Bunestegos- Pangean Loner

New fossils from northern Niger in Africa have been described in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.The distinctive creature belongs to a new genus of pareiasaur - plant-eating creatures that flourished during the Permian period.The cow-sized specimen has been named Bunostegos, which means "knobby roof".During Permian times, the Earth was dominated by a single supercontinent called Pangaea.Animal and plant life dispersed broadly across the land, as documented by identical fossil species found on multiple modern continents.But the new research by an international team supports the idea that there was an isolated desert in the middle of Pangaea with distinctive animals. Most pareiasaurs had bony knobs on their skulls, but Bunostegos sported the largest, most bulbous ones ever seen in this group, which were common in the Middle and Late Permian, about 266-252 million years ago. Experts are unsure for the about the use of these knobs in pareiasaurs "The most probable use was for inter-specific (between species) or intra-specific (within species) recognition.". The finds support the theory that central pangea was climatically isolated. This means it's creatures would have been very different to the other animals on the coastal fringes of Pangea. Bunostegos would have been one of a kind, like no other creature on earth at the time. Scientists are yet to explore much of the remnants of central Pangea for fossils. Meaning further Permian 'oddities' may be yet to be discovered.

'The Lizard King' Late Doors Frontman Jim Morrison has Fossil lizard name after him: Barbaturex Morrisoni

It seems the late frontman of the Doors has taken a leap back in time from the music stage to the Eocene stage 34-40 million years ago. This latest discovery Barbaturex Morrisoni hails from south east Asia, and is a large herbivorous lizard. Coming in at 6ft long and weighing 27.7 kg, Barbaturex may not be the largest lizard of all time, nor the lizard king. But this behemoth comes close. It seems the unusually high temperatures of the Eocene led to the creature's immense size. Infact it is the largest herbivorous lizard ever found, and was so well adapted that it successfully competed with mammals for 4 million years! Despite the creatures immense size (for a lizard) it was 'most likely preyed on by mammalian predators' according to Dr head, the scientist responsible for this unique discovery. Dr head explains his inspiration for the name of Morrisoni: "I was listening to The Doors quite a bit during the research," Head said. "Some of their musical imagery includes reptiles and ancient places, and Jim Morrison was of course 'The Lizard King', so it all kind of came together." This discovery is important for many reasons as Dr head explains. "Their existence seems to have depended on the climate being right to support large-bodied herbivorous creatures.Climate probably has a bigger influence on the evolution of plant-eating reptiles than we realised. It seems to be a more important factor than competition with other herbivorous mammals." And apparently also offers an insight into the future of earth's lizards 'Giant lizards could once again evolve' explains Dr Head 'but only if conditions are hot enough'. Looking at the way the Earth is going it seems as though this notion could become reality in the near future. But future animals is another topic, for another day. But it's good to know that the spirit of Jim Morrison 'the lizard king' lives on (or lived on)in our prehistoric past. Rock on Barbaturex!

Auf Widersehen Archaeopteryx, Nǐ hǎo Aurornis xui!

Birds have for a long time been recognized a group of Theropod Dinosaur descendants. The most famous of these 'Dino-Birds' is Archaeopteryx. Archaeopteryx has often been accepted by pop culture as the first bird dating to around 150 million years ago. Fossils of Archaeopteryx have been found at Solnhofen in Germany exquisitely preserved in the sandstone found there. But it looks like the earlier bird is about to get the worm. Scientists this week announced the discovery of a new Dino bird species Aurornis xui. Found in the Jurassic rocks of Liaoning province, China. Scientists bought the specimen form a local fossil dealer who presumed it was another fossil he could sell on the market. At first scientists questioned how genuine the specimen was, but researchers working on the piece claim that it is very unlikely to be a forgery. Aurornis is described as being about the size of a pheasant with limbs similar to Archaeopteryx. But unlike Archaeopteryx it completely lacked any larger feathers and possessed short, downy feathers suggesting that it couldn't fly. Aurornis seems to be further down the bird lineage than Archaeopteryx and pre dates it by 15-10 million years. It is likely Aurornis climbed trees or ran very quickly along the ground. Aurornis xui means Xui's dawn beat. Referring to how the new species is thought to be the oldest bird fossil found. But claiming this title is far from easy. As with any prehistoric species we can be sure that it is the first of it's kind. Palaeontologist Paul Barret states "The new species is certainly an older member of the bird lineage than Archaeopteryx, and it's fair to call it a very primitive bird. But what you call a bird comes down to what you call a bird, and a lot of definitions depend on Archaeopteryx,"."This emphasises how grey the dividing line is between birds and dinosaurs. There's such a gradation in features between them that it's very difficult to tell them apart. It only takes relatively small changes in our knowledge of these to flip around some of the evolutionary relationships between them," So the relationship between Aurornis, Archaeopteryx and their Dinosaurian ancestors is very complicated and is subject to the latest discoveries. But it seems our feathered friends have been around for longer than we have previously thought.