Two new species of large predatory dinosaur discovered on Isle of Wight

A new study led by paleontologists at the University of Southampton suggests that bones found on the Isle of Wight belong to two new species of spinosaurid, a group of predatory theropod dinosaurs closely related to the giant Spinosaurus. Their unusual, crocodile-like skulls helped the group expand their diets, allowing them hunt prey on both land and in the water.

The haul of bones was discovered on the beach near Brighstone over a period of several years. Keen-eyed fossil collectors initially found parts of two skulls, and a crew from Dinosaur Isle Museum recovered a large portion of a tail. In all, over 50 bones from the site have been uncovered from rocks that form part of the Wessex Formation, laid down over 125 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous.

The only spinosaurid skeleton previously unearthed in the UK belonged to Baryonyx, which was initially discovered in 1983 in a quarry in Surrey. Most other finds since have been restricted to isolated teeth and single bones.

Analysis of the bones carried out at the University of Southampton and published in Scientific Reports suggested they belonged to species of dinosaurs previously unknown to science.

Chris Barker, a Ph.D. student at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study, said: "We found the skulls to differ not only from Baryonyx, but also one another, suggesting the UK housed a greater diversity of spinosaurids than previously thought."

The discovery of spinosaurid dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight was a long time coming. "We've known for a couple of decades now that Baryonyx-like dinosaurs awaited discovered on the Isle of Wight, but finding the remains of two such animals in close succession was a huge surprise" remarked co-author Darren Naish, expert in British theropod dinosaurs.

The first specimen has been named Ceratosuchops inferodios, which translates as the "horned crocodile-faced hell heron". With a series of low horns and bumps ornamenting the brow region the name also refers to the predator's likely hunting style, which would be similar to that of a (terrifying) heron. Herons famously catch aquatic prey around the margins of waterways but their diet is far more flexible than is generally appreciated, and can include terrestrial prey too.

The second was named Riparovenator milnerae. This translates as "Milner's riverbank hunter", in honour of esteemed British palaeontologist Angela Milner, who recently passed away. Dr. Milner had previously studied and named Baryonyx—a major palaeontological event whose discovery substantially improved our understanding of these distinctive predators.

Dr. David Hone, co-author from Queen Mary University of London: "It might sound odd to have two similar and closely related carnivores in an ecosystem, but this is actually very common for both dinosaurs and numerous living ecosystems."

Although the skeletons are incomplete, the researchers estimate that both Ceratosuchops and Riparovenator measured around nine metres in length, snapping up prey with their metre-long skulls. The study also suggested how spinosaurids might have first evolved in Europe, before dispersing into Asia, Africa and South America.

Dr. Neil J. Gostling of the University of Southampton, who supervised the project, said: "This work has brought together universities, Dinosaur Isle museum and the public to reveal these amazing dinosaurs and the incredibly diverse ecology of the south coast of England 125 million years ago."

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-species-large-predatory-dinosaur-isle.html

Great ape's consonant and vowel-like sounds travel over distance without losing meaning

Scientists have shown that orangutan call signals believed to be closest to the precursors to human language, travel through forest over long distances without losing their meaning. This throws into question the accepted mathematical model on the evolution of human speech according to researchers from the University of Warwick.

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-great-ape-consonant-vowel-like-distance.html

Zeroing in on the origins of Earth's 'single most important evolutionary innovation'

Some time in Earth's early history, the planet took a turn toward habitability when a group of enterprising microbes known as cyanobacteria evolved oxygenic photosynthesis—the ability to turn light and water into energy, releasing oxygen in the process.

This evolutionary moment made it possible for oxygen to eventually accumulate in the atmosphere and oceans, setting off a domino effect of diversification and shaping the uniquely habitable planet we know today.

Now, MIT scientists have a precise estimate for when cyanobacteria, and oxygenic photosynthesis, first originated. Their results appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Fournier says different age estimates can imply conflicting evolutionary narratives. For instance, some analyses suggest oxygenic photosynthesis evolved very early on and progressed "like a slow fuse," while others indicate it appeared much later and then "took off like wildfire" to trigger the Great Oxidation Event and the accumulation of oxygen in the biosphere.

"In order for us to understand the history of habitability on Earth, it's important for us to distinguish between these hypotheses," he says.

…"Fournier ran this model to estimate the age of the "crown" group of cyanobacteria, which encompasses all the species living today and known to exhibit oxygenic photosynthesis. They found that, during the Archean eon, the crown group originated around 2.9 billion years ago, while cyanobacteria as a whole branched off from other bacteria around 3.4 billion years ago. This strongly suggests that oxygenic photosynthesis was already happening 500 million years before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), and that cyanobacteria were producing oxygen for quite a long time before it accumulated in the atmosphere."

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-zeroing-earth-important-evolutionary.html