In: Nature, 2020, vol. 588, no. 2020-7838, p. 445–449
Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight1 and comprised one of the main evolutionary radiations in terrestrial ecosystems of the Mesozoic era (approximately 252–66 million years ago), but their origin has remained an unresolved enigma in palaeontology since the nineteenth century2,3,4. These flying reptiles have been hypothesized to be the close relatives of a wide...
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020, vol. 117, no. 46, p. 28867–28875
Competition among species and entire clades can impact species diversification and extinction, which can shape macroevolutionary patterns. The fossil record shows successive biotic turnovers such that a dominant group is replaced by another. One striking example involves the decline of gymnosperms and the rapid diversification and ecological dominance of angiosperms in the Cretaceous. It is...
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In: Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 2020, vol. 100, no. 2, p. 437–455
This paper presents the first fossil fish, amphibian and reptilian fauna from Bosnia and Herzegovina Dinarides. The fauna of ectothermic vertebrates of the Bugojno palaeolake, dated to 15.2–14.0 Ma, composes of killifishes (Cyprinodontiformes indet.), a barb (Barbini indet. (aff. Barbus), a crocodile newt (Chelotriton sp.), a painted frog (Latonia sp.) and a crocodile (Alligatoroidea indet....
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In: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2020, vol. 545, p. 116390
Due to their large heat and moisture storage capabilities, the tropics are fundamental in modulating both regional and global climate. Furthermore, their thermal response during past extreme warming periods, such as super interglacials, is not fully resolved. In this regard, we present high-resolution (analytical) foraminiferal geochemical (δ18O and Mg/Ca) records for the last 1800 kyr from...
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In: PeerJ, 2020, vol. 8, p. e9330
Background: Jainemys pisdurensis comb. nov. is an extinct pleurodiran turtle from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of India, previously referred to Carteremys and Shweboemys. The holotype, an eroded skull, had been collected near the village of Pisdura, south of Nagpur, in Maharashtra State, while all referred shell material originates from coeval sediments exposed at the nearby village of...
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In: Remote Sensing, 2020, vol. 12, no. 10, p. 1563
Meltwater from the glaciers in High Mountain Asia plays a critical role in water availability and food security in central and southern Asia. However, observations of glacier ablation and accumulation rates are limited in spatial and temporal scale due to the challenges that are associated with fieldwork at the remote, high-altitude settings of these glaciers. Here, using a...
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In: Fossil Record, 2020, vol. 23, no. 1, p. 1–13
Baenidae is a clade of paracryptodiran turtles known from the late Early Cretaceous to Eocene of North America. The proposed sister-group relationship of Baenidae to Pleurosternidae, a group of turtles known from sediments dated as early as the Late Jurassic, suggests a ghost lineage that crosses the early Early Cretaceous. We here document a new species of paracryptodiran turtle, Lakotemys...
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In: Scientific Reports, 2020, vol. 10, p. 5051
Cenozoic ectothermic continental tetrapods (amphibians and reptiles) have not been documented previously from Antarctica, in contrast to all other continents. Here we report a fossil ilium and an ornamented skull bone that can be attributed to the Recent, South American, anuran family Calyptocephalellidae or helmeted frogs, representing the first modern amphibian found in Antarctica. The two bone...
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In: Pharmaceuticals, 2018, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 22
The Toll-Like Receptor 7 (TLR7) is an endosomal membrane receptor involved in the innate immune system response. Its best-known small molecule activators are imidazoquinoline derivatives such as imiquimod (R-837) and resiquimod (R-848). Recently, an interaction between R-837 and the colchicine binding site of tubulin was reported. To investigate the possibility of an interaction between...
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In: PeerJ, 2020, vol. 8, p. e8437
Marine limestones and marls in the Langenberg Quarry provide unique insights into a Late Jurassic island ecosystem in central Europe. The beds yield a varied assemblage of terrestrial vertebrates including extremely rare bones of theropod from theropod dinosaurs, which we describe here for the first time. All of the theropod bones belong to relatively small individuals but represent a wide...
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