On August 14 I am going to be leaving on a two week trip to Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. It will be my first trip out west, and I am really looking forward to seeing places like Fossil Butte, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone. I will have my laptop with me, but obviously I will not be updating this blog every day.
I have no intention of leaving you all high and dry, though. I have been stockpiling a few posts for while I am away, and I would like to know if there is any particular topic you would like me to write about. If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments.
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From my "to-write" queue:
It'd be great to see some posts on very primitive diapsids and other early reptiles, ex. araeoscelids, tangasaurids, trilophosaurs, basal sauropterygians (even plesiosaurs too), early ichthyosaurs, and sphenodontians.
Don't cop out and post on simiosaurs/drepanosaurids, they get plenty of press as is. ;)
Damn it, I was just thinking of drepanosaurids as I was biking into work today. Thank you for offering up some challenging suggestions, though. I will see what I can do!
If you get the chance - I suggest driving along Hwy 212 between Red Lodge, Montana, and the east entrance to Yellowstone near Cooke City, MT. It's one of the most incredible stretches of road I've ever encountered. It does take awhile, but with the mountains and alpine lakes, the threat of snow at any time, it's fantastic.
Have a great trip.
Vertebrates in amber!
I vote Paleozoic tetrapods.
Pleistocene Canids, I am particular curious about what is known about Xenocyon can't find much in the way of information on it.
I generally wish to know allot more about extinct mammals aside from hominids. Dinosaurs seem to draw so much more attention but chalicotheres, giant sloths, various girrafids etc are fascinating.
Here's a one more thing for you to consider:
Ivakhneko, M. F. 2009. Eotherapsid hypothesis for the origin of Monotremata. Paleontological Journal, 43 (3): 237-250.
Snippet from the abstract: "Comparative study of the cranial structures (lateral wall of the braincase, temporal and tympanic regions) of mammals and theromorphs shows that Monotremata evolved from the eotherapsid stem of theromorphs, while therian mammals are descendants of eutherapsids."
Therocephalians would be nice.
Another suggestion: Goloboff et al.'s (2009) comprehensive analysis of 73 060 eukaryote taxa has given several interesting results, including Chiroptera being paraphyletic with respect to XENARTHRANS! Although they did not comment on this in the paper, it is clearly worth commenting.
Ref: Goloboff, P.A.; Catalano, S.A.; Mirande, J.M.; Szumik, C.A.; Arias, J.S.; Källersjö, M & Farris, J.S.
Full reference: Goloboff, P.A.; Catalano, S.A.; Mirande, J.M.; Szumik, C.A.; Arias, J.S.; Källersjö, M & Farris, J.S. 2009. Phylogenetic analysis of 73 060 taxa corroborates major eukaryotic groups. Cladistics 25 (3): 211-230
Comment #1's suggestion is a good one.
I'd like to suggest something else, too--what about the Paleocene? It's such a neat time... all these 'failed experiments' popping up to fill in the vacancy left by the dinosaurs' departure, but before the familiar modern lineages won out. I'm thinking of multituberculates and all the weird crocodiles Darren writes about on TetZoo, but besides those and the 'terror birds,' it's not a time I've really heard anything about. And as someone researching the evolution of birdsong, it's something I'd really like to know more about!
raptors!!!!!
Hi all,
just commentary about the Gunnar´s post #9. The Chiroptera was not paraphyletic with respect to XENARTHRANS in Goloboff et al (2009) paper. It appeared as sister group of Euarchontoglires. If you carefully observe the figure you will notice that the label XENARTHRA corresponds to a small clade in green at the base of Euarchontoglires.
Ah, my bad. I should have seen the logic of the colouring