Hairy Museum of Natural History

Other bloggers have noted some confusion as to how much information it is appropriate to share from the technical and poster sessions at the SVP Annual Meeting. Certainly there was work presented there that is in the process of being written up and published, and it’s probably best to err on the side of caution regarding what can be reposted on blogs or other personal publishing arenas.

Still, there is definitely some information that has begun to be spread around to members of the media and the public at large. Rather than risk breaking any news that isn’t ready to be broken, I’m going to compile a list of existing press releases, news stories, and other web content that refers more or less directly to information presented during the sessions at this year’s SVP. If anyone is aware of other stories that apply, please let me know and I’ll happily add them to the list:

Presentations released in their entirety:

• Removing Fossil Ribs: The Thread Technique
Amy Davidson

• Growth, allometry, and age/size distribution of the Late Triassic theropod dinosaur Coelophysis bauri: preliminary results
Larry F. Rinehart, Andrew B. Heckert, Spencer G. Lucas, and Matthew D. Celeskey

• Restoration and three-dimensional assembly of a nearly complete, articulated Eocele Protocetid whale skeleton from Pakistan
William Sanders, John Graf, Iyad Salmout, Munir Ul-Haq, and Philip Gingerich

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Publications, press releases, and news stories based on or related to presentations:

The abstracts these stories appear to relate to are printed below the links

• Fossil Find May Document Largest Snake
J. Bloch et al.: Vertebrate Faunas from the Paleocene Bogota Formation of Northern Colombia

• The cranial endoskeleton of Tiktaalik roseae
• Ancient Fish Heads for Land
J. Downs et al.: The cranial endoskeleton of Tiktaalik roseae (Tetrapodomorpha, Elpistostegalia)

• Brain structure provides the key to unraveling the function of bizarre dinosaur crests
D. Evans et al.: Endocranial anatomy of lambeosaurine dinosaurs: Implications for cranial crest function and evolution

• Frontal sinuses and head-butting in goats: a finite element analysis
• Head Butting Goats, Part 1
A. Farke, Evolution and function of the supracranial sinuses in ceratopsid dinosaurs and the frontal sinuses in bovid mammals

• How pterosaurs took flight
M. Habib: Skeletal architecture and launch mechanics of pterosaurs

• Reconstructing a Stone Age Embrace
T. Keillor: Challenge: How to excavate, prepare, display and transport delicate articulated fossils found in unconsolidated sand?

• Live birth in the Devonian Period
• World’s oldest mother – Live birth in the Devonian (includes video content)
• Dr. John Long presents the Matterpiscis M. attenboroughi (video)
J. Long and K. Trinajstic: Devonian placoderm embryos and the origins of vertebrate sex

• Dinosaur ‘mummies’ were just thick-skinned
E. Lund et al.: Preservation of dinosaur integumentary impressions in the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah

• New Haven scientist says he has solved ancient mystery: How did the turtle get its shell? (includes video content)
T. Lyson & W. Joyce: How did the turtle get its shoulder inside its ribcage, or did it?

• A more fearsome saber-toothed cat
V. Naples and K. Spearing: Reconstruction of the forelimb musculature and function in Xenosmilus hodsonae: an atypical scimitar-toothed cat
L. Martin et al.: Cookie-cutter cats; another saber-toothed morphotype

• Impact of increased character sampling on the phylogeny of Cetartiodactyla (Mammalia): combined analysis including fossils
O’Leary et al.: Instability of pivotal fossil clades in cetartiodactylan phylogeny and evolution of the ear region and ankle

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Items that showed up on the conference bulletin board that are hard to classify but fascinating to look at nonetheless:

• treeosaur.com

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Updated 10/24 from content found by Neil.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Recent Discoveries.