Megamouth Shark Morphometrics
Krak and Shimada use geometric morphometrics to reconstruct extinct megamouth shark tooth rows
Allonia from the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation of Utah
Foster, Howells and Sroka report new details of early sponge-like animals from a spectacularly-preserved specimen from the Cambrian of western Utah.
Death Valley Devonian Acanthodians
A new stem chondrichthyan fauna from the Lost Burro Formation of California by Carole J. Burrow and David K. Elliot.
Toxochelys latiremis Cope, 1873
First report of this turtle from the Cretaceous of Alabama, USA by Andrew Gentry and Jun Ebersole.
Calliovarica oregonensis Hickman
A new species of chilodontid gastropod from the Eocene of Oregon, USA by Carole S. Hickman.
An EPICC contribution!
Annotated list of the Cenozoic marine formations of the Pacific Northwest by Liz Nesbitt.
Use of machine learning to classify extant apes!
Monson et al. apply machine learning using dental morphology to classify extant apes and shed light on the chimpanzee-human last common ancestor.
New subadult skull specimen of Euclastes wielandi Hay, 1908 from the Cretaceous of New Jersey, USA!
New study of a subadult skull by P. Ullmann, Z. Boles and M. Knell provides insights into the cranial morphology and intraspecific variation in the Cretaceous pan-cheloniid turtle Euclastes wielandi.
Cimolestids (Mammalia) from the Paleocene of Montana!
New report on Puercolestes and Betonnia, two cimolestids from the early Paleocene (Puercan) of northeastern Montana, U.S.A. by William A. Clemens.
Eocene cassid gastropods from North America!
A reassessment by Richard Squires of Eocene warm-water cassid gastropods (Family Cassidae) from North America and implications for their paleogeographic distribution and faunal turnover following the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Late Eocene elasmobranchs from Aiken County, South Carolina, USA!
Cicimurri and Knight describe new material of sharks and rays (elasmobrachs) from the Dry Branch Formation of Aiken County, South Carolina USA.
Nestling-sized hadrosaurine crania from the Late Cretaceous of Montana!
Wosik et al. describe new cranial remains of hadrosaurine nestlings from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, Montana, USA, with analysis of cranial ontogeny in Edmontosaurus annectens.
Miocene macropaleontology of the Caldecott Tunnel fourth bore excavation, Berkeley Hills, CA, USA!
Powell et al. describe Miocene marine macrofossils recovered from the fourth bore excavation of the Caldecott Tunnel in the Berkeley Hills, Oakland, CA, USA.
New protocol for differentiating leporids from the late Quaternary of southern California, USA!
Fox et al. propose new protocol using dental morphology for identifying late Quaternary leporids from southern California with remarks on lagomorphs from Rancho La Brea's Project 23!
A new drepanosauromorph from the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA!
Gonçalves and Sidor describe the new Triassicdrepanosauromorph genus and species,Ancistronychus paradoxus, from the Chinle Formation of the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA!
Epiplastral shape and geographic variation of Echmatemys from the Eocene of Utah!
Heather F. Smith et al. analyze epiplastral shape and geographic variation in thegeoemydid turtle, Echmatemys,from the Eocene Uinta Basin , Utah, USA.
The new species Lyropecten terrysmithae from the Miocene of central California!
Powell et al. describe and name a new pectinid, Lyropecten terrysmithae , from the Miocene of California in honor of Dr. Judy Terry Smith for her work on California and Mexican invertebrate paleontology.
Faunal change in Cretaceous endemic bivalves of the northeast Pacific!
Richard Squires reports on the faunal change in Cretaceous shallow-marine endemic bivalve genera/subgenera of the northeast Pacific region.
New report of the fossil otolith species, Equetulus silveraldensis n. comb., from the Oligocene of the Gulf Coastal Plain, USA!
Stringer et al. describe the first record of the teleostean fish otolith, Equetulus silveraldensis n. comb., from the Oligocene of Alabama, USA, and its enigmatic geographic distribution.
New dinosauromorph body fossils from the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA!
Adam Marsh and William Parker describe new dinosauromorph specimens from the Chinle Formation Petrified Forest National Park and provide a global biostratigraphic review of Triassic dinosauromorphs.
Checklist of Paleogene-Neogene marine Mollusca from California!
Groves and Squires present an annotated catalog of Paleogene-Neogene Mollusca from California since Keen and Bentson's 1944 checklist.
New mid-Miocene equids from the Cajon Valley Formation, CA!
Stoneburg et al. describe new fossil horse remains from the mid-Miocene of San Bernardino County, CA.
New fossil fishes from South Carolina, USA!
Cicimurri et al. report on a diverse fauna of Oligocene fishes from the Ashley Formation of South Carolina, with description of a new catshark species, Scyliorhinus weemsi.
Changes in southern California oyster paleocommunity structure over the last 3.6 million years!
Bonuso et al. use digitized data from the EPICC TCN and other sources to reconstruct Late Cenozoic oyster communities in southern California, USA.
The earliest Ancistrolepis, from the early Eocene of Simi Valley, California, USA
Squires updates our knowledge of the oldest species of this extant buccinid gastropod genus
The first Cretaceous fish otolith assemblage from the Arkadelphia Formation of Arkansas, USA!
Stringer and Sloan describe the first otolith assemblage from the Late Cretaceous of Arkansas and its implications for our understanding of the Western Interior Seaway.
Pteriomorph bivalves from the Eocene-Oligocene Keasey Formation in Oregon, USA!
Hickman describes the pteriomorph bivalves from the Eocene-early Oligocene Keasey Formation in Oregon, recognizing a new peri-seep biotope association.
Volume 31, Issue 2, 2014
Articles
Late Cretaceous chimaeroids (Chondrichthyes: Holocephali) from Alabama, USA
Tooth plates of three extinct species of callorhynchid holocephalans, Edaphodon mirificus, E. barberi, and Ischyodus bifurcatus have been collected from Upper Cretaceous strata of Alabama. Of the two species of Edaphodon, E. mirificus is represented by isolated tooth plates as well as associated dentitions. Edaphodon barberi was based on a small left mandibular tooth plate, but additional mandibular tooth plates in museum collections show that the diagnostic features seen on the E. barberi holotype are consistently present and therefore useful for species differentiation. Ischyodus bifurcatus is reported for the first time in Alabama and is known from a partial associated dentition and several isolated tooth plates. Most of the fossils are from the upper Santonian to lower Campanian Mooreville Chalk, but two specimens of Edaphodon from a lower Campanian component of the Tombigbee Sand Member of the Eutaw Formation and one from the lower Maastrichtian Ripley Formation represent the first holocephalan records from these lithostratigraphic units in Alabama.
Modularity and sexual dimorphism in human metacarpals
The shape of an animal’s hands provides insight not only to its locomotory habitus but can also reveal information about the genetic and developmental sources that underlie its variation. Detailed analyses of skeletal shape variation within a population can test hypotheses about the genetic, nongenetic, and epigenetic sources underlying that variation. Here, we report on the variation, patterns of correlation, and sexual dimorphism of human metacarpal size in order to better understand the evolutionary history of the hominid hand. Seven linear measurements were collected from unaffiliated adult Native Californians that lived between 3050 BP and 150 BP, correlations across digits were estimated and compared for the entire population, and for males and females. We also assessed sexual dimorphism in variance as well as for metacarpal length ratios.
Results indicate the thumb, or pollical metacarpal (MC1) measurements are only weakly correlated with those of the index through pinky fingers (palmar metacarpals, MC2-5), whereas all palmar metacarpals are more highly correlated with each other. The lower level of correlation between the pollical and palmar metacarpals accords with expectations from non-human developmental studies that indicate developmental modularity between these rays (and as a consequence, this results in developmental independence and the potential for selection to operate on the modules distinctly). Sexual dimorphism is observed in the absolute size of the metacarpals, and also in the degree of variation (males exhibit a greater range of variation) and level of correlation (females return lower correlations for the palmar metacarpal measurements). In contrast, metacarpal length ratios were not sexually dimorphic. The dimorphism in degree of variance and correlation raise new directions for research, while simultaneously bolstering the interpretation that human pollical and palmar metacarpals reflect two distinct developmental modules.