Summer...

Taking a break for the summer. I hope everyone has a chance to get out for holidays.

Toodleloo...

Toofless Avian Ancestor

A new fossil bird from the Lower Cretaceous lacustrine deposits of the Jiufotang Formation in Liaoning, northeast China is described. Zhongjianornis yangi is the earliest bird yet found that completely lacks teeth.

From the abstract:

Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Zhongjianornis is phylogenetically basal to Confuciusornis and the dominant Mesozoic avian groups, Enantiornithes and Ornithurae, and therefore provides significant new information regarding the diversification of birds in the Early Cretaceous. It also represents the most basal bird that completely lacks teeth, suggesting that tooth loss was more common than expected in early avian evolution and that the avian beak appeared independently in several avian lineages, most probably as a response to selective pressure for weight reduction.

A new Lower Cretaceous bird from China and tooth reduction in early avian evolution. Zhonghe Zhou and Fucheng Zhang Zhiheng Li. Proc. R. Soc. B published online before print July 8, 2009, doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.0885

A Triad of Albian Australians

 From Scientific American:

Paleontologists have dug up not one but three new dinosaur species in Australia, a continent that has turned up few large fossil finds. The mid-Cretaceous giants include two massive plant-eating titanosaurs—Witonotitan wattsi and Diamantinasaurus matildae—and a fearsome carnivorous theropod—Australovenator wintonesis—reported in a PLoS ONE study last week.

Living at a time when Australia was still partly connected to Antarctica—about 98 million years ago—the newly discovered Cretaceous-era killer is the first large prehistoric predator found in the Outback. It would have likely been light and speedy at about five meters (16 feet) and 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds)

Read the complete article at New Dino Species Discovered in the Land Down Under.

Artistic representations of the three dinosaur taxa described here. Australovenator (top); Wintonotitan (middle); Diamantinasaurus (bottom). Artwork by: T. Tischler, Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History.

The original article, with many bone filled photographs is open to all:

New Mid-Cretaceous (Latest Albian) Dinosaurs from Winton, Queensland, Australia.

Hocknull SA, White MA, Tischler TR, Cook AG, Calleja ND, et al. 2009

PLoS ONE 4(7): e6190. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006190

AUSTRALIA DINOSAUR PICTURES: Three New Species Found‎ from National Geographic, with  many illustrations.


A Blog Round-up -

• Dracovenator examines the research.
• A Blog Around the Clock looks at the Open Access aspect.
• The Open Source Paleontologist shares his thoughts on the extravaganza
• Chinleana gives his kudos to PLOS ONE

and Tetrapod Zoology is too busy...

Sir David Attenborough Reads Alfred Russel Wallace

Sir David Attenborough reads from Alfred Russel Wallace's 1869 book "The Malay Archipelago" in Attenborough's 1996 BBC special "Attenborough in Paradise".

The Giant Freshwater Stingray

Discovered only 20 years ago, the giant freshwater stingray will be featured on Monday night's episode of Hooked: Monster Fish of Thailand on the National Geographic Channel. (see schedule)



Pictured below (Photo courtesy of National Geographic Channel): Zeb discusses what he is going to do with the pregnant stingray. © IFA

The Darwin and Beagle Collections at Cambridge

Cambridge University Library is holding the exhibition A Voyage Round the World at The Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University Library from Monday 6 July to Wednesday 23 December 2009.

It has been described as ‘the most significant gap year in history’. In 1831 Charles Darwin left England aboard HMS Beagle as an able but untried Cambridge graduate. He returned from the voyage in 1836 as an eagerly awaited member of the scientific establishment. Cambridge played a vital role in this transformation. Darwin’s Cambridge connections secured his place on the Beagle; his Cambridge friends and teachers sent advice, encouragement and responses to his ideas, and arranged for his discoveries to be promoted and published; and it was to Cambridge that vast numbers of specimens were shipped in caskets, barrels, jars and pill-boxes.

Read the complete entry with links to the collections at: Charles Darwin and the Beagle Collections in the University of Cambridge, as provided by the Archives Hub.

Baloney Detection Kit - on Video

Michael Shermer's Baloney Detection Kit as presented by the Richard Dawkins Foundation:



Presented by The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

Volcano Shock Wave

Sarychev Peak on Matua Island is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan. Astronauts took this photo of an eruption on June 12. The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance; the surrounding atmosphere has been shoved up by the shock wave of the eruption. Credit: NASA/ISS/Earth Observatory.

Read Amazing Volcano Photo Reveals Shock Wave at LiveScience.