svp abstracts of interest or bombast 2024: U–Z

It is abstract season.
Here are the last of selected sentences from selected abstracts from SVP 2024.

Figure 2. A selection of cetotheres, including Maiabalaena, to scale. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 2. A selection of cetotheres, including Maiabalaena, to scale.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Cetotheres_to_scale588.jpg?w=104″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Cetotheres_to_scale588.jpg?w=356″ class=”size-full wp-image-34715″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Cetotheres_to_scale588.jpg” alt=”Figure 2. A selection of cetotheres, including Maiabalaena, to scale.” width=”584″ height=”1678″ />

Figure 1. A selection of cetotheres, including Maiabalaena, to scale.

Uhen MD et al: A new basal chaeomysticete from the Early Oligocene of Washington State.
“A new specimen of a stem mysticete… The dorsal, posterior, and lateral presentations of the skull express some features similar to Sitsqwayk, while others are more similar to Maiabalaena (Fig 1). Cetaceans from this clade are all large for the time they are known from, with skulls around 1 meter or more in length, with broad and flat rostra that lack teeth.”

In the LRT these taxa are small derived = not basal members of the rorqual clade.
[Chaeomysticeti = toothless mysticetes].

“This juxtaposition emphasizes that both toothed mysticetes and toothless mysticetes
coexisted throughout the entire Oligocene and that there was significant diversity of
feeding ecologies over this time and niche differentiation of chaeomysticetes from
aetiocetids within the same habitat.”

The aetiocete origin of mystictes is an academic tradition and myth invalidated by adding taxa. See the LRT for the taxon list. The charade is over.

Figure 1. Skulls of Dactylopsila, Yalkaparidon, Groeberia, Adalatherium and Vintana to scale. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Skulls of Dactylopsila, Yalkaparidon, Groeberia, Adalatherium and Vintana to scale.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/dactylopsila.adalatherium.skull588-1.jpg?w=199″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/dactylopsila.adalatherium.skull588-1.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-88848″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/dactylopsila.adalatherium.skull588-1.jpg” alt=”Figure 1. Skulls of Dactylopsila, Yalkaparidon, Groeberia, Adalatherium and Vintana to scale.” width=”584″ height=”880″ />

Figure 2. Skulls of Dactylopsila, Yalkaparidon, Groeberia, Adalatherium and Vintana to scale.

Weaver LN: First glimpse into the life history of a Gondwanatherian mammal: The femoral
histology of Adalatherium hui.
“Our understanding of Gondwanatheria, a group of allotherian mammals from the Late
Cretaceous–Paleogene of the Southern Hemisphere, has grown substantially in the
past decade.”

‘Grown substantially,’ but not enough. In the LRT ‘gondwanatheres’ like Adalatherium (Fig 2) are all marsupials derived from extant, but ancient Dactylopsila (Fig 2). Adding taxa to analyses sheds light on the ongoing myth of ‘allotherian mammals.’

Figure 1. Tanytrachelos hopping to match Gwyneddichnium tracks (see figure 2). ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Tanytrachelos hopping to match Gwyneddichnium tracks (see figure 2).

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/gwyneddichnium-animation588.gif?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/gwyneddichnium-animation588.gif?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-29918″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/gwyneddichnium-animation588.gif” alt=”Figure 1. Tanytrachelos hopping to match Gwyneddichnium tracks (see figure 2).” width=”584″ height=”368″ />

Figure 3. Tanytrachelos hopping to match Gwyneddichnium tracks (see figure 2).

Workman GM and Pritchard AC: Assessing anatomy, dimorphism, and possible biological implications of postcloacal heterotopic bones in Tanytrachelos ahynis (Archosauromorpha, Tanystropheidae)’
“Tanytrachelos ahynis is a small archosauromorph known from hundreds of specimens from the Upper Triassic of Virginia.”

In the LRT Tanytrachelos (Fig 3) nests with Tanystropheus, Langobardisaurus and kin derived from the lepidosaur Huehuecuetzpalli and basal to pterosaurs.

“These are known from many articulated skeletons, roughly half of which preserve large heterotopic ossifications posterior to the pelvic girdle. Heterotopic bones occur in both mature and juvenile individuals. Similar heterotopic bones occur in the tanystropheid genus Tanystropheus.”

“large heterotopic ossifications” = extra large chevrons.

“Individuals with heterotopic ossifications had proportionally longer trunks than those without, and the proportional differences were statistically significant.”

This study did not acknowledge the reduction of caudofemoral muscles in tanystropheids and the increase in pubic muscles emphasized by the development of the prepubis in Cosesaurus and other small related bipedal taxa.

Tanystropheus underwater among tall crinoids and small squids. ” data-image-caption=”

Figure 1. Tanystropheus in a vertical strike elevating the neck and raising its blood pressure in order to keep circulation around its brain and another system to keep blood from pooling in its hind limb and tail.

” data-medium-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/tanystropheus-crinoid.jpg?w=204″ data-large-file=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/tanystropheus-crinoid.jpg?w=584″ class=”size-full wp-image-6784″ src=”https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/tanystropheus-crinoid.jpg” alt=”Tanystropheus underwater among tall crinoids and small squids.” width=”584″ height=”858″ />

Figure 4. Tanystropheus in a vertical strike elevating the neck and raising its blood pressure in order to keep circulation around its brain and another system to keep blood from pooling in its hind limb and tail.

Extra large chevrons were transitional structures, shifting ventral muscles of adduction anteriorly. Adducting the femora simultaneously enabled hopping, a new mode of locomotion supported by Gwyneddichnium, tracks matching Tanytrachelos: (Fig 3) and setting the stage for pterosaur take-off bipedally.

And extra large chevrons were also resting bones, for sitting bipedally.
See Tanystropheus (Fig 4).