Ok, so I'm a bit bored at work at the moment and may put up a few blogs today.
The first is a subject close to my heart, reptiles. In particular archaeic reptiles. There has been some controversy about when reptiles started wandering around, previous to the current work the oldest fossil was dated to 315 MYA. Molecular work suggests that around that time the Testudines (turtles) split from the reptilian lineage. And that's separate from the anapsid:diapsid split issue. Sphenodontidae were also about to start their big diversification (heh heh- not so much), so the 315 MYA date has been largely ignored in evolutionary discussions. Even the main morphology players don't use it much (Lee, Benton et al). So the recent finding of rocks 1 - 3 MY older pushes the date back. It may not seem like much, but it supports earlier dates and the authors acknowledge that this era is poorly studied.
More support for the molecular side.
Nature summary here.
Article here.
Love, Sergeant Sphen
3 comments:
Is it only me who reads to word "testudines" and feels an almost impossible urge to snort and snicker ala Bevis and Butthead, and go "heh, heh, he said 'testudines,' heh heh heh."
pah, trying to type while eating. that first line should read "reads the word" not "read to word."
it's not just you, writing the thesis was a barrel of laughs for that very reason.
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