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PLoS ONE: The Paleontology Collection

This collection represents those articles published in PLoS ONE on the general topic of paleontology (the study of fossils and of life forms that existed in past geological periods). The discipline is very broad, overlapping with both biology and geology, and the findings reported in these articles span several geological eras and further our understanding of organisms from multiple phyla. Articles are presented in order of publication date and new articles will be added to the Paleontology Collection as they are published. We welcome submissions in this field.

Image Credit: Mark P. Witton (see Witton and Naish, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002271)

Research Articles Top

Cranial Anatomy of the Earliest Marsupials and the Origin of Opossums

Inés Horovitz, Thomas Martin, Jonathan Bloch, Sandrine Ladevèze, Cornelia Kurz, Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra

PLoS ONE:
Published 16 Dec 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008278

Quantifying the Extent of North American Mammal Extinction Relative to the Pre-Anthropogenic Baseline

Marc A. Carrasco, Anthony D. Barnosky, Russell W. Graham

PLoS ONE:
Published 16 Dec 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008331

Extreme Cranial Ontogeny in the Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus

John R. Horner, Mark B. Goodwin

PLoS ONE:
Published 27 Oct 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007626

Was Dinosaurian Physiology Inherited by Birds? Reconciling Slow Growth in Archaeopteryx

Gregory M. Erickson, Oliver W. M. Rauhut, Zhonghe Zhou, Alan H. Turner, Brian D. Inouye, Dongyu Hu, Mark A. Norell

PLoS ONE:
Published 09 Oct 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007390

Dynamic Locomotor Capabilities Revealed by Early Dinosaur Trackmakers from Southern Africa

Jeffrey A. Wilson, Claudia A. Marsicano, Roger M. H. Smith

PLoS ONE:
Published 06 Oct 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007331

Dragon's Paradise Lost: Palaeobiogeography, Evolution and Extinction of the Largest-Ever Terrestrial Lizards (Varanidae)

Scott A. Hocknull, Philip J. Piper, Gert D. van den Bergh, Rokus Awe Due, Michael J. Morwood, Iwan Kurniawan

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Sep 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007241

The Origin and Initial Rise of Pelagic Cephalopods in the Ordovician

Björn Kröger, Thomas Servais, Yunbai Zhang

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Sep 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007262

Common Avian Infection Plagued the Tyrant Dinosaurs

Ewan D. S. Wolff, Steven W. Salisbury, John R. Horner, David J. Varricchio

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Sep 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007288

A Mammalian Lost World in Southwest Europe during the Late Pliocene

Alfonso Arribas, Guiomar Garrido, César Viseras, Jesús M. Soria, Sila Pla, José G. Solano, Miguel Garcés, Elisabet Beamud, José S. Carrión

PLoS ONE:
Published 23 Sep 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007127

A New Basal Sauropod Dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Niger and the Early Evolution of Sauropoda

Kristian Remes, Francisco Ortega, Ignacio Fierro, Ulrich Joger, Ralf Kosma, José Manuel Marín Ferrer, Oumarou Amadou Ide, Abdoulaye Maga

PLoS ONE:
Published 16 Sep 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006924

Estimating Impact Forces of Tail Club Strikes by Ankylosaurid Dinosaurs

Victoria Megan Arbour

PLoS ONE:
Published 25 Aug 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006738

Possible Brucellosis in an Early Hominin Skeleton from Sterkfontein, South Africa

Ruggero D'Anastasio, Bernhard Zipfel, Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi, Roscoe Stanyon, Luigi Capasso

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Jul 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006439

New Mid-Cretaceous (Latest Albian) Dinosaurs from Winton, Queensland, Australia

Scott A. Hocknull, Matt A. White, Travis R. Tischler, Alex G. Cook, Naomi D. Calleja, Trish Sloan, David A. Elliott

PLoS ONE:
Published 03 Jul 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006190

The Emergence of Predators in Early Life: There was No Garden of Eden

Silvester de Nooijer, Barbara R. Holland, David Penny

PLoS ONE:
Published 03 Jun 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005507

Effects of Global Warming on Ancient Mammalian Communities and Their Environments

Larisa R. G. DeSantis, Robert S. Feranec, Bruce J. MacFadden

PLoS ONE:
Published 03 Jun 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005750

Paleogenomics in a Temperate Environment: Shotgun Sequencing from an Extinct Mediterranean Caprine

Oscar Ramírez, Elena Gigli, Pere Bover, Josep Antoni Alcover, Jaume Bertranpetit, Jose Castresana, Carles Lalueza-Fox

PLoS ONE:
Published 22 May 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005670

Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology

Jens L. Franzen, Philip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer, Jørn H. Hurum, Wighart von Koenigswald, B. Holly Smith

PLoS ONE:
Published 19 May 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005723

Formal Correction:

Correction to Competing Interests (More...)
Addition of Nomenclature Information (More...)

Scaling of Soaring Seabirds and Implications for Flight Abilities of Giant Pterosaurs

Katsufumi Sato, Kentaro Q. Sakamoto, Yutaka Watanuki, Akinori Takahashi, Nobuhiro Katsumata, Charles-André Bost, Henri Weimerskirch

PLoS ONE:
Published 29 Apr 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0005400

Bird-Like Anatomy, Posture, and Behavior Revealed by an Early Jurassic Theropod Dinosaur Resting Trace

Andrew R. C. Milner, Jerald D. Harris, Martin G. Lockley, James I. Kirkland, Neffra A. Matthews

PLoS ONE:
Published 04 Mar 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004591

Estimating Mass Properties of Dinosaurs Using Laser Imaging and 3D Computer Modelling

Karl T. Bates, Phillip L. Manning, David Hodgetts, William I. Sellers

PLoS ONE:
Published 19 Feb 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004532

Respiratory Evolution Facilitated the Origin of Pterosaur Flight and Aerial Gigantism

Leon P. A. M. Claessens, Patrick M. O'Connor, David M. Unwin

PLoS ONE:
Published 18 Feb 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004497

A Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Ischigualasto Formation (Triassic, Carnian) and the Early Evolution of Sauropodomorpha

Ricardo N. Martinez, Oscar A. Alcober

PLoS ONE:
Published 16 Feb 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004397

Climate Change and Trophic Response of the Antarctic Bottom Fauna

Richard B. Aronson, Ryan M. Moody, Linda C. Ivany, Daniel B. Blake, John E. Werner, Alexander Glass

PLoS ONE:
Published 05 Feb 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004385

New Protocetid Whale from the Middle Eocene of Pakistan: Birth on Land, Precocial Development, and Sexual Dimorphism

Philip D. Gingerich, Munir ul-Haq, Wighart von Koenigswald, William J. Sanders, B. Holly Smith, Iyad S. Zalmout

PLoS ONE:
Published 04 Feb 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004366

Evidence of Combat in Triceratops

Andrew A. Farke, Ewan D. S. Wolff, Darren H. Tanke

PLoS ONE:
Published 28 Jan 2009 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004252

Long-Term Cycles in the History of Life: Periodic Biodiversity in the Paleobiology Database

Adrian L. Melott

PLoS ONE:
Published 24 Dec 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004044

Global Taxonomic Diversity of Anomodonts (Tetrapoda, Therapsida) and the Terrestrial Rock Record Across the Permian-Triassic Boundary

Jörg Fröbisch

PLoS ONE:
Published 17 Nov 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003733

Mosaic Convergence of Rodent Dentitions

Vincent Lazzari, Cyril Charles, Paul Tafforeau, Monique Vianey-Liaud, Jean-Pierre Aguilar, Jean-Jacques Jaeger, Jacques Michaux, Laurent Viriot

PLoS ONE:
Published 31 Oct 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003607

New Insight into the Colonization Processes of Common Voles: Inferences from Molecular and Fossil Evidence

Christelle Tougard, Elodie Renvoisé, Amélie Petitjean, Jean-Pierre Quéré

PLoS ONE:
Published 29 Oct 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003532

The Evolution of HoxD-11 Expression in the Bird Wing: Insights from Alligator mississippiensis

Alexander O. Vargas, Tiana Kohlsdorf, John F. Fallon, John VandenBrooks, Günter P. Wagner

PLoS ONE:
Published 03 Oct 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003325

Evidence for Avian Intrathoracic Air Sacs in a New Predatory Dinosaur from Argentina

Paul C. Sereno, Ricardo N. Martinez, Jeffrey A. Wilson, David J. Varricchio, Oscar A. Alcober, Hans C. E. Larsson

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Sep 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003303

Light-Dependant Biostabilisation of Sediments by Stromatolite Assemblages

David M. Paterson, Rebecca J. Aspden, Pieter T. Visscher, Mireille Consalvey, Miriam S. Andres, Alan W. Decho, John Stolz, R. Pamela Reid

PLoS ONE:
Published 10 Sep 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0003176

Lower Miocene Stratigraphy along the Panama Canal and Its Bearing on the Central American Peninsula

Michael Xavier Kirby, Douglas S. Jones, Bruce J. MacFadden

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Jul 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002791

Evolution of Skull and Mandible Shape in Cats (Carnivora: Felidae)

Per Christiansen

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Jul 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002807

Dinosaurian Soft Tissues Interpreted as Bacterial Biofilms

Thomas G. Kaye, Gary Gaugler, Zbigniew Sawlowicz

PLoS ONE:
Published 30 Jul 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002808

A Reappraisal of Azhdarchid Pterosaur Functional Morphology and Paleoecology

Mark P. Witton, Darren Naish

PLoS ONE:
Published 28 May 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002271

First Dinosaur Tracks from the Arabian Peninsula

Anne S. Schulp, Mohammed Al-Wosabi, Nancy J. Stevens

PLoS ONE:
Published 21 May 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002243

Timing and Tempo of Early and Successive Adaptive Radiations in Macaronesia

Seung-Chul Kim, Michael R. McGowen, Pesach Lubinsky, Janet C. Barber, Mark E. Mort, Arnoldo Santos-Guerra

PLoS ONE:
Published 14 May 2008 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002139

Formal Correction:

Correction to Table 1 (More...)

Impedance-Matching Hearing in Paleozoic Reptiles: Evidence of Advanced Sensory Perception at an Early Stage of Amniote Evolution

Johannes Müller, Linda A. Tsuji

PLoS ONE:
Published 12 Sep 2007 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000889

Insights from Amphioxus into the Evolution of Vertebrate Cartilage

Daniel Meulemans, Marianne Bronner-Fraser

PLoS ONE:
Published 29 Aug 2007 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000787

Considering the Case for Biodiversity Cycles: Re-Examining the Evidence for Periodicity in the Fossil Record

Bruce S. Lieberman, Adrian L. Melott

PLoS ONE:
Published 22 Aug 2007 | info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000759