Megamouth Shark Morphometrics
Krak and Shimada use geometric morphometrics to reconstruct extinct megamouth shark tooth rows
Allonia from the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation of Utah
Foster, Howells and Sroka report new details of early sponge-like animals from a spectacularly-preserved specimen from the Cambrian of western Utah.
Death Valley Devonian Acanthodians
A new stem chondrichthyan fauna from the Lost Burro Formation of California by Carole J. Burrow and David K. Elliot.
Toxochelys latiremis Cope, 1873
First report of this turtle from the Cretaceous of Alabama, USA by Andrew Gentry and Jun Ebersole.
Calliovarica oregonensis Hickman
A new species of chilodontid gastropod from the Eocene of Oregon, USA by Carole S. Hickman.
An EPICC contribution!
Annotated list of the Cenozoic marine formations of the Pacific Northwest by Liz Nesbitt.
Use of machine learning to classify extant apes!
Monson et al. apply machine learning using dental morphology to classify extant apes and shed light on the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor.
New subadult skull specimen of Euclastes wielandi Hay, 1908 from the Cretaceous of New Jersey, USA!
New study of a subadult skull by P. Ullmann, Z. Boles and M. Knell provides insights into the cranial morphology and intraspecific variation in the Cretaceous pan-cheloniid turtle Euclastes wielandi.
Cimolestids (Mammalia) from the Paleocene of Montana!
New report on Puercolestes and Betonnia, two cimolestids from the early Paleocene (Puercan) of northeastern Montana, U.S.A. by William A. Clemens.
Eocene cassid gastropods from North America!
A reassessment by Richard Squires of Eocene warm-water cassid gastropods (Family Cassidae) from North America and implications for their paleogeographic distribution and faunal turnover following the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Late Eocene elasmobranchs from Aiken County, South Carolina, USA!
Cicimurri and Knight describe new material of sharks and rays (elasmobrachs) from the Dry Branch Formation of Aiken County, South Carolina USA.
Nestling-sized hadrosaurine crania from the Late Cretaceous of Montana!
Wosik et al. describe new cranial remains of hadrosaurine nestlings from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, Montana, USA, with analysis of cranial ontogeny in Edmontosaurus annectens.
Miocene macropaleontology of the Caldecott Tunnel fourth bore excavation, Berkeley Hills, CA, USA!
Powell et al. describe Miocene marine macrofossils recovered from the fourth bore excavation of the Caldecott Tunnel in the Berkeley Hills, Oakland, CA, USA.
New protocol for differentiating leporids from the late Quaternary of southern California, USA!
Fox et al. propose new protocol using dental morphology for identifying late Quaternary leporids from southern California with remarks on lagomorphs from Rancho La Brea's Project 23!
A new drepanosauromorph from the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA!
Gonçalves and Sidor describe the new Triassicdrepanosauromorph genus and species,Ancistronychus paradoxus, from the Chinle Formation of the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA!
Epiplastral shape and geographic variation of Echmatemys from the Eocene of Utah!
Heather F. Smith et al. analyze epiplastral shape and geographic variation in thegeoemydid turtle, Echmatemys,from the Eocene Uinta Basin , Utah, USA.
The new species Lyropecten terrysmithae from the Miocene of central California!
Powell et al. describe and name a new pectinid, Lyropecten terrysmithae , from the Miocene of California in honor of Dr. Judy Terry Smith for her work on California and Mexican invertebrate paleontology.
Faunal change in Cretaceous endemic bivalves of the northeast Pacific!
Richard Squires reports on the faunal change in Cretaceous shallow-marine endemic bivalve genera/subgenera of the northeast Pacific region.
New report of the fossil otolith species, Equetulus silveraldensis n. comb., from the Oligocene of the Gulf Coastal Plain, USA!
Stringer et al. describe the first record of the teleostean fish otolith, Equetulus silveraldensis n. comb., from the Oligocene of Alabama, USA, and its enigmatic geographic distribution.
New dinosauromorph body fossils from the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA!
Adam Marsh and William Parker describe new dinosauromorph specimens from the Chinle Formation Petrified Forest National Park and provide a global biostratigraphic review of Triassic dinosauromorphs.
Checklist of Paleogene-Neogene marine Mollusca from California!
Groves and Squires present an annotated catalog of Paleogene-Neogene Mollusca from California since Keen and Bentson's 1944 checklist.
New mid-Miocene equids from the Cajon Valley Formation, CA!
Stoneburg et al. describe new fossil horse remains from the mid-Miocene of San Bernardino County, CA.
New fossil fishes from South Carolina, USA!
Cicimurri et al. report on a diverse fauna of Oligocene fishes from the Ashley Formation of South Carolina, with description of a new catshark species, Scyliorhinus weemsi.
Changes in southern California oyster paleocommunity structure over the last 3.6 million years!
Bonuso et al. use digitized data from the EPICC TCN and other sources to reconstruct Late Cenozoic oyster communities in southern California, USA.
The earliest Ancistrolepis, from the early Eocene of Simi Valley, California, USA
Squires updates our knowledge of the oldest species of this extant buccinid gastropod genus
The first Cretaceous fish otolith assemblage from the Arkadelphia Formation of Arkansas, USA!
Stringer and Sloan describe the first otolith assemblage from the Late Cretaceous of Arkansas and its implications for our understanding of the Western Interior Seaway.
Pteriomorph bivalves from the Eocene-Oligocene Keasey Formation in Oregon, USA!
Hickman describes the pteriomorph bivalves from the Eocene-early Oligocene Keasey Formation in Oregon, recognizing a new peri-seep biotope association.
Volume 30, Issue 1, 2011
Articles
Herpetocetine (Cetacea: Mysticeti) dentaries from the Upper Miocene Santa Margarita Sandstone of Central California
Two fossil baleen whale (Mysticeti) dentaries from the Upper Miocene (10–12 Ma) Santa Margarita Sandstone of Central California preserve several distinct features similar to the enigmatic herpetocetine whale Herpetocetus. These features include an elongate coronoid process, a mandibular condyle with a planar articular surface, and a posteriorly extended angular process. The dentary is unknown for several Herpetocetinae (and the more inclusive clade Cetotheriidae), including the coeval Nannocetus eremus. This occurrence would extend the known record of Herpetocetus by 6 Ma. Given the currently poor knowledge of Pacific Cetotheriidae during the Miocene, these specimens are identified to the subfamily Herpetocetinae, despite the similarity of these specimens to Herpetocetus. As the morphology of the supposedly distinctive lectotype dentary of Herpetocetus scaldiensis (the type species of Herpetocetus) may not be unique to Herpetocetus, this study suggests that the mandibular morphology of fossil mysticetes may be more homoplastic (or conservative) than previously assumed. Mysticete taxonomy should employ autapomorphic characters beyond the morphology of the dentary alone.
The carpometacarpus of the Pliocene turkey Meleagris leopoldi (Galliformes: Phasianidae) and the problem of morphological variability in turkeys
I describe the first known carpometacarpus attributable to the extinct late Pliocene (Blancan) turkey Meleagris leopoldi that was apparently collected with the type material at the type locality in Cita Canyon, Texas. Although known to previous workers, this specimen has never been discussed or described. The size and morphology of the carpometacarpus indicates that M. leopoldi may be distinct from the extant M. gallopavo and is similar to Meleagris progenes and Inglis 1A (Florida) material. However, this fossil does not clarify the relationship to and possible synonymy of M. leopoldi and M. anza, but it adds support to the idea that M. progenes is a junior synonym of M. leopoldi. The extreme morphological variation among fossil turkey specimens and recognized species obscures the phylogenetic relationships among Meleagris taxa. The presence of certain variable characters in geologically older Meleagris taxa may provide a clue to assess character polarity. Given these data, it appears that Meleagris leopoldi was a widely distributed late Pliocene species that was replaced in its geographic range by M. gallopavo during the Pleistocene.
The skull of Postosuchus kirkpatricki (Archosauria: Paracrocodyliformes) from the Upper Triassic of the United States
The skull of Postosuchus kirkpatricki Chatterjee 1985 is known from the holotype and paratype specimens along with disassociated skull elements from several Triassic localities in the southwestern and eastern United States. Recent preparation of the holotype skull allows for more careful examination of the cranial elements and comparison with related taxa. This description indicates that Postosuchus shares several previously unrecognized synapomorphies with crocodylomorphs, including fossae and foramina in the dermatocranium that are not present in other basal pseudosuchians. The sutural arrangements of the skull of Postosuchus presented in this paper differ considerably from previous descriptions, due in part to the reassignment of what was previously considered the prefrontal to the palpebral bone. Also, further preparation of skull elements revealed morphologies that differ from previous descriptions. This new description also indicates a close relationship with Polonosuchus silesiacus Sulej 2005. The only autapomorphic characters of the skull are a distinct, rounded lateral ridge on the maxilla and a foramen present in a large fossa on the anteromedial surface of the maxilla.