Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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weatheriscool
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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Newly identified softshell turtle lived alongside T. rex and Triceratops
https://phys.org/news/2022-03-newly-sof ... atops.html
by Katherine Unger Baillie, University of Pennsylvania
Anewly described softshell turtle that lived in North Dakota 66.5 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, just before the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, is one of the earliest known species of the genus, according to new research shared in the journal Cretaceous Research.
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wjfox
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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raklian
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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The description about the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs is... frankly accurate in a way it blows away any delusions Hollywood movies had about this event. The impact was so violent that it probably left pieces of dinosaur bone on the Moon. :shock:

To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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caltrek
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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Diverse Life Forms May Have Evolved Earlier Than Previously Thought
April 13, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/949513

Introduction:
(University College of London via EurekAlert) Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers that challenges the conventional view of when life began.

For the study, published in Science Advances, the research team analysed a fist-sized rock from Quebec, Canada, estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old. In an earlier Nature paper*, the team found tiny filaments, knobs and tubes in the rock which appeared to have been made by bacteria.

However, not all scientists agreed that these structures – dating about 300 million years earlier than what is more commonly accepted as the first sign of ancient life – were of biological origin.

Now, after extensive further analysis of the rock, the team have discovered a much larger and more complex structure – a stem with parallel branches on one side that is nearly a centimetre long – as well as hundreds of distorted spheres, or ellipsoids, alongside the tubes and filaments.

The researchers say that, while some of the structures could conceivably have been created through chance chemical reactions, the “tree-like” stem with parallel branches was most likely biological in origin, as no structure created via chemistry alone has been found like it
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weatheriscool
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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The question is why did it take ~2.5 billion years for life to explode and into the multi-cell creatures that we see the past 500 million years.
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caltrek
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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weatheriscool wrote: Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:34 pm The question is why did it take ~2.5 billion years for life to explode and into the multi-cell creatures that we see the past 500 million years.
Complexity takes time to develop. Once it is achieved, it is relatively easy to spread and become even more complex. At least that is my oversimplified way of viewing it.

What I came here to post:

Groundbreaking Study Confirms Pterosaurs Really Did Have Feathers – And That's Not All
Peter Dockrill
April 20, 2022


https://www.sciencealert.com/groundbrea ... ful-secret

Introduction:
(Science Alert) For much of the history of paleontology, scientists thought all dinosaurs were covered in scales, like the lizards of today.

That was until a spate of discoveries in recent decades revealed many of these marvelous extinct animals sported ancient feathers – just like their later descendants, birds.

As for pterosaurs – the flying reptiles that reigned in the sky when the dinosaurs roamed – the issue has never been settled. Were they bald? Did they have feathers too? Scant evidence in the fossil record has never been definitive – until now, scientists say.

Preserved on slabs of ancient limestone in north-eastern Brazil, a newly discovered fossil of Tupandactylus imperator reveals the existence of pterosaur feathers about 113 million years ago.

"We didn't expect to see this at all," says paleontologist Aude Cincotta from University College Cork in Ireland.
The article also goes on to further discuss evidence of feathers as well as of the pigmentation of these ancient creatures.
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wjfox
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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Edit: I see Caltrek has already posted about this earlier.

Oh well, I'll leave it up anyway.

-----

Pterosaurs had brightly colored feathers like toucans, according to a new study

PUBLISHED APRIL 26, 2022 7:29PM (EDT)

Pterosaurs, flying reptiles that coexisted with dinosaurs, have been on a roll lately — or, rather, their fossils have, as a plethora of recent discoveries has helped flesh out the evolutionary timeline with new insights into prehistoric life.

Last year paleontologists discovered a miniature pterosaur that had opposable thumbs, similar to humans and other primates. Also in 2021, scientists cracked the mystery of how pterodactyls were able to swoop down and scoop up large prey without breaking their necks. (The answer: They had bones in their necks with structures similar to the spokes in bicycle wheels.)

Now a new study reveals something surprising about pterosaurs: They may have possessed colored feathers like a toucan or a parrot. If true, it would help fit together the evolutionary puzzle pieces that tie together reptiles, dinosaurs and modern birds.

According to a recent study published in the scientific journal Nature, a Brazilian fossil of a pterosaur called Tupandactylus imperator included extensive amounts of soft tissue.

https://www.salon.com/2022/04/26/pteros ... new-study/
weatheriscool
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Re: Natural History (13.8 billion years BC – 3.3 million BC)

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A new 225-million-year-old reptile from Brazil
https://phys.org/news/2022-05-million-y ... razil.html
by PeerJ
Maehary bonapartei represents a small reptile that is considered to be the most basal of the evolutionary lineage that gave rise to pterosaurs. A study in PeerJ focuses on this latest find while also demonstrating that Faxinalipterus minimus is not a winged reptile, contrary to what was previously supposed.

Researchers from the National Museum/UFRJ, the Federal University of Santa Maria, the Catalan Institute of Paleontology, the Regional University of Cariri, the Federal University of Pampa, the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and COPPE/UFRJ presented a review of a small reptile named Faxinalipterus minimus, from Triassic rocks (about 225 million years ago) in Rio Grande do Sul.

Faxinalipterus was described more than a decade ago (2010), being assigned to the Pterosauria, a group that includes the first vertebrates to develop active flight. The original fossil of Faxinalipterus was composed of bones from the postcranial skeleton and a part of the skull (an upper jaw with several teeth), found separately in two field expeditions, carried out in 2002 and 2005 at the Linha São Luiz fossil site located in the municipality of Faxinal do Soturno. Thus, it was not possible to say with certainty whether all parts belonged to the same type of animal and species. Despite this, it was assumed at the time that all the bones belonged to a single species, named Faxinalipterus minimus.

The new study of Faxinalipterus established that there were two distinct species, with the isolated jaw representing another animal. This was possible based on the comparison with a new fossil recently found at the same site (Linha São Luiz). The new material is composed of an incomplete skull, whose maxilla exhibits the same features of the maxilla attributed to Faxinalipterus. In addition, there are parts of the mandible, scapula and some vertebrae. The maxilla of Faxinalipterus can therefore be incorporated into the description of the new fossil, which was named Maehary bonapartei. The study was featured in the journal PeerJ.

"There was always a great doubt whether the two specimens attributed to Faxinalipterus represented the same species, and whether this was a flying reptile," commented Alexander Kellner, a specialist in pterosaurs who currently directs the Museu Nacional/UFRJ. Having examined the specimen shortly after publication in 2010, he saw that several bones could be misidentified and the lack of diagnostic features of pterosaurs, including the absence of specific features on the humerus (forelimb bone), such as a large and projected deltopectoral crest, which is typical of pterosaurs.

Borja Holgado, also a specialist in pterosaurs from the Catalan Institute of Paleontology and currently a researcher at the Regional University of Cariri (Ceará), analyzed the material and agreed with the initial conclusions. "It was clear to me that this is a primitive reptile that did not belong to pterosaurs, as it did not present any unequivocal features of this lineage," explained Holgado. "But the present knowledge of the faunas at the end of the Triassic indicates that the disparity of animals at that time was so great that animals that might resemble pterosaurs at first glance, but really they are not flying reptiles. This is what happened to Faxinalipterus and Maehary."

"The material on which Faxinalipterus is based is very fragile and very incomplete. In addition, parts of the bones were covered by rock matrix, which required a more detailed preparation," commented Cesar Schultz, from UFRGS and one of the authors of the 2010 work and of the new research that has just been published.

The preparation of the original material required a lot of experience and was carried out at the National Museum. "Fortunately, we were able to photograph the entire specimen in detail," said Orlando Grillo, who took care to reproduce in the form of drawings each anatomical detail of the bones of Faxinalipterus.
A: map with the location where the fossils were found (Linha São Luiz, Faxinal do Soturno, Rio Grande do Sul); B: photo of the outcrop where the fossils were collected; C: Skeletal reconstruction of Faxinalipterus minimus; D: Maehary bonapartei skull reconstruction. Image of the published article. Credit: Alexander W.A. Kellner

It was with the help of a CT scanner that the enigma was revealed. "Computed tomography has been an increasingly used tool in paleontological studies," says Ricardo Lopes from COPPE/UFRJ. "It is a non-destructive analysis that allows the visualization of anatomical details still covered by the sedimentary rock where the fossil is preserved," adds Olga Araújo, also from COPPE.

"In the original work from 2010, we found that the teeth present in the maxilla of Faxinalipterus were very closely spaced, which is a characteristic of early Triassic pterosaurs. However, tomography of the maxilla showed that the teeth were not as separated as initially thought, since many teeth had been lost during the fossilization process. As a result, the dentition pattern and the close-spacing between the alveoli (cavities where the teeth are inserted) were not consistent with pterosaurs," says Marina Soares.

After these studies, there was still a doubt about who, after all, Faxinalipterus was. The solution came from the finding of a new specimen that had been collected in the same region where the specimens of Faxinalipterus came from. "Systematic collections have been carried out by CAPPA (Support Center for Paleontological Research of the Fourth Colony), from UFSM, revealing a series of new fossil species for the Triassic of Rio Grande do Sul," said Flávio Pretto. At the Linha de São Luiz fossil site, in the municipality of Faxinal do Soturno, several fossils have already been found, such as close relatives of mammals, dinosaurs and other reptiles. The region where the excavations were carried out is located in the territory of the Quatro Colônia, which is seeking to become an UNESCO Geopar
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