Newsworthy

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2010 Annual Meeting

The Section of Vertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History was excited to host the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Pittsburgh in 2010. This meeting celebrated the 70th anniversary of SVP.

From its founding in 1895 right up to the present day, Carnegie Museum of Natural History has played a vital role in the development of vertebrate paleontology in North America. The SVP 70th Anniversary Meeting represented a homecoming for the Society, and it provided us with the opportunity to showcase the museum’s recently renovated Mesozoic gallery Dinosaurs in their Time. Illustration: Mark A. Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Discoveries

Juramaia: Earliest known eutherian, ancestor of placental mammals
A remarkably well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species—the placental mammals. According to a paper published August 25, 2011, in the prestigious journal Nature, this fossil represents a new milestone in mammal evolution that was reached 35 million years earlier than previously thought, filling an important gap in the fossil record and helping to calibrate modern, DNA-based methods of dating the evolution. Click here to read full press release.

Fedexia: Early Terrestrial Amphibian
A team of researchers from Carnegie Museum of Natural History has described a new genus and species of carnivorous amphibian from western Pennsylvania. The fossil skull, found in 2004 near Pittsburgh International Airport, was recovered from rocks deposited approximately 300 million years ago during the Late Pennsylvanian Period. Named Fedexia striegeli, it is one of only a very few relatively large amphibian fossils to display evidence of a predominantly terrestrial life history so early in geologic time, suggesting that the expansion and diversification of this group occurred much earlier than had been recognized previously. Click here to read the press release.

Maotherium: Ear structure shows how mammalian ear evolution occurred while dinosaurs dominated the world
An international team of paleontologists has discovered a new species of mammal that lived 123 million years ago in what is now the Liaoning Province in northeastern China. The newly discovered animal, Maotherium asiaticus, comes from famous fossil-rich beds of the Yixian Formation. This new remarkably well preserved fossil, as reported in the prestigious journal Science, offers an important insight into how the mammalian middle ear evolved. Click here to read the press release.

Ganlea: Suggests the Common Ancestor of Primates Originated in Asia, and Challenges the Role of “Ida"
According to new research published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) on July 1, 2009, a new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe. Click here to read the press release.

Puijila: "Missing Link" in pinniped evolution
A 2007 fossil-hunting expedition in Canada’s High Arctic led to the exciting discovery of Puijila darwini. Puijila is a transitional fossil—a missing link in the evolution of pinnipeds (the group that includes seals, sea lions and walruses). Entirely new to science, this carnivorous mammal provides insight into what pinnipeds looked like before they were adapted to hunting in the ocean. The fossil is 24 to 20 million years old and was found in the Haughton Crater on Devon Island by a research team led by Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature and including Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Curator Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology Mary Dawson. Click here to read the press release.

Teilhardina: Oldest fossil primate from North America
The 55.8 million year–old fossils, excavated at a site near Meridian, Mississippi, are from a previously unknown species of extinct primate named Teilhardina magnoliana. Because different species of Teilhardina once inhabited all three northern continents at roughly the same time, it has been difficult to reconstruct how these tiny primates dispersed over much of the globe at a time when global climate was changing rapidly while sea levels were also fluctuating. The discovery sheds new light on how the earliest primates migrated to North America during a major global warming event 55.8 million years ago. Click here for the Press Release.

Yanoconodon: Chinese and American paleontologists discover a new Mesozoic mammal
International teams of paleontologists have discovered a new species of mammal that lived 125 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era in what is now the Hebei Province in China. This new mammal, documented in the British journal Nature, provides first-hand evidence of early evolution of mammalian middle ear – one of the most important features for all modern mammals. Named Yanoconodon after the Yan Mountains in Hebei, the skull revealed a middle ear structure that is somewhere between those of modern mammals and those of near relatives of mammals. Click here for the Press Release.

Gansus: Superbly preserved fossils provide new evidence of how modern birds evolved from dinosaur ancestors
A Chinese-American research team, co-led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Matt Lamanna, PhD, Dr. Hai-lu You of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, and Dr. Jerry Harris of Dixie State College of Utah, has unearthed approximately 40 new specimens of Gansus from Early Cretaceous (~110 million years old) lake beds near the tiny, remote town of Changma in northwestern Gansu Province. Several of these specimens are nearly complete skeletons; some preserve rarely fossilized soft-tissues like feathers and skin. The team's findings are published in the journal Science. Click here for the Press Release.

Laonastes: New family of mammal really a living fossil
Laonastes aenigmamus, a rodent first described in 2005, made international headlines as the sole member of a new family of mammals. But according to a paper published by a team of international researchers led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist Mary Dawson, the animal is actually a surviving member of the rodent family Diatomyidae, thought to be extinct for 11 million years. Click here for the Press Release.

Castorocauda: New Fossil of the Earliest Swimming Mammal Discovered
Carnegie Museum of Natural History preparator Alan Tabrum and former curator Zhe-Xi Luo were on the research team that discovered a brand new species of swimming mammal, Castorocauda lutrasimilis, from the Jurassic lakebeds of China. The description appears in the February 24, 2006 issue of Science, with cover art (at right) by Carnegie Museum Scientific Illustrator Mark A. Klingler. Click here for the Press Release.

Fruitafossor: Earliest Mammal
Carnegie Museum scientist John Wible and former Carnegie curator Zhe-Xi Luo discovered a new species of early mammal, dubbed "Popeye" because of its massive forearms. It shows some veryunique features that would be otherwise known only in armadillos, but it is older than the armadillo lineage by 100 million years and unrelated to them. Click here for the Press Release.

Sinodelphys: New Fossil of a Primitive Marsupial Discovered
Carnegie Museum scientist John Wible and former Carnegie curator Zhe-Xi Luo are members of a collaborative team of Chinese and American scientists who discovered Sinodelphys szalayi, a 125-million-year-old fossilanimal that is the mostprimitive and oldest known relative of all marsupial mammals. Click here for more information.

Eomaia: The World's Earliest Known Placental Mammal
This nearly complete skeleton was discovered by an international team of scientists—including Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s John Wible and former Carnegie curator Zhe-Xi Luo—in the famed feathered dinosaur quarry of China’s Liaoning Province. The discovery of this little creature is of big importance to the understanding of the evolution of mammals. Since most mammals living today are placental, all may point to Eomaia scansoria as an ancient ancestor. Click here for more information.

Jeholodens: Unearthing the Roots of the Family Tree
Because very few skeletons of early mammals have been found, scientists have had only vague ideas about their lifestyles. The completeness of the Jeholodens jenkinsi skeleton, however, has allowed former Carnegie Museum Vertebrate Paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo and his collaborators to reconstruct some of the complexities of mammalian evolution. Click here for more information.

The Bromacker: A Treasure Trove of Specimens
Since 1993, Carnegie Museum researchers David Berman and Amy Henrici have been excavating an abandoned sandstone quarry in Germany. The Bromacker Quarry excavations have yielded fascinating specimens that provide new information about the dominant life forms nearly 80 million years before the Age of Dinosaurs. Click here for more information.

Eosimias: Tracking Our Extended Family
Two exciting fossil discoveries offer clues to the origin and evolution of higher primates—the group that today includes monkeys, apes, and humans. A team of American and Chinese paleontologists, organized by Carnegie Museum scientist Chris Beard, have unearthed fossilized foot bones that provide us with our first glimpse at the skeleton of primates that are near the common ancestry of monkeys, apes, and humans. Click here for more information.

Hadrocodium: A Mammal the Size of a Paper Clip
An international team of researchers led by former Carnegie Museum scientist Zhe-Xi Luo has discovered a 195-million-year-old fossil mammal. This find is the smallest known mammal of the Mesozoic and represents a new branch on the mammalian family tree. The newest addition to the mammalian family group also happens to be the tiniest mammal known from the Mesozoic Era, and one of the smallest mammals ever. Click here for more information.