By Mike|2023-08-28T18:06:55+01:00January 15th, 2018|Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Key Stage 1 Classes Study Mary Anning
Key Stage 1 Classes Study Mary Anning
Children in Year 1 and Year 2 at St John with St Mark Primary in Bury have been studying dinosaurs and fossils. As part of a provocation to help enthuse the children, the classes were set some homework, could they write some facts about Mary Anning in their work books?
Learning About Mary Anning (Key Stage 1)
Helping children to learn about Mary Anning. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
The teaching team was very impressed with the research that the children had carried out. When Everything Dinosaur’s fossil expert visited the school, he was shown some of the entries in the work books that the children had completed over the weekend. The Key Stage 1 children had found out lots of amazing facts about this Georgian lady who became a famous fossil collector on the Dorset coast.
The dinosaurs and fossils term topic has got off to a fantastic start, well done to all the eager, budding palaeontologists in Year 1, Year 1/2 and Year 2. During the workshops we conducted at the school, our dinosaur and fossil expert made sure to include lots of information about Mary Anning to help support the children’s learning.
A team of scientists, writing in the journal “Nature Communications”, have described a new species of feathered dinosaur from Jurassic-aged rocks in China. The dinosaur has been named Caihong juji, which means “rainbow with the big crest” in Mandarin. This duck-sized dinosaur sported a bony crest on the top of its snout and its neck feathers may have been iridescent, as brightly coloured as feathers seen on humming birds today.
An Illustration of the Newly Described Feathered Dinosaur Caihong juji
An illustration of the Jurassic feathered dinosaur Caihong juji.
Picture credit: Velizar Simeonovski
Caihong juji A Bird-like Dinosaur
Caihong has been assigned a basal position in the Deinonychosauria, a clade of theropod dinosaurs that includes the dromaeosaurids and the troodontids and it roamed the forests of northern China some 161 million years ago (Oxfordian faunal stage of the Jurassic). Although it was very bird-like, it was very different from its contemporary Anchiornis (A. huxleyi), as it lacked the bird-like triangular skull, however, it did possess proportionately long forearms. C. juji had a long, narrow skull, superficially similar to the skulls of the much later Velociraptorinae.
The Fossilised Skull of the Newly Described Basal Deinonychosaur Caihong juji
The skull of the newly described Caihong juji. White scale bar = 1 cm.
Picture credit: Hu et al
A Shaggy Ruff of Rainbow Feathers
Lead author of the study, Professor Dongyu Hu (Shenyang Normal University), in collaboration with scientists from the University of Ghent, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Geosciences (Beijing), subjected the fossil specimen to scanning electron microscope analysis to characterise 2,460 structures associated with the feathers.
Cross-sectional focused ion beam imaging revealed the presence of melanosomes, which are responsible for pigmentation and colouration. When these fossil structures were compared to extant birds, the scientists were able to determine that Caihong had a shaggy ruff of iridescent, brightly-coloured feathers.
Comparing melanosomes found in the fossil material to extant Aves. All scale bars = 1,000 nm.
Picture credit: Nature Communications/Chao P.C.
The scanning electron microscope images above show platelet-like nanostructures on the fossilised feathers of C. juji (a-d). These structures are then compared with melanosomes found in living birds, (e) Anna’s humming bird (Calypte anna), (f) a white tailed starfrontlet (Coeligena phalerata), a black-tailed trainbearer (Lesbia victoriae) and a moustached treeswift (Hemiprocnemystacea), picture (h).
Commenting on the significance of the discovery, Professor Julia Clarke (University of Texas at Austin) stated:
“Iridescent colouration is well known to be linked to sexual selection and signalling and we report its earliest evidence in dinosaurs. The dinosaur may have a cute nickname in English, Rainbow, but it has serious scientific implications.”
A Combination of Ancient and More Modern Features
The fossil material, consisting of a slab and its counter slab was discovered by a farmer in 2014 at Gangou, Qinglong, (northern Hebei Province). The rocks in this area are associated with the Tiaojishan Formation and exposures are also found in the neighbouring province of Liaoning. Numerous feathered theropods have been found in the compressed volcanic ash layers and other sedimentary rocks associated with this region of northern China.
Caihong possessed a bony crest, a feature associated with earlier theropods from the Triassic and the Early Jurassic, the crest may have played a role in display or perhaps helping to distinguish males from females. The bony crest could have evolved as a result of sexual selection pressure. This ancient theropod feature contrasts with the identification of feathers with iridescence, this is the first time that such a feature has been identified in a non-avian dinosaur.
Caihong juji Fossil Material
The crushed and flattened remains of Caihong juji (holotype specimen). The bones are coloured brown, whilst the feather impressions are black.
Caihong is also the earliest known dinosaur to have had asymmetrical feathers, similar in shape and structure to those feathers found on the wings of modern birds that help to control flight. However, unlike extant birds, Caihong’s asymmetrical feathers were on its tail, not its short forelimbs, a discovery that suggests that early birds may have used their tails to help steer or to assist with lift.
Co-author of the research, Xing Xu (Chinese Academy of Sciences) explained:
“The tail feathers are asymmetrical but wing feathers are not, a bizarre feature previously unknown among dinosaurs including birds. This suggests that controlling [flight] might have first evolved with tail feathers during some kind of aerial locomotion.”
Professor Clarke added:
“This combination of traits is unusual. It has a rather Velociraptor-looking low and long skull with this fully feathered, shaggy kind of plumage and a big fan tail. It is really cool… or maybe creepy looking depending on your perspective.”
An examination of the tail feathers associated with the 40 centimetre-long Caihong specimen suggests that the tail feathers would have provided a larger surface area than the famous Archaeopteryx, a theropod capable of powered flight, that lived a few million years later. A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur explained, that although Caihong could have been arboreal and it may have hopped from branch to branch, it was probably not volant (capable of powered flight).
Evidence of Mosaic Evolution
The combination of ancient and more modern anatomical traits in this basal deinonychosaur is an example of mosaic evolution, whereby, several different traits evolve independently. The team hope to continue their research in a bid to understand how Caihong juji fits into the story of the evolution of flight in the Dinosauria.
The scientific paper: “A Bony-crested Jurassic Dinosaur with Evidence of Iridescent Plumage Highlights Complexity in Early Paravian Evolution” by Dongyu Hu, Julia A. Clarke, Chad M. Eliason, Rui Qiu, Quanguo Li, Matthew D. Shawkey, Cuilin Zhao, Liliana D’Alba, Jinkai Jiang and Xing Xu published in the journal “Nature Communications.”
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Texas at Austin in the compilation of this article.
A Review of the 1:18 Scale Rebor “Raptor” Called “Gunn” by JurassicCollectables
Those talented people at JurassicCollectables have produced another Rebor “Raptor” review. Following on from their very informative video review of the female Velociraptor “Rose”, JurassicCollectables has focused their attention on Rose’s partner, the formidable “Gunn”, a 1:18 scale replica representing a male in the Velociraptor pairing.
JurassicCollectables Reviews the Rebor 1:18 Scale Figure “Gunn”
Video credit: JurassicCollectables
Wonderful Painting and Amazing Detail
The narrator comments that the Rebor Velociraptor models, especially “Gunn” are very reminiscent of the Velociraptors depicted in the Jurassic Park III film, which came out in 2001. The pose reminded the video presenter of the pouncing Velociraptor scene in which a pack of these dinosaurs try to grab a person who is hanging from a tree branch. In the video, the beautiful paint scheme is discussed, and the narrator comments on the multiple washes and subtle tones that have been used to colour this replica. Whilst the Rebor “Gunn” is being reviewed, viewers are given the chance to see “Gunn” and “Rose” together and what an attractive pair they make.
The JurassicCollectables presenter states that these two Velociraptors “compliment each other really well”. He states that they are “gorgeous looking Raptors”.
During this most informative and helpful video review, the narrator demonstrates that the underside of the feet of “Gunn” are coloured a reddish hue. Rebor certainly make top quality replicas and the attention to detail is amazing. When the model is turned upside down the underside of the feet with their intriguing colouration and fine texture are revealed. The commentator implies that the colouration could have come about as the dinosaur has been standing in the blood and gore from a recent pack kill. At Everything Dinosaur, we are unable to offer an explanation ourselves, but it does give us the opportunity to show the underside of the model revealing the exquisite detail.
The Colouration of the Feet and Beautiful Skin Texture of the Velociraptor Figure “Gunn”
The underside of the feet and the beautiful skin texture of Rebor “Gunn”.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Rebor Replicas and Jurassic Park III
The JurassicCollectables video review lasts a little over twelve minutes and it is great to see both Rebor “Gunn” and “Rose” shown together. In addition, the video also compares the earlier Rebor “Winston” with their latest figure “Gunn”. The narrator makes an excellent point about these Rebor figures working well with the classic “Jurassic Park” models.
The Rebor 1:18 Scale Velociraptor Replica “Gunn”
The Rebor 1:18 scale Velociraptor model “Gunn”.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
JurassicCollectables has a fantastic YouTube channel. It has lots and lots of brilliant dinosaur themed videos and product reviews and JurassicCollectables has just celebrated reaching the landmark of 60,000 subscribers. Congratulations JurassicCollectables. Visit JurassicCollectables on YouTube and subscribe: JurassicCollectables on YouTube.
Great for Dinosaur Dioramas
Rebor has produced several Velociraptor models over the last eighteen months or so. The video review shows both “Gunn” and “Rose” compared to “off colour Alan”, as well as highlighting the hatching Velociraptor blind box series made by Rebor. The narrator explains that these models with their different, contrasting poses would be great for use in dinosaur dioramas. Fortunately, the JurassicCollectables YouTube channel includes video reviews of all the Rebor “Raptors”, so viewers can see the full range of these Rebor figures.
Rebor “Gunn” Features in a Video Review by JurassicCollectables
By Mike|2023-08-28T17:42:12+01:00January 14th, 2018|General Teaching, Key Stage 3/4|Comments Off on Giant Burrowing Bat from the Miocene
Giant Burrowing Bat from New Zealand
A team of scientists from the University of South Wales, in collaboration with colleagues from Queensland University, Duke University, Canterbury Museum, and co-workers from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the American Museum of Natural History, have identified a new species of giant, burrowing, Miocene bat. Fossil bones and teeth of the extinct species, which was about three times the size of most extant non-fruit eating bats, were excavated from Miocene-aged deposits near to the town of St Bathans in central Otago (New Zealand, South Island).
An Artist’s Illustration of the New Species of Giant Burrowing Bat (Vulcanops jennyworthyae)
Vulcanops illustration.
Picture credit: Gavin Mouldey
Writing in the academic journal “Scientific Reports”, the scientists describe the new species, named Vulcanops jennyworthyae, as a cursorial species, as although they could fly, they were very confident on the forest floor, scurrying through the leaf litter searching for insects and other invertebrates. Today, burrowing bats are only found now in New Zealand, but they once also lived in Australia. It is thought that a lack of terrestrial predators in more isolated parts of the antipodes allowed bats to exploit a ground-dwelling niche without having to resort to the high energy requirements of constant flight.
A Giant Bat?
Described as a giant, might make readers think of some nightmarish beast, but with an estimated weight of just forty grammes, although larger than insectivorous bats around today, Vulcanops jennyworthyae weighed less than a golf ball. It would have posed no danger to larger animals or people had they been around some 19 to 16 million years ago when Vulcanops roamed. It is the first new bat species to be added to the list of New Zealand’s Chiroptera (bats) for more than 150 years.
The Miocene species has been named Vulcanops jennyworthyae, after team member Jenny Worthy who found the bat fossils and in recognition of her role in helping to reveal the unique St Bathans Miocene fauna, and after Vulcan, the mythological Roman god of volcanoes and fire.
It is likely that climate change leading to a period of general cooling and drying drove the overall loss in bat diversity in New Zealand, just two bat species today comprise the entire native land mammal fauna. All other modern land mammals in New Zealand have been introduced by people within the last 800 years.
By Mike|2023-08-28T14:30:58+01:00January 13th, 2018|Early Years Foundation Reception|Comments Off on Endeavour Academy Reception Classes Study Dinosaurs
FS2 and FS3 Children Study Dinosaurs
The spring term has got off to an exciting start for the two classes of Reception-aged children at Endeavour Academy (formerly Leigh Primary School), in Hyde. With the help of their enthusiastic teachers, the children have been learning all about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. One of our teaching team members visited the school to conduct some dinosaur workshops in the school’s spacious and well-appointed hall. The visitor was also give a tour of the tidy Reception area classrooms and shown some of the displays that the children had created.
Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals
In one corner of the classroom the teaching team had created a montage of questions that the children wanted to ask about dinosaurs. The budding young palaeontologists in FS2 and FS3 had come up with some amazing questions.
Reception Children Think About Dinosaurs
The FS2/Year 1 class have a palaeontology laboratory.
With the help of the teaching team the children were given the opportunity to think up questions about dinosaurs. The questions were then posted up to make a colourful display.
Some of the Questions from FS2 and FS3
A horned dinosaur is at the centre of this dinosaur display.
The children compiled quite an array of questions, our favourites include Annabeth’s how long ago did they live? Daisy asked are dinosaurs happy? Zayan enquired do they have friends?
What a super set of questions, the teaching team can use some of these queries to help shape and structure the term scheme of work.
The dinosaur expert who visited Endeavour Academy to conduct the two dinosaur themed workshops with the Reception classes stated:
“Dinosaurs as a spring topic for Reception-aged children can provide an excellent bridge helping the class to transition from free-form play into more structured learning as the children prepare for the summer term and the move up to Year 1. The topic is certainly popular with the children and it lends itself to plenty of stimulating writing and number exercises.”
With the help and assistance of the dedicated teaching team at Endeavour Academy, the children in FS2 and FS3 are having a “dinotastic” time learning all about dinosaurs and fossils.
Recently, Everything Dinosaur published an article on the remarkable discovery of Lepidoptera wing scales in Upper Triassic/Early Jurassic drill cores from Germany. This fossil evidence suggested that butterflies and moths were around some 200 million years ago. This raised the question, what did the adult insects feed on? Butterflies and moths are closely associated with feeding on the nectar produced by flowering plants (angiosperms), this led to speculation that, as some scientists have already suggested, flowering plants evolved much earlier than previously thought.
A Water Lily in Flower (Angiosperm)
From the time of the dinosaurs – a water lily, an angiosperm (flowering plant). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Whenever the flowering plants (angiosperms) evolved, they seem to have out-competed other types of plants such as gymnosperms, pteridosperms and the very ancient Lycopodiophyta, for example. How did they do this? After all, they are the most diverse of all the land plants with something like 300,000 species. Scientists from San Francisco State University and Yale, writing in the academic journal PLoS – Biology, propose that a downsizing in the plant’s genome is the key to their success.
Thinking Smaller
Current thinking is that the angiosperms, radiated and diversified very rapidly, becoming the dominant terrestrial vegetation by the Late Cretaceous. Flowering plants took over the world, leading to the astonishing variety of plants we find today. The scientists conclude that at a critical point in the evolution of the angiosperms, they downsized their genomes.
Flowering plants reduced the amount of DNA held within the nucleus of each cell, this permitted these plants to make smaller cells and to build leaves with more sophisticated and complicated structures, of great assistance when it comes to improving the efficiency of photosynthesis, along with the use of energy and the management of each cell body. This reduction in the genome, is likely to have given angiosperms a competitive advantage over other types of plants.
Co-author of the study, Assistant Professor of Biology (San Francisco State University), Kevin Simonin explained:
“Flowering plants are the most important group of plants on Earth, and now we finally know why they’ve been so successful.”
The Rise of Flowers Puzzles Darwin
Prior to the evolution of the angiosperms, terrestrial vegetation was dominated by ferns, horsetails, clubmosses, cycads and their relatives along with conifers. Flowering plants took over and make up more than 90 percent of all the land plant species around today. Even Charles Darwin was perplexed by the success of the angiosperms and scientists ever since have been offering potential reasons for it, ranging from the influence of pollinators (such as those ancient butterflies and moths referred to earlier), to a reshuffling of genes. What has been missing is an explanation of just how flowering plants became so successful in the first place.
Flowering Plants in the Cretaceous
A mayfly rests on a primitive flowering plant – a Cretaceous scene.
Picture credit: Richard Bizley
Working in collaboration with Adam Roddy (Yale University), Assistant Professor Simonin, undertook a review of the current literature and demonstrated that flowering plants went through a dramatic genome downsizing as they evolved. In comparison, the genomes of other plants, competing with flowers remain relatively unchanged. Smaller genomes means the option to make smaller cells, with those smaller building blocks, the team showed, flowering plants can construct more complicated networks of veins to keep their cells hydrated and more pores (stomata) in their leaves to draw in the carbon dioxide they need to make food. More stomata, permitted more efficient gaseous exchange, both oxygen and CO2.
Finer Genomes Make Finer Flowering Plants
The researchers mapped the genome downsizing patterns they had identified and applied a phylogenetic assessment to their data. They discovered that flowering plants began to downsize their genomes at around the time they were beginning to dominate terrestrial flora. According to this study, having a greater variety of cellular building blocks apparently gave flowering plants an edge over conifers and other types of plant. It is not only the flowering plants that have benefited, pollinators have also become more successful and much of the food that we consume and that we feed to domestic animals comes from angiosperms.
The idea to investigate the size of the genome of flowering plants, came indirectly from one of Assistant Professor Simonin’s students. During a lecture, the student enquired whether whales had big genomes? Simonin began to think more about the size of cellular genetic material and its impact on plant physiology.
An Illustration of Prehistoric Flowers – Archaefructus
Prehistoric Flowers (Archaefructus).
Picture credit: Associated Press
He explained:
“It sent me down this whole path of genome-size research. It reinvented the research in my lab in many ways.”
On-going Research
Research is continuing in this field of botany. San Francisco State University scientists in conjunction with colleagues from other academic bodies are currently exploring some groups of flowering plants that don’t seem to have reduced their genomes. In certain environments, perhaps where photosynthesis is more difficult, there might not be a competitive advantage to be gained. There might be no evolutionary pressure for plants to create smaller cells. This new study, has shed some much needed light on a puzzle that Charles Darwin referred to as “an abominable mystery”
Everything Dinosaur Stocks the Schleich Tawa Dinosaur Model
The new for 2018 Schleich Tawa dinosaur model has arrived and is now in stock at Everything Dinosaur. The Schleich Tawa is one of three theropod replicas introduced by the German-based figure manufacturer in 2018, but the only one that represents a hypercarnivore. The other two theropods are the Schleich Oviraptor and the new colour variant of the Schleich Therizinosaurus.
The Schleich Tawa Dinosaur Model
The Schleich Tawa (Tawa hallae) Model is the Only Hypercarnivore Theropod to be Added to Date (2018)
The new for 2018 Schleich Tawa dinosaur model (T. hallae).
A hypercarnivore is an animal that has a diet of more than 70% meat, the diet of Oviraptor and Therizinosaurus is not that well understood, but Oviraptor may well have been omnivorous and Therizinosaurus could have been a relatively sedentary browser. However, Tawa, a theropod that lived more than a hundred million years earlier, was most certainly carnivorous and perhaps a hunter of other dinosaurs such as Coelophysis. The jaw may be slender, but it is lined with sharp and curved teeth, ideal for slicing through meat. Tawa had strong grasping hands with each finger ending in a sharp claw, these hands were probably used to grasp and subdue small prey.
The Sharp Teeth and Grasping Hands of Tawa hallae
A close-view of the Schleich Tawa dinosaur model.
Ghost Ranch Location
This lithe dinosaur is known from the fossilised remains of several individuals recovered from sediments that make up part of the Petrified Forest Member of the famous Chinle Formation exposed at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.
All the fossils found to date represent immature individuals or juveniles which measure between two to three metres in length. However, a single femur (thigh bone) found in association with the other remains provides tantalising evidence that these fast-running dinosaurs could grow much larger, perhaps more than four metres in length. The Ghost Ranch location has provided palaeontologists with a fantastic insight into a Late Triassic palaeoenvironment, a time when the Dinosauria was beginning to dominate terrestrial environments, but they shared this seasonal world with other reptiles and mammal-like reptiles too.
Discovered by Edwin Colbert in 1947, the Coelophysis beds have produced more than 1,000 skeletons of Coelophysis, making this little Triassic theropod one of the best known of all the Dinosauria. In truth, the first evidence of dinosaur fossils from this location was recorded in 1885, but the native American people would have been aware of the strange bones eroding out of the ground for hundreds of years before western scientists. The genus name for Tawa comes from the local Hopi people’s language. It is their word for the Puebloan sun god. It is fitting that a dinosaur from a part of New Mexico which would have been familiar to native peoples, has been given a name honouring the language and customs of these people.
Fossilised Wing Scales Provide Evidence of Triassic Moths and Butterflies
Butterflies and moths might be regarded as delicate creatures, what with the diaphanous wings and light-weight bodies, but a new study published in the journal “Science Advances” suggests that the Lepidoptera have been around for many millions of years longer than previously thought. The new fossil discoveries, made by an international team of scientists led by Timo van Eldijk and Bas van de Schootbrugge (Utrecht University), have also challenged the presumed co-evolution between flowering plants (angiosperms) and pollinating insects.
Triassic Moths and Butterflies
Fossil Evidence for Ancient Moths and Butterflies
Fossil scales of moths and butterflies as found in the drill cores from Schandelah, Lower Saxony (Germany).
Picture credit: University of Utrecht
A core drilled into sediments in Schandelah, Lower Saxony (northern Germany), revealed microscopic wing scales some 70 million years older than the oldest, confirmed fossils of flowering plants. The team’s findings suggest that wing and body scales found in rocks some 201 million years old, provide evidence that the Lepidoptera survived the end-Triassic mass extinction event. Indeed, like the Dinosauria, moths and butterflies may have benefited from the extinction event, being able to exploit environmental niches vacated by extinct species.
Drilling into Ancient Rocks Triassic/Jurassic Strata
Drilling to produce the cores (northern Germany).
Picture credit: University of Utrecht/Dr Bas van de Schootbrugge
Commenting on the significance of the core drill study, Utrecht University student Timo van Eldijk explained:
“The mass extinction event occurred at the end of the Triassic and was associated with massive volcanism as the super continent Pangaea started to break apart. As a result, biodiversity on land and in the oceans suffered a setback with many key Triassic species going extinct, including many primitive reptiles. However, one major group of insects, the Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies, appeared unaffected. Instead, this group diversified during a period of ecological turnover.”
The Moth and Butterfly “Tongue”
Extant butterflies and moths have a well-known association with flowering plants. As they feed on the nectar with their long proboscis (an elongated, sucking mouthpart), they pick up pollen and therefore play an important role in angiosperm reproduction.
Dr Bas van de Schootbrugge (Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University) stated:
“The fossil remains contain distinctive hollow scales and provide clear evidence for a group of moths with sucking mouthparts, which is related to the vast majority of living moths and butterflies.”
A Scanning Electron Microscope Image of the Wing Scales on an Extant Moth Species
A scanning electron microscope image showing the wing scales on a modern-day Glossata moth.
Picture credit: University of Utrecht
What Did the Triassic Lepidoptera Feed On?
If there were moths and butterflies about some 201 million years ago, some 70 million years before the first flowering plants, then what were the adult animal’s feeding on? The researchers conclude that the first lepidopterans were feeding on non-flowering seed plants (gymnosperms), one of the most successful plant groups of the early Mesozoic. The earliest proboscid moths (Glossata), likely used their long, sucking mouthparts to feast on the sugary pollination beads secreted by several groups of gymnosperms.
There is another tantalising and very controversial aspect that is worth considering. What if the flowering plants evolved much earlier than previously thought?
In 2013, Everything Dinosaur published an article providing information on some intriguing research that suggested flowering plants originated more than 240 million years ago, in the Early Triassic. If flowering plants were around over 100 million years earlier than previously thought than a symbiotic relationship between early Lepidoptera and early angiosperms could have already been in place.
On the basis of the fossilised wing and body scales recovered from Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic sediments, the scientists have provided the earliest evidence to date for moths and butterflies. The diversity of the scales found confirm a Late Triassic radiation of lepidopteran forms, including the divergence of the Glossata, a clade that consists of the living butterflies and moths with a sucking proboscis. The team conclude that the early evolution of the Lepidoptera was probably not severely interrupted by the end-Triassic mass extinction event.
Providing an Insight into Today’s Climate Change
MSc student Timo Van Eldijk stated:
“This evidence has transformed our understanding of the evolutionary history of moths and butterflies as well as their resilience to extinction. By studying how insects and their evolution was affected by dramatic greenhouse warming at the start of the Jurassic, we hope to provide insight into how insects might respond to the human-induced climate change challenges we face today.”
An Example of an Extant Member of the Glossata Clade
An extant Glossata moth with similar wing scales to those found in the Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic drill cores.
Picture credit: Hossein Rajaei/Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany)
The scientific paper: “A Triassic-Jurassic Window into the Evolution of Lepidoptera” by Timo van Eldijk, Torsten Wappler, Paul Strother, Carolien van der Weijst, Hossein Rajaei, Henk Visscher and Bas van de Schootbrugge, published in the journal “Science Advances”.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Utrecht in the compilation of this article.
Fossil collecting is a popular hobby and there are a number of excellent general guide books available. However, the newly published “Fossils of Folkestone, Kent” by geologist and museum curator Philip Hadland, takes a slightly different perspective. Instead of focusing on lots of fossil collecting locations, Philip provides a comprehensive overview of just one area of the Kent coast, the beaches and cliffs surrounding the port of Folkestone.
Here is a book that delivers what its title implies, if you want to explore the Gault Clay, Lower Greensand and Chalks around Folkestone then this is the book for you.
The Fossils of Folkestone, Kent by Philip Hadland – A Comprehensive Guide
Fossils of Folkestone, Kent by Philip Hadland and published by Siri Scientific Press and priced at £12.99 plus postage.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Comprehensive Overview of the Geology and the Palaeoenvironment of the Folkestone Area
The author clearly has a tremendous affection for this part of the Kent coast. His enthusiasm is infectious and the reader is soon dipping into the various chapters, dedicated to the rock formations exposed along the cliffs and the fossil delights to be found within them. Folkestone is probably most famous for its beautiful Gault Clay ammonites, the clay being deposited around 100 million years ago and a wide variety of these cephalopods can be found preserved in the rocks. The book contains more than 100 full colour plates, so even the beginner fossil hunter can have a go at identifying their fossil discoveries.
Clear Colour Photographs Help with Fossil Identification
Anahoplites praecox fossil from Folkestone.
Picture credit: Siri Scientific Press
Surprises on the Shoreline
The book begins by explaining some of the pleasures of fossil hunting, before briefly outlining a history of fossil collecting in the Folkestone area and introducing some of the colourful characters who were prominent fossil collectors in their day. The geology of the area is explored using terminology that the general reader can understand and follow, but academics too, will no doubt gain a lot from this publication.
Intriguingly, the Cretaceous-aged sediments were thought to have been deposited in a marine environment, however, the Lower Greensand beds have produced evidence of dinosaur footprints. The palaeoenvironment seems to have been somewhat more complex than previously thought, the Lower Greensand preserving evidence of inter-tidal mudflats, that were once crossed by dinosaurs. Isolated dinosaur bones have also been found in the area and the book contains some fantastic photographs of these exceptionally rare fossil discoveries.
Helping to Identify Fossil Finds
Folkestone fossils – ammonites.
Picture credit: Siri Scientific Press
Prehistoric Mammals
To help with identification, the colour plates and accompanying text are organised by main animal groups. There are detailed sections on bivalves, brachiopods, corals, crustaceans, gastropods, belemnites and ammonites. There are plenty of photographs of vertebrate fossils too and not just fish and reptiles associated with the Mesozoic. Pleistocene-aged deposits are found in this area and these preserve the remains of numerous exotic prehistoric animals that once called this part of Kent home.
Fossil Teeth from a Hippopotamus Which Lived in the Folkestone Area During a Warmer Inter-glacial Period
Pleistocene mammal fossils from Folkestone (Hippopotamus upper canine and molar).
Picture credit: Siri Scientific Press
“Fossils of Folkestone, Kent”
The author comments that the presence of hippos, along with other large mammals such as elephants as proved by fossil finds, demonstrates how very different Folkestone was just 120,000 years ago. It is likely that humans were present in the area, evidence of hominins have been found elsewhere in England and in nearby France, but as yet, no indications of human activity or a human presence in this area have been found. Perhaps, an enthusiastic fossil hunter armed with this guide, will one day discover the fossils or archaeology that demonstrates that people were living in the area and exploiting the abundant food resources that existed.
A Partial Femur from a Large Hippopotamus Provides Testament to the Exotic Pleistocene Fauna
A partial femur (thigh bone) from a Hippopotamus.
Picture credit: Siri Scientific Press
With a foreword by renowned palaeontologist Dean Lomax, “Fossils of Folkestone, Kent” is an essential read for anyone with aspirations regarding collecting fossils on this part of the English coast. The book, with its weather-proof cover, fits snugly into a backpack and the excellent photographs and text make fossil identification in the field really easy.
If your New Year’s resolution is to get out more to enjoy the wonders of the British countryside, to start fossil hunting, or to visit more fossil collecting locations, then the “Fossils of Folkestone, Kent” by Philip Hadland would be a worthy addition to your book collection.
Scientists in Alabama Solve Forty-Year Shark Puzzle
A team of scientists from the University of Alabama and the McWane Science Centre (Birmingham, Alabama), have solved a four-decade-long prehistoric shark mystery, naming a new species of Late Cretaceous marine predator, one that might possibly have been an ancestor of the mighty Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon), the largest carnivorous shark known to science. The new species of shark has been named Cretalamna bryanti, the species name honours the Bryant family, committed supporters of the University of Alabama, the McWane Science Centre and the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
These institutions have all been directly involved in the study and subsequent paper publication in the academic journal PeerJ.
Cretalamna bryanti – Solving a Prehistoric Shark Puzzle
Views of the Holotype Tooth Helping to Define a New Species
Views of one of the fossil shark teeth helping to define a new Cretaceous shark species.
Picture credit: PeerJ
The picture shows the holotype fossil tooth (MSC 2984.1) in two views (A) labial view – a view of the tooth showing the side which would have faced the lips (if the fish had them), the side of the tooth facing the outside of the mouth and (B), mesial view, (directed to the middle of the body). The scientists were able to establish a new species of a Cretalamna shark based on precise measurements of the features of the teeth within the study.
Key
(CH) = crown height.
(CT) = crown thickness.
(CW) = main cusp width.
(TH) = total height.
(TW) = total width
Thirty-Three Prehistoric Shark Teeth Collected
The shark has been described based on thirty-three teeth collected from four locations within Alabama over the best part of forty years. The teeth all between two and two and three-quarters centimetres high, represent a shark known as an otodontid or “mega-tooth” shark. As the skeletons of sharks are made from cartilage, they rarely fossilise but their teeth do survive the fossilisation process and as an individual shark may have hundreds or even thousands of teeth in its life, shark tooth fossils are relatively common.
Previously, the teeth had been assigned to the Cretalamna species C. appendiculatai, but these teeth are mostly associated with much older Cretaceous deposits found in Europe. The Alabama shark teeth were collected from rocks representing two geological formations, the Tombigbee Sand Member and the slightly younger Lower Mooreville Chalk. The fossils have been dated to 84 million to 82 million years ago, a time when this part of south-eastern America was covered by a shallow sea known as the Late Cretaceous Mississippi Embayment (part of the Western Interior Seaway).
Some of the Individual Teeth Examined in the Study
Cretalamna bryanti fossil teeth.
Picture credit: PeerJ
Explaining the postulated ancestry of the Megalodon sharks, lead author of the research Jun Ebersole (McWane Science Centre), stated:
“Over time, the sharks in the Megalodon line acquire [tooth] serrations, lose their cusplets (the little “fangs” on the sides of the main cusp) and grow to enormous sizes. The newly described shark is an early member of this family, so its teeth are small and unserrated, with up to two pairs of cusplets.”
“Hell’s Aquarium”
The establishment of this new species adds to the database regarding megafauna and hypercarnivores within the Western Interior Seaway. This new otodontid would have co-existed with other large predatory sharks, along with elasmosaurids, huge meat-eating fish and members of the Mosasauridae. Such was the number of large carnivores, that the Western Interior Seaway has been nicknamed “Hell’s Aquarium”!
Marine Life in the Western Interior Seaway (Late Cretaceous North America)
Typical Western Interior Seaway marine life.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Note
The prehistoric shark referred to as “Megalodon” has recently been reclassified and named Otodus megalodon.
