Published Today (1868): Darwin’s ‘Variation’

From Today In Science History:

In 1868, Charles Darwin's book - Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication - was published. He was 58. It is probably the second in importance of all his works. This was a follow-up work, written in response to criticisms that his theory of evolution was unsubstantiated. Darwin here supports his views via analysis of various aspects of plant and animal life, including an inventory of varieties and their physical and behavioral characteristics, and an investigation of the impact of a species' surrounding environment and the effect of both natural and forced changes in this environment.

Dr. Scott + Kids = Dino Pandemonium!

This is the scene right now in the Dino Hall of the CMNH. Kids and their parents are lined up out the door to meet Dr. Scott!

That's Scott at the left signing autographs.

Tonight at the CMNH: Paleontologist Dr. Scott Sampson

Join is tonight at 7:30 pm the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for a talk by paleontologist Scott Samspon from the Utah Museum of Natural History, entitled, “The Dinosaurs of West America: Life, Death and Evolution on an Island Continent”

About 100 million years ago, central North America was flooded by the north-south oriented Cretaceous Interior Seaway. Adjacent to this warm, shallow sea, the isolated western landmass informally known as “West America” witnessed a stunning florescence of dinosaurs, from horned, duck-billed and armored plant-eaters to meat-eating tyrannosaurs and smaller raptor-like predators. Dr.Sampson has done extensive research in this region exploring the questions of giant dinosaur co-existence, the evolution of Tyrannosaurus rex and the great extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic Era. This program is in conjunction with the current exhibit Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries.

Many of you (or your kids) will know “Dr. Scott” as the host of the hit PBS show, “Dinosaur Train.”

Scott will be signing copies of his new book, “Dinosaur Odyssey”, after the presentation. All books are available for purchase in the Museum Store

We are expecting a sold out auditorium so please call the box office for information on ticket availability: (216) 231-1177 or 800-317-9155, ext. 3279

Born This Day: Father of Java Man

Eugene Dubois (Jan. 28, 1858 - Dec. 16, 1940) joined the Dutch Army as a medical officer, and used spare time from his medical duties to search for fossils, first in Sumatra and then in Java. He searched on the banks of the Solo River, with two assigned engineers and a crew of convict labourers to help him. In September 1890, his workers found a human, or human-like, fossil at Koedoeng Broeboes. This consisted of the right side of the chin of a lower jaw and three attached teeth. In August 1891 he found a primate molar tooth.

Two months later and one meter away was found an intact skullcap, the fossil which would be known as Java Man. In August 1892, a third primate fossil, an almost complete left thigh bone, was found between 10 and 15 meters away from the skullcap.

In 1894 Dubois published a description of his fossils, naming them Pithecanthropus erectus (now Home erectus), describing it as neither ape nor human, but something intermediate. In 1895 he returned to Europe to promote the fossil and his interpretation. A few scientists enthusiastically endorsed Dubois' work, but most disagreed with his interpretation. Many scientists pointed out similarities between the Java Man skullcap and Neandertal fossils.

Around 1900 Dubois ceased to discuss Java Man, and hid the fossils in his home while he moved on to other research topics. geology and paleontology. It was not until 1923 that Dubois, under pressure from scientists, once again allowed access to the Java Man fossils. That and the discovery of similar fossils caused it to once again become a topic of debate.


Skull cap (Trinil 2, holotype of Home erectus) from HERE.

Dinosaur's True Colours Revealed

Fossilized melanosomes and the colour of Cretaceous dinosaurs and birds. 2010. F. Zhang, et al. Nature, published online 27 January.

Image courtesy Chuang Zhao and Lida Xing

Abstract: Spectacular fossils from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of northeastern China have greatly expanded our knowledge of the diversity and palaeobiology of dinosaurs and early birds, and contributed to our understanding of the origin of birds, of flight, and of feathers.

Pennaceous (vaned) feathers and integumentary filaments are preserved in birds and non-avian theropod dinosaurs, but little is known of their microstructure. Here we report that melanosomes (colour-bearing organelles) are not only preserved in the pennaceous feathers of early birds, but also in an identical manner in integumentary filaments of non-avian dinosaurs, thus refuting recent claims that the filaments are partially decayed dermal collagen fibres.

Examples (below) of both eumelanosomes (left) and phaeomelanosomes (right) have been identified, and they are often preserved in life position within the structure of partially degraded feathers and filaments.

Image: University of Bristol

Furthermore, the data here provide empirical evidence for reconstructing the colours and colour patterning of these extinct birds and theropod dinosaurs: for example, the dark-coloured stripes on the tail of the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx can reasonably be inferred to have exhibited chestnut to reddish-brown tones. press release

Died This Day: Adam Sedgwick

From Today In Science History:

Sedgwich (March 22, 1785 - Jan. 27, 1873) was an English geologist who first applied the name Cambrian to the geologic period of time, now dated at 570 to 505 million years ago. In 1818 he became Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge, holding a chair that had been endowed ninety years before by the natural historian John Woodward.

He lacked formal training in geology, but he quickly became an active researcher in geology and paleontology. Many years after Sedgwick's death, the geological museum at Cambridge was renamed the Sedgwick Museum of Geology in his honor. The museum is now part of the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University.

Kevin Aulenback Interview

Buy the book

Last week author Kevin Aulenback was interviewed on the CKUA show, Bookmark, about his new book, Identification Guide to the Fossil Plants of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Drumheller, Alberta.

You can listen to a podcast of the show by going HERE (WMA format). I think that Kevin is in the second half of the show.

Microraptor A Glider

Model tests of gliding with different hindwing configurations in the four-winged dromaeosaurid Microraptor gui. 2010. D.E. Alexander et al. PNAS, published online before print January 25.

Credit: University of Kansas

A new flight model based on casts of the original bones and the preserved impressions of feathers of Microraptor support the argument that flight originated with ‘tree-down’ gliders.

The fossils also show that an essentially sprawling posture was a plausible hind-limb wing position to provide stable flight with gliding parameters better than those of modern "flying lemurs."

The competing "biplane posture" advanced by other researchers suggested that an upright stance provided for successful glides. But the research team argues that this stance required an impossibly heavy head to maintain a proper center of gravity. Furthermore, the presence of seven-inch-long flight feathers on the feet would prohibit any extended stay on the ground. Thus, Microraptor must have been completely arboreal.

"We decided that we would take the skeleton we had, put wings on it from the feather pattern and show that it could fly," said Burnham. "If others think that it was a terrestrial runner, they should make a model and put it on a treadmill and show that it could run with those long feathers on its hind legs."

Successful flight tests were conducted in the open air and under more controlled conditions at KU. A video of some of the tests is available HERE

Indeed, the team's work provides such strong support for the trees-down model for the origin of avian flight that the alternative terrestrial (ground up) origin now may be abandoned [right – good luck with that! Ed.]. link

Born This Day: Roy Chapman Andrews

Photo from Parade of Life Through The Ages, by Charles Knight, Nat. Geo., Feb. 1942.

From the American Museum of Natural History web site:

Adventurer, administrator, and Museum promoter — Andrews (Jan. 26, 1884 – March 11, 1960) spent his entire career at the American Museum of Natural History, where he rose through the ranks from departmental assistant, to expedition organizer, to Museum director.

He became world famous as leader of the Central Asiatic Expeditions, a series of expeditions to Mongolia that collected, among other things, dinosaur eggs. Although on these expeditions, Andrews himself found few fossils, and during his career he was not known as an influential scientist, he instead filled the role of promoter, creating immense excitement and successfully advancing the research and exhibition goals of the museum.

Learn about the Roy Chapman Andrews Society HERE.

Born This Day: Theodosius Dobzhansky

Dobzhansky (Jan.25, 1900–Dec. 18, 1975) is noted for being one of the architects of the modern Synthetic Theory of evolution. During the first 20 years of the 20th century, Darwin's theory of natural selection had fallen out of favor among scientists. Many thought it insufficient to explain the origin of adaptations, while new discoveries of gene mutations seemed to them to be incompatible with Darwinian models of change.

But in 1937 Dobzhansky published his book, Genetics and the Origin of Species, that was the first systematic overview view encompassing organic diversity, variation in natural populations, selection, isolating mechanisms (a term he coined) and species as natural units.

Later, working with Sewall Wright, he went on to demonstrate how evolution can produce stability and equilibrium in populations rather than constant directional change. link. image.

Tetsuto Miyashita

"Tetsuto Miyashita was given a book about dinosaurs by Dr. Philip Currie, right, when he was a 10-year-old in Japan. Now he is studying for his master's under Currie and Eva Koppelhus".

Tetsuto’s been featured on the blog a number of times for his work with me in southern Alberta.

Read the full story at the Edmonton Journal and watch the video

Premiered This Day (1956): The Animal World

“2 Billion Years in the Making!”

Produced and directed by Irwin Allen, whose long career included such TV hits as Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, and movies like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.

The Animal World was one of the first films to present dinosaurs in the quasi-nature documentary so beloved by the Discovery Channel today. Rarely seen now, it featured about 10 minutes of great dinosaur stop-animation by Ray Harryhausen with Willis O’Brien. The entire sequence was released as an extra on the 2003 DVD release of The Black Scorpion.

Sunday T. rex

Liberty Meadows

Reviews: New William Stout Books

Title: New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z
Author: William Stout
Publishing Information: Flesk Publications; HC; 64 pages; 1st edition $14.95
Ordering Number: ISBN: 978-1-933865-23-2
Review copy: complimentary
Read the publisher blurb
Order Here

Author: William Stout
Publishing Information: Flesk Publications; SC; 144 pages; 1st edition $24.95
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-933865-22-5 (SC); ISBN: 978-1-933865-21-8 (HC with jacket)
Review copy: complimentary
Read the publisher blurb
Order Here

Reviews: Dinosaur Discoveries and New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z are the latest dinosaur books by Bill Stout whose art has been featured many times on the blog. Most dino enthusiasts will remember Bill’s The Dinosaurs–A Fantastic New View of a Lost Era first published in 1984, and later updated with new art and republished in 2000 as The New Dinosaurs. More recently Flesk Publications produced William Stout: Prehistoric Life Murals featuring Bill's murals for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, and the San Diego Natural History Museum.

The new books feature Bill’s artistic takes on new dinosaurs named within the last decade, many of which were described and named in the last few years. Each book features a pen and ink drawing enhanced by eye-catching watercolours, with the dinosaurs depicted with either a minimalistic background and a few accurately drawn plants, or a fully rendered environment including other appropriate animals & plants. The text for each dinosaur is limited to a brief, but accurate, listing of the usual data, and short description of the dino and other pertinent facts of its discovery or anatomy.

Both books benefit from the fact that Bill is (1) an exceptional anatomist and artist, and (2) he has thoroughly researched each animal by going to the primary literature. My only complaint, and it’s a minor one, is that he has left the species name out of every description. While in most cases new genera are described, the Pachyrhinosaurus entry refers to P. lacustris, not P. canadensis, but the reader is not informed of this.

I’ve reviewed the two books together because New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z is actually a condensed version (both in size and page number) of the larger book, featuring one dinosaur for each letter of the alphabet. All the art is taken from Dinosaur Discoveries, and it is clearly aimed at a more juvenile market.

I have to mention Flesk Publications secret weapon that makes each of these books (and all of Flesk’s recent publications) a real treat for the book lover – designer Randy Dahlk. Dahlk has a gift for designing gorgeous books that the reader will want to own no matter what the subject matter. Note that Randy’s design for New Dinosaur Discoveries A-Z turns it into a ‘Golden Book’, so fondly remembered by many older readers. For this reason alone you’ll want to pick up both books.

Recommendations: Both get the Palaeoblog’s Highest Recommendation.

Humans Killed Australian Megafauna

And Then There Were None?. 2010. R. G. Roberts & B. W. Brook. Science 327: 420-422.

New research indicates that humans, not climate change, caused the demise of Australia's megafauna - giant marsupials, huge reptiles and flightless birds - at least 40,000 years ago.

2001: A Space Odyssey © MGM. Art & Story by Jack Kirby © Marvel Comics

Improved dating methods show that humans and megafauna only co-existed for a relatively short time after people inhabited Australia, adding weight to the argument that hunting led to the extinction of large-bodied species.

One site in western NSW - Cuddie Springs - stood out as an anomaly. Fossils of super-sized kangaroos, giant birds and the rhino-sized Diprotodon (the largest marsupial ever to roam Australia) were found in the same sedimentary layers as stone tools, leading some scientists to previously claim "unequivocal evidence" of a long overlap of humans and megafauna.

New methods to directly date bones and teeth of extinct species show that megafauna fossils and Aboriginal tools do not all date from the same period- they were mixed together over many thousands of years, long after the giant animals had died.

"Given that people arrived in Australia between 60,000 and 45,000 years ago, human impact was the likely extinction driver, either through hunting or habitat disturbance," he says. link

Dinosaur Death Pits

Dinosaur Death Pits from the Jurassic of China. 2010. D.A. Eberth, et al. Palaios 25: 112-125.


Two small Guanlong wucaii dinosaurs struggle to escape a muddy pit in what is now China during the late Jurassic period. Painting by Michael Skerpnick

ABSTRACT [edit]: Three newly discovered bonebeds from the Shishugou Formation of Xinjiang, China, are unusual in preserving vertically stacked and articulated to associated skeletons of at least 18 small, non-avian theropod dinosaurs in pits that are 1–2m deep.

There is no evidence that the pits were discrete depressions in the topography that filled through time. Rather, they appear to have been highly localized areas of liquefaction caused by large-dinosaur (possibly sauropod) trampling of saturated sediments.

Evidence indicates that the small theropods, and some other small vertebrates, became mired and died in these mud-filled pits. High quality skeletal preservation suggests that most individuals were buried within days to months after their deaths. Carcasses were buried successively, coming to rest above previously buried individuals.

Given the large sizes of the pits relative to the small body sizes of the vertebrates contained within them, we conclude that small vertebrates (3m long and 1 m tall) were particularly susceptible to miring at these sites.

Although the small, presumably herbivorous ceratosaur, Limusaurus inextricabilis, dominates the combined small theropod assemblage from these bonebeds, there is no evidence that any biological features other than its small size and a large, and possibly, gregarious local population were responsible for its becoming mired in large numbers.

A bias for small theropods in these bonebeds, compared to their relatively low abundance in the overall Shishugou Formation fauna, underscores that small theropods are underrepresented in Mesozoic fossil assemblages collected from other ancient alluvial and paludal settings.

Read the story at National Geographic News

New Model For The Origin of Primates

Evolution and biogeography of primates: a new model based on molecular phylogenetics, vicariance and plate tectonics. 2009. Zoologica Scripta, Published Online: 10 Nov 2009



A new model for primate origins argues that the distributions of the major primate groups are correlated with Mesozoic tectonic features and that their respective ranges are congruent with each evolving locally from a widespread ancestor on the supercontinent of Pangea about 185 million years ago.



"According to prevailing theories, primates are supposed to have originated in a geographically small area (center of origin) from where they dispersed to other regions and continents" said Heads, who also noted that widespread misrepresentation of fossil molecular clocks estimates as maximum or actual dates of origin has led to a popular theory that primates somehow crossed the globe and even rafted across oceans to reach America and Madagascar.

In this new approach to molecular phylogenetics, vicariance, and plate tectonics, Heads shows that the distribution ranges of primates and their nearest relatives, the tree shrews and the flying lemurs, conforms to a pattern that would be expected from their having evolved from a widespread ancestor. This ancestor could have evolved into the extinct Plesiadapiformes in north America and Eurasia, the primates in central-South America, Africa, India and south East Asia, and the tree shrews and flying lemurs in South East Asia.

Detective Chimp (c) DC Comics

Divergence between strepsirrhines (lemurs and lorises) and haplorhines (tarsiers and anthropoids) is correlated with intense volcanic activity on the Lebombo Monocline in Africa about 180 million years ago. The lemurs of Madagascar diverged from their African relatives with the opening of the Mozambique Channel (160 million years ago), while New and Old World monkeys diverged with the opening of the Atlantic about 120 million years ago.

Biogeographic evidence for the Jurassic origin for primates, and the pre-Cretaceous origin of major primate groups considerably extends their divergence before the fossil record, but Heads notes that fossils only provide minimal dates for the existence of particular groups, and there are many examples of the fossil record being extended for tens of millions of years through new fossil discoveries. link

Died This Day: Frank Reicher

Frank Reicher (Dec. 2, 1875 - Jan. 19, 1965) was a German actor, director and producer born in Munich, Germany. During the early part of the twentieth century he was often on Broadway, occasionally in leading roles, but he is most familiar to modern audiences as a supporting character actor in films.

He is probably best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the movies King Kong and Son of Kong in 1933. link

MLK DAY at CMNH

In celebration of Martin Luther King Day yesterday, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History had free admission for the public. More than 5000 visitors came by to talk with the curators, staff and volunteers who moved out of their offices and labs and into the galleries for the day. Here are just a few images from yesterday.


Vert Paleo volunteer George explains placoderm fish.


Vert Paleo volunteer Joe describes the Nanotyrannus that got away from him.


Junior docent in training, Ryan, explains all you need to know about small tyrannosaurs.


High School volunteers Henry and Matt compare modern shark jaws to Devonian fossil jaws.


Physical Anthropology


Archaeology


Anne Sanford from the Phys. Anthro Casting Lab demonstrates facial reconstructions.

So does Dr. Linda Spurlock, Director of Human Health


Dr. Joe Hannibal and CWRU Work Study Student, Jeff, talk about rocks & invertebrate fossils.

Thanks to everyone for making this year's MLK Day a great success!

Osteology of Falcarius utahensis

Osteology of Falcarius utahensis (Dinosauria: Theropoda): characterizing the anatomy of basal therizinosaurs. 2010. L. E. Zanno. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. :196-230.



ABSTRACT [edit]: Falcarius utahensis, from the lower Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, represents the most complete and morphologically primitive therizinosaur yet discovered. This work completes the description of skeletal material prepared from the Crystal Geyser Quarry subsequent to the first five years of excavation.

Results of this study reveal a significant degree of morphological disparity between Falcarius utahensis and the evidently coeval primitive therizinosaur Beipiaosaurus inexpectus from the Yixian Formation, People's Republic of China and help characterize morphological transformations occurring in the therizinosaur lineage.

Falcarius documents that marked heterodonty – characterized by elongate, incisiform rostral teeth – is present in basal therizinosaurs and oviraptorosaurs (i.e. Incisivosaurus gauthieri, Protarchaeopteryx robusta), and either represents a synapomorphy or symplesiomorphy for these groups or an early phase in the convergent progression toward rostral endentulism. Nonetheless, heterodonty suggests that diet was a primary factor in the early evolution of both clades.