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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

Information about the “T-rex” skeleton being auctioned in NYC

dailyfossil:

Statement from the President of Mongolia

As some of you might have seen in the media, there is going to be an auction in New York City tomorrow, May 20th 2012. Heritage Auctions is the auction house running the event. The biggest ticket item, and the one that is getting this auction a lot of coverage in the press, is an almost complete skeleton of Tarbosaurus bataar, which is being referred to as a T-rex in some stories. The two dinosaurs are very simular to one another.  The problem is that this specimen assuredly comes from Mongolia. Thus, it is stolen. 

Here is a letter from Dr. Mark Norell, the dinosaur curator at the American Museum of Natural History, explaining the situation:

It is with great concern that I see Mongolian dinosaur materials listed in the upcoming (May 20) Heritage Auctions Natural History catalogue. For the last 22 years I have excavated specimens Mongolia in conjunction with the Mongolian Academy of Sciences. I have been an author on over 75 scientific papers describing these important specimens. Unfortunately, in my years in the desert I have witnessed ever increasing illegal looting of dinosaur sites, including some of my own excavations. These extremely important fossils are now appearing on the international market. In the current catalogue Lot 49317 (a skull of Saichania) and Lot 49315 (a mounted Tarbosaurus skeleton) clearly were excavated in Mongolia as this is the only locality in the world where these dinosaurs are known. The copy listed in the catalogue, while not mentioning Mongolia specifically (the locality is listed as Central Asia) repeatedly makes reference to the Gobi Desert and to the fact that other specimens of dinosaurs were collected in Mongolia. As someone who is intimately familiar with these faunas, these specimens were undoubtedly looted from Mongolia. There is no legal mechanism (nor has there been for over 50 years) to remove vertebrate fossil material from Mongolia. These specimens are the patrimony of the Mongolian people and should be in a museum in Mongolia. As a professional paleontologist, am appalled that these illegally collected specimens (with no associated documents regarding provenance) are being are being sold at auction.

 Sincerely,

 Dr. Mark A. Norell

Chairman and Curator

Division of Paleontology

So far the only response from the auction house has been ‘we didn’t break any US laws, why didn’t the Mongolian government contact us before?’ and my favorite, and I will quote here: Mongolia won its independence in 1921 and this specimen is obviously quite a bit older than that.

What can be done? Probably not much, sadly. But it is important that people realize it is /NOT/ okay to take these materials out of their countries of origin with out working with the local governments. That is true for both for profit enterprises such as this auction but also for purely scientific studies. Most of the mongolian material at the AMNH currently is on long term loans, and many amazing specimens have already been returned to Mongolia.  

It is very upsetting that the vast majority of articles in the media about this specimen and the auction make NO mention of the illegal source of the material.  Spread the word! And please, never buy vertebrate fossils from private collectors.

Living Fossils - Liphistiidae

Liphistiidae is a family of spiders that contains 5 genera and 85 species, now you might be thinking that that isn’t very meaningful taxonomically, but this family of spiders is extremely basal, which if you’ll remember, is the main factor which classifies an organism as a living fossil.

These spiders are non-venomous and live in tubes, and should not be confused with Trapdoor spiders, or other spider families that also live in burrows, tubes, or crevices. These spiders are characterized by their downward pointed chelicerae (mouth parts,) and segmented series of plates on their abdomens. They are nocturnal, and the males wander searching for females, who generally stay in their burrows, waiting for prey. They have low activity, which may be because they have book lungs. They may also be found in caves where they live in natural retreats, which are still sealed off with a rudimentary silken door. Pictured above is the well known Kimura-gumo (Heptathela kimurai,) of Japan, and I believe both are female.

In burrow:

By Akio Tanikawa (http://spider.fun.cx/okinawa/yanbarukimuragumo.htm) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Spider:

By Akio Tanikawa (http://spider.fun.cx/okinawa/yanbarukimuragumo.htm) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Living Fossil - Coelacanth Coelacanth is a lobe-finned fish that dates all the way back to the Devonian, and were believed to have gone extinct around the end of the Cretaceous. Before its rediscovery in 1938 it was thought to be the “missing link” between fish and tetrapods, though it is apparently no longer the case that it is the link, coelacanth is still closer related to tetrapods than to ray-finned fish. It has remained roughly unchanged for ~400 million years. There are two living species, Latimeria chalumnae (West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (pictured above,)) and L. menadoensis (the Indonesian Coelacanth.) Its rediscovery in 1938 after virtually falling off the fossil record qualifies it as probably the best example of the Lazarus Taxon.  Photo is from the Wikimedia Commons, its information can be found at this link.

Living Fossil - Coelacanth

Coelacanth is a lobe-finned fish that dates all the way back to the Devonian, and were believed to have gone extinct around the end of the Cretaceous. Before its rediscovery in 1938 it was thought to be the “missing link” between fish and tetrapods, though it is apparently no longer the case that it is the link, coelacanth is still closer related to tetrapods than to ray-finned fish. It has remained roughly unchanged for ~400 million years. There are two living species, Latimeria chalumnae (West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (pictured above,)) and L. menadoensis (the Indonesian Coelacanth.) Its rediscovery in 1938 after virtually falling off the fossil record qualifies it as probably the best example of the Lazarus Taxon. 

Photo is from the Wikimedia Commons, its information can be found at this link.

Living Fossils - Goblin Shark The Goblin Shark is a deep sea shark and the sole living species in the family Mitsukurinidae, which consists of four extinct genera, and one extant species (Mitsukurina owstoni). Their most notable feature is the trowel-shaped snout, which contains a high concentration of electrosensory organs, which the shark uses to find prey. It has long, protrusible jaws, and when said jaws are retracted, the shark may appear similar to a pink (as goblin sharks are, in fact, a pink-ish colour) Sand Tiger Shark with a long rostrum (Remember! Rostrum means snout (in this context)) (Grey Nurse Shark (<— This is a relatively new synonym to me, how long has this been around?)). The goblin shark is a deep sea shark, found at depths greater than 200 meters deep, which is well below where light dissipates. They are found throughout the world, in places like the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean and off the coast of Australia, in the Pacific, but are most notably found near Japan, where the species was originally discovered.  Image is in the Public Domain

Living Fossils - Goblin Shark

The Goblin Shark is a deep sea shark and the sole living species in the family Mitsukurinidae, which consists of four extinct genera, and one extant species (Mitsukurina owstoni). Their most notable feature is the trowel-shaped snout, which contains a high concentration of electrosensory organs, which the shark uses to find prey. It has long, protrusible jaws, and when said jaws are retracted, the shark may appear similar to a pink (as goblin sharks are, in fact, a pink-ish colour) Sand Tiger Shark with a long rostrum (Remember! Rostrum means snout (in this context)) (Grey Nurse Shark (<— This is a relatively new synonym to me, how long has this been around?)).

The goblin shark is a deep sea shark, found at depths greater than 200 meters deep, which is well below where light dissipates. They are found throughout the world, in places like the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean and off the coast of Australia, in the Pacific, but are most notably found near Japan, where the species was originally discovered. 

Image is in the Public Domain

Anomalocaris

Anomalocaris (abnormal shrimp,) is an extinct genus of anomalocaridids, which, are thought to be closely related to arthropods. It was originally thought to be three separate creatures, as three separate parts, the mouth, the feeding appendages, and the tail. This was corrected in a 1985 journal article by Harry B. Whittington and Derek Briggs.

It is thought that Anomalocaris was a predator, and that it swam by undulating the lobes on the side of the body, where each lobe sloped below the one closest behind it. Anomalocaris had a large head with a pair of large compound eyes on stalks, each with ~16,000 individual lenses. It had a mouth that I can best describe as a pineapple-ring-shape, as I’ve picked that up from my paleontology professor. This mouth consisted of 32 overlapping plates, four large ones and twenty-eight smaller ones. There were two large, for lack of a better term, arms in front of the mouth, which were covered in barb-like spikes, could reach up to seven inches when extended, and were likely used to capture prey. It was truly a huge creature for the Cambrian, reaching up to two meters in length.

Here’s a video to describe it, it’s in Japanese, but there’s a translation under the video. 

For the Model:

By Photnart (Own work) [CC0 (creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

For the Fossil:

By Keith Schengili-Roberts (Own Work (photo)) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

Living Fossils - Paddlefish The Paddlefish is a primitive ray-finned fish, belonging to the order Acipenserifrmes, which includes sturgeons, Paddlefish, and some extinct families, they are considered to be relatively primitive fish (Read more here.) They can be distinguished by their long, spatula-shaped snouts, called rostrum, and their large, gaping mouths. While not closely related to sharks, they have similarities, such as a cartilaginous skeleton, and highly forked heteroceral tail fins. There are two extant (possibly) species of Paddlefish, including the American Paddlefish (Spoonbill, Mississippi Paddlefish, Spoonie, Spoonbill Catfish) (pictured above,) and the Chinese Paddlefish (Chinese Swordfish,) which may be extinct, but is believed to be critically endangered. That said, there are four, maybe five extinct genera.  They feed on zooplankton by filtering water through their gaping mouths as they swim, catching said plankton in filaments in their gill arches called gill rakers, much like basking sharks. It has electroreceptors in its rostrum, which allow it to detect weak electrical fields, and a potential meal.  Picture comes from the Wikimedia Commons, it is in the public domain, as it is the work of the Fish and Wildlife Service, but can be credited to Timothy Knepp,  information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paddlefish_Polyodon_spathula.jpg

Living Fossils - Paddlefish

The Paddlefish is a primitive ray-finned fish, belonging to the order Acipenserifrmes, which includes sturgeons, Paddlefish, and some extinct families, they are considered to be relatively primitive fish (Read more here.) They can be distinguished by their long, spatula-shaped snouts, called rostrum, and their large, gaping mouths. While not closely related to sharks, they have similarities, such as a cartilaginous skeleton, and highly forked heteroceral tail fins.

There are two extant (possibly) species of Paddlefish, including the American Paddlefish (Spoonbill, Mississippi Paddlefish, Spoonie, Spoonbill Catfish) (pictured above,) and the Chinese Paddlefish (Chinese Swordfish,) which may be extinct, but is believed to be critically endangered. That said, there are four, maybe five extinct genera. 

They feed on zooplankton by filtering water through their gaping mouths as they swim, catching said plankton in filaments in their gill arches called gill rakers, much like basking sharks. It has electroreceptors in its rostrum, which allow it to detect weak electrical fields, and a potential meal. 

Picture comes from the Wikimedia Commons, it is in the public domain, as it is the work of the Fish and Wildlife Service, but can be credited to Timothy Knepp,  information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paddlefish_Polyodon_spathula.jpg

Opabinia Opabinia was a genus of arthropod (maybe) from the Cambrian period, and is known from the Burgess Shale, with ~20 good specimens. It lived in the Cambrian, and does not belong to any of the four well known arthropod classess (trilobita, chelicerata, crustacea, uniramia,) but instead belongs to Dinocaridida (meaning terror shrimp,) which divides into opabinids and anomalocarids.  Opabinia itself wasn&#8217;t very large, being only ~10 centimeters in length. It had a soft, but jointed body, lobes along the side, and a fan-shaped tail. The head had unusual features, namely a backward facing mouth under the head, five eyes, and a proboscis, which it likely used to pass food to its unusual mouth. On first examination it was thought that it might be a precursor to annelid worms and arthropods, but after the discovery of more specimens, such as anomalocaris, they are believed to be related to onycophora (velvet worms) and tardigrade (water bears,) but it is still up for debate, as scientists reconstructions differ. Scientists differ in opinion on the structure and placement of the gills to which opabinia would have needed to breath, but it is generally believed they were on the lobes in some way. It likely fed on small, soft bodied animals with its flexible proboscis while living a peaceful life on the seafloor, until the seafloor buried them, leaving little trace. Picture from the Wikimedia commons, credited to Nobu Tamura, information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Opabinia_BW2.jpg

Opabinia

Opabinia was a genus of arthropod (maybe) from the Cambrian period, and is known from the Burgess Shale, with ~20 good specimens. It lived in the Cambrian, and does not belong to any of the four well known arthropod classess (trilobita, chelicerata, crustacea, uniramia,) but instead belongs to Dinocaridida (meaning terror shrimp,) which divides into opabinids and anomalocarids. 

Opabinia itself wasn’t very large, being only ~10 centimeters in length. It had a soft, but jointed body, lobes along the side, and a fan-shaped tail. The head had unusual features, namely a backward facing mouth under the head, five eyes, and a proboscis, which it likely used to pass food to its unusual mouth. On first examination it was thought that it might be a precursor to annelid worms and arthropods, but after the discovery of more specimens, such as anomalocaris, they are believed to be related to onycophora (velvet worms) and tardigrade (water bears,) but it is still up for debate, as scientists reconstructions differ. Scientists differ in opinion on the structure and placement of the gills to which opabinia would have needed to breath, but it is generally believed they were on the lobes in some way. It likely fed on small, soft bodied animals with its flexible proboscis while living a peaceful life on the seafloor, until the seafloor buried them, leaving little trace.

Picture from the Wikimedia commons, credited to Nobu Tamura, information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Opabinia_BW2.jpg

Living Fossils - Queensland Lungfish The Queensland Lungfish is the only surviving member of its Family, Ceratodonitidae, and the Order Ceratodontiformes. That doesn&#8217;t mean that there aren&#8217;t other lungfish, though! There are six extant species, including the Queensland Lungfish.  The Queensland Lungfish is a lobe-finned fish, sometimes called fleshy-finned fish, which is interesting enough because Tetrapoda descended from Sarcopterygii (Lobe-finned fish.) (Remember, evolution isn&#8217;t progress, it&#8217;s diversification through change through decent.) (See Tiktaalik song) It is one of the six extant species of Dipnoi (lungfishes) which flourished during the Devonian, and is the most primitive surviving member of Dipnoi. It can survive out of water for several days, but, unlike its four African cousins, it cannot survive total water depletion and must be kept moist. Fossils almost identical to the Queensland Lungfish have been found, indicating that it has remained nigh unchanged since 100 mya , and, therefor, is a viable living fossil.

Living Fossils - Queensland Lungfish

The Queensland Lungfish is the only surviving member of its Family, Ceratodonitidae, and the Order Ceratodontiformes. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t other lungfish, though! There are six extant species, including the Queensland Lungfish. 

The Queensland Lungfish is a lobe-finned fish, sometimes called fleshy-finned fish, which is interesting enough because Tetrapoda descended from Sarcopterygii (Lobe-finned fish.) (Remember, evolution isn’t progress, it’s diversification through change through decent.) (See Tiktaalik song) It is one of the six extant species of Dipnoi (lungfishes) which flourished during the Devonian, and is the most primitive surviving member of Dipnoi. It can survive out of water for several days, but, unlike its four African cousins, it cannot survive total water depletion and must be kept moist. Fossils almost identical to the Queensland Lungfish have been found, indicating that it has remained nigh unchanged since 100 mya , and, therefor, is a viable living fossil.

First order of business, how I studied for my geology final.

Living Fossils - Red Panda Red pandas are small arboreal mammals of the genus Ailurus, and are the only extant species (Ailurus fulgens) in said genus. The red panda is slightly larger than a domestic cat, looks a bit like a red raccoon, and waddles because it&#8217;s front legs are shorter than the back legs. It feeds mostly on bamboo, but is omnivorous, eating birds, eggs, insects, and small mammals. It is mainly nocturnal, and, much like tumblr users, leads a very sedentary lifestyle in the day. It used to be classified with raccoons, and then bears, but is now seperated into it&#8217;s own family, Ailuridae.  Photo from the Wikimedia Commons, for more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ailurus_fulgens_RoterPanda_LesserPanda.jpg

Living Fossils - Red Panda

Red pandas are small arboreal mammals of the genus Ailurus, and are the only extant species (Ailurus fulgens) in said genus. The red panda is slightly larger than a domestic cat, looks a bit like a red raccoon, and waddles because it’s front legs are shorter than the back legs. It feeds mostly on bamboo, but is omnivorous, eating birds, eggs, insects, and small mammals. It is mainly nocturnal, and, much like tumblr users, leads a very sedentary lifestyle in the day. It used to be classified with raccoons, and then bears, but is now seperated into it’s own family, Ailuridae. 

Photo from the Wikimedia Commons, for more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ailurus_fulgens_RoterPanda_LesserPanda.jpg