Wang, W., Li, C., Scheyer, T. M., and Zhao, L. 2019. A new species of Cyamodus (Placodontia, Sauropterygia) from the early Late Triassic of south-west China. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Link. Abstract - The Triassic eastern Tethyan faunas have continued to yield numerous specimens of marine reptile taxa in recent years. Nevertheless, compared...

Cheng, L., Motani, R.,  Jiang, D., Yan, C., Tintori, A. and O. Rieppel. 2019. Early Triassic marine reptile representing the oldest record of unusually small eyes in reptiles indicating non-visual prey detection. Scientific Reports 9, number 152. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37754-6 Abstract - The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) led to reorganization...

Whitney, M. R., Ting Tse, Y., and C. A. Sidor. 2019. Histological evidence of trauma in tusks of southern African dicynodonts. Palaeontologia Africana 53: 75-80. PDF. Abstract - Dicynodonts were a clade of globally-distributed therapsids known for their abundance in the fossil record and for surviving the Permo-Triassic mass extinction. The group...

A new preprint in PeerJ. Lemanis R., Jones A.S., Butler R.J., Anderson P.S.L., and E.J. Rayfield. 2019. Comparative biomechanical analysis demonstrates functional convergence between slender-snouted crocodilians and phytosaurs. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27476v1https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27476v1 Abstract - Morphological similarities between the...

Today Bryan Gee at Temno Talk Blog discusses and evaluates the various hypotheses of why temnospondyl skulls (and other bones) have heavily ornamented, irregular surfaces. If you missed the link here it is again.

[Disclaimer: I am a furloughed Federal employee and this is a personal blog. It is not my intent to take a political side or to make a a political statement here. I am simply explaining what a shutdown is for those who might not understand and its effects on a specific park and program]. On December 22, 2018 funding appropriations for the U.S. National...