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2022
Journal article
Middle Jurassic fossils document an early stage in salamander evolution
Salamanders are an important group of living amphibians and model organisms for understanding locomotion, development, regeneration, feeding, and toxicity in tetrapods. However, their origin and early radiation remain poorly understood, with early fossil stem-salamanders so far represented by larval or incompletely known taxa. This poor record also limits understanding of...Jones, Marc E H ; Benson, Roger B J ; Skutschas, Pavel ; Hill, Lucy ; Panciroli, Elsa …
AMPHIBIANS , PHYLOGENY , JURASSIC , SALAMANDER, and EVOLUTION
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2021
Journal article
Evolution of vision and hearing modalities in theropod dinosaurs
Owls and nightbirds are nocturnal hunters of active prey that combine visual and hearing adaptations to overcome limits on sensory performance in low light. Such sensory innovations are unknown in nonavialan theropod dinosaurs and are poorly characterizedChoiniere, Jonah N ; Neenan, James M ; Schmitz, Lars ; Ford, David P ; Chapelle, Kimberley E J …
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2021
Journal article
Postcrania of Borealestes (Mammaliformes, Docodonta) and the emergence of ecomorphological diversity in early mammals
The Middle Jurassic witnessed the early diversification of mammal groups, including the stem-mammalian clade, Docodonta. Recent discoveries in China indicate docodontans exhibited ecomorphological diversity akin to small-bodied mammals living >100 million years later, in the Cenozoic. Our understanding of the emergence of this ecological diversity is hindered by a lack...Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Fernandez, Vincent ; Humpage, Matthew ; Martín‐Serra, Alberto …
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2021
Journal article
New species of mammaliaform and the cranium of Borealestes (Mammaliformes: Docodonta) from the Middle Jurassic of the British Isles
Docodonta are one of the earliest diverging groups of mammaliaforms, and their morphology provides key information on the transition between non-mammalian cynodonts and Mammalia. We describe the partial skulls of two docodontans Borealestes serendipitus and Borealestes cuillinensis sp. nov. from the Kilmaluag Formation (Middle Jurassic: Bathonian), Isle of Skye, Scotland....Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Fernandez, Vincent ; Butler, Richard J ; Fraser, Nicholas C …
mammals, Scotland, Jurassic, Bathonian, Mesozoic, and Isle of Skye
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2020
Journal article
Diverse vertebrate assemblage of the Kilmaluag Formation (Bathonian, Middle Jurassic) of Skye, Scotland
The Kilmaluag Formation on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, provides one of the richest Mesozoic vertebrate fossil assemblages in the UK, and is among the richest globally for Middle Jurassic tetrapods. Since its discovery in 1971, this assemblage has predominantly yielded small-bodied tetrapods, including salamanders, choristoderes, lepidosaurs, turtles, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs,...Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Walsh, Stig ; Butler, Richard J ; Castro, Tiago Andrade …
palaeontology , mammaliaforms , tetrapods, salamanders , Great Estuarine Group , and squamates
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2018
Journal article
New partial dentaries of amphitheriid mammal Palaeoxonodon ooliticus from Scotland, and posterior dentary morphology in early cladotherians
We describe two partial dentaries of mammals from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland. They belong to the early cladotherian Palaeoxonodon ooliticus. These dentaries comprise the first specimen of P. ooliticus ever found—although its significance was initially unrecognised so it remained undescribed until now—and the most recently discovered specimen, found during...Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Butler, Richard J
UK, Mammalia, Scotland., Jurassic, Bathonian, Cladotheria, Kilmaluag Formation, and Palaeoxonodon ooliticus
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2017
Journal article
Comparative analysis of vestibular ecomorphology in birds
The bony labyrinth of vertebrates houses the semicircular canals. These sense rotational accelerations of the head and play an essential role in gaze stabilisation during locomotion. The sizes and shapes of the semicircular canals have hypothesised relationships to agility and locomotory modes in many groups, including birds, and a burgeoning...Benson, Roger B J ; Starmer-Jones, Ethan ; Close, Roger A ; Walsh, Stig A
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2017
Journal article
Open data and digital morphology
Over the past two decades, the development of methods for visualizing and analysing specimens digitally, in three and even four dimensions, has transformed the study of living and fossil organisms. However, the initial promise that the widespread application of such methods would facilitate access to the underlying digital data has... -
2017
Journal article
The dentary of Wareolestes rex (Megazostrodontidae): a new specimen from Scotland and implications for morganucodontan tooth replacement
The Middle Jurassic morganucodontan, Wareolestes rex, was previously known from only four isolated molars from Kirtlington, England. There has been debate over the position of the holotype tooth as an upper or lower molar. We describe a new Wareolestes specimen from the Kilmaluag Formation of Scotland: a partial left dentary...Panciroli, Elsa ; Benson, Roger B J ; Walsh, Stig A
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2016
Journal article
A lower jaw of Palaeoxonodon from the Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye, Scotland, sheds new light on the diversity of British stem therians
The Middle Jurassic was a key interval of mammalian evolutionary history that witnessed the diversification of the therian stem group. Great Britain has yielded a significant record of mammalian fossils from this interval, represented by numerous isolated jaws and teeth from the Bathonian of Oxfordshire and the Isle of Skye....Close, Roger A ; Davis, Brian M ; Walsh, Stig A ; Wolniewicz, Andrzej ; Friedman, Matt …