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2008-09-19 – Paleoecologia del tardo Triassico

Discussion on Palaeoecology of the Late Triassic Extinction Event in the SW UK

Posted on: Friday, 19 September 2008, 03:00 CDT

By Radley, Jonathan Twitchett, Richard J; Mander, Luke; Cope, John

see link:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/

settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | 3 Triassico, conferenze, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , | Lascia un commento

2008-09-11 – Nuova formica: fossile vivente ?

Scientists discover 120 million year-old ant

Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:48am EDT

BERLIN (Reuters) – German biologists have discovered a new species of ant they believe is the oldest on the planet, dating back around 120 million years.

Researchers from Karlsruhe’s Natural History Museum found the 3-millimeter-long (0.118 inch) insect in the Amazon rainforest in 2007, and hope it will shed light on the early evolution of ants.

“It’s by far the most spectacular find of my 26-year career,” said museum biologist Manfred Verhaagh on Tuesday.

Scientists from Karlsruhe originally found an unidentified species of ant of a similar type in the Brazilian rainforest in 2003. However, due to an accident in the laboratory, the insect dried up, making further research impossible, Verhaagh said.

Last year a separate team from the museum’s research body was in the forest investigating fungus when they stumbled upon the tiny insect, and named it “Martialis heureka”.

Resembling a miniature wasp, the insect is like no other ant, and probably dates back 120 million years, making it the oldest still inhabiting the earth, Verhaagh said. The scientists used DNA samples from its front leg to establish its likely age.

The last discovery of a new ant species was in 1923, he added.

(Reporting by Josie Cox, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSLG53732420080916

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Other links:

Blind ‘ants from mars’
Christian Science Monitor – 18 set 2008
Since the days of the T. rex, few animals have evolved into such numbers and filled such diverse habitats as ants. Now, scientists say they have uncovered a
Scientists Find One Specimen of Bizarre Primitive Ant
New York Times – 17 set 2008
The single known specimen of the ant Martialis heureka. Roll over the ‘i’s to learn more. By KENNETH CHANG Stefan Cover, a curatorial assistant at Harvard
Scientists discover 120 million year-old ant
Reuters – 16 set 2008
BERLIN (Reuters) – German biologists have discovered a new species of ant they believe is the oldest on the planet, dating back around 120 million years.
Blind “Ant From Mars” Found in Amazon
National Geographic – 16 set 2008
An ant so unlike all other living ants that it was given an extraterrestrial name has been discovered in the Amazon rain forest, biologists announced today.
New ant species found
Science News – 16 set 2008
By Susan Milius NEW ANCIENTThis newly discovered ant species, with mouthparts like forceps and no eyes, may come from the most ancient known lineage of
Ant From Mars’ Discovered in Amazon Rainforest
FOXNews – 16 set 2008
By Andrea Thompson A newly discovered species of a blind, subterranean predator — dubbed the “Ant from Mars” — is likely a descendant of one of the very
‘Ant from Mars’ found in Amazon jungle
New Scientist (subscription) – 16 set 2008
On first sight, legend of evolutionary biology and ant expert Edward O Wilson of Harvard University quipped that it was so unusual that it must have come
Ant from Mars’ emerges from its 120
Times Online – 16 set 2008
A new species of insect, nicknamed “the ant from Mars” because of its strange and unique physical characteristics, has been discovered in the Amazon
New Ant Species Discovered In The Amazon Likely Represents Oldest
Science Daily (press release) – 15 set 2008
ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2008) — A new species of blind, subterranean, predatory ant discovered in the Amazon rainforest by University of Texas at Austin
Primitive Ant Discovered in the Amazon
eFluxMedia – 18 set 2008
By Jenny Huntington Researchers from the United States, Germany and Brazil have recenlty unveiled a new ant species, which appears to be the oldest one on
New Ancient Ant Species Found
eFluxMedia – 18 set 2008
By Michael Todd Mr. Christian Rabeling, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, is the man responsible for the discovery in a Brazilian
‘Ant from Mars’ discovered in the Amazon
NewsLite – 18 set 2008
A newly discovered species of a blind, subterranean predator could be a descendant of one of the very first ants to evolve on Earth, a new study claims.
Newest Ant Species is Has Oldest Ancestors
Popular Science – 17 set 2008
A new blind, predatory, subterranean ant species with ancestral roots dating back to more than 120 million years ago spurs a debate on the evolution of ants
Scientists discover 120 million year-old ant in the Amazon rainforest
Mongabay.com – 17 set 2008
Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of ant in the Amazon that may shed light on the evolution of ants. The species is believed to be the
German Scientists Discover 120 Million Year Old Bizarre Ant in
EcoWorldly – 17 set 2008
German biologists have discovered an hitherto unknown ant species, believed to be the oldest on the planet, deep in the Amazon rain forest.
UT graduate student discovers new species of ant in Amazon
UT The Daily Texan – 17 set 2008
After four extensive months in the Amazon rainforest, UT graduate student Christian Rabeling discovered a new species of ant, a lineage believed to be
“Relic” ant said to hail from lost past
World Science – 16 set 2008
A bizarre predatory, blind, underground ant species discovered in the Amazon rainforest is probably descended almost straight from the first ants,
Ancient Ant Discovered
RedOrbit – 16 set 2008
Biologists from Germany’s Karlsruhe’s Natural History Museum have discovered a new ant species that dates back nearly 120 million years.
Oldest ant on the planet discovered
IBTimes India – 16 set 2008
A new species of Martialis heureka, a blind, subterranean, predatory ant, in an undated photo. German biologists have discovered a new species of ant they
Bizarre “Ant From Mars” Offers Clues to Insect Evolution
Discover Magazine – 16 set 2008
A newly discovered ant from the Amazon rainforest is so strange that researchers have named it “the ant from Mars.” Found in Brazil, the ant has a pale body
Scientists have found a new species of ant in the Amazon
InTheNews.co.uk – 15 set 2008
Watch amazing footage of a live heart surgery here on inthenews.co.uk. Full Story Scientists claim a new species of ant discovered in the Amazonian
New ant species discovered
Straits Times – 15 set 2008
WASHINGTON – UNIVERSITY of Texas announced on Monday that biologist Dr Christian Rabeling has discovered a new species of blind subterranean predatory ant
Unique “Ant from Mars” species discovered in Amazon rainforest
iTWire – 17 set 2008
by William Atkins A new species of ant, so different from other living ants that it has been nicknamed the “Ant from Mars,” has been discovered in the
New ancient ant species found in Amazon
United Press International – 17 set 2008
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 17 (UPI) — US researchers say they’ve discovered a new ant species living in the Amazon that is likely the world’s oldest living
Ancient ants discovered
Windsor Star – 17 set 2008
BERLIN – German biologists have discovered a new species of ant that they believe is a descendant of the oldest evolutionary lineage among living ants,
‘Ant from Mars’ found in Amazon
Calcutta Telegraph – 16 set 2008
London, Sept. 16: They call it the “ant from Mars”, a living member of the earliest representatives of the ants. Scientists have found a new species of
Ancient ‘ant from Mars’ discovered in Amazon rainforest
Daily Mail – 16 set 2008
By Daily Mail Reporter A new species of predatory insect known as the ‘ant from Mars’ because of its unusual alien characteristics, has been discovered in

 

settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Insetti, America Southern, Attuale, Bio-Zoology / Bio-Zoologia, P - Fossili viventi | , , , , , , , , , | Lascia un commento

2008-09-01 – Disputa sul Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Finder of key hominid fossil disputes 7-million-year dating

PARIS (AFP) — A fresh storm has broken out over an ancient fossil presented by its defenders as a forebear of humanity and dismissed by its critics as the remains of a vulgar chimp.

Controversy has swirled around Toumai, the name given to the nearly-complete skull, ever since it was found in the Chadian desert in 2001.

Toumai’s big defender is French palaeontologist Michel Brunet, a professor at the prestigious College de France, who says Toumai walked the Earth shortly after chimpanzees and hominids diverged from a common ancestral primate.

Brunet has been roundly attacked in other quarters.

Critics are incensed that he has given a hominid honorific (Sahelanthropus tchadensis) to a creature whose cranium, in their view, was too squashed to be that of a pre-cursor of Homo sapiens.

They calculate that Toumai’s height was no more than 120 centimetres (four feet) — or that of an adult chimpanzee.

Brunet appeared to have scored a knockout blow in February this year, when radiological measurements estimated that the soil where Toumai was found was between 6.8 million and 7.2 million years old.

The study appeared in a top-line US journal, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

But the man who discovered Toumai, Alain Beauvilain, of the University of Paris at Nanterre, has now publicly challenged this estimate.

Beauvilain declined to take part in the hominid-vs.-chimp debate, but said he questioned the dating’s methods and the way it had been presented to the public.

“It’s time to set the record straight,” he told AFP.

In general, radiodating of the sediment in which a fossil is found is considered to be a good guide to when the creature died, its remains eventually becoming covered by soil or other debris.

But Beauvilain, a Chadian fossil expert of long standing, says that, contrary to Brunet’s assertions that the fossil had been “unearthed,” the cranium was found loose on the sand.

A thick blue ferruginous, or iron-based, mineral encrusted the skull, which showed clear signs of weathering from desert conditions, Beauvilain says in a commentary in the South African Journal of Science.

Beauvilain says it is clear that the soil around the find, and possibly the find itself, had been shifted by wind or erosion, a phenomenon that can happen swiftly and frequently in the desert.

So carbon-dating the soil and attributing that to the skull was a perilous exercise, he says.

“How many times was it exposed and reburied by shifting sands before being picked up?” he asks in the commentary.

Beauvilain also takes issue with the soil samples used for the PNAS study and analysed by experts from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

He says these samples were taken selectively and did not give a full picture of the depth and range of topography in which the find was made. He describes some of the collection choices as “astonishing.”

On the same grounds, Beauvilain attacks Brunet’s dating of an ancient Chadian jawbone, dubbed Abel and estimated to be between three million and 3.5 million years old.

“Abel,” too was picked up on the surface in 1995, and was not embedded in the soil, he says, showing photos of both finds on their day of discovery.

The debate is important because of its implications for anthropology.

Toumai — the name means “hope of life” in the local Goran language — was found 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) west of the Great Rift Valley, until now considered the cradle of humanity.

So if the skull’s dating is right, it implies the early hominids ranged far wider from East Africa, and far earlier, than previously thought.

The discovery also implies hominids evolved quickly from apes after they split from a common primate ancestry.

Hominids are considered the forerunners of anatomically modern humans, who appeared on the scene about 200,000 years ago.

Still unclear, though, is the exact line of genealogy from these small, rather ape-like creatures to the rise of the powerfully-brained Homo sapiens.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmOMNXMKmvSlX6RhmnJ69SJLo85A

settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | Africa, P - Paleoantropologia, Paleontology / Paleontologia, x Terziario | , , , , , , | 1 commento

2008-09-01 – Dory, un perfetto pesce fossile

Dory the fish fossil found in Qld

September 1, 2008 – 4:57PM
A Queensland museum curator says he’s found the most intact skeleton ever discovered of a 100-million-year-old fish.

Paul Stumkat, of the Kronosaurus Korner fossil museum in the north-western town of Richmond, said the skeleton was found last month in an area of the state’s north-west which used to be a vast inland sea the size of Belgium.

The tuna-like skeleton was around 70cm in length and was 99 per cent complete, showing fins, teeth and even the digestive system and its contents.

“This is not a new species but it is the most perfect specimen ever found of this particular animal,” Mr Stumkat told AAP from Richmond.

“Previously, all that’s ever been found is a head, a few of the vertebrae and some of the pectoral fins.

“It is significant from a scientific point of view because they can do a complete description of the animal, whereas in the past they were only guessing as to what it looked like.”

The fossil was discovered accidentally by Mr Stumkat and a tourist who had signed up for a dig to uncover a partially complete skeleton of a turtle.

The fish, nicknamed Dory after the blue tang in the animated movie Finding Nemo, was once a fast-swimming predatory species.

It also could be useful to scientists studying the earth’s environment 100 million years ago and climate changes since then as the area where it lived was a long way further south than it is now, Mr Stumkat said.

“Australia had broken off from Antarctica but Richmond would have been down around where Melbourne is today, so it would have been pretty far south in its latitude,” he said.

The fish fossil is on display at Kronosaurus Korner.

 

© 2008 AAP

http://news.theage.com.au/national/dory-the-fish-fossil-found-in-qld-20080901-470g.html

 

settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Pesci / Fishes, Europa, P - Preservazione eccezionale, P - Ritrovamenti fossili, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , , , | Lascia un commento

2008-09-03 – In ambra il più antico geko fossile, Birmania, Cretaceo

Oldest Gecko Fossil Ever Found, Entombed In Amber

ScienceDaily (Sep. 3, 2008) — Scientists from Oregon State University and the Natural History Museum in London have announced the discovery of the oldest known fossil of a gecko, with body parts that are forever preserved in life-like form after 100 million years of being entombed in amber.

Due to the remarkable preservative power of being embalmed in amber, the tiny foot of this ancient lizard still shows the tiny “lamellae,” or sticky toe hairs, that to this day give modern geckos their unusual ability to cling to surfaces or run across a ceiling. Research programs around the world have tried to mimic this bizarre adhesive capability, with limited success.

This gecko’s running days are over, however, as only the foot, toes and part of a tail are left in the stone. The rest might have become lunch for a small dinosaur or other predator during an ancient fight in the tropical forests of Myanmar during the Lower Cretaceous Period, from 97 million to 110 million years ago.

The find is at least 40 million years older than the oldest known gecko fossil, shedding additional light on the evolution and history of these ancient lizards that scampered among the feet of giant dinosaurs then and still are common in tropical or sub-tropical regions all over the world.

The findings were just published in Zootaxa, a professional journal.

“It’s the unusual toe pads and clinging ability of some geckos that make them such a fascinating group of animals, so we were very fortunate to find such a well-preserved foot in this fossil specimen,” said George Poinar, Jr., a courtesy professor at OSU and one of the world’s leading experts on insects, plants and other life forms trapped in amber, a semi-precious stone that begins as tree sap.

“There’s a gecko society, gecko clubs, just a lot of interest in these animals because of their unusual characteristics,” Poinar said. “So there are a lot of people pretty excited about this.”

Based on the number of lamellae found on its toe pads, this gecko was probably a very small juvenile of what would have become a comparatively large adult, possibly up to a foot long, the researchers say. Modern geckos get no more than about 16 inches long, although it’s possible there were larger species millions of years ago. The juvenile gecko found in the fossiljuvenile gecko found in the fossil was less than an inch in length when it died – possibly by being eaten or attacked, since only partial remains were found.

The discovery has been announced as a new genus and species of gecko, now extinct, and has been named Cretaceogekko. It had a striped pattern that probably served as camouflage.

There are more than 1,200 species of geckos in the world today , common in warm or tropical regions, including parts of the southern United States. They are frequently kept as pets, and often are welcome in the homes of some tropical residents because they help control insects. Some are very colorful. They use long tongues to lick, clean and moisturize their eyes.

“Geckos are territorial, and when I lived in Africa in the early 1980s we used to have them in our house,” Poinar said. “They are pretty friendly and don’t bother humans. Certain individuals would move into the house, we’d give them names, and they would run around the house, catch mosquitoes, help control bugs. They would crawl across the ceiling and look down at you.”

The new study provides evidence that geckos were definitely in Asia by 100 million years ago, and had already evolved their bizarre foot structure at that time. The amber fossil was mined in the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar, and during its life the gecko probably lived in a moist, tropical forest with ample opportunities for climbing.

The ability of geckos to walk on vertical walls or even upside down is due to the presence of thousands of “setae” on their toes, very tiny, hairlike structures that have tips which attach to surfaces by van der Walls forces. It’s a type of incredibly strong, dry adhesion shared by virtually no other group of animals.

It’s not known exactly how old this group of animals is, and when they evolved their adhesive toe pads. However, the new study makes it clear that this ability was in place at least 100 million years ago, in nature. Modern research programs still have not been able to completely duplicate it.

Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley reported earlier this year that they have developed a new “anti-sliding” adhesive that they said was the closest man-made material yet to mimic the ability of geckos – they think it might help a robot climb up the side of walls. A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this year created a waterproof adhesive bandage inspired by geckos, that may some day be used in surgery. And of course, geckos have become an advertising icon for the insurance company Geico.

This study is just one of many in which Poinar and colleagues have used the unusual characteristics of amber to study ancient life forms and develop information on the ecology of ancient ecosystems.

As a stone that first begins to form as sap oozing from a tree, amber can trap small insects or other life forms and preserve them in near-perfect detail for observation millions of years later.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080902163920.htm

other links:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080903-gecko-amber.html

 

settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Rettili, Asia, P - Ambra, P - Preservazione eccezionale, P - Ritrovamenti fossili, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , , , , , , , | 2 commenti

2008-08-28 – Raro serpente fossile, USA

Lindgren finds snake fossil; family donates reptile replica
Posted: Thursday, Aug 28th, 2008

 

On July 24 of last year, Adam Lindgren, age 22, unearthed a fossilized snake, said to be a primitive boa, while quarrying in the Blue Moon Quarry owned by Charlie Nunn and located just east of the monument. “This is only the second snake found at the Butte area,” said Dave McGinnis, superintendent of Fossil Butte National Monument.

http://www.kemmerergazette.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=602

On Monday, the Tom Lindgren family donated a replica of the rare snake fossil to the Fossil Butte National Monument.

Tom’s son Adam Lindgren was just 21 when he found the specimen. He remembers the event clearly, even the time of the day he found the snake.

One would think that with someone so young, that this would be his first big find, but Adam, who has been quarrying for the past six years, reports that he found a turtle when he was just 17. “Turtles are kind of rare, too,” Adam said.

“But this is definitely his biggest find,” said Tom.

The only other snake found in the area was quarried in 1908 by Robert Lee Craig, one of the area’s first successful quarriers. Craig’s specimen ended up in a private collection and has not been seen since 1938. Its whereabouts are unknown.

Lindgren’s snake is owned by Tom Lindgren and is for sale. It is currently on display at the Natural Science Museum in Houston, Texas.

Tom Lindgren prepared the replica out of original stone from the area. “We are very thrilled to get this (replica),” McGinnis said. “This is one of the nicest pieces to be donated to Fossil Butte.”

Tom has two other sons, Anthony and David, who are also experienced quarriers and excavate together every summer. “It’s such a pleasure to see something like this found by my son,” Tom said. “It’s what our passions have been. It is nature’s art.”

http://www.kemmerergazette.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=602

 

 

 

settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Rettili, America Northern, P - Ritrovamenti fossili, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , , | Lascia un commento

2008-08-21 – Campo di caccia per belemniti (Belemnotheutis), Giurassico, Gran Bretagna

‘Calamari killing field’ fossils found in sea that covered middle England

By Paul Eccleston

Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 21/08/2008

 

 

Scientists have unearthed evidence of a Jurassic killing field in a sea that once covered a wide area of middle England.

  • Fish fossil is oldest to have ‘fun sex’
  • Dinosaur professor to lure tourists with fossils
  • Missing link fossil settles frog evolution debate

    Fossil evidence points to cataclysmic events which would have killed millions of fish and other soft-bodied marine creatures.

  • Complete specimen of the largely soft-bodied squid-like creature  Belemnotheutis clasping a fish in its arms; collected in the mid-nineteenth century

    Complete specimen of the largely soft-bodied squid-like creature Belemnotheutis clasping a fish in its arms; collected in the mid-nineteenth century

     In turbulent environmental conditions 160m years ago the waters may have been poisoned by a volcanic eruption or suddenly deprived of oxygen wiping out much of the sea life.

    Dramatic and newly discovered fossil images reveal how voracious squid-like creatures were lured to the area to feed on the huge numbers of dead fish. Some held prey in their tentacles at the very moment they also succumbed in the deadly waters.

    The scientists believe it developed into a predator-trap in which victims acted as a draw on new shoals entering the area before they were themselves overcome in a perpetual deadly cycle.

    The Jurassic Oxford Clay provided almost unique conditions for the preservation of ammonites, fish and crustaceans but became world famous for squid-like cephalopods and belemnites with fossilized soft-parts.

    There are only a handful of areas in the world where creatures have been preserved in this way.

    Soft-bodied creatures such as worms and jellyfish probably dominated marine ecosystems at the time but they rarely show up in the fossil record because they decompose and vanish. Much more is known about creatures with decay-resistant hard-parts, such as bones, teeth or shells.

    But in some areas – such as the rediscovered site in Wiltshire which the ancient sea once covered – the normal process of decay didn’t happen and outlines of anatomy – even soft flesh areas such as gut, muscle and eye – were perfectly preserved partly because of the chemical make-up of the sediment.

    The areas are known as Fossil Lagerstätten and provide a much more accurate picture of ancient ecosystems.

    The site – discovered by chance as the Great Western Railway was constructed in the 1840s – provided a fossil bonanza for palaeontologists.

    Many of the best fossils were removed and taken to London for safety but ironically were destroyed in German air raids a century later.

    Because of its rich resources the location of the site was jealously guarded by a local carpenter who was an amateur fossil hunter. He collected many of the samples but provided misleading information about the exact location of the site and took his secret to the grave.

    Over time the railways cuttings became overgrown and flooded and were eventually lost.

    But now they have been rediscovered by scientists from the British Geological Society (BGS) and their work will form part of The Fossil Detectives an eight-part series for BBC FOUR, funded by The Open University (OU) and produced by the BBC’s Natural History Unit, BBC TV series.

    In the programmes Dr Hermione Cockburn, an associate lecturer with the OU, leads a team of fossil experts and geologists around Britain looking for the best fossil treasures and mysteries.

    Celebrity fossil hunters such as Sir David Attenborough, musician and writer Alex James, and singer/songwriter Billy Bragg also make appearances.

    Prior to the new excavation it was unknown whether all of the fossil squid collected in the 1840s had come from one or more level but it showed for the first time that the squid were concentrated at several different levels proving that mass mortality events repeatedly hit the area killing vast numbers of the squid and fish.

    The prehistoric shallow sea covered an area from Lincolnshire to Dorset and was bordered by coastal swamps where dinosaurs would have roamed.

    Dr Phil Wilby of the BGS described the area as ‘a calamari killing field’.

    He said it would have been an unstable environment in which the bottom waters continually switched from being able to support life to becoming hostile to life with fluctuations in oxygen level a constant threat.

    “As a preservation site for soft-bodied creatures it is as good as it comes and is recognised by palaeontologists the world over. What we don’t yet know what triggered the preservation. It may be that there was a build up of phosphorous in the sediment and when the creatures died and sank into it the chemical structure was changed,” he said.

  • The Fossil Detectives is being shown on BBC Four beginning on Thursday August 21.
  • settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Molluschi, 2 Jurassic / Giurassico, Europa, P - Preservazione eccezionale, P - Ritrovamenti fossili, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , , , , , , | 1 commento

    2002-02-11 Il più antico vomito di sempre

    Oldest fossilised vomit pile uncovered

    • 17:55 11 February 2002
    • From New Scientist Print Edition.

    The world’s oldest fossilised vomit has been uncovered near the English town of Peterborough.

    But far from turning up their noses, palaeontologists are excited by the discovery of “copious quantities” of Jurassic puke, says Peter Doyle of the University of Greenwich. The regurgitations came from the mouths of ichthyosaurs swimming in the waters that covered England 160 million years ago and were found by Doyle in a clay quarry.

    “We believe this is the first time the existence of fossil vomit on a grand scale has been proven beyond reasonable doubt,” Doyle told New Scientist.

    “It shows ichthyosaurs behaved much as sperm whales do today,” he says. The marine reptiles ate their fill of belemnites, a squid-like shellfish, before vomiting the indigestible bullet-shaped shells. Modern sperm whales regurgitate the gristly beaks of squid.

    “I have been confused for a while that we found the arm hooks of belemnites in ichthyosaur stomachs, but not their shells. But vomiting explains it,” he adds.

    Acid etching

    The evidence that the belemnite pile had once been eaten by the ichthyosaurs is that, when examined under a microscope, the calcium carbonate shells show distinctive signs of being etched by the dinosaur’s acid digestive juices.

    Doyle says that they are unlikely to have been excreted in the usual way because the sharp shells would have inflicted terrible damage to the animal’s intestines.

    In the Jurassic, the Peterborough clays were a shallow-water coastal feeding ground where belemnites thrived and ichthyosaurs came for a slap-up feed, before in turn being eaten by pliosaurs, says Dave Martill, a palaeontologist of the University of Portsmouth.

    “Doyle’s finding is very interesting, and I think his conclusions will be proved right,” says Martill. “We know that ichthyosaurs ate belemnites. And if they ate them whole, they would have got horrendous indigestion.”

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1910-oldest-fossilised-vomit-pile-uncovered.html

    settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Rettili, 1 Cretaceo, P - Paleoetologia, P - Preservazione eccezionale, P - Ritrovamenti fossili, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , , | Lascia un commento

    2008-09-08 – Enorme foresta fossile scoperta in Illinois, USA

    Ancient trees recorded in mines

    By Jonathan Amos
    Science reporter, BBC News, Liverpool

    Spectacular fossil forests have been found in the coal mines of Illinois by a US-UK team of researchers.

    The group reported one discovery last year, but has since identified a further five examples.

    The ancient vegetation – now turned to rock – is visible in the ceilings of mines covering thousands of hectares.

    These were among the first forests to evolve on the planet, Dr Howard Falcon-Lang told the British Association Science Festival in Liverpool.

    “These are the largest fossil forests found anywhere in the world at any point in geological time,” he told reporters.

    “It is quite extraordinary to find a fossil landscape preserved over such a vast area; and we are talking about an area the size of (the British city of) Bristol.”

    The forests grew just a few million years apart some 300 million years ago; and are now stacked one on top of another.

    It appears the ancient land experienced repeated periods of subsidence and flooding which buried the forests in a vertical sequence.

    They have since become visible because of the extensive mining operations in the border area between the states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

    Coal seam (University of Bristol)
    Scientists look up to see what would have been the forest floor

    Once the coal seams have been removed (what were, essentially, the compacted soils of the forests), it is possible to go into the tunnels and look up at what would have been lying on the forest floors.

    “It’s a really exciting experience to drive down into these mines; it’s pitch black,” the Bristol University research said.

    “It’s kind of an odd view looking at a forest bottom-up. You can actually see upright tree stumps that are pointed vertically up above your head with the roots coming down; and adjacent to those tree stumps you see all the litter.

    “We found 30m-long trunks that had fallen with their crowns perfectly preserved.”

    Leaf (University of Bristol)
    Some of the preservation is exquisite

    The researchers believe their study of these ancient forests could give hints to how modern rainforests might react in a warmer world.

    The six forests straddle a period in Earth history 306 million years ago that saw a rapid shift from an icehouse climate with big polar ice caps to a greenhouse climate in which the ice caps would have melted.

    “The fascinating thing we’ve discovered is that the rainforests dramatically collapse approximately coincident with the greenhouse warming,” explained Dr Falcon-Lang.

    “Long-lived forests dominated by giant club moss trees almost overnight (in a geological sense) are replaced by rather weedy fern vegetation.”

    The next stage of the research is to try to refine the timings of events all those years ago, and work out the exact environmental conditions that existed. The thresholds that triggered the ancient collapse can then be compared with modern circumstances.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7604721.stm

    additional links:

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/080909-fossil-forest-illinois.html

     

    Found after 300m years: rainforest fossils
    Times Online – 9 set 2008
    A series of fossilised forests the size of small cities have provided prehistoric evidence of how tropical rainforests are destroyed by global warming.
    Midges provide huge window on past
    Irish Times – 8 set 2008
    FOSSILISED RAINFORESTS and the number of midge heads found in lake sediments are giving scientists important clues about how temperatures have changed
    Ancient trees recorded in mines
    BBC News – 8 set 2008
    By Jonathan Amos Spectacular fossil forests have been found in the coal mines of Illinois by a US-UK team of researchers. The group reported one discovery
    Earth ‘Was Affected By Global Warming 300myears Ago’
    RedOrbit – 9 set 2008
    GLOBAL warming was in action 300m years ago when it wiped out the planet’s first rainforests, scientists revealed today. Examination of “fossil forests”
    Massive fossil forests found in Illinois
    United Press International – 9 set 2008
    LIVERPOOL, England, Sept. 10 (UPI) — Massive fossil forests dating back millions of years have been found in Illinois coal mines, a British researcher says
    Scientists find tree fossils in Illinois
    PRESS TV – 9 set 2008
    Researchers have identified examples of fossil forests in the ceilings of the coalmines in the eastern state of Illinois in the US.
    Ancient Forest Discovered in Mines
    RedOrbit – 9 set 2008
    Researchers from the US and the UK have found a fossil forest in the coal mines of Illinois. The team reported a similar discovery last year,
    Fossilised forest found in Illinois coal mine
    The Tech Herald – 8 set 2008
    by Rich Bowden – Sep 8 2008, 23:05 The scientific team, led by Dr Howard Falcon-Lang of the University of Bristol, with colleagues from the Smithsonian
    Our climate crisis 300m years ago
    Metro – 8 set 2008
    Global warming is far from a recent phenomenon – it devastated the Earth 300million years ago, scientists revealed. Climate change was behind the
    Global warming wiped out the first rainforests
    PhysOrg.com – 8 set 2008
    Detail of a pteridosperm, an extinct seed-producing fern-like plant. Photo by Photo by Howard Falcon-Lang (PhysOrg.com) — Spectacular discoveries of fossil

    settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | America Northern, Multimedia, P - Paleobotanica, Paleontology / Paleontologia, Paleozoico | , , , , , , , , | Lascia un commento

    2008-08 Mantide in ambra dal Cretaceo del Giappone

    87 Million Year-Old Praying Mantis Found

    080425-amber-mantis_1701 87 Million Year-Old Praying Mantis Found pictureIs the 87-million-year-old praying mantis recently found encased in amber in Japan a “missing link” between mantises from the Cretaceous period and modern-day insects?

    It is a rare find indeed and its true significance is still to be deciphered.

    Discovered in January of this year by Kazuhisa Sasaki, director of the Kuji Amber Museum, the fossil mantis measures 0.5 inch (1.4 centimeters) from its antennae to the tip of its abdomen.

    It was found buried more than six feet below the surface of an amber mine in a part of Japan that is famous for producing large amounts of amber, the northeastern Iwate Prefecture.

    “I found it in a deposit that had lots of other insects—ancient flies, bees, and cockroaches—but this was the only praying mantis” said Sasaki.

    The fossil mantis is partially well preserved, although its wings and abdomen are badly crushed.

    According to Kyoichiro Ueda, executive curator of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History, it is the oldest mantis fossil ever found in Japan and only one of seven in the entire world from the Cretaceous Period.

    Even more unique is the fact that this mantis is different from the other six, in that it has two spines protruding from its femur and it has mysterious, tiny hairs on its forelegs.

    No mantis from this particular time period has ever been found with spines, although modern mantises have five or six on their forelegs, which help them catch prey.

    “The years of the late Cretaceous period were a kind of transition phase between the ancient and modern worlds, and this fossil displays many intermediate elements between the two eras” said Ueda.

    Time alone will reveal the significance of this important find.

    http://www.weirdasianews.com/2008/09/19/ancient-praying-mantis-found-in-japanese-amber/

    settembre 20, 2008 Posted by | - Insetti, 1 Cretaceo, Asia, Paleontology / Paleontologia | , , , , , , , | Lascia un commento