[Non-Ceph] Bits 'n Pieces

[Phil]

Here's an interesting find in the news today. A 25m year old baleen whale with teeth. Yep, you heard right.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Whale fossil sports fierce teeth

 

[sorseress]

Awesome!

 

[monty]

Very cool. I've had a though bouncing around in my head for years that it's weird that the filter-feeding cetaceans are smart, since it's usually the case that the main selection pressure for intelligence is active hunting... so perhaps they evolved to be smart, then they evolved to be filter feeders (by realizing they could be smart and lazy). Of course, it's also possible that being smart enough to find schools of krill strategically is to their advantage, too... And there's probably not too much pressure to lose intelligence once you have it (although modern human development sometimes makes me wonder...)

 

[Phil]

Interesting thoughts there Monty, as ever.

I wonder when and when the earliest baleen plates are known from? I've also found it interesting that the larged toothed whales are so outnumbered by their baleen plated cousins. After all, squid are found all over the world in huge numbers and one might not unreasonably expect that more species of whale might have evolved to exploit this.

Maybe I'm just not thinking this through, but it is 3:15am!

 

[sorseress]

... And there's probably not too much pressure to lose intelligence once you have it (although modern human development sometimes makes me wonder...)

I could start naming names and keep on going for a week!

 

[monty]

fish to land lizard "missing link"

I know it's one of those nasty vertebrates, but this is interesting nonetheless:

[3600+] Music Wallpapers | Wallpapers.com

 

[monty]

Not cephs, but there's a whole issue of Science on sea urchin genetics. Or see the Reuters summary article...

 

[neuropteris]

Some might remember this from a post some time ago - back in 2004 I found this eye popping beastie in my local opencast coal mine. Was pottering about one sunday morning when I noticed a likely looking nodule had dropped from a block of mudstone that had been sitting on the tips for weeks. Thinking it might contain a nice fern or cone I gave it a tap and was gobsmacked by what appeared. Its now been described and not only is it a new species its a new genus! Anglopterum magnificum or Englands Magnificent Wing if my latin is correct. The paper "New homoiopterids from the Late Carboniferous of England (Insecta:Palaeodictyoptera)" is available on the web as a pdf file - google "Crock Hey" and it should be one of the first things to pop up. We're talking about a fly with a wingspan of about 30cm here. I am somewhat chuffed!

Andy

 

[Architeuthoceras]

Cool Andy,
Are both halves the holotype? In the article it says "in half a concretion".

That thing must have been looking for one big pile of .......

 

[neuropteris]

I think technically only the right hand half is the holotype - I wasn't involved in the write up and was never asked for any more photos

 

[spartacus]

Magnificent Andy !
The wing not you !
Keef

 

[neuropteris]

And here was me thinking my fame had spread Keef!

 

[monty]

Did you have to give the holotype to some museum or something, or were you allowed to keep it? I don't know how that sort of stuff works...

 

[Architeuthoceras]

From the link in this thread

"One of the main requirements in naming a fossil is that it has to be held in a museum or institution."

So I assume that Andy gave half of the concretion (the Holotype) to a museum or institution and got to keep the other half.

 

[neuropteris]

At the moment they both reside with me but will at some point be finding their way to an institution (having too much fun showing and telling at the moment). I've sent a latex mould to one of the authors of the paper. Actually I didn't come under any pressure to give them up which I think is a good thing really - far better to have new finds brought to the attention of the scientific community by finders who don't feel an obligation to hand them over than to have things hidden away unknown for fear of being expected to give them up - thats my opinion anyway.