Bones of recent mammals in the Amboseli Basin, southern Kenya, exhibit distinctive weathering characteristics that can be related to the time since death and to the local conditions of temperature, humidity and soil chemistry. A categorization of weathering characteristics into six stages, recognizable on descriptive criteria, provides a basis for investigation of weathering rates and processes. The time necessary to achieve each successive weathering stage has been calibrated using known-age carcasses. Most bones decompose beyond recognition in 10 to 15 yr. Bones of animals under 100 kg and juveniles appear to weather more rapidly than bones of large animals or adults. Small-scale rather than widespread environmental factors seem to have greatest influence on weathering characteristics and rates. Bone weathering is potentially valuable as evidence for the period of time represented in recent or fossil bone assemblages, in- cluding those on archeological sites, and may also be an important tool in censusing populations of animals in modern ecosystems.

Taphonomic and Ecologic Information Form Bone Weathering

We redescribe the only previously known species of Myrsidea from bulbuls, M. pycnonoti Eichler. Sixteen new species are described; they and their type hosts are: M. phillipsi ex Pycnonotus goiavier goiavier (Scopoli), M. gieferi ex P. goiavier suluensis Mearns, M. kulpai ex P. flavescens Blyth, M. finlaysoni ex P. finlaysoni Strickland, M. kathleenae ex P. cafer (L.), M. warwicki ex Ixos philippinus (J. R. Forster), M. mcclurei ex Microscelis amaurotis (Temminck), M. zeylanici ex P. zeylanicus (Gmelin), M. plumosi ex P. plumosus Blyth, M. eutiloti ex P. eutilotus (Jardine and Selby), M. adamsae ex P. urostictus (Salvadori), M. ochracei ex Criniger ochraceus F. Moore, M. borbonici ex Hypsipetes borbonicus (J. R. Forster), M. johnsoni ex P. atriceps (Temminck), M. palmai ex C. ochraceus, and M. claytoni ex P. eutilotus. A key is provided for the identification of these 17 species.

A new species

Ichnology is the study of traces created in the substrate by living organisms. This is the first book to systematically cover basic concepts and applications in both paleobiology and sedimentology, bridging the gap between the two main facets of the field. It emphasizes the importance of understanding ecologic controls on benthic fauna distribution and the role of burrowing organisms in changing their environments. A detailed analysis of the ichnology of a range of depositional environments is presented using examples from the Precambrian to the recent, and the use of trace fossils in facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy is discussed. The potential for biogenic structures to provide valuable information and solve problems in a wide range of fields is also highlighted. An invaluable resource for researchers and graduate students in paleontology, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy, this book will also be of interest to industry professionals working in petroleum geoscience.

Ichnology: Organism-Substrate Interactions in Space and Time

Closure of neurocentral sutures in the crocodylian vertebral column follows a distinct caudal to cranial sequence during ontogeny. The sutures in most caudal vertebrae are fully closed at hatching, but closure of remaining sutures occurs later in ontogeny. Closure of cervical sutures is a consistent indicator of morphological maturity in Alligator mississippiensis, Alligator sinensis, Osteolaemus tetraspis, and Crocodylus acutus; the final transformation is the closure of the axial neurocentral suture, which occurs after the closure of the axis-odontoid suture. Because these transformations occur near the end of ontogeny in all three taxa, regardless of maximum size, closure of these sutures is a size-independent criterion of maturity; however, it is not certain if suture closure indicates the stoppage of growth. These transformations are readily identifiable in fossils, permitting the objective characterization of maturity in fossil crocodylians and possibly at least some of their closer extinct...

Closure of neurocentral sutures during crocodilian ontogeny: Implications for maturity assessment in fossil archosaurs

For the kingdom Animalia, 1,552,319 species have been described in 40 phyla in a new evolutionary classification. Among these, the phylum Arthropoda alone represents 1,242,040 species, or about 80% of the total. The most successful group, the Insecta (1,020,007 species), accounts for about 66% of all animals. The most successful insect order, Coleoptera (387,100 species), represents about 38% of all species in 39 insect orders. Another major group in Arthropoda is the class Arachnida (112,201 species), which is dominated by the mites and ticks (Acari 54,617 species) and spiders (43,579 species). Other highly diverse arthropod groups include Crustacea (66,914 species), Trilobitomorpha (19,606 species) and Myriapoda (11,885 species). The phylum Mollusca (117,358 species) is more diverse than other successful invertebrate phyla Platyhelminthes (29,285 species), Nematoda (24,783 species), Echinodermata (20,509 species), Annelida (17,210 species) and Bryozoa (10,941 species). The phylum Craniata, including the vertebrates, represents 64,832 species (for Recent taxa, except for amphibians): among these 7,694 described species of amphibians, 31,958 species of “fish” and 5,750 species of mammals.

/pdf/an-outline-of-higher-level-classification-and-survey-of-3gsfus3b30.pdf

An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness

As a single stratigraphic source and site of high-fidelity vertebrate trackways and superbly preserved skeletons, the Lower Permian Tambach Formation, lowermost unit of the Upper Rotliegend, of the Bromacker locality in the middle part of the Thuringian Forest near Gotha, central Germany, provides a unique opportunity of matching late Paleozoic trackways with their trackmakers. Here the track-trackmaker association is firmly established between two species of the ichnogenus Ichniotherium, Ichniotherium cottae and Ichniotherium sphaerodactylum, and the skeletal fossils of the closely related diadectids Diadectes absitus and Orobates pabsti, respectively. These are the first well-documented species-level identifications of the trackmakers of Paleozoic trackways. The Ichniotherium ichnospecies are principally separated by the relative lengths of the digits of the pes imprint and the degree of overstepping of the pes and manus imprints. Both characters are shown to be clearly due to differences in th...

First well-established track-trackmaker association of paleozoic tetrapods based on Ichniotherium trackways and diadectid skeletons from the Lower Permian of Germany

A 290-million-year-old reptilian skeleton from the Lower Permian (Asselian) of Germany provides evidence of abilities for cursorial bipedal locomotion, employing a parasagittal digitigrade posture. The skeleton is of a small bolosaurid, Eudibamus cursoris, gen. et sp. nov., and confirms the widespread distribution of Bolosauridae across Laurasia during this early stage of amniote evolution. E. cursoris is the oldest known representative of Parareptilia, a major clade of reptiles.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/290/5493/969.full.pdf

Early Permian Bipedal Reptile

Rhadinosteus parvus is a small anuran whose diagnosis is based on several partial skeletons and some isolated bones representing metamorphic to newly transformed ontogenetic stages from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation at the Rainbow Park Microsite, Utah. This frog is a member of the Pipoidea on the basis of an azygous frontoparietal and parasphenoid that lacks lateral alae and is an important addition to the poorly known Jurassic frog fauna. Although other members of the Pipoidea have skeletal specializations for burrowing or swimming, Rhadinosteus possesses an unspecialized skeleton. Presence of ectochordal vertebrae suggest that Rhadinosteus is a member of the Rhinophrynidae, and if so, it is the most primitive member known. Being from the Late Jurassic, Rhadinosteus predates both the previous pipoid, Early Cretaceous, and rhinophrynid, Late Paleocene, records.

A new pipoid anuran from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

A new genus and species of the herbivorous Diadectidae, Orobates pabsti, is described on the basis of several specimens, including two complete, articulated skeletons, a skull with partial postcranium, a partial skull, and a dentigerous jaw fragment. All were collected from the Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) Tambach Formation, lowermost formational unit of the Upper Rotliegend of the Bromacker quarry locality in the midregion of the Thuringian Forest near Gotha, central Germany. A combination of autapomorphic and plesiomorphic character states clearly distinguishes O. pabsti from all other well-known members of Diadectidae and identifies it as the sister taxon to all other diadectids. The description of Orobates pabsti expands further our understanding of the Late Pennsylvanian-Early Permian Diadectidae and records the earliest specialization of tetrapods to high-fiber herbivory. On the basis of paleobiological and paleoenvironmental data only one other Early Permian locality is comparable to the Br...

https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-Carnegie-Museum-of-Natural-History/volume-2004/issue-35/0145-9058(2004)35[1:ANDDOP]2.0.CO;2/A-NEW-DIADECTID-DIADECTOMORPHA-OROBATES-PABSTI-FROM-THE-EARLY-PERMIAN/10.2992/0145-9058(2004)35[1:ANDDOP]2.0.CO;2.pdf

A new diadectid (diadectomorpha), orobates pabsti, from the early permian of central germany

The oldest theropod dinosaurs are known from the Carnian of Argentina and Brazil. However, the evolutionary diversification of this group after its initial radiation but prior to the Triassic‐Jurassic boundary is still poorly understood because of a sparse fossil record near that boundary. Here, we report on a new basal theropod, Daemonosaurus chauliodus gen. et sp. nov., from the latest Triassic ‘siltstone member’ of the Chinle Formation of the Coelophysis Quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Based on a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis, Daemonosaurus is more closely related to coeval neotheropods (e.g. Coelophysis bauri) than to Herrerasauridae and Eoraptor. The skeletal structure of Daemonosaurus and the recently discovered Tawa bridge a morphological gap between Eoraptor and Herrerasauridae on one hand and neotheropods on the other, providing additional support for the theropod affinities of both Eoraptor and Herrerasauridae and demonstrating that lineages from the initial radiation of Dinosauria persisted until the end of the Triassic. Various features of the skull of Daemonosaurus, including the procumbent dentary and premaxillary teeth and greatly enlarged premaxillary and anterior maxillary teeth, clearly set this taxon apart from coeval neotheropods and demonstrate unexpected disparity in cranial shape among theropod dinosaurs just prior to the end of the Triassic.

Amy C. Henrici

Papers

First well-established track-trackmaker association of paleozoic tetrapods based on Ichniotherium trackways and diadectid skeletons from the Lower Permian of Germany

Early Permian Bipedal Reptile

A new pipoid anuran from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation at Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

A new diadectid (diadectomorpha), orobates pabsti, from the early permian of central germany

A Late-Surviving Basal Theropod Dinosaur From the Latest Triassic of North America