Paleontology

A new early branching armored dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic of southwestern China

1. Xi Yao
2. Paul M Barrett
3. Lei Yang
4. Xing Xu
5. Shundong Bi

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper reports a new species of armored dinosaur from rocks in southwestern China dated to the beginning of the Jurassic Period. This represents the first valid species of armored dinosaur from the Early Jurassic in Asia, as although the presence of armored dinosaurs in Asia has been documented for decades based on isolated jaw bones referred to Thyreophora-the group of armored dinosaurs-none that material was complete enough for diagnosis to a known or new species. This new specimen demonstrates the rapid diversification and distribution of armored dinosaurs across the northern hemisphere early in their evolutionary history.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 and Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Early evolution of beetles regulated by the end-Permian deforestation

1. Xianye Zhao
2. Yilun Yu
3. Matthew E Clapham
4. Evgeny Yan
5. Jun Chen
6. Edmund A Jarzembowski
7. Xiangdong Zhao
8. Bo Wang

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The study proposes a new evolutionary-ecological scenario for Late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic beetles, supported by the summary of all available knowledge about early beetle fossils, including analyses of their taxon and morphological diversity and phylogenetic relationships. The effects of xylophagous beetles during the Paleozoic may have played a fundamental role in global biochemical cycles. The results advance our understanding of the evolutionary success of beetles and the many ways in which large environmental changes may affect biodiversity in general.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

New fossils of Australopithecus sediba reveal a nearly complete lower back

1. Scott A Williams
2. Thomas Cody Prang
3. Marc R Meyer
4. Thierra K Nalley
5. Renier Van Der Merwe
6. Christopher Yelverton
7. Daniel García-Martínez
8. Gabrielle A Russo
9. Kelly R Ostrofsky
10. Jeffrey Spear
11. Jennifer Eyre
12. Mark Grabowski
13. Shahed Nalla
14. Markus Bastir
15. Peter Schmid
16. Steven E Churchill
17. Lee R Berger

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper is a very valuable contribution to paleoanthropology especially to those who study the evolution of human posture and locomotion. Overall, the quality of some of the fossils is unusually high for this chronology, and the data are properly presented and analysed. However, the authors should be more cautious in their interpretation of the data which does not fully support their conclusions.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

An evidence-based 3D reconstruction of Asteroxylon mackiei, the most complex plant preserved from the Rhynie chert

1. Alexander J Hetherington
2. Siobhán L Bridson
3. Anna Lee Jones
4. Hagen Hass
5. Hans Kerp
6. Liam Dolan

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper will be of interest to readers in the field of plant evolutionary biology and paleontology, paleobotany in particular. Using novel 3D reconstruction techniques, the authors provide the first evidence-based reconstruction of Asteroxylon mackiei, the Early Devonian Rhynie chert plant known for a century, and demonstrate that it possessed an extinct pattern of root development transitional to the evolution of true roots in modern club-mosses. The use of multiple lines of evidence and 3D reconstructions based on serial sections of petrified materials provides compelling support for the key conclusions of the paper.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewers #1, #2, and #3 agreed to share their names with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Evidence for deliberate burial of the dead by Homo naledi

1. Lee R Berger
2. Tebogo Makhubela
3. Keneiloe Molopyane
4. Ashley Krüger
5. Patrick Randolph-Quinney
6. Marina Elliott
7. Becca Peixotto
8. Agustín Fuentes
9. Paul Tafforeau
10. Vincent Beyrand
11. Kathleen Dollman
12. Zubair Jinnah
13. Angharad Brewer Gillham
14. Kenneth Broad
15. Juliet Brophy
16. Gideon Chinamatira
17. Paul H. M. Dirks
18. Elen Feuerriegel
19. Alia Gurtov
20. Nompumelelo Hlophe
21. Lindsay Hunter
22. Rick Hunter
23. Kudakwashe Jakata
24. Corey Jaskolski
25. Hannah Morris
26. Ellie Pryor
27. Maropeng Mpete
28. Eric Roberts
29. Jacqueline S. Smilg
30. Mathabela Tsikoane
31. Steven Tucker
32. Dirk van Rooyen
33. Kerryn Warren
34. Colin D. Wren
35. Marc Kissel
36. Penny Spikins
37. John Hawks

• Curated by eLife

  eLife assessment

  The authors study the context of the skeletal remains of three individuals and associated sediment samples to conclude that the hominin species Homo naledi intentionally buried their dead. Demonstration of the earliest known instance of intentional funerary practice – with a relatively small-brained hominin engaging in a highly complex behavior that has otherwise been observed from Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis – would be a landmark finding. However, the evidence for these claims is considered inadequate in the current version of the study. The four reviewers were in strong consensus that the methods, data, and analyses do not support the primary conclusions. Without full excavations, the study is missing crucial geoarchaeology (especially micromorphology) and taphonomic components, among other limitations, that make premature the conclusion that H. naledi intentionally buried their dead. The null hypothesis must be that these skeletons accumulated naturally and the research must then reject the null hypothesis and robustly exclude equifinality in order to justifiably draw the remarkable conclusions made in the present version of the paper.

Reviewed by eLife

Spatio-temporal diversity of dietary preferences and stress sensibilities of early and middle Miocene Rhinocerotidae from Eurasia: impact of climate changes

1. Manon Hullot
2. Gildas Merceron
3. Pierre-Olivier Antoine

Reviewed by Peer Community in Paleontology

How did extinct giant birds and pterosaurs fly? A comprehensive modeling approach to evaluate soaring performance

1. Yusuke Goto
2. Ken Yoda
3. Henri Weimerskirch
4. Katsufumi Sato

Reviewed by preLights

The record of Deinotheriidae from the Miocene of the Swiss Jura Mountains (Jura Canton, Switzerland)

1. Fanny Gagliardi
2. Olivier Maridet
3. Damien Becker

Reviewed by Peer Community in Paleontology

Transitional evolutionary forms in chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaurs: evidence from the Campanian of New Mexico

1. Denver W. Fowler
2. Elizabeth A. Freedman Fowler

Reviewed by PeerJ

What do ossification sequences tell us about the origin of extant amphibians?

1. Michel Laurin
2. Océane Lapauze
3. David Marjanović

Reviewed by Peer Community in Paleontology