Latest news with #KristenMiller
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
KU researchers discover ‘big possum' species from 60 million years ago in Texas
Paleontologists at the University of Kansas have discovered a new 'big possum' species that lived in the warm, tropical and vegetation-filled ecosystem of far west Texas 60 million years ago. The scientists discovered a new species of ancient near-marsupials, or Swaindelphys, while analyzing fossils from Texas' Big Bend National Park, according to a news release from KU. The 800,000 acre park is roughly 500 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The fossils were originally found decades ago, but they had not been thoroughly studied. The project's lead author, doctoral student Kristen Miller, was particularly interested in unknown molar fossils. She wanted to find out what species they represented. The researchers, who published their findings last week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, were surprised at what they found. This new species, called Swaindelphys solastella, is remarkable for multiple reasons. First, it is much larger than any other similar species known from the Paleocene period, according to the release. This is the period that occurred just after the extinction of dinosaurs. The Swaindelphys solastella 'was gigantic by the standards of Swaindelphys,' but researchers estimate it was the size of a modern hedgehog. 'Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising,' said curator and professor Chris Beard, co-author of the study. Miller said the Swaindelphys solastella is also the youngest and most southern species from this time period. While the fossils were found in Texas, the ecosystem they came from was drastically different than the one we see today. Miller said the environment would have been warmer and more tropical than it is now, with lots of vegetation and rivers. The fossils were found in a deposit from an ancient river system, even though that river is long gone today. Researchers said Swaindelphys are very similar to early primates. So, they hope to use this new discovery to inform studies about early primates in the same ecosystems in Texas. Miller also said she wants to continue this research to see if ancient landscapes posed obstacles to species distribution, like the distribution of the Swaindelphys.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Shockingly large extinct possum uncovered in Texas
Around 60 million years ago, a large species of Swaindelphys—extinct marsupial-like animals—roamed through modern-day Texas' Big Bend National Park. While they were only about the size of a hedgehog, the now-extinct species Swaindelphys solastella were 'gigantic' in comparison to similar Swaindelphys from the same time period, according to researchers from the University of Kansas (KU). In a study recently published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, the paleontologists describe the recently discovered species based on previously-excavated fossils. Kristen Miller, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at KU's Biodiversity Institute, analyzed the Texan fossils to investigate what kind of metatherians—a group including marsupials and their extinct cousins—they'd belonged to. 'Not only are they [Swaindelphys solastella] the largest metatherians from this time period, but they're also the youngest and located at the most southern latitude,' Miller said in the statement, which describes the animal as a sort of big possum. Chris Beard, a co-author of the study and a senior curator also at the Biodiversity Institute, added that 'the new fossil we're describing is notable because it's the largest marsupial — in terms of body size–found so far in the North American Paleocene. Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising.' The Paleocene Epoch was 66 to 56 million years ago, during which North America experienced a warmer climate. Most dinosaurs had just been wiped out by the Chicxulub impactor. Because Swaindelphys were similar to early primates, studying the former can shed light on the primates who shared their same ecosystem. Notably, the distribution of Swaindelphys remains could provide insight into the geography of the time, specifically in terms of how long-gone natural features may have limited the spread of certain species—including primates. 'In place of desert terrain seen today, there was a lot more vegetation and probably lots of rivers and streams,' Miller said. 'We find these fossils in what we call fluvial deposits — so, deposits from ancient river systems.' The Swaindelphys solastella remains join a host of other specimens shedding light on the fossil differences between northern regions, like Wyoming and Alberta, Canada, and southern zones, like the US-Mexico border near Big Bend National Park. In Wyoming's Bighorn Basin, the fossil record is so complete that it allows for biostratigraphy—identifying time periods based on fossil layers. Outside of the Bighorn Basin, however, biostratigraphy becomes more difficult. [ Related: Bones of a raccoon-sized prehistoric lizard sat in a jar for 20 years. ] Within this context, Miller, Beard, and colleagues found 'an ancient high point or divide in the landscape, in southern Wyoming, that seems to correspond with the shift we see,' Miller said. 'North of that ancient divide, we see the classic Bighorn Basin taxa in their expected time periods,' she added. 'But south of that, in river drainages that originate in the central Rockies and areas farther to the south, things start to go a little wacky. What we're proposing is that this shift in river drainages marked the boundaries where ancient species of marsupials and primates lived.' In other words, the rivers and high points impacted the spread of certain species. Moving forward, Miller plans to continue investigating this hypothesis with further research.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
KU researchers discover ‘big possum' species from 60 million years ago in Texas
Paleontologists at the University of Kansas have discovered a new 'big possum' species that lived in the warm, tropical and vegetation-filled ecosystem of far west Texas 60 million years ago. The scientists discovered a new species of ancient near-marsupials, or Swaindelphys, while analyzing fossils from Texas' Big Bend National Park, according to a news release from KU. The 800,000 acre park is roughly 500 miles southwest of Fort Worth. The fossils were originally found decades ago, but they had not been thoroughly studied. The project's lead author, doctoral student Kristen Miller, was particularly interested in unknown molar fossils. She wanted to find out what species they represented. The researchers, who published their findings last week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, were surprised at what they found. This new species, called Swaindelphys solastella, is remarkable for multiple reasons. First, it is much larger than any other similar species known from the Paleocene period, according to the release. This is the period that occurred just after the extinction of dinosaurs. The Swaindelphys solastella 'was gigantic by the standards of Swaindelphys,' but researchers estimate it was the size of a modern hedgehog. 'Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising,' said curator and professor Chris Beard, co-author of the study. Miller said the Swaindelphys solastella is also the youngest and most southern species from this time period. While the fossils were found in Texas, the ecosystem they came from was drastically different than the one we see today. Miller said the environment would have been warmer and more tropical than it is now, with lots of vegetation and rivers. The fossils were found in a deposit from an ancient river system, even though that river is long gone today. Researchers said Swaindelphys are very similar to early primates. So, they hope to use this new discovery to inform studies about early primates in the same ecosystems in Texas. Miller also said she wants to continue this research to see if ancient landscapes posed obstacles to species distribution, like the distribution of the Swaindelphys.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
KU researchers discover ‘big possum' that lived around 60 million years ago
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A team led by University of Kansas paleontologists has unearthed a giant prehistoric predator that once roamed the Earth not long after the dinosaurs went extinct. According to a news release from KU, a species of Swaindelphys was found for the first time in Texas's Big Bend National Park; however, the environment in which it flourished during the Paleocene was very different from what exists today. Download WDAF+ for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV The new species, Swaindelphys Solastella, is significantly larger than other Swaindelphys species that were known at the time. The peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology published their report on the ancient species, which was enormous by Swaindelphys standards but still roughly the size of a modern hedgehog. KU said the lead author of the report is a doctoral student at the university. Kristen Miller is a student in KU's Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum and spent a year studying specimens collected decades ago in West Texas by the late Judith Schiebout, a paleontologist whose career was spent at Louisiana State University. According to a news release, Miller wanted to find out what kind of metatherians — the group that includes living marsupials and their extinct relatives — the Texas fossils represented. 'I compared them to a lot of other marsupials from around the same time period to see what they're most closely related to,' Miller said. 'It was a lot of morphological comparisons.' Download WDAF+ for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV At first, the scientists believed the fossils were either the oldest of a group of Eocene metatherians that appeared a few million years later, or they were survivors of a group of large Cretaceous metatherians that somehow survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. Both theories were ultimately proven incorrect by Miller's analysis. The Texas specimens belong to a 'surprisingly large' species of Swaindelphys. 'Not only are they the largest metatherians from this time period, but they're also the youngest and located at the most southern latitude,' Miller said. 'Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
