We studied multiple true crabs (Brachyura) from primarily sponge and coral reefs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (201 to 66 million years ago). Both environments were important habitats for the evolution and biodiversity of crabs during the Late Jurassic epoch (164 to 145 million years ago).
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New Holotype of Fossil Shark for Paleontology Collection
On June 16, paleontologists published a scientific article describing a new fossil angel shark genus and species named Cretasquatina americana. Among those paleontologists is former University of Alabama curator of paleontology Dana Ehret. The team used two specimens from the paleontology collection of UA Museums’ Department of Museum Research and Collections.
The first record of a paguroid shield (Anomura, Annuntidiogenidae) from the Miocene of Cyprus
Fossil hermit crabs (Paguroidea) have long been known from the fossil record, primarily from claws. Over the last ten years, their millimeter-sized shields (particularly the anterior part) have been increasingly recognized.
Mollusks and a crustacean from early Oligocene methane-seep deposits in the Talara Basin, northern Peru
Methane seeps are places on the ocean floor where methane escapes from the subsurface into the water column. Such seeps, also called cold seeps, can be found at different depths in the oceans today and in the past. They are essentially the cold equivalent of hydrothermal vents.
Feeding Traces on a Pteranodon (Reptilia: Pterosauria) Bone from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Mooreville Chalk in Alabama, USA
Pterosaur remains are exceptionally rare in the Late Cretaceous marine chalks of Alabama and the few specimens found are typically very fragmentary. We report the occurrence of a metacarpal of Pteranodon cf. longiceps from the Mooreville Chalk (Campanian, 83 million years old) of Dallas County, Alabama.
Development of polymorphic microsatellite markers for a rare dragonfly, Cordulegaster sarracenia (Odonata: Cordulegastridae), with notes on population structure and genetic diversity
Kendra K. Abbott, John C. Abbott, Jeffrey D. Lozier, Rochelle R Beasley & Stacey L. Lance (2018) Development of polymorphic microsatellite markers for a rare dragonfly, Cordulegaster sarracenia (Odonata: Cordulegastridae), with notes on population structure and genetic diversity, International Journal of Odonatology, DOI: 10.1080/13887890.2018.1498398 We isolated and characterized a total of 13 microsatellite loci from Cordulegaster
Complete Ichthyornis skull illuminates mosaic assembly of the avian head
D.J. Field, M. Hanson, D. Burnham, L.E. Wilson, K. Super, D. Ehret, J. Ebersole & B.-A.S. Bhullar, published in Nature, volume 357, 3May2018. The skull of living birds is greatly modified from the condition found in their dinosaurian antecedents. Bird skulls have an enlarged, toothless premaxillary beak and an intricate kinetic system that includes a