Halloween special VIII: The Great Dying

“Out of the Aeons” is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Hazel Heald. The story introduces the powerful Ghatanothoa, a Great Old One and the first-born of Cthulhu, brought to Earth from the planet Yuggoth by the Mi-go, an anciente alien race, who built a colossal fortress atop the Mount Yaddith-Gho, and sealed Ghatanothoa inside the mountain. Those who worship this entity hold the god responsible for earthquaques and other natural disasters. Like Groth himself, Ghatanothoa is the harbinger of death.

The fossil record indicates that more than 95% of all species that ever lived are now extinct. Occasionally, extinction events reach a global scale with many species of all ecological types dying out in a near geological instant. These mass extinctions were originally identified in the marine fossil record and have been interpreted as a result of catastrophic events or major environmental changes that occurred too rapidly for organisms to adapt.

Global paleogeographic map for the Permian-Triassic transition showing the location of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province. From Vajda et al., 2019

During the last 540 million years five mass extinction events shaped the history of the Earth. The end-Permian extinction (PTB) is the most severe biotic crisis in the fossil record, with as much as 95% of the marine animal species and a similarly high proportion of terrestrial plants and animals going extinct . This great crisis occurred 252 million years ago (Ma), and is linked to the emplacement of the large igneous province of the Siberian Traps. A new study published early this month in the journal Nature Geoscience is the first to conclusively reconstruct the entire cascade of events that lead to the PTB mass extinction.

The team lead by Hana Jurikova used the boron isotope of well preserved shells of brachiopods and paired with carbon and oxygen isotope data, generating a new record of ocean pH for the Permian/Triassic boundary. These findings indicate that the PTB mass extinction was triggered by a multimillennial-scale voluminous injection of carbon to the atmosphere by the emplacement of Siberian Traps sill intrusions. Massive volcanic eruptions with lava flows, released large quantities of sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide, thermogenic methane and large amounts of HF, HCl, halocarbons and toxic aromatics and heavy metals into the atmosphere. The CO2 greenhouse effect resulted in strong heating and acidification of the surface ocean, which prompted the initial disappearance of all reef-building taxa. Acid rain likely had an impact on freshwater ecosystems and may have triggered forest dieback. 

 

References:

Hana Jurikova et al, Permian–Triassic mass extinction pulses driven by major marine carbon cycle perturbations, Nature Geoscience (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-020-00646-4

V. Vajda et al. (2020), End-Permian (252Mya) deforestation, wildfires and flooding—An ancient biotic crisis with lessons for the present, Earth and Planetary Science Letters 529 (2020) 115875 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115875

H. P. Lovecraft & Hazel Heald, “Out of the Aeons”, Weird Tales magazine, 1935

 

Meet Niebla antiqua

Silhouette of Niebla antiqua showing the preserved bones in white. Scale bar: 0.5 meters. From Aranciaga et al., 2020.

The Abelisauridae represents the best-known carnivorous dinosaur group from Gondwana. Their fossil remains have been recovered in Argentina, Brazil, Morocco, Niger, Libya, Madagascar, India, and France. The group was erected by Jose Bonaparte with the description of  Abelisaurus Comahuensis. These theropods exhibit spectacular cranial ornamentation in the form of horns and spikes and strongly reduced forelimbs and hands. The Argentinean record of abelisauroid theropods begins in the Middle Jurassic (Eoabelisaurus mefi) and spans most of the Late Cretaceous. The clade includes Carnotaurus sastrei, Abelisaurus comahuensis, Aucasaurus garridoi, Ekrixinatosaurus novasi, Skorpiovenator bustingorryi, Tralkasaurus cuyi and Viavenator exxoni.  Niebla antiqua, a new specimen from the Late Cretaceous of Río Negro province, is an important addition to the knowledge of abelisaurid diversity.

Niebla antiqua is much smaller than other abelisaurids like Carnotaurus and Abelisaurus, with only 4–4.5 metres (13–15 ft) long. It was found near Matadero Hill, located within the Arriagada Farm, at 70 km south from General Roca city, Río Negro province, Argentina. The generic name derived from the Spanish word for “mist”, referring to the foggy days during the excavation of the specimen. The specific name “antiqua”, comes from the Latin “old” and makes reference to the age of the specimen.

 

Digital reconstruction of the braincase of Niebla antiqua in right lateral (A), dorsal (B), and posterior (C) views. From Aranciaga et al., 2020

 

The holotype (MPCN-PV-796) is represented by a nearly complete braincase, incomplete left dentary, isolated teeth, relatively complete scapulocoracoid, dorsal ribs and incomplete vertebrae. The braincase of Niebla is exquisitely preserved, allowing the recognition of most cranial nerves and vascular foramina. The cranial endocast has a total length of 144 mm and has an approximate volume of 64.2 cm3. The scapulocoracoid is notably similar to that of Carnotaurus with a narrow and elongate scapular blade, a glenoid surface posteriorly oriented, and a dorsoventrally expanded and wide coraco-scapular plate. Paleohistological analysis indicates that despite of its relatively small size, the holotypic specimen represents a somatically mature individual.

 

References:

Aranciaga Rolando, M., Cerroni, M. A., Garcia Marsà, J. A., Agnolín, F. l., Motta, M. J., Rozadilla, S., Brisson Eglí, Federico., Novas, F. E. (2020). A new medium-sized abelisaurid (Theropoda, Dinosauria) from the late cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Allen Formation of Northern Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 102915. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102915

Introducing Oksoko avarsan

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  Holotype block of Oksoko avarsan MPC-D 102/110. From Funston et al., 2020

Oviraptorosaurs are a well-defined group of coelurosaurian dinosaurs characterized by short, deep skulls with toothless jaws, pneumatized caudal vertebrae, anteriorly concave pubic shafts, and posteriorly curved ischia. The most basal forms were small, similar to a chicken or a turkey, and like extant birds, they had pennaceous feathers. Their fossil record span much of the Cretaceous of Asia and North America. The most famous dinosaur of this group, Oviraptor, was discovered in 1923 by Roy Chapman Andrews in Mongolia, associated with a nest of what was thought to be Protoceratops eggs. The misconception persisted until 1990s when it was revealed that the eggs actually belonged to Oviraptor, not Protoceratops. Since then, more skeletons of Oviraptor and other oviraptorids like Citipati and Nemegtomaia have been found brooding over their eggs.

The Nemegt Basin in the Gobi Desert holds an extraordinary record of members of all three Late Cretaceous families of oviraptorosaurs: avimimids, caenagnathids,and oviraptorids. Oksoko avarsan is a newly described small oviraptorosaur, with a large, toothless beak and only two fingers on each forearm. The generic name is derived from the word Oksoko, one of the names of the triple-headed eagle in Altaic mythology. The specific name is derived from the Mongolian word avarsan, meaning rescued, because the holotype was rescued from poachers and smugglers in 2006.

The skull of Oksoko avarsan in lateral view. From Funston et al., 2020.

Preserved in an assemblage of four individuals, the holotype, MPC-D 102/110.a, is a nearly complete juvenile skeleton missing only the distal half of the tail. The excellent preservation of this assemblage provides strong evidence of gregarious behaviour.

The new taxon exhibits the following features: a dome-shaped cranial crest composed of the nasals and frontals, with a small contribution from the posteroventrally inclined parietals, nasal recesses housed in a depression; postorbital with dorsally directed frontal process; cervical vertebrae with large epipophyses; accessory ridge of brevis fossa of ilium, anteriorly curving pubis; and large proximodorsal process of distal tarsal IV. But the most striking feature of Oksoko is the functionally didactyl manus. This is the first evidence of digit loss in oviraptors. Maximum-likelihood reconstruction reveals a trend towards forelimb and digit reduction in oviraptorosaurs. This variation in forelimb length and morphology variation may have facilitated the radiation of the clade in the Late Cretaceous.

 

 

References:

Gregory F. Funston; Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig; Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar; Yoshitsugu Kobayashi; Corwin Sullivan; Philip J. Currie (2020). «A new two-fingered dinosaur sheds light on the radiation of Oviraptorosauria». Royal Society Open Science, doi:10.1098/rsos.201184

Funston, G. F., Mendonca, S. E., Currie, P. J., & Barsbold, R. (2018). Oviraptorosaur anatomy, diversity and ecology in the Nemegt Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 494, 101–120. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2