Alaska"s First Elasmosaur Fossil Excavated - http://clapway.com/2015/07/25/alaskas-first-elasmosaur-fossil-excavated654/

Since much about the early phase of the world is still much unknown, or at least mysterious, many are drawn to that particular era. Who wouldn’t be, what with the exotic sea creatures and land creatures that lived in those times and would eventually become extinct or evolve to the animals of today?

elasmosaur fossil identified by curator of earth sciences at university of alaska

There are thousands of museums across the world featuring exhibits of these ancient creatures. One of those exhibits is in the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North’s Dinosaur exhibit.

With this exhibit already up, it is appropriate that one of the museum’s own, the curator of the Earth Sciences, helped identify a fossil in the mountains that would become Alaska’s first elasmosaur fossil. That person is Dr. Pat Druckenmiller, a vertebrate paleontologist, who also helped in providing things for the dinosaur exhibit, i.e. he helped to excavate some of the fossils.

The discovery of Alaska’s first elasmosaur fossil

The fossil discovered was of an Elasmosaurus, a sea creature from the same family as the plesiosaur. The news of the find was announced by the University of Alaska in a press release, on the 22nd of this month.

The fossil was found in the Talkeetna Mountain area by a several people, one of which included Anchorage based fossil collector, Curvin Metzler. After the initial find, Dr. Druckenmiller was contacted and invited to area in order to examine the fossil, which he then identified as what it was. The piece he examined was sticking out of the 60 foot cliff, and he found it was part of the neck area. So further excavation went underway to see what else could be recovered. From what was uncovered, the length of Alaska’s first elasmosaur was estimated to be about twenty-five feet long. But there is still more to uncover as of yet.

fossil can help us learn more about the time period

By finding Alaska’s first elasmosaur, more studies can be done about the creature and tell us more about life in those olden days in the Alaskan region. As of yet, three of these types of sea creatures have been found in Alaska, and the elasmosaur is just one of those in the family tree.

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Alaska"s First Elasmosaur Fossil Excavated

Fossil Mystery: The Snake That Could Walk - http://clapway.com/2015/07/24/fossil-mystery-the-snake-that-could-walk468/

Snakes Today as We Know them

Today, we are surrounded by thousands of different species, and several new ones that are discovered every other day but take a while to get classified and released officially. At the moment, there are more than 3,000 species of snake, some venomous and some not.

However, what you don’t expect to make the list, even among snakes that can swim, fly, etc., is the snake that could walk.

Oh yes, on the 16th of June this year, an article was accepted for publication in the Science journal detailing the fossil that was found in Brazil. The fossil was dated to be from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil.

The Find and the science world’s Reactions

You have to wonder when you find something like this if you are not really mistaken—maybe it could be a really long lizard. But, upon further examination, it was discovered that the remains are more serpentine the movement and body type than before. This finding suggests that snakes would have evolved not from marine creatures, but rather from burrowing ones.

A follow-up article was written with this discovery yesterday in Science mag as well. There, the writing goes into a bit more detail about the find, and how well-preserved it was for an early fossil.

However, what’s garnering attention isn’t the scientific research that’s been done thus far. No, instead it’s the past of the fossil that’s pulling in readers.

The Mysterious Circumstances of the Snake that could walk

According to the data provided by the team, the fossil came from northeastern Brazil, However, the question of when the fossil was unearthed is a pressing one, as well as how it ended up in the German museum today. Concerns such as this are important to get some sort of closure on, as in Brazil, it’s been illegal to export fossils since the forties.

However not all are concerned with the illegality of the situation. One of the authors remarked in the article that the discovery was more important, and other concerns not relevant to the study were immaterial.

So, we’ll just have to see what news the snake that could walk brings us, but also whether or not the past of its fossil is resolved.

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Fossil Mystery: The Snake That Could Walk

This spiky fossil isn"t spiky without reason. - http://clapway.com/2015/06/30/scary-spiky-fossil-discovered-in-china-is-new-species-collinsium-ciliosum-234/

A scary, spiky fossil of Collinsium ciliosum has been discovered by paleontologists in China. The now-extinct half-a-billion year old bizarre creature is believed to be one of the first animals to have developed armor for self-defense.

Spiky Fossil Found in China Reveals New Species Collinsium ciliosum

Collinsium ciliosum is the newest species of armored worms after researchers discovered the half-a-billion year old spiky fossil in southern China. The bizarre creature was almost entirely covered in spikes and is believed to be one of the first animals to evolve such heavy armor for self-defense against predators.

The study also showed that the creepy, spike-covered creature had developed an intriguing digestive system. Using its feather-like front legs, the ancient, sedentary worm filtered seawater to absorb nutrition. This specialized feeding system was also first of its kind according to the paleontologists.

Researchers from Cambridge University and Yunnan University made the discovery in the Xiaoshiba deposit in southern China. The study was published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Spiky Fossil is Hallucigenia’s Scarier Monster Cousin on Steroids

The Collinsium ciliosum fossil found is around 500-million-years old, but it’s not the first discovery of the creature. In the 1980s, paleontologist Desmond Collins discovered and illustrated a similar fossil. Paying homage to Collins’ discovery, the researchers also call the creature the Hairy Collins’ Monster.

According to the study, the spiky, super-armored worm roamed during the Cambrian explosion, a time period that witnessed the birth of many major animals.

The Collins’ Monster is perhaps the earliest ancestor of modern velvet worms that presently reside in tropical forests all over the world. The researchers noted that the Cambrian ancestors have a much wider diversity than today’s velvet worms. Though observed in other fossils, this particular evolution pattern–diverse ancestors that led to unvaried descendants–was the first ever seen in soft-bodied animals.

Interestingly, somewhere in the line of descendants is Hallucigenia, another Cambrian worm that has been well-studied and has recently made headlines.

Both are lobopodians (legged worms), but researchers have said the Monster was “like Hallucigenia on steroids” with its heavier armor of five spines per leg. Hallucigenia had a measly 2 spines in comparison. Also, the Collins’ Monster had most likely adapted the heavy armor as a result of its sedentary lifestyle due to its specialized filter feeding system.

So what did the super scary, spiky monster look like?

Dr Javier Ortega-Hernández of Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences and his colleagues painted quite a remarkable picture from the well-preserved fossil. The fossil is so detailed, the researchers could identify the entire body’s organization, from its sharp spikes to the hair-like filtering structures on its legs.

Picture this: a soft, squishy body with six pairs of feather-like legs in the front and nine pairs of clawed legs at the back. Because this small creature was sedentary, it was only out of necessity that the 72 sharp spikes evolved. With the pointed prongs covering its entire body, it became the earliest soft-bodied adopters of armor as a self-defense mechanism.

Though the scary creature had adapted self-defense, it did not survive long enough to have any direct descendants left today.

As Ortega-Hernandez noted, these fossils are not only sparse, but to find one in such great condition was a truly rare and amazing find. The spiky fossil may seem like it has come out of a nightmare, but it’s a dream come true for paleontologists interested in understanding more about evolutionary patterns.

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Scary, Spiky Fossil Discovered in China is New Species Collinsium Ciliosum