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Author Topic:   Fossils - New Discoveries
Tanypteryx
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Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(2)
Message 1 of 22 (855002)
06-14-2019 4:10 PM


I think we need a fossil thread for posting articles about new discoveries and important older ones. In recent years there have been a number of new Cambrian and Precambrian fossil deposits discovered and many new species described.
It would be great to see discussion, but hair-brained debate is pointless.
New 'king' of fossils discovered on Kangaroo Island
quote:
"We decided to name this new species of trilobite Redlichia rex (similar to Tyrannosaurus rex) because of its giant size, as well as its formidable legs with spines used for crushing and shredding food”which may have been other trilobites," says James Holmes, Ph.D. student with the University of Adelaide's School of Biological Sciences, who led the research.
The preservation of trilobite soft parts such as the antennae and legs is extremely rare. The new species was discovered at the Emu Bay Shale on Kangaroo Island, a world-renowned deposit famous for this type of preservation. The findings have been published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology by a team of scientists from the University of Adelaide, South Australian Museum and the University of New England.
Links and Information please.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

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 Message 2 by Adminnemooseus, posted 06-14-2019 10:43 PM Tanypteryx has not replied

  
Adminnemooseus
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Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 2 of 22 (855003)
06-14-2019 10:43 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Tanypteryx
06-14-2019 4:10 PM


Good idea - Will promote to new topic and pin
I try to avoid having a bunch of micro "Links and Information" topics, but having one focused on new fossil discoveries seems to be a good idea.
Going to promote to "Links and Information" forum and pin the topic in the "Links and Information" forum index.
Perhaps members could mine past new fossil discoveries from past topics and plug into this new topic.
Remember - "Links and Information" topics are NOT for debating the link's content. For such, a new "Biological Evolution" topic is called for.
Adminnemooseus

Or something like that.

This message is a reply to:
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Adminnemooseus
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Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 3 of 22 (855005)
06-14-2019 10:44 PM


Thread Copied from Proposed New Topics Forum
Thread copied here from the Fossils - New Discoveries thread in the Proposed New Topics forum.

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(1)
Message 4 of 22 (855029)
06-15-2019 1:46 PM


Two New Fossil Fungi Discoveries
Two stories about fossil fungi that I ran across a while ago.
One billion year old fungi found are Earth's oldest
quote:
Scientists have unearthed fossilised fungi dating back up to one billion years, in a discovery that could reshape our understanding of how life on land evolved, research showed Wednesday. For decades, the earliest known fungi”organisms such as mushrooms, mould and yeast”was thought to have appeared on earth around half a billion years ago.
But recent fossil specimens unearthed in Canada and analysed using the latest dating technology appear to push back fungi's arrival to the earliest reaches of life on land.
Fossils may be earliest known multicellular life: study
quote:
Fossils accidentally discovered in South Africa are probably the oldest fungi ever found by a margin of 1.2 billion years, rewriting the evolutionary story of these organisms which are neither flora nor fauna, researchers said Monday. If verified as both fungal and multicellular, the 2.4 billion-year-old microscopic creatures”whose slender filaments are bundled together like brooms”could also be the earliest known specimens of the branch of life to which humans belong, they reported in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
quote:
Up to now, the first fossil trace of eukaryotes”the "superkingdom" that includes plants, animals and fungi, but not bacteria”dates to only 1.9 billion years ago.
Earth itself is about 4.6 billion years old.
The ancient fungus-like life forms, found in fossilised gas bubbles 800 metres (2,600 feet) underground in South Africa's Northern Cape Province, are remarkable not just for their age but their origin, the researchers said.
quote:
It screamed 'life'
"My attention was drawn to a series of petrified gas bubbles, and when I increased the magnification of the microscope, I was startled," he recalled.
The bubbles were "filled with hundreds of exquisitely preserved filaments that just screamed 'life'," he wrote by email.
The plot thickened when Rasmussen realised that the surrounding lava was not 2.2 billion years old, as previously thought, but 2.4 billion years old.
That extra 200 million years was significant because it straddles a critical threshold in Earth's geological history called the Great Oxidation Event”a rapid and massive outpouring of oxygen into the atmosphere.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

Replies to this message:
 Message 5 by AZPaul3, posted 06-15-2019 2:23 PM Tanypteryx has replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 5 of 22 (855030)
06-15-2019 2:23 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Tanypteryx
06-15-2019 1:46 PM


Re: Two New Fossil Fungi Discoveries
So if humans evolved from fungus why do my toes still itch?
Edited by Adminnemooseus, : No reason given.

Eschew obfuscation. Habituate elucidation.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by Tanypteryx, posted 06-15-2019 1:46 PM Tanypteryx has replied

Replies to this message:
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Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


Message 6 of 22 (855036)
06-15-2019 5:13 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by AZPaul3
06-15-2019 2:23 PM


Re: Two New Fossil Fungi Discoveries
Could be chiggers.
Edited by Adminnemooseus, : No reason given.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

This message is a reply to:
 Message 5 by AZPaul3, posted 06-15-2019 2:23 PM AZPaul3 has seen this message but not replied

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


Message 7 of 22 (859329)
07-30-2019 8:15 PM


A voracious Cambrian predator, Cambroraster, is a new species from the Burgess Shale
quote:
Palaeontologists at the Royal Ontario Museum and University of Toronto have uncovered fossils of a large new predatory species in half-a-billion-year-old rocks from Kootenay National Park in the Canadian Rockies. This new species has rake-like claws and a pineapple-slice-shaped mouth at the front of an enormous head, and it sheds light on the diversity of the earliest relatives of insects, crabs, spiders, and their kin. The findings were announced July 31, 2019, in a study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
quote:
Perhaps even more astonishing is the large number of specimens recovered. "The sheer abundance of this animal is extraordinary," added Dr. Caron, who is also an Assistant Professor in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto, and the leader of the field expeditions that unearthed the new fossils. "Over the past few summers we found hundreds of specimens, sometimes with dozens of individuals covering single rock slabs."

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(2)
Message 8 of 22 (862488)
09-05-2019 1:55 PM


Ancient worm fossil rolls back origins of animal life
quote:
Half-a-billion-year-old creature challenges theory that animals burst onto the scene in an abrupt event known as the Cambrian explosion.
quote:
More than half a billion years ago, a strange, worm-like creature died as it crawled across the muddy sea floor. Both the organism and the trail it left lay undisturbed for so long that they fossilized. Now, they are helping to revise our understanding of when and how animals evolved.
The fossil, which formed some time between 551 million and 539 million years ago, in the Ediacaran period, joins a growing body of evidence that challenges the idea that animal life on Earth burst onto the scene in an event known as the Cambrian explosion, which began about 539 million years ago.
quote:
What’s extraordinary about this paper is it’s three home runs in the same five-page manuscript, says Simon Darroch, a palaeontologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. First, it’s exceptionally rare to find a dead animal preserved at the end of a trail it made when alive, he says. Second, the fossil dates to a crucial moment in the evolution of animal life.
And third: It’s such a bizarre-looking organism, says Darroch. The creature, which has been named Yilingia spiciformis and was up to 27 centimetres long, seems to be a biologically complex animal with a distinct front and rear end. We don’t really have many of those from the Ediacaran, he says.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(1)
Message 9 of 22 (862674)
09-10-2019 12:34 AM


New flying reptile species was one of largest ever flying animals
New flying reptile species was one of largest ever flying animals
quote:
A newly identified species of pterosaur is among the largest ever flying animals, according to a new study from Queen Mary University of London.
Cryodrakon boreas, from the Azhdarchid group of pterosaurs (often incorrectly called 'pterodactyls'), was a flying reptile with a wingspan of up to 10 metres which lived during the Cretaceous period around 77 million years ago.
quote:
Its remains were discovered 30 years ago in Alberta, Canada, but palaeontologists had assumed they belonged to an already known species of pterosaur discovered in Texas, USA, named Quetzalcoatlus.
The study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, reveals it is actually a new species and the first pterosaur to be discovered in Canada.

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

  
Tanypteryx
Member
Posts: 4344
From: Oregon, USA
Joined: 08-27-2006
Member Rating: 5.9


(2)
Message 10 of 22 (866473)
11-11-2019 10:48 PM


Physical evidence of insect pollination 99 million years ago
New fossil pushes back physical evidence of insect pollination to 99 million years ago
quote:
The revelation is based upon a tumbling flower beetle with pollen on its legs discovered preserved in amber deep inside a mine in northern Myanmar. The fossil comes from the same amber deposit as the first ammonite discovered in amber, which was reported by the same research group earlier this year.
quote:
According to Dilcher, who provided a morphological review of the 62 grains of pollen in the amber, the shape and structure of the pollen shows it evolved to spread through contact with insects. These features include the pollen's size, "ornamentation" and clumping ability.
quote:
"It's exceedingly rare to find a specimen where both the insect and the pollen are preserved in a single fossil," said Dilcher. "Aside from the significance as earliest known direct evidence of insect pollination of flowering plants, this specimen perfectly illustrates the cooperative evolution of plants and animals during this time period, during which a true exposition of flowering plants occurred."

What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python
One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie
If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy
The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq

Replies to this message:
 Message 11 by jar, posted 11-12-2019 7:29 AM Tanypteryx has not replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 11 of 22 (866482)
11-12-2019 7:29 AM
Reply to: Message 10 by Tanypteryx
11-11-2019 10:48 PM


Re: Physical evidence of insect pollination 99 million years ago
Gotta ask. Just what was the ammonite doing to get covered in amber. That one really is something special.

My Sister's Website: Rose Hill StudiosMy Website: My Website

This message is a reply to:
 Message 10 by Tanypteryx, posted 11-11-2019 10:48 PM Tanypteryx has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 12 by PaulK, posted 11-12-2019 7:50 AM jar has replied
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PaulK
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Posts: 17822
Joined: 01-10-2003
Member Rating: 2.2


Message 12 of 22 (866483)
11-12-2019 7:50 AM
Reply to: Message 11 by jar
11-12-2019 7:29 AM


Ammonite in amber explained
...The incomplete preservation and lack of soft body of the ammonite and marine gastropods suggest that they were dead and underwent abrasion on the seashore before entombment. It is most likely that the resin fell to the beach from coastal trees, picking up terrestrial arthropods and beach shells and, exceptionally, surviving the high-energy beach environment to be preserved as amber
An ammonite trapped in Burmese amber

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 Message 11 by jar, posted 11-12-2019 7:29 AM jar has replied

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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 13 of 22 (866486)
11-12-2019 8:15 AM
Reply to: Message 11 by jar
11-12-2019 7:29 AM


Re: Physical evidence of insect pollination 99 million years ago
Just what was the ammonite doing ...
Not much. One speculation is that he/she was on his way to the store for beer and cigarettes when the entombment occurred. The lack of a six-pack or a pack of ciggs in the amber lends credence to the idea that he hadn’t made it to the store yet by the time of the resin fall.

Eschew obfuscation. Habituate elucidation.

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Pressie
Member
Posts: 2103
From: Pretoria, SA
Joined: 06-18-2010


(1)
Message 14 of 22 (866488)
11-12-2019 8:29 AM
Reply to: Message 11 by jar
11-12-2019 7:29 AM


Re: Physical evidence of insect pollination 99 million years ago
jar.
I was wondering as well. I've only seen relatively big ammonite fossils. Got me to look at ammonites. Never realised that there were so many different species of ammonites. From huge to very small and the small species also had babies. And some were trapped in amber. Blew my mind!
Learned a lot today, thanks to EvC.
Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

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jar
Member (Idle past 393 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


Message 15 of 22 (866489)
11-12-2019 8:38 AM
Reply to: Message 12 by PaulK
11-12-2019 7:50 AM


Re: Ammonite in amber explained
Okay, so parts of a shell caught in amber. Much betterer.

My Sister's Website: Rose Hill StudiosMy Website: My Website

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