Triassic Literature Recap - 2008

2008 was an excellent year for new and exciting infomation on the Triassic. Some highlights included two new (and somewhat conflicting) basal turtle discoveries, several new temnospondyls, a reexamination of "dinosaur superiority", ethical controversy, and finally several important dissertations. These dissertations as well as published abstracts promise that 2009 will be just as exciting.

This is not an entirely exhaustive list, but hopefully fairly complete. It does not include all geological papers or invertebrates. It was also cross-checked with Tracy Ford's dinohunter site.

By the way...the most prolific author for Triassic VP in 2008 is...... Mike Benton with five papers.

2008 Triassic Vertebrate Paleontology Literature

Brusatte, S.L., Benton, M.J., Ruta, M., and G.T. Lloyd. 2008. Superiority, competition, and opportunism in the evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs. Science 321:1485-1488.

Brusatte, S. L., Benton, M. J., Ruta, M., and G. T. Lloyd. 2008. The first 50 Myr of dinosaur evolution: macroevolutionary pattern and morphological disparity. Biology Letters, published online, 4pp.

Buffetaut, E., and M. Novak. 2008. A cyamodont placodont (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Triassic of Solovenia. Palaeontology 51:1301-1306.

Butler, R. J., Upchurch, P., and D. B. Norman. 2008. The phylogeny of the ornithischian dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 4:1-40.

Cisneros, J. C. 2008. Taxonomic status of the reptile genus Procolophon from the Gondwanana Triassic. Palaeontographic Africana 43:7-17.

Cisneros, J. C. 2008. Phylogenetic relationships of procolophonid parareptiles with remarks on thier geological record. Journal of Systematic Paleontology 6:345-366.

Cisneros, J. C. 2008. New basal procolophonid reptile from the Katberg formation (Lower Triassic) of the South African Karoo. Paleoworld 17:126-134.

Cleveland D. M., Nordt, L. C., and S. C. Atchley. 2008. Paleosols, trace fossils, and precipitation estimates of the uppermost Triassic strata in northern New Mexico. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 257:421-444.

Dalton, R. 2008. Fossil reptiles mired in controversy. Nature 451:510.

Damiani, R. 2008. A giant skull of the temnospondyl Xenotosuchus africanus from the Middle Triassic of South Aferica and its ontogenetic implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53:75-84.

Dias-da-Silva, S., Dias, E.V., and C.L. Schultz. 2009. First record of stereospondyls (Tetrapoda, Temnospondyli) in the Upper Triassic of Southern Brazil. Gondwana Research 15:131-136.

Diedrich, C. 2008. Millions of reptile tracks – Early to Middle Triassic carbonate tidal flat migration bridges of Central Europe – reptile immigration into the Germanic basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 259:410-423.

Dzik, J., Sulej, T., and G. Niedźwiedzki. 2008. A dicynodont−theropod association in the latest Triassic of Poland. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53:733–738.

Galton, P. M. 2008. Notes on the remains of archosaurian reptiles, mostly basal sauropodomorph dinosaurs, from the 1834 fissure fill (Rhaetian, Upper Triassic) at Clifton in Bristol, southwest England. Revue de Paleobiologie 26:505-591.

Heckert, A. B., Lucas, S. G., Rinehart, L. F., and A. P. Hunt. 2008. A new genus and species of sphenodontian from the Ghost Ranh Coelophysis Quarry (Upper Triassic: Apachean), Rock Point Formation, New Mexico, USA. Palaeontology 51:827-845.

Holmes, R., Cheng, Y.-N., and X.-C.Wu. 2008. New information on the skull of Keichuosaurus hui (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) with comments on sauropterygian interrelationships. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:76-84.

Hone, D. W. E., and M. J. Benton, M. J. 2008. A new genus of rhynchosaur from the Middle Triassic of South-West England. Palaeontology 51:95-115.

Irmis, R. B. 2008. Perspectives on the origin and early diversification of dinosaurs. PhD dissertation, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 421 pp.

Jenkins, F. A., Jr., Shubin, N. H., Gatesy, S. M., and A. 2008. Gerrothorax pulcherrimus from the Upper Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of East Greenland and a reassessment of head lifting in temnospondyl feeding. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28: 935–950.

Jiang, D.-Y., Motani, R., Hao, W.-C., Rieppel, O., Sun, Y.-L., Schmitz, L., and Z.-Y. Suny. 2008. First record of Placodontoidea (Reptilia, Sauropterygia, Placodontia) from the Eastern Tethys. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:904-908.

Jiang, D.-Y., Rieppel, O., Montani, R., Hao, W.-C., Sun, Y.-L., Schmitz, L., and Z.-Y. Sun. 2008. A new Middle Triassic Eosauropterygian (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) from Southwestern China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:1055-1062.

Joyce, W. G., Lucas, S. G., Scheyer, T. M., Heckert, A. B., and A. P. Hunt. 2008. A thin-shelled reptile from the Late Triassic of North America and the origin of the turtle shell. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276: 1656.

Kammerer, C. F., Flynn, J. J., Ranivoharimanana, L,. and A. R. Wyss. 2008. New material of Menadon besairiei (Cynodontia: Traversodontidae) from the Triassic of Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:445-462.

Knoll, F. 2008. On the Procompsognathus postcranium (Late Triassic, Germany). Geobios 41:779-786.

Li, C., Wu, X.-C., Rieppel, O., Wang, L.-T., and L.-J. Zhao. 2008. An ancestral turtle from the Late Triassic of southwestern China. Nature 456:497-501.

Liu, J., Soares, M. B., and M. Reichel. 2008, Massetognathus (Cynodontia, Traversodontidae) from the Santa Maria Formation of Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 11:27-36.

Lucas, S. G., and L. H. Tanner. 2008. Reexamination of the end-Triassic mass extinction; pp. 66-103 in Elewa, A. M. T. (ed.), Mass Extinction. Springer-Verlag Publishers, Heidelberg, Germany.

Maisch, M. W., Jiang, D.-y., Hao, W.-c., Sun, Y.-l., Sun, Z.-y., and H. Stöhr. 2008. A well-preserved skull of Qianichthyosaurus zhoui Li, 1999, (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Upper Triassic of China and the phylogenetic position of the Toretocnemidae. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 248:257-266.

Mancuso, A. C., and C. A. Mariscano. 2008. Paleoenvironments and taphonomy of a Triassic lacustrine system (Los Rastros Formation, central-western Argentina). Palaios 23: 535-547.

Martz, J.W. 2008. Lithostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, and vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Dockum Group (Upper Triassic), of southern Garza County, West Texas. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, 504p.

Modesto, S. P., and J. Botha-Brink, J. 2008. Evidence of a second, large archosauriform reptile in the Lower Triassic Katberg Formation of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:914-917.

Motani, R., Jiang, D.-Y., Tintori, A., Sun, Y.-L., Hao, W.-C., Boyd, A., Hinic-Frlog, S., Schmitz, L., Shin, J.-Y., and Z.-Y. Sun. 2008. Horizons and assemblages of Middle Triassic Marine reptiles from Panxian, Guizhou, China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:900-903.

Nesbitt, S. J., and S. Chatterjee. 2008. Late Triassic dinosauriforms from the Post Quarry and surrounding areas, west Texas, USA. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 249:143-156.

Nesbitt, S.J., and M.R. Stocker. 2008. The vertebrate assemblage of the Late Triassic Canjilon Quarry (Northern New Mexico, USA) and the importance of apomorphy based assemblage comparisons. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:1063-1072.

Parker, W.G. 2008. Description of new material of the aetosaur Desmatosuchus spurensis (Archosauria: Suchia) from the Chinle Formation of Arizona and a revision of the genus Desmatosuchus. PaleoBios 28:1-40.

Parker, W. G., and B. J. Barton. 2008. New information on the Upper Triassic archosauriform Vancleavea campi based on new material from the Chinle Formation of Arizona. Palaeontologia Electronica 11.3.14a, 20pp.

Parker, W.G., Stocker, M.R., and R.B. Irmis. 2008. A new desmatosuchine aetosaur (Archosauria: Suchia) from the Upper Triassic Tecovas Formation (Dockum Group) of Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:692-701.

Peyer, K., Carter, J. G., Sues, H.-D., Novak, S. E., and P. E. Olsen. 2008. A new suchian archosaur from the Upper Triassic of North Carolina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:363-381.

Renesto, S. 2008. Remains of a juvenile phytosaur from the Late Triassic of northern Italy. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia 114:155-160.

Richter, M., and C. E. V. Toledo. 2008. The first Triassic lungfish from South America (Santa Maria Formation, Parana Basin) and its bearing on geological correlations within Pangaea, pp. 43-54 in Cavin, L., Longbottom, A., and M. Richter, M. (eds.) Fishes and the Break-up of Pangaea. The Geological Society Special Publication 295.

de Ricqles, A., Padian, K., Knoll, F., and J. R. Horner. 2008. On the origin of high growth rates in archosaurs and thier ancient relatives: complementary histological studies on Triassic archosauriforms and the problem of a "phylogenetic signial" in bone histology. Annales de Paleontologie 94:57-76.

Rieppel, O., Li, C., and N. C. Fraser. 2008. The skeletal anatomy of the Triassic protosaur Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li from the Middle Triassic of Guizhou Province, Southern China. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28: 95-110.

Ruta, M., and J. R. Bolt. 2008. The brachyopoid Hadrokkosaurus bradyi from the early Middle Triassic of Arizona, and a phylogenetic analysis of lower jaw characters in temnospondyl amphibians. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53:579-592.

Säilä, L. K. 2008. The osteology and affinities of Anomoiodon liliensterni, a procolophonid reptile from the Lower Triassic Bundsandstein of Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:1199-1205.

Scheyer, T. M. 2008. Aging the oldest turtles: the placodont affinities of Priscochelys hegnabrunnensis. Naturwissenschaften 95:803-810.

Schoch, R. R. 2008. A new stereospondyl from the German Middle Triassic, and the origin of the Metoposauridae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 152:79-113.

Sidor, C., Miller, M., and J. Isbell. 2008. Tetrapod burrows from the Triassic of Antarctica: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28: 277-284.

Sidor, C. A., Damiani, R., and W. R. Hammer. 2008. A new temnospondyl from Antarctica and a review of Fremouv Formation biostratigraphy. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:656-663.

Spielmann, J. A., Lucas, S. G., Rinehart, L. F., and A. B. Heckert. 2008. The Late Triassic Archosauromorph Trilophosaurus. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 43:1-177.

Stein, K., Palmer, C., Gill, P. G., and M. J. Benton. 2008. The aerodynamics of the British Late Triassic Kuehneosauridae. Palaeontology 51:967-981.

Stocker, M. R. 2008. The relationships of the phytosaur Leptosuchus Case 1922 with descriptions of new material from Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Unpublished M.S. Thesis, University of Iowa, Iowa City, 220p.

Sues, H.-D., and R. R. Reisz. 2008. Anatomy and phylogenetic relationships of Sclerosaurus armatus (Amniota: Parareptilia) from the Buntsandstein (Triassic) of Europe. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:1031-1042.

Surkov, M. V., and M. J. Benton. 2008, Head kinematics and feeding adaptations of the Permian and Triassic dicynodonts. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:1120-1129.

Valais, S. de, and R. N. Melchor. 2008. Ichnotaxonomy of bird-like footprints: an example from the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic of northwest Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:145-159.

Voight, S., Buchwitz, M., Fischer, J., Krause, D., and R. Georgi. 2008. Feather-like development of Triassic diapsid skin appendages. Naturwissenschaften

Wang, X., Bachmann, G. R., Hagdorn, H., Sanders, P. M., Cuny, G., Chen, X., Wang, C., Chen, L., Chen, L., Meng, F., and G. Xu, G. 2008. The Late Triassic Black Shales of Guanling area, Guizhou Province, South-West China: a unique marine reptile and pelagic crinoid fossil lagerstatte. Palaeontology 51:27-61.

Weinbaum, J. C. 2008. Review of the Triassic reptiles Poposaurus gracilis and Postosuchus kirkpatricki (Reptilia: Archosauria). Unpublished PhD dissertation, Texas Tech University, 183.

Whitside, D. I., and J. E. A. Marshall. 2008. The age, fauna and palaeoenvironment of the Late Triassic fisure deposits of Tytherington, South Gloucestershire, UK. Geological Magazine 141:105-147.

Witzmann, F., and T. Gassner. 2008. Metoposaurid and mastodonsaurid stereospondyls from the Triassic-Jurassic boundary of Portugal. Alcheringa 32:37-51.

Witzmann, F., Schoch, R. R., and M. W. Maisch. 2008. A relict basal tetrapod from Germany: first evidence of a Triassic chroniosuchian outside Russia: Naturwissenschaften 95:67-72.

Witzmann, F. and R. Soler-Gijón. 2008. The bone histology of osteoderms in temnospondyl amphibians and in the chroniosuchian Bystrowiella. Acta Zoologica. Early Online. DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-6395.2008.00385.x.

Zeigler, K.E. 2008. Stratigraphy, paleomagnetism, and magnetostratigraphy of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group, North-central New Mexico and preliminary magnetostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Eastern Utah. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of New Mexico, 224p.

Zeigler, K. E., Kelley, S., and J. W. Geissmann. 2008. Revisions to stratigraphic nomenclature of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group in New Mexico: New insights from geologic mapping, sedimentology, and magnetostratigraphic/paleomagnetic data. Rocky Mountain Geology 43:121-141.

Zhao, L., Sato, T., and C. Li. 2008. The most complete pistosauroid skeleton from the Triassic of Yunnan, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 82:283-286.