CHICAGO, IL (December, 2007) – The only reason that most people ascend to 14,000 feet is to go skiing. For a group of
U. S. and Chilean scientists, however, such altitudes are ideal fossil-hunting terrain. In fact, over the past 10 years their explorations have taken them to one of the highest elevation vertebrate fossil sites in the world. The localities near Salar de Surire in northern Chile have yielded several hundred fossil mammal specimens. A study led by Dr. Darin Croft of Case Western Reserve University has determined that one of these specimens, a partial skeleton collected in 2004, represents a new species of armored mammal known as a glyptodont, which they have named Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis.  As Dr. Croft says, “The name of this new species is a mouthful, but it does roll off the tongue nicely!” The discovery is reported in the December issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Glyptodonts are a group of now-extinct armored mammals most closely related to modern armadillos. Unlike armadillos, glyptodonts had shells made of mostly immovable plates and reached much larger sizes; some of the largest likely weighed two tons – the size of a small car! The new species, P. septentrionalis, is much smaller, weighing a mere 200 pounds and it documents the early history of this interesting group, which went extinct at about the same time that humans arrived in the New World. “When we collected this fossil, we had no idea that it would turn out to be a new species,” said Croft. “We knew that it would be an important specimen, given its completeness, but it was only after careful comparison to other known species that we realized how unusual it was."

The new species of glyptodont is one of about 18 mammal species known from the Chucal Fauna, the collective name given to the fossils from the Salar de Surire region. Other Chucal mammals include armadillos, marsupials (opossum relatives), rodents, and a variety of extinct hoofed mammals. These mammals, along with plant fossils recovered from the same area, suggest that northern Chile had relatively few trees 18 million years ago. John Flynn, a co-author of the study said that " Our sites are now located more than 14,500 feet above sea level, but when these animals were alive the region was at much lower elevations. That means that the Chucal fossils give us a unique insight into the timing and rate of uplift of the high Andes.”

Croft said that “working in the Altiplano of Chile can be challenging; the air is thin, water is scarce, and the temperatures plummet as soon as night falls. On the other hand, there are hardly any bugs, you don't have to worry much about rain, and the stars are spectacular.”

 

ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
Founded in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the Society now has over 2,000 members representing professionals, students, artists, preparators and others interested in VP. It is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, with the object of advancing the science of vertebrate paleontology.

 

The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (JVP) is the leading journal of professional vertebrate paleontology and the flagship publication of the Society. It was founded in 1980 by Dr. Jiri Zidek and publishes contributions on all aspects of vertebrate paleontology.

IMAGE AND FIELD PHOTOS:

Top: Reconstruction of the glyptodont Parapropalaehoplophorus septentrionalis, based on a partial skeleton from the early Miocene of northern Chile; artwork by Velizar Simeonovski. See Croft et al.

Middle: The team’s campsite near Salar de Surire. The site can only be reached by 4-wheel drive truck. Team members sleep in tents, and cook over a gas stove. Photo by D. Croft.

Ken Kostel

American Museum of Natural History

212-496-3419

 

Susan Griffith,

Case Western Reserve University

216-368-1004

 

“Sea Monsters – Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep,” written by Michael J. Everhart, adjunct curator of paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, was chosen as a 2008 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The Quick Picks list suggests books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure; it is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read.

The book deals with marine reptiles from the Age of Dinosaurs, with a primary focus on those that lived during the Late Cretaceous ... mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, and on the paleontologists who first discovered and described them. Many of these first specimens were found in Kansas during the 1870s and the book covers both the well known experts of the day (like Cope and Marsh) as well as the not-so-well- known collectors (Turner, Mudge, Webb, Williston and the Sternberg family) who were actually making most of the discoveries. “Sea Monsters – Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep” is written for general audiences and is illustrated with over a hundred color figures and photographs and is the official companion to the recently released IMAX movie of the same name.  

See all the 2008 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

About the Author
 
Michael J. Everhart has been an adjunct curator of paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas since 1998 and is currently an adjunct instructor of biology at Cowley County Community College. He has been a member of SVP since 1989. Everhart is an expert on Late Cretaceous marine fossils of western Kansas and the history of paleontology in Kansas. He served as one of the senior science advisers on the National Geographic IMAX film, "Sea Monsters." He is the author of “Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep” (National Geographic, 2007) and “Oceans of Kansas – A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea” (Indiana University Press, 2005). Everhart  has also written many papers describing the fossils of the Smoky Hill Chalk, including the naming of a new species of a sea monster from Kansas (a mosasaur) called Tylosaurus kansasensis in 2005. He is the creator and webmaster of the award-winning “Oceans of Kansas Paleontology” Web site: www.oceansofkansas.com which has been on the Web since December, 1996.  He is currently the editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science and is the Past President of the KAS.

A Call for Volunteers: We need a few more good men and women!

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conducts most of its activities through standing committees staffed by volunteer SVP members.  You have benefited from the work of these committees if you have attended the annual meeting, utilized the SVP website, or read an article in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, just to name a few of the essentials. If you would like to contribute to the well-being of SVP with your ideas, willingness to review applications, or interest in learning how a scientific society works behind the scenes, please let us know which of SVP's ongoing activities interest you the most.

The standing committees of SVP are listed below with a brief description of what each committee does. If you are interested in the work of one or more committees please follow the instructions listed below.

If you are already a committee member, thank you!

Catherine Badgley, President
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

 

 

 

Annual Auction Committee
The Auction Committee implements the auction at the annual meeting and publicizes and solicits donations of items to be sold at the auction.

 

Media Liaison Committee
This committee arranges for members of SVP to present their scientific findings to the press by writing, reviewing, or facilitating press releases each year, by organizing the Press Conference at each annual meeting, and by cultivating contacts with the media. The ultimate goal is to raise the profile of SVP with the media and the public.

 

Program Committee
The Program Committee is responsible for gathering, reviewing, and organizing submitted abstracts, and for planning a comprehensive program of oral presentations and posters for the annual meeting. The Program Committee reviews proposals for symposia and also oversees production of the Abstract Volume as a Supplement to the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

 

Award Committees
The following 10 committees manage the society's annual awards. 

 

Chicago (November 2007) -- Dr. Wann Langston, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, is the 20^th recipient of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s highest honor – the A. S. Romer-G. G. Simpson Medal. The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, which was founded in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, now has over 2,000 members representing an international group of academic professionals, students, artists, preparators, and amateurs focused on the study of fossilized backboned animals. The A. S. Romer-G. G. Simpson medal is named for Alfred Sherwood Romer and George Gaylord Simpson, two intellectual giants of the 20^th century in vertebrate paleontology and evolution. The award is given annually to a member of the SVP who demonstrates sustained and outstanding scholarly excellence and service to the discipline of vertebrate paleontology. Wann Langston recently accepted his award during the 67^th annual meeting of the SVP in his hometown of Austin, Texas. 

Wann’s fossil-collecting career spans almost seven decades and includes iconic fossils such as the giant pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus, and Deinosuchus, one of history’s largest crocodiles. His publication record spans 59 years and includes many important papers of enduring impact. While professor at the University of Texas at Austin, he supervised 14 graduate degrees and served on many more graduate committees. Langston served as vice president and president of the SVP in 1974-1975, and continues to play an active role in the work of the society. Significantly, Wann is also dedicated to the public understanding of paleontology, and in his career has shared his knowledge of fossil organisms and ecosystems through museum exhibitions, popular articles, and television appearances. Timothy Rowe, J. Nalle Gregory Regents Professor of Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, and a nominator for Langston, commented that he “presents an awesome model for the diverse and sustained contributions he has made to the Society and toward the expansion of our audience. I don’t believe that any one member of the Society has ever embodied so many talents or performed for so long at such a high level of accomplishment.”