Palaeontology yays

[Jubal]

As a sister to the Space Yays thread

Post current and exciting news about dinosaurs and bones and stuff here.



A first offering:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28164063

Fossil of 'largest flying bird' identified

The fossilised remains of the largest flying bird ever found have been identified by scientists.

This creature would have looked like a seagull on steroids - its wingspan was between 6.1 and 7.4m (20-24ft).

The find is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The 25m-year-old fossil was unearthed 30 years ago in South Carolina, but it has taken until now to identify that this is a new species.

It would have been fast and very efficient"

Daniel Ksepka, curator of science at the Bruce Museum in Connecticut, said: "This fossil is remarkable both for the size, which we could only speculate on before the discovery, and for the preservation.

"The skull in particular is exquisite.

"And given the delicate nature of the bones... it is remarkable that the specimen made it to the bottom of the sea, became buried without being destroyed by scavengers, fossilised, and then was discovered before it was eroded or bulldozed away."

[Pentagathus]

Meh, pretty sure those things are still flying around in Aberdeen.

[Tom]

That's crazy :O How would it fly?

[Pentagathus]

Flapping its wings.

[Jubal]

Not much of an issue for birds 'cos of the whole hollow bone structure thing.

[Tom]

Yeah but that would still be a lot of mass for a bird to shift. Surely there would be an upper limit on the size of a bird that could fly?

[Jubal]

I guess so, I don't know what it would be though.

[comrade_general]

It could grip it by the husk.

[Jubal]

'Monster salamanders' found in fossilised mass grave


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32016625

Scientists have discovered a new species of massive, toothy amphibian dating from 220 million years ago.

Hundreds of the creatures probably died when a lake dried up, leaving a huge jumble of bones which is now being excavated in southern Portugal.

Although related to modern salamanders, the two-metre beast probably lived more like a crocodile, snapping up fish and scrapping with rivals on the shore.

The find is reported in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

I think they look pretty cool. Also oddly cute.

[comrade_general]

Does its mouth go all the way behind its eyeballs??

[Jubal]

I think it goes a bit behind the eyes, but not right the way to the back of the head-plate.

[Jubal]

Super thread necro, but this is super cool:

The tail of a feathered dinosaur has been found perfectly preserved in amber from Myanmar.

The one-of-a-kind discovery helps put flesh on the bones of these extinct creatures, opening a new window on the biology of a group that dominated Earth for more than 160 million years.

Examination of the specimen suggests the tail was chestnut brown on top and white on its underside.

The tail is described in the journal Current Biology.

"This is the first time we've found dinosaur material preserved in amber," co-author Ryan McKellar, of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada, told the BBC News website.

Article link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-38224564

[Pentagathus]

It is pretty cool.

[comrade_general]

Yay.

[Clockwork]

Isn't palaeontology when you pretend to be a doctor?