March 2003
New Four Winged Microraptor Reported
No less than six fossil specimens reveal four winged dinosaurs from Liaoning China named Microraptor gui. They are announced in Nature by Xu et al. There are long asymmetric (flight) feathers attached to both the arms and the legs, with the leg feathers extending all the way down the metatarsal. This description is very similar to another new animal named Cryptovolans pauli from the recent Czercas book and may indeed be the same or very closely related. There are only a few differences between it and Microraptor zhaoianus. The holotype is about 28 inches (77cm) long and is dated between 124 and 145 MYA. There are two types of feathers around the fossil. There are plumaceous ones about an inch long on the body with slightly longer 1 ˝ inch long ones on the skull roof along with a few pennaceous ones probably for display. Large pennaceous feathers are attached to the end of the tail (from the 15 to 18 vertebrae) and to the arms and legs. The wing feathers are like those of modern birds with about 12 longer primaries and 18 secondaries. Most of these show some asymmetry. A few small feathers attached at the very front may be precursors to the alula. There are about 14 feathers on the metatarsus, some with asymmetry with shorter proximal ones. The feathers on the tibia are shorter than those on the metatarsus. There are also symmetric feathers on the tibia and femur, making the feathering of the leg just like that on the wing. The drawing in the article shows M. gui from the top with its legs splayed out to the side in a gliding posture, a position some feel would not be possible with its hip structure. But it may be that they would have been used more like rudders in a more vertical position, which would work better with the hip. The authors suggest that this four-winged gliding animal is an intermediate stage toward flapping flight.
WAIR (Wing Assisted Incline Running) is Here
I remember it well. We were sitting in a large filled hall at Montana State University when Ken Dial walked up with his videos tapes and in a moment the room was transformed. Everyone watched raptly as small chicks and adult birds ran up piles of hay or poles. They did not fly up – they ran up. All of a sudden ‘ground up’ or ‘trees down’ theories for the origin of flight didn’t matter any more. These birds use their wings to help hold them onto the substrate with traction. In the study he watched birds with plucked wing feathers that had limited incline-running ability. Birds with trimmed feathers did better and birds with full feathers could reach very steep angles. This shows that there is an advantage to animals with longer arm feathers. These behaviors are associated with predator escape rather than some other theories of insect catching, shading to catch fish, etc. Tom Holtz calls it “from the ground up the trees” with true arboreal adaptations following the arrival to the trees. WAIR behavior does provide an advantage to the theropod by allowing it to avoid many of the predators without actually flying.
TB Not Brought to England by Rome
It has been thought that Tuberculosis (TB) was first brought to the UK by the Romans who arrived there in 55 BC, later consolidating their holdings when they returned 80 years later. However, now a skeleton found in southwest England and dated at 2200 years ago is diagnosed as having died of TB. He has a damaged spine along with DNA tests that confirm the presence of the disease. He lived between 400 and 250 BC and was discovered some 20 years ago. It is just now that they were able to determine cause of death.
First Devonian Tetrapod from China
Early tetrapods have been known by nine genera found in Euramerica (North America, Europe and Greenland) and one is known from Australia. This first Asian specimen is a left mandible found in northwestern China. It is named Sinostega pani (Chinese roof and after a Devonian researcher Pan) and is dated to the Late Devonian. Because it was geographically closer to the Australian species, Metaxygnathus, it would be expected to be more similar to it. However, it is closer to Acanthostega from the northern locations instead. This may mean that the early tetrapods were more widespread than thought. Other fossils found at the site include several plants, fish and an undescribed lobe fin fish.
Lower Cretaceous Angiosperms from China
A report in the Review of Palaeobotany & Palynology by Sun et al tells about the variety of early angiosperms they are finding from the Lower Cretaceous Chengzihe Formation (early-middle Early Cretaceous) in northeast China. They talk about 10 taxa, which includes 2 new genera, 3 new species, and 3 amended taxa. They have been dated by the dinoflagellates underlying the beds where the plants are found. They remark on the wide variety of plants found and on the small size of the leaves and on the reproductive material that was probably attached to the leaves. Although early angiosperms may have diverged as early as the Triassic, widely accepted records date from the middle Early Cretaceous about 130 MYA. There is some pollen evidence from the lower Lower Cretaceous that indicate that it may have been earlier. Archaefructus was found in Liaoning but may be able to be traced back to the Late Jurassic. They are all dicotyledons with many new leaf and reproductive characteristics that may be helpful in evaluating primitive and derived characters of angiosperms. They were found along with fossil ferns, cycadales, ginkgoales, and conifers. Only 80 specimens of the angiosperms and nearly 1,000 specimens of the other plants were found, or 8% (rare) of the total flora. As usual more fossils will be helpful in more completely understanding the reproductive strategies of these early plants.
Amateur Archaeologist Gets Heavy Fine
An amateur archaeologist Jack Harelson of Grants Pass Oregon volunteered at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City and helped with the American Indian excavations at Elephant Mountain Cave in Nevada. With this information he obtained skeletons and artifacts for himself and his own personal research project over ten years. When they were discovered five years ago, he served 18 months in jail and paid a $20,000 fine. However, there was also a civil penal process underway and it has now handed him an additional civil fine of $2.5 million. He said he will appeal. Looks like they are now taking these thefts very seriously.
Karen Nordquist, ESCONI Paleontology Study Group
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