Feathers on reptile older than dinosaurs, reported in Science
...squama was an archosaur, a member of the group of reptiles that gave rise to dinosaurs, crocodiles, and birds. The lizard-like creature was "a little tiny guy, about ten inches long from head to tail," said coauthor John Ruben, also of Oregon State University. Elongated scales adorned Longisquama's long ar...Microscopic bone evidence supports dinosaur-bird evolution link
.... Longisquama was an archosaur, part of a group of reptiles from which dinosaurs, birds and crocodiles (birds' closest living relatives) are descended. "It doesn't necessarily prove that birds had to derive from dinosaurs," Rensberger said of the new research. "But, at least from the data we've seen, that app......n the August 11th issue of the journal BioScience, reptiles are in even greater distress worldwide than their ...lic will recognize what they have long known: that reptiles across the globe are affected by many of the same forces as amphibians but with even greater impact....Fledgling conservation group wins EPA award
...strategy for long-term conservation of amphibians, reptiles and their habitats. Participants included representatives from universities, nature centers, state wildlife departments, federal agencies, forest product companies and pet trade organizations. PARC began primarily as an effort of those in the Southea...Dinosaurs: New study counters age-old theory
... because they are warm-blooded, while cold-blooded reptiles have low metabolic rates, low blood pressures and smaller hearts. "We have determined that the left ventricle in a warm-blooded Barosaurus, for instance, would have needed to weigh about 2000kg to pump the blood its brain needed," he says....Newly found bipedal reptile fossil predates dinosaurs by more than 60 million years
...us cursoris - is a bolosaurid. This group of small reptiles died out near the end of the Permian period, which...ng things happening in the evolutionary history of reptiles well before the advent of dinosaurs. Other work, some of it still in progress, supports this idea, a...Ancient running reptile was bipedal, say Science researchers
...id Reisz. Eudibamus belongs to a family of early reptiles with an unusually large geographic range, compared... to show that some neat things were happening with reptiles in the Paleozoic, long before the appearance of dinosaurs."...Elephants pick up good vibrations - through their feet
...l elephants) and a variety of insects, amphibians, reptiles and fish. "Many organisms use vibrations in the ground to find mates, locate prey or establish territories," says O`Connell-Rodwell. The ability of large mammals to communicate long distances also is well established. Fin whales, for example, produ......vely classified as a member of an extinct group of reptiles called prolacertiforms, it was probably 8-10 inche...o question long-held beliefs about when a group of reptiles known as cynodonts died out. This new regional evidence suggests that they existed millions of years...Extinction claims a furry friend
...id Dr Hornsby. "Itincludes plants, mammals, birds, reptiles and some invertebrates," he said. "The Department ... there's any doubt that the decline of mammals and reptiles is a parallel to what is happening to birds," said Dr Hornsby."It probably is a combination of sever...Collapse of simple life forms linked to mass extinction 200 million years ago
...rassic periods, killed the last of the mammal-like reptiles that once roamed the Earth and left mainly dinosaurs, Ward said. That extinction happened in less than 10,000 years, in the blink of an eye, geologically speaking. Ward is the lead author on a paper detailing the evidence, published in the May 11 edi...What it means to be a mammal: New clues from tiny fossil described in Science
...aw, a key step in the evolutionary transition from reptiles to mammals. Hadrocodium 's well-preserved sk...es. The well-known transition from mammal-like reptiles to mammals includes changes in the jaw, teeth, hearing structures, and brain size. In reptiles, for ...Ancient reptile is efficient chewer
...are similar in shape to those of some plant-eating reptiles and dinosaurs, suggesting that Suminia also fed on plants, Rybczynski said. "What is immediately striking about this animal is that it has really large teeth and they occlude, or meet," she said. "This is unlike iguanas, crocodiles and most othe...Nile crocodiles threatened by alien weed
...e-supported researchers suggest that these ancient reptiles may have met their match. Nile crocodiles could face local extinction due to a perennial shrub. The alien plant, known as locally as trifid weed (Chromolaena odorata), has invaded critical shoreline nesting habitat for crocodiles at Greater St. Lucia...Amazon rainforest could be unsustainable within a decade
...he zoos, but we'd surely lose a lot of amphibians, reptiles and insects. We couldn't take them all." Alcock decided to do the research so he could better explain the concept of feedback (exemplified by precipitation and evapotranspiration in the rainforest) to students in one of his introductory courses ...NSF program director press statement on dinosaur nasal discovery
...and our knowledge of soft tissue anatomy in birds, reptiles and mammals -- an area of research that has slowed in recent years. Second, they show how studies of modern animals may enable paleobiologists to infer the structure of soft tissues that don't fossilize well. If biologists can reconstruct the soft ...Regeneration in the mammalian heart demonstrated by Wistar researchers
...r regeneration are non-mammalian species - certain reptiles and amphibians - able to replace limbs and other body parts. "In more than 15 years of investigations involving muscle tissue, I'd never seen anything like this," says John M. Leferovich, first author on the study. "The observation was quite stunning...Mysteries of the stumpy lizard revealed
...zy Munns, who has been studying stumpies and other reptiles for the past five years, says the sheer size of ba...s problems. "The first thing to realise is not all reptiles lay eggs, and that many lizards, including the stumpy, give birth to live young," she says. "Baby st...Ecology lab aids Turtle Survival Alliance
...s, also of SREL, has been a long-time supporter of reptiles and amphibians. He co-founded Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and is lending his expertise to TSA in their efforts to curtail the destruction of the Asian turtles. He says, "The efforts of Conservation International on behalf of the ......red approximately 18 new species of amphibians and reptiles since he began this project. For over ten years, he was studying snakes in the family Elapidae which includes highly venomous species such as cobras, coral snakes, taipans, and sea snakes. In a California Wild magazine article last year, he wrote ...