The Palaeontological Association

@thepalass.bsky.social

1532 Followers 387 Following

Official Bluesky of The Palaeontological Association (palass.org). Re-post of jobs and other events doesn't mean endorsement.

Grey scale photographs showing a selection of small shelly fossils from the Cambrian Series 2 of North Greenland. Clockwise from top left: possible arthropod cuticle (NHMD002048183 from GGU sample 255513, scale bar 100 microns); orthothecid hyolith conch (NHMD002048155 from GGU sample 255522, scale bar 100 microns); ecdysozoan Nikolarites spasskyi (NHMD002048184 from GGU sample 255502, scale bar 100 microns); Mellopegma simesi (NHMD002048149 from GGU sample 271470, scale bar 200 microns); calodiscid trilobite pygidium (NHMD002048181 from GGU sample 255507, scale bar 200 microns); Pelagiella (PMU 31480 from GGU sample 255513, scale bar 100 microns). In the centre: sponge spicule (NHMD002048198 from GGU sample 271717, scale bar 100 microns). Red rectangle near upper right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: a photograph of the holotype of Bataspis crux (IVPP V30969) the headshield of a Devonian fish, more complete on the right hand side, showing the extended, curved cornual process. Scale bar in lower right corner is 1 cm. Bottom right: a life restoration of Bataspis crux rapidly moving away up and to the right from a eurypterid on the left of the scene. Artist: Dinghua Yang. Blue rectangle at top right is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
Map, photographs and line drawings of a fossil tetrapod - the plagiosaur Arctobatrachus urdensis. Top left: map with a red star showing the position of Bjørnøya (Bear Island) in the Arctic region. Beneath that is a black and white photograph taken at the excavation site in 1948. Skull is lying with snout towards the bottom, two large eyes above. Below to the right is the skull in its present state (PMO 201.958), it shows evidence of weathering as it was not recovered from the fossil site until 1985. Above that to the right is a reconstruction of the skull (scale bar beneath is 5 cm. On the right is a line diagram of the specimen as it was originally discovered, based on field photos taken in 1948 and collected material (scale bar at top right is 10 cm). Red rectangle in the centre is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Collage of photographs and diagrams of fossil and living liverworts. Top left: carbonized compression fossil from the Cretaceous Las Hoyas site (MUPA-LH31437). Darker branched fossil on a paler matrix. Scale bar on left is 1 cm. Overlapping this, in the middle of the image is a coloured branched scheme used to measure the fossils, showing different growth modules as different colours. Top right: annotated photograph of another fossil liverwort: new species Metzgeriites gynothallicus (MUPA-LH 28894). Below that is a photograph of the extant taxon Metzgeria, showing similar features. Scale bars for both of these images are 250 microns. Bottom right are two photographs of living liverworts with different growth modes: a dendroid form on the left and a 'thalloid mat' growing on a tree branch on the right. Blue rectangle in bottom left corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
In the centre is a photograph of a fossil ammonoid (pale coloured in a dark matrix; aperture to top left). Specimen UBGD 301014.1, photograph by Arnaud Brayard, Biogeosciences lab, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Europe. Scale bar in top right corner is 10 mm. Top right: line reconstruction of the conch, with a life restoration below (in a blue seascape); both by Emmanuel Fara. Red rectangle at top left is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology, which features this research.
Palaeogeographic map of Western Europe at the beginning of the Eocene, showing the location of Le Quesnoy, now in Oise, France. Darker shades indicate emergent land, white colour is open marine. Paler grey indicates a shallow marine or lagoonal environment. On the right, examples of three Corophydon teeth from the site; from top to bottom: upper M3; lower p4; fragment of a premaxilla with an upper I3 (scale bar in the middle is 1 cm). Red rectangle in upper right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
On the left, four line diagrams of sauropodomorph skulls; from top to bottom: Camarasaurus lentus, Giraffatitan brancai, Lufengosaurus huenei and Tapuiasaurus macedoi. Colours highlight topological modules detected in the cranial networks. On the right are four plots illustrating methods used in the analaysis. From top to bottom: anatomical network model of the cranium of Shunosaurus lii, showing the 42 nodes and 105 edges; linear regression model of the relation between degree and betweenness in the cranial network of Shunosaurus lii; biplot of the PC1 loadings and jitter plot of the PC1 scores for each node of the cranial network of Shunosaurus lii. Blue rectangle in the middle at the top is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
Digital reconstructions from a micro-CT scan of fossil conodont elements forming a natural assemblage. Triassospathodus symmetricus. Top left, rendered image of the whole assemblage in ventral view (GMPKU-P-4309 from bed 617 of the upper Nanlinghu Formation, Chaohu of Anhui, China). Top right, surface model of the specimen in the same view, with different elements coloured individually. Scale bar for top two images is 500 microns. The bottom half of the image shows the 15 individual elements of the assemblage spread out. Scale bar at lower right is also 500 microns. Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: Map centred on Colombia, showing Venezuela to the right and the Pacific Ocean to the left. The Guajira Peninsula is highlighted in a dotted box outline towards the top. To the right is a photograph of a fossil fish tooth (Serrasalmus; STRI 470060; scale bar 2 mm). Red rectangle in the top right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology. Bottom left is a palaeogeographic map of northern South America showing a possible palaeodrainage connection between east and west of the Andes. In the bottom left corner is a selection of fish photographs representing the taxa recovered from the site.
At the top are two photographs of fossil specimens with teeth. Both are the newly named species, Timon planeutes. Upper left is the paratype left maxilla MNHN.F.QU17166 in labial view. Lower right is the holotype right dentary MNHN.F.QU17179 in labial view. Both are from the Phosphorites du Quercy collection, and both have a 5 mm scale bar on the right side of the image. At the bottom is a simplified time-scaled phylogenetic tree of Lacertidae and Eolacertidae based on fossils. Red rectangle in the upper right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Photographs of a fossil beech leaf, Fagus stuxbergi from eastern Zhejiang, China. Left: leaf (Jhuw-19-046) white vertical scale bar at lower left is 1 cm. Top right: nut (Jhuw-21-045) black scale bar at lower left is 2 mm. Bottom right: cupule (Jhuw-21-045), black scale bar at lower left is 5 mm. Red rectangle, centre bottom, is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: photograph of a fossil reptile skull: the rhyncosaur Howesia browni SAM-PK-K10180 in right lateral view. Below and to the right is a digitised reconstruction of the same skull, showing the individual bones in different colours. Scale bar between the two images is 20 mm. Upper right: reduced strict consensus tree of rhynchosaur interrelationships. Red rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: map of the Black and Caspian drainage basins and major river systems (coloured lines), with the Black Sea in the centre. The study area (the Marmara Sea) is outlined in red at the south east point of the Black Sea. Top right: light microscope image of a Palaeoarkaya similis specimen showing a slightly triangular to oval central area with long processes extending. A black arrow near the top of the main body indicates an apical vesicle pore. Holotype, from core MAR02-89P, 490 cm. Scale bar in lower left corner is 20 microns. Bottom right corner: SEM image of Palaeoarkaya similis. Paratype specimen from core MAR02-89P, 260–262 cm. Scale bar in centre of image is 10 microns. Bottom left corner: Plot showing some of the results of the chemotaxonomic analysis of Palaeoarkaya similis and other palynomorphs (for comparison); processed ATR μ-FTIR spectra. Blue rectangle in top right corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
Palaeoartist's reconstruction of Otodus megalodon. In the centre a huge shark breaches the surface of the water, with open mouth, surrounded by flying seabirds and smaller whales in the water. The cliffs of land can be seen in the background to the left. Artwork by Hugo Salais (https://metazoa.studio) reproduced here with kind permission.
Top left: photograph of a fossil lace bug in amber: new species Paleoanomala decapita (the specimen is missing the head; holotype MCNA-9548; scale bar in bottom left corner is 100 microns). To the right of this is a line diagram of the specimen with various anatomical regions shaded in different colours. At the bottom right is an artist's reconstruction of the insect. The small red rectangle in the bottom left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Circular schematic diagram illustrating the developmental cycle of early Cambrian medusozoan Octapyrigites elongatus. The cycle begins on the left, in the middle, with a fertilized egg (pink circle) which divides, and continues clockwise (from the top) through three substages of organogenesis (indicated with a red arrow) where the embryo appears as a spherical object (here shown in greyscale) developing increasing numbers of lobes (numbered) before moving into the post-embryonic stages (hatchling), linked with a blue arrow. Each of the three post-embryonic stages includes a blue portion at the bottom (the embryonic tissue) and a pink upper portion (post-embryonic tissue). There is a small horizontal scale bar in the lower right corner, which is 200 microns long. The blue rectangle in the upper right corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
Digital reconstructions of the skull of Gogonasus andrewsae shown in dorsal view (NMV P221807). Top left: 3D rendering of the whole skull. Middle: showing the cranial endocast within the skull in blue. Bottom right: showing the course of the sensory line canal in pink. Red rectangle in bottom left corner is a cover image of the journal Papers in Palaeontology. Scale bar (on right) is 10 mm.
Photographs of hexactinellid sponge spicules. Top left, holotype of Botomospongia sphaeroides (PIN 5895/104-1), a flattened skeleton consisting of many spicules; scale bar 0.1 mm. On the right, enlargements of three spicules, from top to bottom: anchoring tip of anchor with one row of secondary rays (after acid etching, scanning electron micrograph; PIN 5895/112); second-order pentactine (after acid etching, back-scattered electron micrograph; PIN 5894/105-1); isolated first-order hexactine (after acid etching, scanning electron micrograph; PIN 5895/112). Red rectangle at bottom left is a cover image for the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Four photographs of the skulls of beaked Permian tetrapods (clockwise from top left: Stahleckeria, Diictodon, Proganochelys and Bentonyx). In the middle of the photographs are two sketches indicating the landmark points used to define the beak outlines and collect data from each specimen. Lower right: a scatter plot showing the first two principal components of the clustering analysis; coloured data points relate to the functional groups illustrated underneath: snippers, shearers and slicers. Silhouette credits: dicynodonts (Woznikella) DiBgd, CC BY-SA 4.0; trilophosaurs (Trilophosaurus) Jeff Martz, Public Domain; poposauroids (Sillosuchus), redrawn and modified from work by A.R. Mihaila, CC BY-SA 4.0, and PaleoNeolitic, Public Domain; aetosaurs (Stagonolepis) Jeff Martz, CC0 1.0; silesaurids (Kwanasaurus) Jeff Martz, CC BY 4.0. Others by an author of the paper.
Main photograph is of a large, round, diving beetle with stems of water plants in the background. This is the extant species Cybister lateralimarginalis. There are smaller photographs of two fossil diving beetles overlapping this image: top right is Liadytiscus latus (in a brown matrix) and bottom left is Sinoporus lineatus (in a yellow matrix). Each photograph has a 1 mm scale bar in the lower right corner. Plot at bottom right shows the origination rate of new genera on the vertical axis and geological time on the horizontal axis. Blue rectangle at top left is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
Four plots showing estimated change in femoral circumference between ancestor and descendant dinosaurs (vertical axis) as a function of change in mean annual precipitation (horizontal axis). Clockwise from top left: all ornithischians; ornithischians following the Cenomanian/Turonian Boundary; sauropodomorphs following the Jenkyns Event; all sauropodomorphs. Dinosaur silhouettes from PhyloPic: Scelidosaurus (Gareth Monger, CC BY 3.0); Triceratops (Jagged Fang Designs, CC0 1.0); Plateosaurus (Mike Taylor, CC0 1.0); Diplodocus (Jagged Fang Designs, CC0 1.0). Dark blue rectangle in top right corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.
Top: photograph of a stiletto fly larva from Australia. Underneath is an image of a large sand dune overlaid by two pairs of boxes containing a photograph and a plot. The upper photograph shows the trace made by a modern stiletto fly larva, and a red wavy line indicating the wave function that the trace makes. Underneath is a similar looking trace fossil from Brazil, with the corresponding wave function in blue.
Artist's reconstruction of the Triassic paracrocodylomorph Shakajlura riojanensis, from the Chanares Formation, Argentina, by Lautaro R. Blanco. Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: map of the Iberian peninsula with the study area, in Portugal, outlined in red. Main photograph: a tiny Allosaurus maxilla (scale bar underneath is 1 mm) in lateral view (MG 27804); teeth at the bottom. Red rectangle at top right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
External and internal digital images of the hydroid colonies Protulophila gestroi within host serpulids (Propomatoceros lumbricalis) from the Middle Jurassic of the Polish Basin. Top left: external view of a serpulid (in grey) with pores for the hydroid zooids; to the right (in green) is a view of the internal cavities left by the hydroid (specimen GIUS 8-3730/1; scale bar at left 5 mm). Below, a different serpulid showing a different morphological expression of the hydroid, this time with a magnification of part of the internal hydroid colony on the right, indicating the zooids, external apertures and stolon (specimen GIUS 83730/3; scale bar to right of external view is 2 mm; scale bar at the bottom of the magnified view on the right is 0.5 mm). Blue rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image for the journal Palaeontology.
A selection of Triassic archosauromorphs, reconstructed with lips closing the mouth and covering all teeth. Top right: Prestosuchus in right lateral view (with closed mouth) and frontal view with an open mouth (scale bar 300 mm). Three images underneath, from left to right: Venetoraptor (scale bar 10 mm); 'Hyperodapedon' (scale bar 100 mm); Silesaurus (scale bar 20 mm). Dark blue rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology. Artwork copyright Matheus F. Gadelha.
Left: a virtual slice through the humerus of an adult Palaeoloxodon tiliensis specimen (NHMW-Geo-1976/1833/0007); scale bar on left is 3 cm. Bottom left: 8 multicoloured renderings of the humerus of Palaeoloxodon tiliensis (left 4) and extant elephant Loxodonta africana (right 4), mapping the cortical thickness within a single bone in each case (each bone rotated to show 4 different views). Cold colours indicate low cortical thickness, warm colours indicate high cortical thickness. Top right: results of a principal components analysis of the shape data for the humerus of all specimens in the study. Below that is a neighbour-joining tree for the same dataset. Bottom right corner: dark blue rectangle with a fossil skull in bronze colour, is a cover image for the journal Palaeontology.
Top left, photograph of a fossilized walking leg of the giant scorpion Praearcturus gigas, from the Lochkovian St Maughan’s Formation of Rowlestone, Herefordshire, England (paralectotype NHMUK PI In 60 442). Scale bar at lower left is 10 mm. Main image: artist's reconstruction of Praearcturus gigas on the edge of a water body with plants in the background. Artist: Franz Anthony. Blue rectangle in lower right corner is a cover image for the journal Palaeontology.
In three corners are photographs of fossil leaves. Top left: Parvileguminophyllum oblita leaflet with a mucro at the apex (MGB 95352). Top right: Parvileguminophyllum deperdita, articulated specimen from Cervera (Ebro Basin) (MGB 95401). Bottom right: Parvileguminophyllum deperdita specimen from Cereste with 2-veined primary venation framework (NHMMZ PB_1994 72 T6 F_12). Bottom left: Palaeogene palaeogeographic map of Europe with the Bay of Biscay shown on the left, the Iberian Peninsula in the lower left corner and the Alpine-Carpathian Basin on the right. Three small yellow rectangles indicate the locations of the Ebro Basin (in Spain), the Aquitanian Basin (France), and the Alp-Focalquier Basin (also in France). Dark grey shading indicates exposed land, other grey colours show successively deeper levels of sea (palest is shallow shelf, darkest is deep shelf depression). Red rectangle in the middle of the bottom row is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Photographs of fossil bird bones from the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze, England, and other Eocene fossil sites. Main image on the left is an articulated halcyornithid Pseudasurides macrocephalus specimen, set in matrix, from the lowest middle Eocene of Messel, Germany (SMNK-PAL 2373a). White scale bar on the right is 5 mm. Upper right: a collection of elements from the halcyornithid ?Pulchrapollia eximia from Walton-on-the-Naze (NMS.Z.2021.40.64); parts of the skull at the top and a selection of 20 postcranial elements underneath. Scale bar in the centre is 5 mm. Lower part of the image: a selection of 15 limb bones illustrating the diversity of morphology and sizes found at the Walton-on-the-Naze site. Scale bar next to largest specimen is 10 mm.
Top left: map of Argentina and Chile, showing the study area, with the Cacheuta sub-basin in the centre. At the bottom and to the right are three photographs of palynomorphs: on the bottom Brevitriletes cornutus and cf. Duplicisporites granulatus; on the right, Secarisporites argenteaformis. All scale bars (to bottom right of each image) are 20 microns. All specimens are archived in the Museo Argentino de Ciencas Naturales Paleopalinoteca. Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Main image (top left): graphical key for the various Diplocynodon species with their characteristic features. Each character that separates two species or groups of species is identified with a letter (A to H). Below the species map at the top are cartoons illustrating each of the characters used. Bottom right: map of Europe showing the distribution of Diplocynodon species in the Palaeogene. Above the map is a photograph of the lectotype of Diplocynodon hantoniensis (NHMUK OR 25166), scale bar 5 cm. To the left of the map is a photograph of Diplocynodon muelleri (NMB Spa 4), scale bar 5 cm. Blue rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image for the journal Palaeontology.
Three images of radiolarians from a shallow marine Permian/Triassic boundary succession at Lusitaniadalen (Svalbard). Top left, new subspecies Entactinia meishanensis smyraksikorae (INV 2025.144; scale bar at upper left is 100 microns). Bottom left is the holotype of new species Archaeocenosphaera plankei (INV 2025.151.1). On the right, new species Entactinia sengeri (INV 2025.146.2). The scale bar for these two images is shown at the bottom and is also 100 microns. Red rectangle in lower right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology, which published this study.
Photographs of dinosaur eggshell and an artist's reconstruction of a nest in a Cretaceous landscape by Hyunjoo Shin. Top left: block of reddish rock containing fragments of Macroelongatoolithus (oviraptor eggshell; scale bar 5 cm). Below that is a photograph of one of the fragments (scale bar 10 mm), and below that is a photograph of a thin section of one type of eggshell (specimen SNUVP 202506; scale bar 1 mm). Bottom right: Dinosaur nest on a sandy foreground on the right, with larger, feathered, dinosaur guarding it from two smaller dinosaurs on the left. Mountains, a river and trees in the background.
Silhouettes of ten different notosuchian crocodylomorphs, each represented by a darker (minimum) and a lighter (maximum) shape. Taxa represented are (from left to right): top row - Simosuchus clarki, Araripesuchus buitreraensis, Notosuchus terrestris, Caipirasuchus montealtensis; middle row - Armadillosuchus arrudai, Sebecus icaeorhinus, Itasuchus jesuinoi; bottom row - Baurusuchus albertoi, Kaprosuchus saharicus, Stolokrosuchus lapparenti. Green shapes indicate animals from terrestrial and blue shapes freshwater ecosystems. Land is depicted in a sandy colour (most of the image) with some water (blue) on the lower and right sides. Artwork by Science Graphic Design. Dark blue rectangle in lower right corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology, which published this study. Graphic is by Science Graphic Design.
Photographs of seven extant laurel leaves illustrating the variety of morphology among members of the Family Lauraceae. Top row from left to right: Ocotea purpurea (scale bar 1 cm); Cryptocarya aschersoniana (scale bar 0.5 cm); Damburneya cf. coriacea (scale bar 1 cm); Machilus japonica (scale bar 2 cm). Bottom row from left to right: Caryodaphnopsis burgeri (scale bar 2 cm); Sassafras albidum (scale bar 2 cm); Lindera obtusiloba (scale bar 2 cm). Blue rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image for the journal palaeontology. All leaves from the Collection of Cleared Leaves of the Institute of Geology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Top left: oblique apical view of a complete distal tubular scleritome of Kulparina rostrata (MPAL1151). Scale bar at bottom right of image is 500 microns. Top right: Reconstruction of the Kulparina rostrata scleritome, with two individual L sclerites (top) and an S sclerite (bottom) shown on on the right. Scale bar at bottom right of main image is 500 microns. Bottom right: Cambrian outcrop map of the Arrowie Basin, South Australia. The basin is shown in yellow, with the Cambrian outcrops in purple. Green circles indicate locations sampled for this study. Bottom left: blue rectangle with fossil skull is a cover image for the journal Palaeontology.
Main image: Phylogenetic tree illustrating the biogeographical reconstruction of Iguanodontia. Time scale along the bottom shows the Jurassic (in blue) and Cretaceous (in green). At bottom right is a life reconstruction of the ornithischian dinosaur Iguanodon bernissartensis from the Early Cretaceous (~125 million years ago) of Europe, by Davide Bonadonna (www.davidebonadonna.it).
In a column on the left, three black and white images of ostracods. From top to bottom: Jingguella aff. elliptica (NIGP 207450, sample 2022-CX-s) adult carapace in right view; Deyangia rhodopetra, holotype (NIGP 207461, sample 2021-DX-2) adult, presumed female, in right view; Pinnocypridea cf. sichuanensis (NIGP 207479, sample 2022-CX-2A) adult carapace in right view. All scale bars (under each image) are 100 microns. Top right: map showing the distribution patterns of the genera Jingguella and Deyangia during the Early Cretaceous, with the Tethys Ocean shown in dark blue on the left and the Pacific Ocean superimposed on an outline of current day China. Grey areas are Cretecous basins and the red line indicates the possible boundary between two non-marine ostracod palaeo-provinces. Red rectangle in bottom left is the cover of the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: map of South America featuring Argentina in white. Region highlighted in pink shows where the study area (black square) is located in Chubut Province. Central image: digital brain endocast of Puelia plicata (MLP-PV 67-II-27-27) in dorsal view; the endocast is shown in pink with the surrounding bones of the skull rendered transparent; scale bar at lower left is 10 mm. Bottom left: skull of Puelia plicata (MLP-PV 67-II-27-27) in lateral view; scale bar at lower right is 10 mm. Bottom right: red cover image for the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
On the left: A chronologically calibrated cladogram illustrating the diversity of growth rates among pseudosuchians, based on osteohistological data On the right: at the top a complete transverse section through a femur of Tarjadia ruthae, illustrating the internal structure of the bone (scale bar at bottom left is 2 mm). Underneath is an enlargement of the area outlined by the upper white rectangle, showing the zonal bone (labelled ZB), an internal circumfernetial layer (ICL) and the external fundamental system (EFS, which is further enlarged on the right of the image). The main part of the image is shown in plane-polarized light at the top and coloured by the addition of a second, crossed polarizer at the bottom. The enlargment image has two scale bars at the bottom, the one on the left (for the main image) is 500 microns, the one on the right (for the enlargement of the EFS) is 250 microns. Blue rectangle in the bottom right corner is the cover of the journal Palaeontology.
Top right: Digital reconstruction of the skull of Ptychotherates bucculentus (CM 31368) in left lateral view. Arrow on the right indicates anterior direction. Scale bar under arrow is 2 cm. Bottom left: A life reconstruction of Ptychotherates bucculentus by Megan Sodano. Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image of the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Top left: map of the study area (red star) in the Neuquen Basin, Patagonia, Argentina. Below and to the right are examples of the varied morphology of benthic foraminifera recovered. Top right: Favolagena atilai (MML-PM 50; scale bar 20 microns). Bottom row, from left: Cibicides (MML-PM 38; scale bar 100 microns); Gavelinella? neuquense (MML-PM 21; scale bar 100 microns); Fursenkoina tegulata (MML-PM 59; scale bar 20 microns); Stilostomella spinosa (MML-PM 64; scale bar 20 microns).
Top right: Photograph of two jaw bones with a one cent Euro coin for scale. The bones are a fragment of a mandible of Galanthis baskini from Las Casiones (small, darker specimen, above) and a complete mandible of the extant species Mustela nivalis (lesser weasel; lighter coloured specimen below). Image: Alberto Valenciano. Top left: blue rectangle is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology. Bottom: Illustration of body mass along the branches of the tip-dated Bayesian MCC tree, showing the ancestral body mass for each clade; illustrated specimens (not to scale): Lutra lutra, MNCN-3666; Vormela peregusna, IVPP-OV519; Zdanskyictis minimus, PMU-21788; Mustela putorius, MNCN-3846; Mustela nivalis, MNCN-14416; Mustela erminea, MNCN-14372; Neogale vison, MNCN-14417; Galanthis baskini, KS-9a; Martes americana, FMNH-51372.
Top right: a tree illustrating the phylogeny of the sauropodomorphs sampled in this study. At the top in green are non-sauropodiform sauropodomorphs, in the middle in orange are non-sauropodan sauropodiforms, and at the bottom in red are the Sauropoda. At the bottom are some examples of the analytical techniques used. On the left is a neighbour-joining clustering analysis tree and on the right a representation of phylopmorphospace. In both cases, the colours of the datapoints match those on the tree at the top. In the bottom right corner of the phylomorphospace map is wireframe visualization of thin-plate spline deformation of aligned extremal shapes along PC1 (horizontal axis of the main plot); at top right is a similar wireframe model of shape changes along PC2 for this same dataset. The blue rectangle on the left is a cover image for the journal Palaeontology.
Infographic showing the main steps in the preparation and publication of 3D datasets.
On the left, two black and white photographs of Silica Shale brachiopod Paraspirifer bownockeri (UMMP 63146) in anterior (upper image) and ventral (lower image) view. Scale bars below each image are 10 mm. On the right, two plots illustrating the analysis conducted on fauna encrusting these molluscs. At the top, the results of the non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis showing the numbers of epibiont taxa on individual brachiopod specimens (blue for 1, green for 2, yellow for 3 and red for 4). At the bottom, the results of a Spearman correlation analysis showing presence/absence data for a range of encrusting taxa on the dorsal valve. The colour scale indicates a range of positive (cool, blue colours) to negative (warm, red colours) correlation. Five pairs of taxa show a significant correlation (each indicated with a star): four negative and one positive.
Top right: Sketch of a salamander illustrating the defined movements of the proximal (hip) and distal (elbow) limb joints measured in this study. Middle left: A muscle map for the giant salamander Dicamptodon, used as model comparator for the stem tetrapods. Lower row: left (blue rectangle) cover image for the journal Palaeontology; middle, musculoskeletal model in a mid-stance pose; right, plot of muscle moment arms.
Top right: map showing the position (red dot) of the Toca dos Ossos Cave fossil locality, with inset showing South America. The State of Bahia, Brazil, is shaded grey on both. Bottom left: Holotype specimen MCL-A-1.795, a left tibiotarsus, in medial view. Scale bar at top right is 1 cm. Bottom middle: a life reconstruction of Eschatornis aterradora by Zeinner de Paula, with the position of the tibiotarsus indicated with converging straight lines. Bottom right: red rectangle is cover image for the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Two plots showing genus-level diversity of conulariids through time. The top plot (with a sketch of a conulariid in the top left corner) shows changing diversity of numbers of genera from the Ediacaran on the left, through a peak in the Late Ordovician, with a decline towards the end Triassic on the right. Black line and data points use the range through metric; orange line and points use the sampled in bin metric. The lower plot as the same time scale but shows range-based sampling completeness for conulariid genera.