become so heavily modified, but genetic studies suggest that they are a sister group to the Archosaurs (Crocodiles, Dinosaurs and Birds).

In a paper published in the journal Naturwissenschaften on 21 October 2012, a team of scientists led by Oliver Wings of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and the Department of Geosciences at Universität Tübingen, describe an extraordinary fossil bone-bed from the Turpan Basin of northern Xinjiang Province in the far northwest of China.

The location of the Turtle bone bed (above) and a photograph of the outcrop (bellow). Wings et al. (2012).

The outcrop is referred to by Wings et al. as 'Messa Chelonia'; it is roughly 25 km east of the city of Shanshan. Fossil turtles were exposed along a 30 m wide outcrop, located by the Sino-German Cooperation Project in 2008. A half meter square block was removed in 2009 and prepared in Shanshan; several more blocks were removed in 2011, but have not yet been worked on.

The deposit is believed to be late Middle Jurassic in age, making it about 165 million years old. All the Turtles present appear to belong to a single species, Annemys sp.. Wings et al. suggest that they died in a mass mortality event around pools in a drying river-bed during a prolonged drought, then were concentrated by a flash flood when the draught broke. 

(a) The material recovered from the Mesa Chelonia site in 2009, and partially prepared within its plaster and burlap case. (b) Schematic drawing of the Turtles within the block; some Turtles are shown which have been removed in the photograph. Wings et al. (2012).

Annemys sp. from the late Middle Jurassic Konzentratlagerstätte at Mesa Chelonia, Xinjiang Autonomous Province, China: (a) carapace and (b) plastron; (c) carapace (d) carapace and (e) plastron; (f) dorsal view and (g) ventral view of skull; (h) position of depicted fossils within the block recovered from the fossil rich inner zone of the Konzentratlagerstätte. Abbreviations: Abd abdominal scute, An anal scute, bo basioccipital, bps basisphenoid, co costal, epi epiplastron, ex exoccipital, Fe femoral scute, fpccc foramen posterius canalis caroticum cerebrale, fpcci foramen posterius canalis caroticum interni, fpccl foramen posterius canalis caroticum laterale, fpp foramen palatinum posterius, fr frontal, Hu humeral scute, hyo hyoplastron, hypo hypoplastron, ju jugal, Ma marginal scute, mx maxilla, na nasal, ne neural, nu nuchal, op opisthotic, pa parietal, pal palatine, Pec pectoral scute, per peripheral, pf prefrontal, Pl pleural scute, pmx premaxilla, po postorbital, pro prootic, pt pterygoid, qu quadrate, so supraoccipital, sq squamosal, V vertebral scute, vo vomer, xi xiphiplastron. Wings et al. (2012).

Wings et al. estimate that the bone bed covers an area of at least 20 m², and contains at least 720 Turtles, and may be as large as 236 m², with as many as 1800 Turtles.

See also The death of Lonesome George and the extinction of the Pinta Island Giant Tortoise, An Eucryptodiran Turtle from the Early Cretaceous of Spain, A new species of Giant Side-Necked Turtle from the Palaeocene of Columbia and Reptiles on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

A fossil Bird from the Eocene of Guangdong Province China.

Birds, on the whole, do not have a good fossil record, as they tend to be small, have delicate skeletons, and do not typically live in environments with good preservational potential. As a rule birds will not enter the fossil record unless they are rapidly buried anoxic sediments, which is tricky as such sediments are typically only found under water, and dead birds tend to float.

In a paper published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica on 25 June 2012, Min Wang, Jiangyong Zhang and Zhonghe Zhou of the Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Gerald Mayr of the Sektion Ornithologie at Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg describe a new species of Bird from a single leg found in the black oil shales of the Middle Eocene Huayong Formation of the Sanshui Basin in Guangdong Province, southern China.

 The new specimen is named Sanshuiornis zhangi, where Sanshuiornis means 'bird from Sanshui' and zhangi honours Xianqiu Zhang, a local geologist, who discovered the locality. the species is described from the reasonably intact bones of a single right leg. The limb resembles that of a Ciconid Bird (Heron or Bittern) but after careful examination of the limb, Wang et al. did not feel able to place the limb precisely within the Ciconiidae with any confidence, and instead choose to place it within a larger grouping that includes the Ciconiidae, as well as the Threskiornithidae (Ibises and Spoonbills) and the Phoenicopteridae (Flamingos).

Photograph (top) and interpretive line drawing (bottom) of Sanshuiornis zhangi. Wang et al. (2012).

See also Fossil Owls from the La Brea Tar Pits, Was Archaeopteryx black? A new fossil bird from the Palaeocene of Brazil, How did raptors use their claws? (and did it help them learn to fly?) and Birds on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Kelmayisaurus petrolicus reconsidered.

Kelmayisaurus petrolicus was described in 1973 by ZM Dong in 1973, based upon a single fragmentary pair of jaws from the Early Cretaceous Junggar Basin in Xinjiang Province. It appears to have been a large theropod dinosaur, similar in size to Allosaurus, though the remains are to limited for any real estimate of scale to be attempted.

Map showing the location of the Junggar Basin. Han et al. (2009).

Since this time our understanding of Cretaceous Therapods has increased spectacularly, with completely novel groups being discovered, and the biology of others being revised completely, so that we now have a picture of a far more diverse group of animals than was the case in the early 1970s.

In a paper in the March 2012 edition of the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, Stephen Brusatte of the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, Roger Benson of the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London and Xing Xu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, re-examine Kelmayisaurus petrolicus to determine whether it can genuinely be considered a separate species (which has been disputed), and what its taxonomic position is.

(A) Left maxilla (upper jaw) of Kelmayisaurus petrolicus in (A₁) lateral, (A₂) medial and (A₃) ventral view. (m1) first maxillary tooth, (m6) sixth maxillary tooth. Scale bar 5 mm. (B) Left Dentary of Kelmayisaurus petrolicus in (B₁) lateral, (B₂) medial and (B₃) dorsal view. (d15) fifteenth dentary tooth, (d2) second dentary tooth. Scale bar 5 mm. Brusatte et al. (2012).

Brusatte et al. concluded that although the remains of Kelmayisaurus petrolicus are extremely fragmentary, they are sufficient for taxonomic analysis, with enough material preserved to exclude K. petrolicus from any other described species, and attempt to place it on the Therapod family tree. They conclude K. petrolicus is an early Carcharodontosaurid, a member of a group of dinosaurs previously thought to be exclusively Gondwanan in distribution (i.e. restricted to Gondwanaland, a Late Mesozoic super-continent comprised of the modern continents of South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica), but which have recently been found at several locations in Eurasia. K. petrolicus could potentially be the oldest Eurasian member of the group, though it is not very precisely dated, probably being somewhere between 140 and 99.6 million years old, so unless further material comes to light this cannot be determined.

See also The bite of T. rex, A review of Jurassic Tyrannosauriods leads to the description of a new genus, The fore-limbs of Majungasaurus, How did raptors use their claws? (and did it help them learn to fly?) and Dinosaurs on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

Preserved Trilobite digestive tracts from the Middle Cambrian of Utah.

Trilobites were a group of Arthropods that flourished throughout the Palaeozoic, but died out at the end of the Permian. They are abundant and well studied fossils, but little is known of their internal anatomies.

In a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE on 14 March 2012, a team of scientists led by Rudy Lerosey-Aubril of the Department of Palaeontology and Historical Geology at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main, describe the discovery of a large number of Trilobites belonging to three distinct species, found with well preserved digestive tracts in the Middle Cambrian Weeks Formation in Utah.

The Weeks Formation is a conservation Lagerstätten in the House Range of Central Utah, noted for producing well preserved trilobites and other arthropods. It is well known by, and popular with, amateur fossil collectors, but has received little academic attention.

Lerosey-Aubril et al. report the presence of entire preserved digestive tracts in a large number of Trilobites of the species Meniscopsia beebei, Coosella kieri and Genevievella granulatus, as well as a number of non-trilobite arthropods. These reveal the trilobites had simpler digestive systems than modern Chelicerates (the group that includes Trilobites, Horseshoe Crabs and Arachnids).

Photographs (above) and interpretive drawings of two specimens of Meniscopsia beebei. Scale bars 5 mm. Pairs of digestive caeca are numbered from front to rear. From Lerosey-Aubril et al. (2012).

The digestive tracts of the trilobites are phosphatized, a common form of preservation in Cambrian fossils, but not one which is usually so selective; none of these Trilobites show soft-tissue preservation beyond the digestive system, and their exoskeletons, usually the best preserved part of trilobites, are thin and poorly preserved. This form of preservation in a single specimen might not attract much attention, but in a large number of fossils is remarkable, and suggests there was something special about the digestive tracts of these Trilobites.

The most obvious solution to this would be if the Trilobites were ingesting a large amount of phosphates in their diet. Since there are no entire preserved phophatized organisms in the Weeks Formation, this is unlikely to be from a prey item, though it could be from ingested phosphor-rich sediments. However only a single specimen was found with evidence of sediment in its gut, suggesting that they did not generally ingest sediment as part of their normal behavior.

Lerosey-Aubril et al. suggest that the Trilobites may have used their guts as a reserve of phosphate minerals while going through their molt cycle. Modern Crustaceans withdraw minerals from their shells before molting, so it is not unreasonable to assume that more heavily biomineralized Trilobites would have done the same, and that they would have needed a reserve in which to store the absorbed minerals (something some modern Crustaceans also do).

Digestive system of the trilobite Meniscopsia beebei in dorsal, right lateral, and ventral views (from left to right). The foregut and hindgut are in bright pink, the midgut tract in blue-violet, and the midgut caeca/glands in lavender. From Lerosey-Aubril et al. (2012).

See also A partial Marrellomorph Arthropod from Western Queensland and Mysterious new animal from the Burgess Shale.

Section of White Cliffs of Dover collapses into the sea.

On Friday 9 March 2012 a large part of the White Cliffs of Dover, in the Crab Bay area, between Langdon Cliffs and the South Foreland Lighthouse fell into the sea. This is thought to be a result of water soaking into the porous chalk, then freezing, cracking the rock of the cliff face. Such events are not unusual; the last such event at Dover being in January 2011, though they are dramatic, and can be alarming and even dangerous.

The section of collapsed cliffs. Kent Messenger.

While such events are hazardous, and coastal erosion a concern for communities in the areas where it occurs, they are not without their positive side. Without periodic collapses the White Cliffs turn green with algae that grows on the surface of the chalk. Cliff collapses are also interesting to palaeontologists and fossil collectors, as they expose fossils that have been buried within the cliffs. This can sometimes be hazardous in itself, as the best time to collect fossils is soon - before the sea starts to erode the rockfalls away. Inexperienced fossil hunters should always seek advice before approaching a recent cliff face.

Fossil nautiloid from the chalk near Dover. UK Fossil Network.

Sea Urchin from the chalk near Dover. UK Fossil Network.

Irregular Ammonite from the chalk near Dover. UK Fossil Network.

Helodermatid Lizard from the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene of Tennessee.

Helodermatid Lizards are the only extant lizards that are truly venomous (Monitor Lizards such as the Komodo Dragon, Varanus komodoensis, deliver a bite laced with harmful bacteria, but are not actually venomous). There are two extant groups of Helodermatid Lizards; the Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum, and Mexican Bearded Lizard, Heloderma horridum, currently restricted to the southwestern United States, western Mexico and Central America, where they inhabit deserts and semi-deserts as well as dry woodlands and grasslands, and the Bearded Lizards of the genus Pogona, which occupy similar areas in Australia.

The Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum. A. Holycross/Reptiles of Arizona.

Helodermatid Lizards have distinctive osteoderms (bony plates in their skin) that are circular or hexagonal, dome shaped, and cover their entire body, fusing to the skull on the head. This is not seen in any other form of lizard, making fossil Helodermatid Lizards easy to identify (though these are not numerous, the group having apparently never been numerous).

The skull of The Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum, showing the fused osteoderms. Will's Skull Page.

In a paper in the March edition of the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, a team of scientists from the Department of Geosciences and the Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology at East Tennessee State University led by Jim Mead describe the discovery of Helodermatid Lizard osteoderms from the Miocene-Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site in Washington County, Tennessee. These are not enough to identify the lizards to species level but are distinctive enough that they can only come from a Helodermatid Lizard.

Osteoderms from the Gray Fossil Site (A-C) and the extant Mexican Bearded Lizard, Heloderma horridum (D-F). A-C₁ and D-F₁ apical view, C₂ & F₂ basal views of C₁ & F₁. From Mead et al. (2012).

The Gray Fossil Site was laid down in a sub-tropical forest at the boundary between the Miocene and the Pliocene. The forest was made up largely of Oaks (Quercus) and Hickory Trees (Carya) with some conifers, Elms (Ulmas), Birches (Betula), Ash (Fraxinus), Hackberry (Celtis), Alder (Alnus) and Willow (Salix). It had an understory of Buttercup Shrub (Corylopsis) and numerous vines including three types of wild grapes (Vitis) and Sinomenium, a woody vine today restricted to lowland tropical and subtropical forests in East Asia.

It is not clear whether the Gray Fossil Site Forest was a wet or dry ecosystem; some of the plant species there, such as Alders, are known to prefer wetlands others, such as grapes, prefer a drier climate. The animal fossils from the site include Alligator, and lungless Plethodontid Salamanders, which would tend to suggest a moister climate, but the presence of Helodermatid Lizard osteoderms, would suggest a drier climate over at least part of the forrest, it the animals had similar environmental preferences to today.

The location of the Gray Fossil Site. From Shunk, Driese & Clark (2006).

The earliest Helodermatid Lizard known is Primaderma nessovi from the Early Cretaceous of Utah. Other Cretaceous forms known are Paraderma bogerti from Wyoming, and Gobiderma pulchrum and Estesia mongoliensis, both from Mongolia. Known Tertiary forms are Eurheloderma from the Palaeocene of Wyoming, Eurheloderma gallicum from the Eocene of France, Lowesaurus matthewi from the Oligocene to Early Miocene of Colorado and Nebraska, Heloderma texana from the Miocene of Texas and some unnamed Miocene remains from Florida.

Fossil Helodermatid Lizard ellements (A) Left maxilla (upper jaw bone) from Eurheloderma gallicum, from the Eocene Phosphorites du Quercy of France. (B) Right maxilla of same. (C) Maxilla of Paraderma bogerti, from the Early Cretaceous of Wyoming. (D) Right frontal (forehead bone) of Lowesaurus matthewi, from the Oligocene White River Formation of Logan County, Colorado. (E) Cranial bone of Heloderma texana, from the Miocene Delaho Formation of Texas. (F) Skull of same. (G) Right maxilla of (D). From Mead et al. (2012).

This suggests that Helodermatid Lizards originated in what is now Eurasia or North America before the breakup of Pangaea in the Jurassic, and that the common ancestor of Australian and North American Helodermatid Lizards lived in the Cretaceous (rather than having a later, Gondwanan origin and reaching North America from the south with the join-up of the Americas at the beginning of the Pliocene). This would suggest that the preference for hot, dry climates is fairly ancient within the group, making it likely that at least part of the Gray Fossil Site Forest had a dry climate.

Ventral view of the skull of the Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum, with osteoderms in place. From Mead et al. (2012).

The end of the Miocene and beginning of the Pliocene was a time of global cooling, as North and South America were joined by Central America, preventing the flow of ocean currents between the tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans (from this time onwards, all flow between Oceans has been in Antarctic waters). It also saw the spreading of grasslands replacing forests in many parts of the world, and the mixing of North and South American faunas.

See also A new Bent-toed Gecko from Western Australia, New Miniature Chameleons from Madagascar and Reptiles on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

New Penguins from the Oligocene of New Zealand.

Penguins are thought to have originated in New Zealand and subsequently spread to other parts of the Southern Hemisphere. Certainly both modern and fossil Penguins are at their most diverse in New Zealand. A large number of fossil penguins have been described from New Zealand, although, as is often the case with fossil birds, many of these are fragmentary in nature.

In a paper in the March 2012 edition of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology a team of scientists lead by Daniel Ksepka of the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University describe a new genus of Penguins from the late Oligocene Kokoamu Greensand of North Otago and South Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand. Two species are described within this genus, and a number of previously described, fragmentary penguins from museum collections are referred to it without attempting to classify them to the species level.

The new genus is described as Kairuku, meaning the diver who brings food in Maori. It is divided into two species, named K. waitaki, named for the Waitaki River (which translates as 'river of tears') and K. grebneffi, after Andrew Grebneff, a palaeontologist at the University of Otago who died in 2010.

Skeletal elements from Kairuku waitaki & Kairuku grebneffi. (A & B) Beak tip of K. waitaki in dorsal and lateral views. (C & D) Beak tip of K. grebneffi in dorsal and lateral views. (E & F) Right quadrat of K. waitaki in cranial and caudal view. (G & H) Mandible of K. waitaki in dorsal and lateral view. (I) Right lacrimal of K. waitaki in lateral view. (J) Atlas of K. waitaki in cranial view. (K, L & M) Right coracoid of K. grebneffi in ventral, proximal and dorsal views. (N & O) Left coracoid of K. waitaki in dorsal and ventral views. (P) Omal portion of the scapula of K. grebneffi. (Q) Omal portion of the furcula of K. grebneffi. (R, S & T) Sternum of K. grebneffi in ventral, lateral and dorsal views. (U & V) Sternal trebecula of K. waitaki in ventral and dorsal views. (W) Sternal fragment of K. waitaki in cranial view. Abbreviations: am, tubercle for m. adductor mandibulae externus pars profunda; cl, cotyla lateralis; cm, cotyla medialis; co, capitulum oticum; cq, cotyla quadratojugalis; cr, crest on sternum; cs, cotyla scapularis; csq, capitulum squamosum; dep, depression on processus acrocoracoideus; f, furrow; fas(l/m), facies articularis sternalis (lateral and medial); j, articular facet for jugal; il, incisurae costalis; pl, processus lateralis; po, processus orbitalis; pr, processus retroarticularis; sac, sulcus articularlis coracoideus; tl, trabecula lateralis. From Ksepka et al. (2012).

Both birds were identifies from riverine, rather than marine, sediments suggesting that these early penguins may have been freshwater dwellers. The skeletons are far more complete than many previous fossil penguins, allowing for a more complete model of the living birds to be constructed than has previously been the case.

Reconstruction of Kairuku sp. by Chris Gaskin of the Geology Museum at the University of Otago.

The birds are clearly adapted for the 'underwater swimming' lifestyle of penguins, though the proportions are somewhat different to those of modern species. Previous fossil penguins from New Zealand have been described as 'Giant Penguins' based upon single large bones. Ksepka et al. question the wisdom of this, since the proportions of ancient penguins are not the same as those of modern penguins, individual large bones do not necessarily translate into particularly large birds.

They estimate that in order to be described as a Giant Penguin then a bird would have to be known to be as large as, or larger than, the modern Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). They felt able to estimate a size for only one of the new species, K. grebneffi, at 1.28 m tall. The Emperor Penguin is often described as reaching 1.5 m in height, though Ksepka et al. note that this is at odds with specimens preserved in museums, and recorded by scientists in the field, which range from 83 to 115 cm in height. By these standards K. grebneffi is indeed a Giant Penguin, though this is somewhat less impressive than some previous claims for fossil birds.

The sternum and coracoids of (A) Kairuku grebneffi and (B) The modern Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). From Ksepka et al. (2012).

See also The Penguins of Africa and Birds on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

A partial Marrellomorph Arthropod from Western Queensland.

The Marrellomophs were early Arthropods, best known from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia, but with specimens being known from the UK, Morocco and China as well. They are not particularly well understood, as they were soft bodied and only entered the fossil record in sites of exceptional fossil preservation (Fossil Lagerstätte), but it is thought they may have formed an important part of Early Palaeozoic ecosystems, and that they can shed light on the evolution of they earliest Arthropods.

In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica a team of scientists lead by Joachim Haug of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University describe the discovery of a partial specimen of a Marellomorph Arthropod from Mount Murray in Western Queensland.

The new specimen has been named as Austromarrella klausmuelleri, meaning Klaus Müller's Southern Marrella. Klaus Müller was the discoverer of the Orsten Fossil Assemblage in Sweden (more on this bellow), and Marrella was the first genus of Marrellomorph described (from the Burgess Shale, by Charles Dolittle Walcott) and which gives the group its name. It is identified on the basis of a partial limb fragment 970 μm (0.97 mm) in length, from an 'Orsten-type' nodule studied by electron-microscopy at the Central Unit for Electron Microscopy at the University of Ulm.

Scanning electron microscope images of Austromarrella klausmuelleri. (A) Median or lateral view (without the whole specimen it is unclear which). (B) Anterior or posterior view. (C) Median or lateral view; the other side to 'A'. (D-F) Details of spine, as indicated on 'B'. From Haug et al. (2012).

'Orsten-type' preservation refers to the type of preservation first described from the Orsten Fossil Assemblage of Sweden, in which small, early Palaeozoic fossils, generally presumed to be interstitial life-forms, are preserved as highly detailed three-dimensional phosphate casts. This is attributed to the activities of bacteria that coated the original organisms (of which nothing remains), and preserved themselves via a phosphatization process. This type of preservation is not found in more recent deposits, where sediments are constantly reworked by larger organisms, but provides a unique view of the interstitial fauna of the Cambrian. Interstitial animals that live in between the particles of marine sediments, they are little understood, but are the most abundant animals on Earth (everything you ever read telling you that insects were the Earth's most abundant animals was wrong, several different groups of interstitial animals are now known to vastly outnumber them) and are similarly important in ecological terms. Such animals have almost no fossil record, so Orsten-type deposits are highly valued by palaeontologists.

Austromarrella klausmuelleri is interpreted to have been an interstitial animal 4-9 mm in length. This expands the ecological niches known to have been used by Cambrian Marrellomorphs, since the Burgess Shale and other specimens, while not large, are interpreted as living on the surface of the sea floor or in the water column. It is quite possible that this single specimen is not a mature animal, and that part of its life cycle was spent in a different environment, but there is no way of resolving this without further specimens.

See also The oldest animals - Pre-Ediacaran Sponges from Namibia(?) Geology Today to hold online Minerals and Fossils Event, Did the first land plants cause an Ordovician glaciation? Mysterious new animal from the Burgess Shale and The Ediacaran Fauna; not animals after all?

Fossil Owls from the La Brea Tar Pits.

The La Brea Tar Pits are located in what is now central Los Angeles, California. They are essentially oil deposits identical to those worked by oil drills in other parts of the world, but exposed at the surface. When oil deposits are exposed in this way the lighter fractions (crude oil is made up of a mixture of different oils, known as 'fractions' due to the process used to separate them, fractional distillation) such as petroleum evaporate off, leaving the heavier fractions, known as tar, or asphalt, behind. These form oily pools in which animals can become trapped. The La Brea Tar Pits appear to have been exposed at least intermittently at the surface for around 40 000 years, during which time a great number of animals have fallen into them.

Owls are not well represented in the La Brea Tar Pit deposits for a number of reasons, though they are some of the most abundant predators in the sort of open woodland terrain in which the deposits formed. Firstly, like all birds, owls have lightweight, fragile skeletons, ideal for flight, but giving them poor preservational potential. Secondly there is collection bias; the deposits have been heavily excavated for fossils since their discovery in 1875, however for much of that time collectors concentrated on big, prestigious, fossils such as mammoths and saber-toothed cats; many small fossils were simply discarded and lost. Finally there is the behavior of owls themselves. Predators are well represented in the Tar Pits deposits, it is thought because many became trapped while scavenging on the bodies of other trapped animals. Owls, however do not forage for carrion, they hunt living prey, mostly insects and small mammals. Such animals, if court in tar, will expire rapidly, and owls will ignore non-moving prey items. In addition owls live primarily in trees and spend little time on the ground, making them less likely to become trapped in tar pits.

Despite all this a number of owls have been described from the La Brea Tar Pit deposits. Prior to now these have been divided into nine species, eight still extant and one unique to the Tar Pits. In a review of the known owl fossils from the La Brea deposits, Kenneth Campbell of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and Zbigniew Bocheński of the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals at the Polish Academy of Sciences, to be published in a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, conclude that two previously undescribed species of miniature owls have are present in the collections, and formerly describe those species.

Both the new species are described from their leg bones; not unusual with bird fossils, since the leg bones are generally those that survive as fossils best, which makes it easy to see why the fossils were overlooked by non-owl specialists.

The first new owl was assigned to the genus Glaucidium (pygmy owls) and named as Glaucidium kurochkini; Kurochkin's Pygmy Owl, in honor of the late Russian palaeornothologist Evgeny Kurochkin. Campbell and Bocheńska calculate the living owl would have weighed about 71.4 g, and assign 12 specimens to the new species.

Tarsometatarsals from (A) Glaucidium kurochkini and (B) the extant Glaucidium californicum. From Campbell and Bocheńska (2012).

The second owl was placed in the new genus Asphaltoglaux (Asphalt Owls, in reference to the Tar Pits) and named Asphaltoglaux cecileae, or Cécile's Asphalt Owl, in honor of the French palaeornithologist Cécile Mourer-Chauviré, of the Université Claude Bernard in Lyon. Campbell and Bocheńska estimate Asphaltoglaux cecileae would have been a robust bird, weighing about 78.2 g.

Tarsometatarsals from (A) Asphaltoglaux cecileae and (B) the extant Aegolius acadicus. From Campbell and Bocheńska (2012).

See also The Penguins of Africa, Was Archaeopteryx black? A new fossil bird from the Palaeocene of Brazil, How did raptors use their claws? (and did it help them learn to fly?) and Birds on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

What Jurassic Katydids did.

Reconstructing the sounds made by ancient organisms is not something that palaeontologists can normally attempt. There are some fairly well published studies on Hadrosaurs, which suggest that if they had chosen to blow air through their head structures then they would have made a haunting, plaintive, tooting noise, but we have no real way to tell if they actually did this. Other than that we have very little idea what the Mesozoic sounded like. Model dinosaurs in museums often produce roaring noises, but there is no evidence to support this (to the general annoyance of palaeontologists).

On 6 February 2012 a paper appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team lead by Jun-Jie Gu of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University in Beijing and Fernando Montealegre-Zapata of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol in which they describe for the first time a species of Katydid insect from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, and are able to make deductions about the noises it would have made.

Katydids, or Bush Crickets, are largish, nocturnal, insects related to crickets and grasshoppers. Modern Katydids are found throughout the tropics, and temperate North America. They have a varied range of diets, with herbiverous, detrivorous, omnivorous and carnivorous members of the group, and pursue a similarly wide range of lifestyles. The males attract mates from ground-based perches, using species-specific calls, made by rubbing the edges of their wings together; the left wing has a 'file' structure,which is rubbed over sounding cells on the right wing. A fossil species from the Lower Tertiary of Denmark, Pseudotettigonia amoena appears to have used its wings to produce sound in the same way as modern Katydids.

The newly described species, named as Archaboilus musicus, comes from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia, making it roughly 165 million years old. It is not the first species of Archaboilus to have been described, but is apparently the first species for which a reconstruction of the possible musical ability has been possible; the name musicus means musical. Unlike modern Katydids it seems to have had both files and sounding cells on each wing (this is seen in the related Hump-winged grigs of North America).

The wings of Archaboilus musicus, (A-D) photographs and line drawings of the left and right wings, showing wing venation. Red arrows show the locations of the files. (E) Detail of left File. (F) Detail of right file. From Gu et al. (2012).

From the anatomy of the preserved wings Gu et al. have been able to reconstruct the song of Archaboilus musicus. They interpret this as being a mono-tone chirp, deeper than the chirp of modern Katydids, but well suited to the open coniferous woodland in which A. musicus lived; in such an environment the call would have carried a long way.

Geology Today to hold online Minerals and Fossils Event.

Geology Today is published by Wiley Blackwell on behalf of the Geological Society of London (the UK's main professional body for geologists) and the Geologists' Association (the UK's main non-professional geological organization). It contains articles about current developments in the geological sciences written by experts for the general reader, as well as news about the geological community, and regular features on fossils, minerals etc.

From 5-16 March 2012 Geology Today is hosting an online Minerals and Fossils Explained event, which will enable students & members of the public to participate in a geosciences conference, without having to travel (scientific conferences within easy distance are a once in a lifetime event and not to be missed; the Palaeontological Association held one a mile from where I was living two years ago - and I spent the entire two weeks in bed with Swine Flu). The event will feature online discussions on common & interesting fossil groups hosted by experts in the field.

5 March will see an opening session, followed by online discussions on Taphonomy (the study of fossilization processes) and Fossil Lagerstätten (exceptionally well preserved and plentiful fossil deposits), followed by discussions on three particularly famous fossil assemblages; the Ediacaran Biota (well preserved, but enigmatic Precambrian Fossils that may, or may not, represent the earliest multicellular animals in the fossil record), the Burgess Shale (exceptionally well preserved Early Cambrian fossils from British Columbia, with many soft bodied animals) and the Lady Burn Starfish Beds, a site in Southeast Scotland noted for exceptionally well preserved Ordovician invertebrates, particularly trilobites and echinoderms. On the mineral side there will be discussions on alpha-quartz (or to the layman, quartz), Opel, Alkali Feldspar and Plagioclase Feldspar.

Echinoderm from the Lady Burn Starfish Beds. Huntarian Museum and Art Gallery.

7 March will see discussions on notable groups of Palaeozoic Invertebrates; Trilobites, Graptolites, Brachiopods, Crinoids and Eurypterids (water scorpions), and on the mineral side Olivine Group minerals, Amphiboles, Micas, Garnets and Kyanite.

Olivine, (Mg,Fe)₂SiO₄. School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton.

9 March will see discussions on prominent groups of Mesozoic Invertebrates; Belemnites, Nautiloids, Bivalves, Rudists (a group of reef-forming bivalves that went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous) and Sea Urchins. On the mineral side there will be discussions on Calcite, Dolomite, Baryite, Gypsum and Fluorite.

A preserved Late Cretaceous Rudist Bivalve Reef, near Isona in Spain. Paul Harnik, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

12 March will see discussions on Cenozoic Invertebrates, namely; Gastropods, Barnacles, Bryozoans, Benthic Forminifera and the Palaeontology of Amber. On the mineral side there will be discussions on Hematite, Galena, Sphalerite, Pyrite, Azurite and Malachite.

Malachite with Azurite crystals. Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle.

14 March will see discussions on Vertebrate groups, notably Anaspid (Jawless) Fish, Ichthyosaurs, Therapod Dinosaurs, Azhdarchid pterosaurs and Saber-toothed Cats. The mineral side will see discussions on naturally occurring pure elements, Graphite (carbon), Copper, Silver, Sulphur and Gold.

The event will close on 16 March.

The experts hosting the discussions will be:

Peter Doyle, palaeontologist and geologist, of University College London and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Greenwich, the Editor in Chief of Geology Today and Lethaia, and a prolific author in the geosciences field.

Duncan Pirrie, mineralogist and geologist, of the Cambourne School of Mines at the University of Exeter, and deputy editor of Geology Today.

Craig Barrie, mineralogist and geochemist, of the Mineralogical Society of the UK and Ireland and a member of the editorial board at Geology Today.

Howard Falcon-Lang, palaeobotonist and palaeontologist, of Royal Holloway, University of London and the University of Munster, a member of the editorial board at Geology Today and science writer for BBC News Online.

Jamie Pringle, geophysicist and sedimentary geologist, of the Keele University and a member of the editorial board at Geology Today.

Colin Prosser, geologist and palaeontologist, of Natural England and a member of the editorial board at Geology Today.

Jon Radley, geologist, of Warwickshire Museum and the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham and a member of the editorial board at Geology Today.

Hugh Rollinson, mineralogist, petrologist and geochemist, of the University of Derby and a member of the editorial board at Geology Today.

You can sign up for the event here.

A Pachycormiform Fish from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale.

The Pachycormiform Fish were large Teleost (Ray-finned) fish from the Mesozoic. One group of these fish appears to have taken up filter-feeding, and reached very large sizes, at least 8m, with estimates for one species (Leedsicthys) of up to 27 m (bigger than an average, though not the largest, Blue Whale). The non-filter-feeding members of the group were pelagic predators superficially resembling modern Barracuda.

Issue 279 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B contains a paper by Matt Friedmann of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, reexamines a Pachycormiform Fish from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Southern Germany. This fish, Ohmdenia multidentata, is known from a single fragmentary skeleton held at the Institut für Geowissenschaften at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. It is thought to be the sister species to the filter-feeding Pachycormiform Fish, that is to say the closest relative of the group that is not actually a member of it.

Ohmdenia multidentata. (a) Specimen photograph. (b) Interpretive drawing. (c) Reconstruction. Belemnites associated with abdominal region are shaded in grey and marked with an asterisk (‘*’) in (b). a.f, anal fin; ang, angular; c.f, caudal fin; cle, cleithrum; den, dentary; ?epb, possible epibranchials; hym, hyomandibular; ipb, infrapharyngobranchial; max, maxilla; op, opercle; p.f, pectoral fin; pop, preopercle; qu, quadrate; rad, pectoral radial; sang, surangular; scl, supracleithra; sclr, sclerotic ring. From Friedmann (2012).

Ohmdenia lived at the same time as the earliest filter-feeding Pachycormiforms, but as there closest relative still has the potential to shed light on how their ancestors lived. Unlike most non-filter-feeding Pachycormiforms, which had needle or blade-shaped teeth, Ohmdenia had blunted teeth, of a type usually associated with a diet of soft-bodied cephalopods (squid and octopus), suggesting that switching to such a diet may have been a stage on the way to filter-feeding.

Friedmann also suggests that such a change in diet may have occurred in other groups that have switched from a pelagic predatory diet to a filter feeding one, such as whales and sharks.

See also A living fossil eel discovered in Palau, Fossil beaked whales from the seafloor of the Southern Indian Ocean, Fishermen targeting tuna in East Timor at least 42 000 years ago, A Pregnant Plesiosaur, The Weymouth Pliosaur and Boney Fish on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.

The Penguins of Africa.

A single species of Penguin, Spheniscus demersus, or the Blackfooted Penguin, lives in Southern Africa today, though two species, Nucleornis insolitus and Inguza predemersus are known to have lived there in the Early Pliocene. It has generally been assumed that the modern Penguins are descendants of the fossil penguins, though since they are also clearly closely related to other Penguins of the genus Spheniscus, which live in South America and the Galapagos, it is difficult to say what the exact relationship is.

Issue 279 of the Proceedings Of The Royal Society B contains a paper by Daniel Ksepka of the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University and the Department of Zoology at the University of Cape Town and Daniel Thomas of the Department of Paleontology at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in which they describe the results of a thorough investigation into South Africa's Penguins and the conclusions derived from this.

Reconstruction of the Pliocene Penguin Inguza predemersus (right) with a modern Blackfooted Penguin (left) for scale. From Ksepska and Thomas (2012).

Ksepska and Thomas examined over 200 fossil Penguins from the Iziko South African Museum collections, and compared them to recent and fossil penguins from South Africa and elsewhere. The came to the conclusion that modern Blackfooted Penguins are closely related to the Chinstrap Penguins of South America and the Galapagos, but not closely related to either of the fossil Penguins, and certainly not descended from either. Nor are the two extinct forms closely related.

This means that Penguins have invaded Africa on at least three separate occasions, something that Ksepska and Thomas examined next. Penguins appear first in the fossil record of New Zealand, but by the end of the Eocene are widespread in Antarctia, Australia and South America. They do not appear in Africa until the Early Pliocene, 30 million years later, and have never reached Madagascar of the Northern Hemisphere.

The inability of Penguins to colonize the Northern Hemisphere is the easiest to explain. Currents around the equator tend to flow away from it; in the Northern Hemisphere to the north and in the Southern Hemisphere to the south. There are also strong thermoclines to cross; water forms 'streams' within the ocean (such as the Gulf Stream) dependent on temperature, things flow easily within these streams, but it is hard to cross from one to the other. Similarly Madagascar is separated from Africa by the strong Agulhas Current, which sweeps away from Madagascar.

Africa can be reached from South America by the South Atlantic Current and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, but these currents have not always flowed on their current paths. Prior to the Pliocene Antarctica and South America were still connected together; the Antarctic Peninsula was attached to the tip of Patagonia. This stopped the flow of the Antarctic Current, and trapped Penguins in the South Pacific. After the continents broke apart the Penguins were free to colonize the South Atlantic and soon reached Africa.

Map of the South Atlantic showing the prevalent currents and fronts. Dots show the location of modern Blackfooted Penguin colonies, and open stars locations where fossil Penguins have been found. From Ksepska and Thomas (2012).

Next Ksepska and Thomas looked at the extinction of the Pliocene Penguins. It is of course impossible to state the exact causes of such extinctions with absolute confidence, but this does not stop scientists from attempting to come up with plausible scenarios. During the Early Pliocene the sea-level was about 90 m higher than it is now. At the end of the Early Pliocene it dropped sharply, due to the increasing glaciation of Antarctica; another consequence of the separation of South America and Antarctica, which enabled the developing Circumpolar Current to isolate the southern continent in its own climatic zone, and caused the temperature to plummet. Ksepska and Thomas theorize that the Pliocene African Penguins may have been dependent on offshore islands as breeding grounds, and that either the falling waters left them vulnerable to African predators that they were unable to cope with, or that fluctuating sea levels associated with the changing climate left them unable to find safe nesting sites.

See also Was Archaeopteryx black? A new fossil bird from the Palaeocene of Brazil, Giant Bird from the Cretaceous of Kazakhstan, New 'oldest bird' found in China and Birds on Sciency Thoughts YouTube.