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On Tuesday this week (26 July 2011) Bristol University announced the discovery of a carving of a speared reindeer in a cave on the Gower Peninsula. It is thought the carving could be over 14 000 years old and is possibly Britain's oldest known art. The Gower Cave Carving. The carving was discovered in September 2010 by Dr George Nash of the university's Department of Archaeology and Anthropology in an as yet undisclosed location in a cave on the peninsula. It is located in a very tight niche, where it is thought the artist would only have been able to use their right hand. The cave was already a known archaeological sight; in the 1950s researchers from the University of Cambridge found several hundred flint tools there, which were dated to 12 000-14 000 BC (i.e. 14 000 - 16 000 years ago). The Gower Peninsula is also the location of Europe's oldest known ceremonial burial, the Red Lady of Paviland (actually a man), discovered in Goats's Hill Cave in 1823 by the Rev. William Buckland, the leading geologist and palaeontologist of the day (and inventor of the post-it note). At the time the skeleton, which was dyed red with ochre, was thought to be a Romano-British woman, but since discovered to be the skeleton of a young (at most 21 years old) man, dating from approximately 33 000 years ago. The Red Lady of Paviland, now on display in the National Museum of Cardiff. Cave paintings are not well known in the UK, but they have also been found in the Creswell Crags on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. The Creswell Crags caves appear to have been occupied on and off since about 43 000 BC, but the cave art is thought to be between 13 000 and 15 000 years old, so the Gower Peninsula claim for the oldest art is a a bit dubious. The Creswell Crags art is much more extensive with a number of carvings of animals and birds. They are also the most northerly cave paintings in Europe. Bird carving from Creswell Crags. Whichever of these is the older, the finds are important for what they tell us than because either one is the oldest; science is more than just a competition. Between 18 000 and 10 000 years ago Britain was suffering the most severe glaciation of the Devensian Ice Age, though this was not as severe as some previous ice ages, and did leave both the English Midlands and the South Wales coast free of permanent glaciation. Between 12 900 and 11 500 years ago a period called the Younger Dryas was causing particularly cold and dry conditions. It is notable that both the Gower and Creswell Crags art seem to pre-date this; the Younger Dyas may have been to severe for the artists, leading to a stop in British cave art soon after it started. Despite Britain having been the subject of palaeoanthropological investigation longer than any other country, there is clearly still much to be found here. See also: Out of Africa(?)

Bethylid Wasps are a diverse group of Chrysid (Stinging) Wasps, found across the world today, but most abundant in the tropics. They are predominantly parasitoids, laying their eggs on Beetles, Butterflies, Moths or sometimes other Wasps, which they sting and bury alive for their larvae to consume from within, though some species are hunters, bringing a succession of prey animals to feed their young. Bethylids are thought to have been among the first Chrysids, making their origins important to our understanding of the group. However, while the Tertiary history of the group is well documented, relatively few Mesozoic species have been described, and those that have (and a number of undescribed Cretaceous Bethylids from France and New Jersey) appear to be relatively advanced members of the group. In a paper published in the American Museum Novitates on 7 April 2017, Michael Engel of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology (Entomology) at the American Museum of Natural History, the Division of Entomology (Paleoentomology) at the Natural History Museum and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas, Jaime Ortega-Blanco, also of the Division of Entomology (Paleoentomology) at the Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas and of the Department d’Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines at the Universitat de Barcelona, and Celso Avevedo of the Departamento de Ciências Biológicas at the Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, describe a new species of Bethylid Wasp from Early Cretaceous Lebanese Amber. The new species is named Holopsenella primotica, where 'Holopsenella' means 'complete wing'; the specimen apparently having all of the wing veins predicted for the earliest Bethylid Wasps, but which each modern group of Bethylids only retain some of, and 'primotica' means 'pertaining to happening early', refering to the specimens status both as one of the earliest known Bethylids chronologically, and apparently the most primitive known member of the group. Microphotographs Holopsenella primotica, in Lebanese Early Cretaceous amber (scale bars = 1 mm). (A) Dorsal view. (B) Ventral view. (C) Lateral view. Engel et al. (2016). Holopsenella primotica is described from a single female specimen 3.87 mm in length, preserved in a piece of transparent yellow-orange amber. Only the right side of the specimen is visible, the left side being obscured by fracturing of the amber which prevents safe polishing of that side of the piece. See also... Menopsila dupeae: A Pemphredonine Wasp from the Late Cretaceous of northwest France. Pemphredonines are small Apoid Wasps (the group of Wasps from which Bees are thought to have arisen) found across the globe... Xyelydid Sawflies from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia. The Xyelydidae are an extinct group of Sawflies, Pamphilioidea, known from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Eurasia. They are possibly ancestral to other members of the group, though their relationships are poorly understood, though... Two new species of Helorid Wasps from the Middle Jurasic Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia. Helorid Wasps are small, black, parasiotoid Wasps, with larvae that develop inside the bodies of the young of Green Lacewings. The group has a long fossil... Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Meet the cutest doctor in the world - Einspine, MD Original image; Bz_enDhIUAASxBC.jpg Source: Twitter Image credits: Jennifer Baugh

For those of you interested in the overlap between Ehlers-Danlos (EDS)/hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) and autism, sensory issues in EDS/HSD probably come as no great surprise. Nevertheless,…

The Hesperornithiforms were a distinctive group of toothed Birds that appeared in the Early Cretaceous and persisted till the end of that period. They are thought to have been among the first Birds to adapt to an aquatic lifestyle, apparently having been powerful swimmers with proportion driven by the enlarged hind legs, though like other Cretaceous toothed Bird groups they are not thought to have any living descendants. In a paper published in the journal PLoS One on 18 November 2015, Alyssa Bell and Luis Chiappe of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum ofLos Angeles County, describe a new species of Hesperornithiform Bird from the Late Cretaceous Smoky Hill Member of the Niobrara Chalk of Kansas. The species is named Fumicollis hoffmani, where 'Fumicollis' means 'Smoke Hill' in Latin and 'hoffmani' honours Karen and Jim Hoffman for their generous support of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and in particular the Dinosaur Institute. The species is described from a single specimen, which was initially discovered in 1937 and thought to be a specimen of Baptornis advenus, but which has now been shown to be a separate species. The specimen comprises eight vertebrae, numerous fragments of ribs, plus most of the ilium, ischium, and pubis, some of the left half of the pelvis, part of the pygostyle (tailbone made from fused vertebrae), most of the left hindlimb and part of the right. Reconstruction of Fumicollis hoffmani. Bell & Chiappe (2015). Fumicollis hoffmani shows a mixture of traits seen in other Late Cretaceous Hesperornithiforms and more 'primitive' traits seen in earlier members of the group. However Bell and Chiappe believe that the 'primitive' traits of Fumicollis hoffmani relate to its size; most known Late Cretaceous Hesperornithiforms were quite large, while earlier members of the group were generally small. The Smokey Hills Member is thought to have been laid down over a period of about five million years, but has produced a rich and diverse assemblage of Hesperornithiforms. This does not necessarily mean that all the species were present at the same time, though it leaves a very limited period for different species to replace one-another. Bell and Chiappe suggest that the diverse assemblage potentially represents an assemblage of Birds with different ecological requirements living in the same area. This can be seen today in Penguins around the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands, where up to six different species can be found living in the same area. While the Penguins are all essentially similar, being aquatic Birds feeding on Fish, the different species are all different sizes, and therefore feed at different depths, allowing the different species to live in the same area without directly competing with one-another. See also... Preserved feathers in an Enantiornithine Bird from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. While feathers have been known in fossil Birds from... Preserved stomach contents in Early Cretaceous Ornithuromorph Birds. The Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of China has produced a remarkable number of well-preserved fossils of Mesozoic Birds, adding greatly to our understanding of the early history of this group... Bird eggs from a Late Cretaceous colonial nesting site in Argentinean Patagonia. In the 1980s a large collection of Avian eggs were uncovered at the campus of the National University of Comahue at Neuquén City in Argentinean Patagonia. These ages were located on a single bedding... Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Osmylids (Osmylidae) are a group of Neuropteran Insects with a fossil record dating back to the Early Jurassic and are still in existence today. They appear to have been at their most numerous and diverse in the Middle-Late Jurassic, with a number of lineages apparently disappearing at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. The earliest known forms do not appear greatly different from extant species, making assessment of the groups ancestry somewhat difficult, though some specimens recovered from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Biota of Inner Mongolia resemble the more ancient Neuropteran family Archeosmylidae, which is known only from Permian and Triassic fossils. In a paper published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica on 20 March 2012, Vladimir Makarin of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University, and the Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences at the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Qiang Yang and Dong Ren, also of the College of Life Sciences at Capital Normal University, describe a new species of Osmylid from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Biota of Inner Mongolia. The new species is given the name Archaeosmylidia fusca, where ‘Archaeosmylidia’ means ‘ancient Osmylid’ and ‘fusca’ means ‘dark’. The species is described from a single nearly complete forewing; Insect forewing’s being considered highly indicative and sufficient for the erection of new species. Forewing of Osmylid Neuropteran Insect Archaeosmylidia fusca (Osmylidae) from the Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, China. Photograph (A) and line drawing of venation (B). Scale bars are 5 mm. Abbreviations: 1A, 2A, anal veins; C, costa; CuA, anterior cubitus; CuP, posterior cubitus;MAand MP, anterior and posterior branches of media (M); ng, nygma; R1, first branch of radius (R); Rs, radial sector; Sc, subcosta. Makarin et al. (2012). While confident that Archaeosmylidia fusca belongs within the family Osmylidae, Makarin et al. cannot confidently assign it to any of the ten described subfamilies within the group. Instead they suggest that the venation of Archaeosmylidia fusca appears primitive compared to other members of the group, and probably reflects the ancestral state seen in the oldest, unknown, members of the group. They further note that it also resembles some members of the older group Archeosmylidae, strengthening claims of a relationship between the two groups. See also… A new species of Snakefly from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia. Snakeflies (Raphidioptera) are a group of carnivorous flying insects related to the Lacewings, Antlions and Alderflies. They have long life cycles, with a number of larval stages, but still feed as adults... A new species of Split-foot Lacewing from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia. The Split-foot Lacewings (Nymphidae)... Two new species of Dustywing from Tertiary amber. The Dustrywings (Coniopterygidae) are small (usually under 5 mm) Insects related to Lacewings and... Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

We said we followed the influencer for her wellness tips. But were our motivations really that pure?

70s/80s memory triggers

The tumour stretched from her shoulder to her ankle. Warning: graphic images.

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What's in a gene? With long read third generation genome sequencing, a lot more than we thought.

A comic book on immunology.

Via imgur.com.

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