Makovicky Has New South American Dino – Buitreraptor
This is an exciting new discovery with important implications for the bird-dino story. And it made the cover of Nature (see the drawing at left by one of the founders)!! It is named Buitreraptor (pronounced bwee-tre-rap-tor) gonzalezorum, for an area called La Buitrera which means vulture and for the two brothers who originally found the fossil. This wonderful almost complete fossil was found in 2004 and was prepared here at the Field Museum where a copy is now on exhibit in the prep lab (the original has been returned to Argentina). It has a characteristic and robust furcular, a birdlike pelvis, and long winglike forelimbs like a dromaeosaur. Although feathers were not found in the difficult sandstone rock of Patagonia, Peter believes that it had feathers. It has a long slender snout with widely spaced teeth that are not serrated. It probably ate smaller prey like snakes, lizards and mammals. The holotype is an adult and was probably very fast. There are now 4 specimens and further work may reveal more information of their growth. It has important implications about the evolution of the dromeaosaurs and there will be more about that in the future. (Makovicky et al in Science Vol. 437 Oct. 13)
Jurassic Croc Relative from Argentina – Dakosaurus
This 135 MY old fossil adds an interesting twist to the crocodile story. It is not a crocodile, but a crocodiliform which includes crocodiles and their extinct relatives. This marine fossil has a massive skull with jagged teeth and was very different from its relatives that were around at the same time, but shares key characteristics. They had long narrow snouts with needle like teeth for catching small fish. Dakosaurus andiniensis was obviously after bigger prey. This fossil would measure 13 feet long with jaws 1 and ˝ feet long with interlocking teeth up to 4 inches long. There are 3 fossils, two from rocks in Neuquen Province and one from a farm in Mendoza Province of Patagonia. This area was a deep tropical bay of the Pacific Ocean 135 MYA. The picture at left shows Dakosaurus leaping to keep a pterosaur away from its kill. It had flippers instead of legs and a fishlike tail. The discoverer Paleontologist Zulma Gasparini has found the largest and most diverse collection of marine reptiles ever found in the Southern Hemisphere. Dakosaurus probably fed on these other marine reptiles and they are not sure why it became extinct. It could not move its head side to side like most crocodiles and its teeth were more like those of dinosaurs, so it is added to the list of strange side lines of creatures that evolved and then disappeared. (Gasparini et al in Science: cover story in December National Geographic)
Who Is Winning Oldest Noodle Battle?
The noodle has been claimed by the Italians, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the French, and the Germans. The Italians say the Chinese got them from Marco Polo. The earliest writing mentioning noodles was 2,000 years ago. Now at an excavation on the Yellow River in Qinghai province in China dated to 4,000 years ago there is a small village with human skeletons, pottery, stone and jade artifacts and animal bones. It looks as though it suffered an earthquake followed by a flood that buried it. There was a bowl that was upside down and when they lifted it the lid fell off and out fell a small bowl of noodles. They were about 20 inches long and made of millet. But, as usual, not everyone agrees, and the search is on for older noodles. (Chi Trib 10-14-05)
More Flores Fossils Found
More specimens of Homo floresiensis have been found in the cave at Liang Bua Indonesia. Another tiny adult mandible with no pathology that is dated to 15,000 YA and right arm bones of the original specimen (LB1) have been added to earlier finds (PUs # 210 & 214). It was identified as a dwarfed descendent of Homo erectus, which was not accepted by all, notably by The Field Museum’s Robert Martin who believes that they are pathological. Some believe it is endemic or island dwarfing caused by constraints of limited island resources and small population sizes and release from the pressures of predation. This causes big species to get smaller as these people and the now extinct miniature elephants they hunted, and that small species get bigger such as the giant rats now found on Flores. The other bones found include two tibiae, a scapula, a vertebra, and various toe and finger bones. In all they believe they have bones from 9 individuals. Both mandibles lack chins a distinctive feature of H. sapiens including microcephalics. The limb bones show that they were short at about a meter tall or 3 feet but had relatively long arms, more like Australopithecine than human including pygmy. The Flores cave people also had tools and fire with bones ranging from 95,000 YA to 12,000 YA. This seems to dispute the microcephalic theory and the dwarfing theory. As usual, more fossils are needed. However, future work is jeopardized because the local paleontologist, Teuku Jacob, does not agree with their findings, believing they suffered from microcephaly. Many of the bones have been badly damaged. And permits have become hard to become hard to come by. It is unfortunate that political problems should cause such problems at such an important site. And I wish that they would look for other caves on this island and others to see if there is evidence of other similar sites. (Morwood et al in Nature Vol. 437/Oct.13)
Karen Nordquist, Paleontology Study Group
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