The Biology, Agriculture, and Paleontology thread

Alternate theory of inhabitation of North America disproved: "There has long been a debate among scholars about the origins of the first inhabitants of North America. The most widely accepted theory is that sometime before 14,000 years ago, humans migrated from Siberia to Alaska by means of a 'land bridge' that spanned the Bering Strait. However, in the 1990s, a small but vocal group of researchers proposed that North America was first settled by Upper Paleolithic people from Europe, who moved from east to west through Greenland via a glacial 'ice bridge.' Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, working with colleagues the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and elsewhere, have definitively disproved the ice bridge theory."

Jurassic maniraptor theropod found with membranous wings.

The proper answer is "What the fuck Scansoropterygids". Seriously, those critters are odd as fuck and never cease to confuse everybody.

My beloved raptors have been ruined forever for me! TT_TT Seriously, Jurassic Park raptors with wings?! HERESY!

All I can say to that thing is WTF

Beat me to it (Isn't paleontology awesome?), but anyway.

Rare whale fossil found in Panama clarifies evolution of sperm whale: "Almost since the time of Melville's epic hunt, scientists have been fascinated by the remarkable attributes of the sperm whale and its kin, the smaller pigmy and dwarf whales. Capable of diving to great depths and gifted with an acute sense of echolocation, these animals have remained inseparable from maritime lore. Scientists have now discovered a new species of an extinct pigmy sperm whale from Panama that clarifies key aspects of the evolution of the sperm whale."

Ancient megadrought entombed dodos in poisonous fecal cocktail: "Nine hundred kilometers off the east coast of Madagascar lies the tiny island paradise of Mauritius. The waters are pristine, the beaches bright white, and the average temperature hovers between 22°C and 28°C (72°F to 82°F) year-round. But conditions there may not have always been so idyllic. A new study suggests that about 4000 years ago, a prolonged drought on the island left many of the native species, such as dodo birds and giant tortoises, dead in a soup of poisonous algae and their own feces."

What a way a go.

edited 29th Apr '15 4:14:22 PM by rmctagg09

I think I'd take a pyroclastic flow to the face, rather. -_-

Uggh, I hate trees that don't show the nodes as clearly as they could...

Anyway, that thing is not a "raptor" per se; dromaeosaurs had Archaeopteryx-like wings, with a surface made out of pennaceous feathers supported by the ulna and the second finger (they MAY have degenerated, but we have quite noticeable quill knobs in Velociraptor itself, and the aerodynamic features of a wing could come handy for slow running but very agile predators).

And the thing with Scansors is that we do not quite know where they fit. With this, we have 4 specimens, they are all odd as fuck, and they keep changing position in different analysis. They may be basal Oviraptorosaurs, they may be basal to the group made out of dromies and birds, or they may be one step closer to birds than the Archaeopteryx-grade.

Also, these animals lived in the same time and area as the most ancient known Paravians, which are Archaeopteryx-like creatures we do not have consensus about them being closer to dromies, Archaeopteryx, or modern birds (tends to happen when you work with animals so similar to the infered ancestral condition of a particular group). So far, it may seem membranes ended up not making it past the evolutive novelty stage.

Unless some feature of the membrane e.g. helped further modify feather design to allow better flight enabled pinions down the line. Sure, lose the bulk of it; but keep a little. Evolution: not one to say no to an interesting bit of keretin, however it happened upon it.

I vomited. That needs to be mentioned in Cruel and Unusual Death.

You and me both. It would at least have the advantage of being quick.

At least a pyroclastic flow kills instantly.

Not much size difference between male and female Australopithecines: "Lucy and other members of the early hominid species Australopithecus afarensis probably were similar to humans in the size difference between males and females, according to new research."

DNA suggests all early eskimos migrated from Alaska's North Slope: "Genetic testing of Iñupiat people currently living in Alaska's North Slope is helping Northwestern University scientists fill in the blanks on questions about the migration patterns and ancestral pool of the people who populated the North American Arctic over the last 5,000 years.

'This is the first evidence that genetically ties all of the Iñupiat and Inuit populations from Alaska, Canada and Greenland back to the Alaskan North Slope,' said Northwestern's M. Geoffrey Hayes, senior author of the new study to be published April 29, 2015, in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

In this study, all mitochondrial DNA haplogroups previously found in the ancient remains of Neo- and Paleo-Eskimos and living Inuit peoples from across the North American Arctic were found within the people living in North Slope villages."

Diverse sea creatures evolved to reach same swimming solution: "The ability to move one's body rapidly through water is a key to existence for many species on this blue planet of ours. The Persian carpet flatworm, the cuttlefish and the black ghost knifefish look nothing like each other - their last common ancestor lived 550 million years ago, before the Cambrian period - but a new study uses a combination of computer simulations, a robotic fish and video footage of real fish to show that all three aquatic creatures have evolved to swim with elongated fins using the same mechanical motion that optimizes their speed, helping to ensure their survival."

'Tom and Jerry syndrome' causes seizures in old cats: "Mice and rats communicate in the ultrasonic frequency range, and it’s thought that cats evolved the ability to hear those high-pitched squeaks to better hunt their prey. Now, a new study suggests that sensitivity to higher pitched sounds may cause seizures in some older cats. After receiving reports of the problem, nicknamed the 'Tom and Jerry syndrome' because of how the cartoon cat is often startled by sounds, researchers surveyed cat owners and examined their pets’ medical records, looking for insight into the types and durations of seizures and the sounds that provoked them. In 96 cats, they found evidence of the syndrome they call feline audiogenic reflex seizures. The most common types of seizure-eliciting sounds included crinkling tinfoil, clanking a metal spoon on a ceramic feeding bowl, and clinking glass."

Amazing cave-climbing catfish: "In a cave system near Tena in the Napo District of Ecuador, a species of catfish has been filmed doing something that scientists have never seen it do before – climbing walls. An international research team observed several fish moving up a near vertical flowstone waterfall, with some individuals spotted nearly three metres above the cave floor.

This makes climbing a new recorded behaviour for this species of catfish."

edited 30th Apr '15 12:17:51 AM by rmctagg09

And I had a teacher that argued Paranthropus was an example of male Australopithecus, nevermind the totally different dental structure and evidence for a different diet...

Also, Scansors are not ancestral to birds. The membrane was not a stage in avian wing evolution, no more that toe loss in ostriches influenced the pedal grip in perching birds.

How some beetles produce a scalding defensive spray: "Bombardier beetles, which exist on every continent except Antarctica, have a pretty easy life. Virtually no other animals prey on them, because of one particularly effective defense mechanism: When disturbed or attacked, the beetles produce an internal chemical explosion in their abdomen and then expel a jet of boiling, irritating liquid toward their attackers."

Keen sense of touch allows bats to fly with breathtaking precision: "Bats fly with breathtaking precision because their wings are equipped with highly sensitive touch sensors, cells that respond to even slight changes in airflow, researchers demonstrated."

Wild bearded capuchin monkeys really know how to crack a nut: "When it comes to cracking nuts, wild bearded capuchin monkeys are more skilled than anyone had given them credit for, according to researchers."

Pesticides alter bees' brains, making them unable to live and reproduce adequately: "Scientists report that a particular class of commonly used pesticides called 'neonicotinoids' wreaks havoc on the bee populations, ultimately putting some crops that rely on pollination in jeopardy."

New origin theory for cells that gave rise to vertebrates: "Zebras' vivid pigmentation and the fight or flight instinct. These and other features of the world's vertebrates stem from neural crest cells, but little is known about their origin. Scientists propose a new model for how neural crest cells, and thus vertebrates, arose more than 500 million years ago. They report that these cells retain the molecular underpinnings that control pluripotency — the ability to give rise to all the cell types that make up the body."

Dinosaur-times cockroach caught in amber, from Myanmar: "Geologica Carpathica has a paper on a new family of predatory cockroaches. Predatory? The authors, Peter Vrsansky and Günter Bechly, from the Slovak Republic and Germany, respectively, said that "unique adaptations such as strongly elongated extremities and freely movable head on a long neck suggest that these animals were pursuit predators.'

Mico Tatalovic in New Scientist said that 'This exotic, praying-mantis-like cockroach that lived at the same time as dinosaurs was caught in amber about 100 million years ago. It is part of a new family of extinct predatory cockroaches that hunted at night.'

Dragos Mitrica in ZME Science said the insect was found at a mine in Noije Bum, Myanmar. 'The specimen was one of many found in the area, and is related to today's praying mantises. Out of all the predatory cockroach lineages that evolved in the Cretaceous, only praying mantises survive today.'"

Different Monkey Species Can Understand One Another's "Languages": "We’re all pretty familiar with how, for example, an “-ing” at the end of a word means something different than an '-ed.' As it turns out, monkeys have their own versions of suffixes too. In a new Proceedings of the Royal Society B study, researchers conducting playback experiments in a tropical rainforest show that monkey listeners can tell the difference between danger calls with and without suffixes, and that they’ll alter their behavior accordingly. What’s more, even monkeys of different species seem to grasp the distinction."

How shark 'penises' evolved: "How did animals like sharks and skates evolve claspers—paired penislike organs found on male pelvic fins—like the ones seen on the male skate on the left? For years, their origin has remained an evolutionary mystery, but now, a new study suggests that regulation of the genetic circuit known as the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway by sex hormones may be the answer."

Praying Mantises evolved from cockroaches?

Not nested within modern cockroaches, but seeing roaches have a generalist bodyplan and mantis have an specialiced one, their common ancestor probably looked far more like a cockroach than like a mantis.

Termites, however, ARE cockroaches, they are deeply nested within them.

... I knew termites were more closely related to cockroaches than any other insect "family", but that close? Eeaaagh, I can't ever look at them the same way again.

There are cockroaches which are closer to termites than to other cockroaches.

And I always feel alone for liking 'roaches. Them awesome leathery-winged speedsters...

(PS: Family is a word with baggage when speaking about groups of species (it is an specific Linnean rank), I would suggest making an habit of using one more neutral, such as group. The formal one is "clade" or "taxon", but we aren't being too pedantic here after all).

edited 2nd May '15 8:26:20 AM by Eriorguez

I get the suspicion you're just conditioning yourself to accept the inevitable arrival of the era of roach hegemony over all other forms of life. You'll welcome our insect overlords, and so on.

Nah, they tend to die out without heating; the big, kitchen-dwelling ones are tropical species that have followed us since we got out of Africa, but they cannot survive without us out of their native range.

Beetles are the ones that will conquer us.

edited 2nd May '15 8:32:44 AM by Eriorguez

The Mantises await our insect "Overlords" with great anticipation.

For some strange reason, see cockroaches for why not. ;P

My money is on ants.

Most can't take the cold, but the Japanese cockroach has antifreeze in its hemolymph and can be found in ice.

edited 2nd May '15 11:53:16 AM by rmctagg09

Gigantic whales have stretchy 'bungee cord' nerves: "Biologists have discovered a unique nerve structure in the mouth and tongue of rorqual whales that can double in length and then recoil like a bungee cord. The stretchy nerves explain how the massive whales are able to balloon an immense pocket between their body wall and overlying blubber to capture prey during feeding dives."