Huge paleo-burrows discovered at Amazonia

+ UPDATE. 08AUGUST2015 VIDEO BRAZIL. Rondonia Paleo-burrows http://brazilweirdnews.blogspot.com.br/2015/08/rondonia-paleo-burrows-brazil-video.html

BRAZIL. AMAZON REGION. RONDONIA state. A team from the Mineral Resources Research Company (CPRM) - led by geologist Amilcar Adamy, found - at the region of Ponta do Abunã , the first paleotoca (paleo-burrows, of extinct animals) located at Brazilian Amazon region.

Ponta do Abunã is situated the border of Rondônia with the brazilian state of Acre and Bolivia. The structure of the tunnels drawn attention for its circular modeling, their large spaces. The length of the tunnels still could not be determined.


 
Ground sloth, Megatherium

Well kept, with no major obstacles to the movement of people, the paleotoca has claw marks that indicate that the place was excavated by big animals from the South American Pleistocene megafauna, possibly a giant sloth (Giant sloth, Megatherium), extinct for about 10,000 years.

Ponta do Abunã. In medium, the tunnels have widths of four meters and heights of 2 meters. The extensions explored until now  often reach 200 meters.

Paleo-burrow in Boqueirão do Leão, Rio Grande  do Sul state

At Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul is the state with the largest number of identified paleo-burrows. More than a thousand., according to data from Paleotocas Project, which brings together researchers from UFRS and Unesp, these paleotocas are unique in South America.

In Morro Grande, Santa Catarina state - have been identified tunnels with 150 meters length and about 1.5 meters in diameter distributed over 4 floors. The site is on a hill and has at least eight exits.

SOURCES

CARVALHO, Cleide. Caverna escavada por mamíferos gigantes é descoberta na Amazônia
O GLOBO, 31.07.2015
[http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/caverna-escavada-por-mamiferos-gigantes-descoberta-na-amazonia-17032201]
CPRM descobre túnel de animais extintos na região de Rondônia e Amazônia
CPRM/BR, 31.07.2015
[http://www.cprm.gov.br/publique/cgi/cgilua.exe/sys/start.htm?infoid=3720&sid=48&tpl=printerview]
BUCHMANN, Francisco Sekiguchi. CARON, Felipe. LOPES, Renato Pereira. ICNOFÓSSEIS
(PALEOTOCAS E CROTOVINAS) ATRIBUÍDOS A MAMÍFEROS EXTINTOS NO SUDESTE E SUL DO BRASIL
[http://sigep.cprm.gov.br/propostas/Paleotoca_de_Cristal_RS_Artigo.pdf]

Megafauna - Bone of Giant Armadillo Found at Brazil

Photo: Francisco Firmino/Irauçuba News

BRAZIL, CEARA state. At a place named São Francisco das Almas, Juá district, at the city of Irauçuba, distant 150 km from Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceara (northeast of the country), two men, while were digging a pit, they found a enormous bone that belonged to a creature of the megafauna that lived at Brazil there, at least, 15,000 years when these creatures were extinct. 

These giant animals dominated the Earth during Pleistocene, period of the geological history of the planet, in a past that dating back more to 2 million of years ago.

According to the professor of the Department of Palaeontology of the Federal University of Ceara (Departamento de Paleontologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará), Marcio Mendes, the fossil - which was buried to a depth of 4 meters, is of a giant armadillo (in the brazilian portuguese language, the armadillo is called Tatu).

The Megafauna at Brazil reunited several species. One of these was the Pampatherium, the giant armadillo. With the size of a donkey, but much more robust, weighing about 100 to 200 kg, its shell had three ranges. 

3 - Pampatherium  4 - Glyptodon  5 - Panochthus. In comparative illustration, the dimensions of a Pampatherium confronted with the size of its relatives of the Megafauna and a man of medium height.. IMAGE SOURCE: [http://forum.zoologist.ru/viewtopic.php?pid=94820]

Different of the current armadillos, which are insectivorous, ants eaters, the Pampatherium was a herbivorous was not a digger of the soil . It existed there 700,000 years ago and disappeared 10,000 years ago. The Pampatherium belongs to the family of the Dasypodideos (armadillos). The specie found in San Francisco das Almas is called Pampatherium humboldti.

SOURCE: XEREZ, Gloria. Homem cava poço e encontra osso gigante de animal extinto no Ceará.

G1, published in 15/09/2012.

[http://g1.globo.com/ceara/noticia/2012/09/homem-cava-poco-e-encontra-osso-gigante-de-animal-extinto-no-ceara.html]

The Giant Scorpions

Paleontology – Analyses performed on the fossil of a giant scorpion 417 million years old, a species extinct (thank goodness!) revealed traces of a substance called chitin in the exoskeleton of the creature. This finding demonstrates something that until now was considered impossible: The age of the chitin found, is several hundred million years older than what was considered the maximum possible in terms of conservation of this material.

The discovery was made ​​by a team of scientists led by George Cody of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Analyses were conducted at the ALS (Advanced Light Source) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California

The work of these experts contradicts the classical idea that the organic material can not be mantained for so long because it would be decomposed by microorganisms. However, scientists have found a fibrous mesh of chitin in the fóssil. Chitin is a polysaccharide rich in nitrogen.

Some species of these huge animals had reached over two meters in length. Chitin was also found in younger fossils, like a scorpion 310 million of years and even others, with 25 million years. The size of the giants scorpions is a frightening demonstration that in the past, arachnids, insects, crustaceans and other creatures were much larger than today. It is known that Eurypterids are aquatic ancestors (and extinct) of land scorpions and possibly of all arachnids of today.

SORCE: Detectan vestigios de quitina en el fósil de un aterrador escorpión gigante.
IN NCYT, published in 04/11/2011
[http://noticiasdelaciencia.com/not/862/detectan_vestigios_de_quitina_en_el_fosil_de_un_aterrador_escorpion_gigante/]

The past encaged on a crystalline stone

PERU – In Chiclayo (a town located at northwest of Peru, capital of Lambayeque region, one of the 25 political divisions of the country) scientists found several examples of small insects preserved in amber stones. Researchers believe that these tiny specimens lived around 20 millions of years ago. Were – therefore, contemporary of the dinosaurs and, they passed, at least, for a glaciation.

In the stones of amber insects like Psocoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and spiders, as well as spores, pollen fossils, and even a drop of blood and hair of rodents, all of these fragments of the past remained preserved.

The discovery was made ​​on a beach in far north of Peru by paleontologists from the Paleontological Museum Meyer-Honningen. The team found more than a hundred stones, among the river sediments, but still could not identify the majority. Some of the insects are nor even known, like the , long-legged mosquito Zancudo or a wasp, that has the stinger in the front of its body. These are possibly species already extinct that indicate changes in the flora and fauna of the area.

However, the Peruvian museum has invited Austrian scientists to assist in the study of fossils and new expedition will be made in the Santiago River, for try to uncover new clues about the evolution of the Amazon.

SOURCE: Âmbar alberga fósseis de insectos extintos.
IN Ciência Hoje/Pt, published in 04/21/2011
[http://www.cienciahoje.pt/index.php?oid=48649&op=all]

More fossils of prehistoric crocodiles found at Brazil

Cranium of "Decuriasuchus" found at hinterland of Rio Grande do Sul state, south of Brazil. The predator, who lived in the Triassic period, is older than dinosaurs known.

Rio Grande do Sul (state) – In the city of 'Dona Francisca' in a place called 'Quarta Colônia' (Fourth Colony), researchers of the Museu de Ciências Naturais da Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul (Museum of Natural Sciences of the Foundation Zoo-botanical of Rio Grande do Sul) e da USP (University of São Paulo) de Ribeirão Preto (city of São Paulo state) – they presented to the worldwide scientific community a fossil from 240 million years ago.

An article about the discovery was published this month (march) by the german scientific review Naturwissenschaften (Science and nature). The text is signed by the Paleontologists: Marco Aurélio Gallo de França (USP), Max Cardoso Langer (USP) e Jorge Ferigolo (of the Museum).

Nine of the ten fossils in the site were found together. Footprints of diferent sizes were found too. The researchers belive that they could made by a mothers and puppies. The animals are so much distant relatives of the actual crocodiles. Furthermore, the discovery is uncommon because the pieces were found almost entirely intacts.

The animals that are a new spécie that was identified like belonged to the Rauisuchia group and it was named Decuriasuchos quartacolonia. It was predator carnivore of the Triassic period. Its size was about 2.5 m and a half long and had serrated teeth.

SOURCES

Fundação apresenta fóssil de 240 milhões de anos encontrado no Estado IN Diário de Canoas/RS, published in 03/31/2011 [http://www.diariodecanoas.com.br/site/noticias/geral,canal-8,ed-60,ct-214,cd-312595.htm] Pesquisadores gaúchos e de Ribeirão identificam ‘avô’ do crocodilo. IN Jornal da Cidade/Ribeirão Preto/SP, published in 03/30/2011 [http://www.jornalacidade.com.br/editorias/cidades/2011/03/30/pesquisadores-gauchos-e-de-ribeirao-identificam-avo-do-crocodilo.html]

Prehistoric crocodile nests found in Sao Paulo

SÃO PAULO state/Br – On a farm situated at the locality in Jales, near the city of Sao Jose do Rio Preto (SP state), a crocodile fossils attracted the attention of the international scientific environment. Twelve nests of the beast were found with remnants eggs of these primitive reptile known as Baurusuchus pachecoi. The fossils date back 85 million years ago. Therefore belong to the Cretaceous, the last period before the extinction of dinosaurs.

In Brazil, the species was found for the first time in 1945 in Paulo Faria. This time, along with the nests were also rescued a skull of the arcane crocodile in perfect conditions of conservation. The descobeta was published in the journal Palaenontology. The paleontologist Carlos Eduardo Maia, who discovered the fossils says that he and his team had the honor of give the name to the new finding: Baurulithus fragilis.

SOURCE: Ovos fossilizados de crocodilo pré-histórico são encontrados em Jales, SP. IN O Globo, publicado em 03/29/2011 [http://oglobo.globo.com/cidades/sp/mat/2011/03/29/ovos-fossilizados-de-crocodilo-pre-historico-sao-encontrados-em-jales-sp-924115211.asp]

Peru - Fossil shrimp from the Cretaceous period was found there 3 thousands and 700 meters altitute

A fossil shrimp of Cretaceous, this, found in Lebanon, similar to discovered at Peru.

PERU - In the northeastern region of Peruvian Amazon, Maranhão river basin, scientists found fossilized remains of a shrimp that belongs to Cretaceous geological period. It means that the specimen lived there is 85 million of years. In the city of Chiclayo, the director of the Paleontological Museum Honning Meyer, the paleontologist Klaus Honning, commented: It is a remarkable find because the muscles of the fossil are still intact. It is a very rare specimen, measuring 12 cm and gifted with four paws.

In January this year (2011), the age of this fossil and others was confirmed by the Institute of Prehistory of Germany. The location of the find can appears strange for a marine animal: 3 thousands and 700 meters above sea level. But it is not a suprise for the scientists. In the same region were also found fossilized remains of a squid that belongs to the same period.

Honning explains that in the place, in ancient Ages, a kind of salt lagoon was formed in there. Thus, these animals have evolved in the conditions of an ecosystem more or least isolated. The study of the shrimp of Cretaceous shrimp helps to better understand the evolutionary process of species that inhabited the seas of a geography that no more exist.

SOURCE: Peru: Descoberto camarão fossilizado do Cretáceo a 3 mil e 700 metros de altitute.
IN Google Notícias/AFP - published in 02/09/2011.
[http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gE9lu6CM0b7ozDGnCRi-jOGVEI1g?docId=CNG.a41cc318d94314c7fd9a40c07dc147a8.6a1].