Carnegie Paleontologist Assists in Discovery of "Missing Link" in pinniped evolution

A 2007 fossil-hunting expedition in Canada’s High Arctic led to the exciting discovery of Puijila darwini. Puijila is a transitional fossil—a missing link in the evolution of pinnipeds (the group that includes seals, sea lions and walruses). Entirely new to science, this carnivorous mammal provides insight into what pinnipeds looked like before they were adapted to hunting in the ocean.

The fossil is 24 to 20 million years old and was found in the Haughton Crater on Devon Island by a research team led by Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature and including CArnegie Museum of Natural History's Curator Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology Mary Dawson. Click here to read the press release.

Illustration: Mark A. Klingler, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

The mission of the Section of Vertebrate Paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History is to expand the scientific understanding of fossil vertebrates through original research, to collect and preserve vertebrate fossils through field exploration and curation of our fossil collection, and to participate in science education through museum exhibitions, public education, and scientific lectures.

Little croc looms large over outback town

A new exhibit featuring more fossils of the world's first modern crocodilian opened this week in Isisford, central-western Queensland. Heading up the project was former Carnegie Museum Rea Post-doctoral Fellow Steve Salisbury. Click here to read the article.

Photo: Anthony O'Toole, The University of Queensland

Oldest fossil primate from North America discovered in Mississippi

The 55.8 million year–old fossils, excavated at a site near Meridian, Mississippi, are from a previously unknown species of extinct primate named Teilhardina magnoliana. Because different species of Teilhardina once inhabited all three northern continents at roughly the same time, it has been difficult to reconstruct how these tiny primates dispersed over much of the globe at a time when global climate was changing rapidly while sea levels were also fluctuating. The discovery sheds new light on how the earliest primates migrated to North America during a major global warming event 55.8 million years ago. Click here for the CMNH Press Release.

Illustration: Mark A. Klingler/CMNH

New family of mammal really a living fossil

Laonastes aenigmamus, a rodent first described in 2005, made international headlines as the sole member of a new family of mammals. But according to a paper published by a team of international researchers led by Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist Mary Dawson, the animal is actually a surviving member of the rodent family Diatomyidae, thought to be extinct for 11 million years. Click here for the CMNH Press Release. Illustration: Mark A. Klingler/CMNH

New Fossil of the Earliest Swimming Mammal Discovered

CMNH scientists Zhe-Xi Luo and Alan Tabrum were on the research team that discovered a brand new species of swimming mammal, Castorocauda lutrasimilis, from the Jurassic lakebeds of China. The description appeared in the February 24, 2006 issue of Science, with cover art (at right) by CMNH Scientific Illustrator Mark A. Klingler. Click here for the CMNH Press Release.

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