Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week

UPDATE: Oops, I’m a moron. I wrote this post at work (on my lunch hour!) and didn’t realize that I had free access to the Wiley stuff because I was at work. I can’t get them from home either. But as a public service to disappointed readers, I will send PDFs of the three Wiley articles to anyone who e-mails me: mathew.wedel@gmail.com (spam bots can suck on Google’s filters, which are teh awesome).

Apologies to Jerry for the title (you DMLers know what I’m talking about). In case no one has drawn your attention to it, the rate of arrival of hot new SV-POW!-revelant papers has gone near-exponential lately. Here’s a short hit list, all a few of which are currently free downloads!

First, three hotties from the all-open-access, all-the-time PLoS ONE:

• Claessens, L. P. A. M., O’Connor, P. M. & Unwin, D. M. 2009. Respiratory evolution facilitated the origin of pterosaur flight and aerial gigantism. PLoS ONE 4 (2): e4497. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004497. This one is about pterosaurs, but it is also about pneumaticity and air sacs. The case for a bird-like air sac system in the ancestral ornithodiran is getting stronger…
• Martinez, R. N. & Alcober, O. A. 2009. A basal sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Ischigualasto Formation (Triassic, Carnian) and the early evolution of Sauropodomorpha. PLoS ONE 4 (2): e4397. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004397. Explore the humble roots of sauroponderous vertebrawesome with Panphagia, a new basalmost sauropodomorph from Argentina.
• Bates, K.T., Manning, P.L., Hodgetts, D., Sellers, W.I. 2009. Estimating mass properties of dinosaurs using laser imaging and 3D computer modelling. PLoS ONE 4(2): e4532. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004532. We haven’t talked enough about mass estimates here (yet), and this paper unfortunately only features stinkin’ theropods and a stinkin’ ornithischian, but I’m sure it will be discussed here a lot in the future. A little bird told me…and by “little bird” I mean “huge bird-lunged sauropod”.

As long as you’re over at PLoS ONE, you might as well read up on fighting ceratopsians and pregnant land whales (be careful how you use that last phrase, too–we don’t want to lose any readers to domestic violence).

Next, two important recent papers from the Journal of Experimental Zoology (other than my own). These are free right now but who knows for how long, so download them pronto before they go behind a paywall to anyone who e-mails me for them.

• Claessens, L.P.A.M. 2008. The skeletal kinematics of lung ventilation in three basal bird taxa (emu, tinamou, and guinea fowl). Journal of Experimental Zoology 309A. Leon has been busy. This paper is all stinkin’ theropods of the stinkin’ present (i.e., birds), but it is the new state of the art for understanding how birds breathe, and therefore worthy of mention in these hallowed electronic halls. If we ever figure out the actual mechanics of sauropod breathing, it will be because of work like this.
• Perry, S.F., Christian, A., Breuer, T., Pajor, N., Codd, J.R. 2009. Implications of an avian-style respiratory system for gigantism in sauropod dinosaurs. Journal of  Experimental Zoology 311A. Everyone’s favorite topic (or mine, anyway): sauropod air sacs. Includes some new physiological calculations and some novel ideas on the link between air sacs and giant body size in sauropods.

Continuing with another sauropod paper from Germany, this time in the journal of the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin. This one is also currently free but may not be forever. Don’t tarry. You know the drill.

• Remes, K. 2009. Taxonomy of Late Jurassic diplodocid sauropods from Tendaguru (Tanzania). Fossil Record 12(1):23-46. A very useful rundown of Tendaguru diplodocid material, including Tornieria africana (formerly “Barosaurus” africanus), Australodocus bohetti, and some bits that might belong to either or neither.

Finally, the redescription of Euhelopus by Jeff Wilson and Paul Upchurch is in press, and hopefully we will have a URL to add here soon (and hopefull it will also be free, at least for a while).

At least some segments of the music industry are getting used to the idea that file-sharing can be piracy, but it can also be free distribution and publicity. The new trend of corporate journals offering free downloads on current articles makes me wonder if they’re starting to think the same way [or not]. I’m reminded of John Gilmore’s famous line, “The net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” [like me] Authors are going to keep e-mailing PDFs to all of their friends and colleagues anyway; why not go with the flow? If everyone else’s stuff is being traded and read (and cited!) while yours is sitting behind a paywall, you lose; the “you” applies to both authors and publishers [unless some idiot volunteers to send your stuff around, in which case you only lose if you are the publisher]. End of rant.

Enjoy the new goods!

Here’s the mandated sauropod vert picture, which I believe has not appeared on this site before. I stole it from Darren as a gift to Mike–the poor widdle fing.