神马文学网年度化石发现之最
来源：百度文库 编辑：神马文学网 时间：2024/04/20 07:38:03
译者lyndlocker
Fossils provide unparalleled peeks into Earth’s living history in the form of mineralized bones and shells, body imprints and even piles of poop. There always seems to be another twist and turn in evolution’s creations awaiting trowel-wielding scientists.
通过石化了的骨骼和贝壳、身体痕迹以及粪堆，化石让我们能够最精确地观察到地球上的生命历史。进化过程充满了迂回曲折，处处都有待科学家们挥铲探查。
From dinosaur-eating snakes to shark-bitten piles of crocodile poop (seriously), dig up some of this year’s best finds with us in celebration of National Fossil Day.
从捕食恐龙的蛇类到被鲨鱼啃食过的鳄鱼粪堆（不是玩笑话），为了纪念国家化石日，就跟大家分享一下今年最大的化石发现。
Squashed Jurassic Spider
被压扁的侏罗纪时期蜘蛛
This almost perfectly preserved spider fossil from China dates back 165 million years ago, to the middle Jurassic era.
这件在中国发现的保存非常完整的蜘蛛化石可以追溯到1万6千5百万年前的侏罗纪中期。
Known as Eoplectreurys gertschi, the spiders are older than the only two other specimens known by around 120 million years and rival their detail, paleontologists said in February.
2月份的时候古生物学家说，这种拉丁学名为Eoplectreurys gertschi的远古蜘蛛比仅知道的两种约1万2千年前的蜘蛛物种要更早，在细部上毫不逊色。
Spider fossils are tough to find because their soft bodies don’t preserve well. Thanks to fine volcanic ash, however, this spider was squashed without breaking up its delicate exoskeleton.
蜘蛛化石非常罕见，因为它们柔软的肢体不易保存下来。多亏了细密的火山灰，这个蜘蛛才在被挤压时没有毁掉外骨骼。
Image: Paul Selden
图像提供：保罗·赛尔登
Dinosaur-Eating Snakes
捕食恐龙的蛇
Calling it a “stunning, once-in-a-lifetime find,” paleontologists reported a 67 million-year-old fossil of a snake coiled around dinosaur eggs and a hatchling -- the first-ever evidence of snakes eating dinosaurs.
古生物学家说这是一项“令人震惊，终生难得的发现”，他们说这6千7百万年前的化石中一条蛇盘在一些恐龙蛋和一只刚孵出来的小恐龙中——这是迄今发现的唯一能证明蛇吃恐龙的证据。
Geologist Dhanajay Mohabey of the Indian Geological Survey first unearthed the fossil 26 years ago in a limestone outcropping in the northwestern Indian village of Dholi Dungri.
印度地质调查局的地质学家达纳杰·玛哈贝在印度西北部一座叫多里珰里的村庄的一片裸露的石灰石中最先发掘出这块化石。
It wasn’t until 2001, however, that he took a second look and found a snake coiled around a broken egg, with a hatchling and two other eggs nearby.
但是直到2001年他重新检视这块化石时才看到有一条蛇缠绕在一只破了的恐龙蛋上，在旁边还有一个刚孵出的恐龙和两个恐龙蛋。
Images: 1) Reconstruction of scene, Sculpture by Tyler Keillor and original photography by Ximena Erickson (image modified by Bonnie Miljour). 2) Wilson et al./PLoS Biology
图片：1）场景复原，雕塑由泰勒·凯勒制作，原始图片由希梅娜·埃里克森（图像经邦尼·密尔渃修正）。2）威尔森等/公共科学图书馆生物学
Shark-Bitten Crocodile Poop
有鲨鱼牙印的鳄鱼粪便
Yes, you read that correctly. Coprolites -- hunks of fossilized poop -- can reveal the diets and behaviors of ancient animals, but this one is plain weird.
这没有写错。粪化石——石化了的粪块——可以显示出远古动物的食性和行为特征，但是这个化石简直就是怪异地可以。
Discovered on a beach along the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, researchers don’t think the responsible shark was hungry for the fecal matter. Instead, the now 15-million-year-old poop was probably still inside the unsuspecting crocodile’s intestines when bitten.
这是在切萨皮克湾西岸沙滩上发现的，研究人员认为留下齿印的鲨鱼并不是因为饥饿才咬这种排泄物。相反，这个已有1千5百年历史的粪块很可能在鳄鱼意外被咬时还在鳄鱼的肚子里呢。
Image: Stephen Godfrey
图像：史蒂芬·戈德弗雷
New Primate Relative
新发现的灵长类近亲
Two 1.9 million-year-old South African skeletons (discovered with some help from Google Earth) have added a new and intriguing member to the primate family.
两具150万年前的南非骨架（谷歌地球在发现过程中提供了帮助）给灵长类增添了一个令人感兴趣的新成员。
Dubbed Australopithecus sediba, the specimens have long legs and a protruding nose -- features common to Homo, the genus that eventually spawned humans. The creatures also had extra-long forearms and flexible feet.
这两具骨架被称为南方古猿源泉种（Australopithecus sediba），腿长而且鼻子前突——这些特征都是最终演化为人类的人属所共有的。
Paleontologists disagree over whether A. sediba is a direct human ancestor or just looks like one. In either case, the fossils provide a rare opportunity for examining a period shrouded in paleontological mystery.
古生物学家们对南方古猿源泉种是人类的直系祖先还是只是表面上相似存在争议。但不管怎样，这些化石都提供了检验一段处于古生物学谜团之中的时期的难得机会。
Image: Lee Berger/Science
图像：李·伯杰/科学
Giant Forgotten Fishes
被遗忘的大型鱼类
Misidentified fossils that were forgotten and later rediscovered in museums revealed two new species of giant, filter-feeding fish that swam Earth’s oceans for 100 million years.
这些化石因鉴定错误而被人遗忘，后又在博物馆中被重新发现，它们代表了两种不同的滤食性大型鱼类物种，曾经游弋在地球上的海洋之中达一亿年之久。
The behemoths, known as Bonnerichthys gladius and Rhinconichthys taylori, grew to 30 to 50 feet long and occupied the ecological niche now filled by whales and whale sharks.
这两种庞然大物被称为“Bonnerichthys gladius”和“Rhinconichthys taylori”，体长有30到50英尺，它们曾经在生态系统中的位置现在已经被鲸类和鲸鲨所取代。
That ancient niche was thought to be empty, and such fish to be a short-lived evolutionary bust, but paleobiologists reported that the re-identified specimens show the creatures “had a long and illustrious evolutionary history.”
这个远古的生态位曾经被认为是空白的，而这种鱼类则被认为只是进化史中生存了很短时间的失败物种，但是古生态学家指出这两种经过再次鉴定的标本证实这些鱼类“有一段漫长而繁盛的进化历史。”
Images: 1) Robert Nicholls, 2) Bonnerichthys jawbones and forefin/Matt Friedman
图像：1）罗伯特·尼科尔斯，2）Bonnerichthys的颌骨和前鳍/麦特·弗里德曼
Ancient Mystery Organisms
远古神秘生物
A collection of 2.1-billion-year-old fossil organisms announced this year may be the earliest known example of complex life on Earth.
今年面世的一组21亿年前的生物化石可能是地球上出现的最早的复杂生命形态的代表。
The fossils are flat discs almost 5 inches across, and have scalloped edges and radial slits. Paleobiologists think they were either complex colonies of single-celled organisms or early animals.
这些化石呈平盘状，直径长15英寸，边缘呈齿状，有发射状裂缝。古化石生物学家认为它们或者是单细胞生物聚合起来的复杂群落或者是早期的动物。
The specimens predate the first truly multicellular organism, called Grypania spiralis, which appeared in the fossil record 1.4 billion years ago. But they don’t beat single-celled organisms that emerged about 3.4 billion years ago.
与在化石记录14亿年前出现的称为 图像：阿卜杜勒拉扎克·阿尔巴尼和阿尔诺·玛兹瑞尔 大企鹅 有什么动物高5英尺，吃鱼而且全身呈灰色和红色呢？今年发布的一篇论文说这种动物是Inkayacu paracasensis（意即“水中之王”）——从秘鲁发现的之前不为人知的一种3千6百万年前的企鹅。 这种生物体重约有120到130磅，差不多是现在的帝企鹅体重的两倍。跟它的大型企鹅表亲伊卡企鹅一样，它也长着狭长的尖喙，在远古的赤道地区海洋中用来捕鱼。 但是与之前发现的所有企鹅化石不同，这件标本中在上肢上保存有羽毛，证明这些古企鹅有流线型的蹼跟现代的企鹅一样推动着它们在水中运动。 图像：茱莉亚·A·克拉克/科学 借鉴布莱恩·斯维特克/Laelaps博客信息 黄蜂蜂巢 这些史前黄蜂蜂巢——古生物学家称为遗迹化石——可以追溯到7500万年前的蒙大拿州。据一项今年早些时候发布的研究报告称，这些化石可以揭示出恐龙和其它生物所生活的环境。 在恐龙巢穴旁挖地筑造出这些蜂巢的黄蜂跟现在的黄蜂非常相似。这种昆虫对于筑巢地点非常挑剔，偏好那些排水方便的土壤而且有些干燥的地方，所以可以证明旁边的恐龙巢穴情况也是一样的。 图片：安东尼·马丁/埃默里大学 借鉴eScienceCommons信息 添加新评论 相关文章： 女孩之间的吻：为何变得流行 【大众科学】从空气中提取燃料 [经济学人]新生物学发展的起点 Smthsonia 40周年专刊：麦尔文·康纳：童年进化论 基因敲除可使雌性老鼠变成同性恋Image: Abderrazak El Albani and Arnaud Mazurier
Giant Penguins
What was 5 feet tall, ate fish and was grey-and-red all over? According to a paper published this year, it’s Inkayacu paracasensis -- a previously unknown, 36-million-year-old penguin from Peru.
The creature weighed in at an estimated 120 to 130 pounds, or roughly twice as heavy as the modern-day emperor penguin. Like its giant cousin Icadyptes, it had an hyper-elongated bill which it used to snap up fish in the ancient equatorial sea.
Unlike any other previously unearthed penguin fossils, however, this specimen had feathers preserved along a forelimb, showing the ancient penguins had streamlined flippers for propelling themselves through the water like their modern-day relatives.
Image: Julia A. Clarke/Science
Via Brian Switek/Laelaps
Wasp Nests
These prehistoric wasp cocoons, known as trace fossils among paleontologists, date back 75 million years to what is now Montana. Such fossils help reveal the conditions dinosaurs and other creatures lived in, according to a study published earlier this year.
The wasps that created these shapes burrowed near dinosaur nests, and are very similar to modern-day wasps. Because the insects are picky about their burrow sites, preferring well-drained soils and somewhat dry conditions, they show the same is true for nearby dinosaurs nests.
Image: Anthony Martin/Emory University
Via eScienceCommons