PeerJ – Paleontology and Evolutionary Science section

1 November 2018

Prionochelys matutina Zangerl, 1953 (Testudines: Pan-Cheloniidae) from the Late Cretaceous of the United States and the evolution of epithecal ossifications in marine turtles

Andrew D. Gentry

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Mark Young –– This contribution is important as it is one of a growing number of papers that is elucidating the evolution of marine turtles. Compared to other Mesozoic marine reptiles, the evolution, taxonomy and comparative anatomy of marine turtles is still poorly understood.

31 October 2018

Cancellous bone and theropod dinosaur locomotion. Part I—an examination of cancellous bone architecture in the hindlimb bones of theropods

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Mathew Wedel –– This work is legitimately groundbreaking in its scope and in its potential to move the field forward. The papers in this series seem destined to become citation classics.

31 October 2018

Cancellous bone and theropod dinosaur locomotion. Part III—Inferring posture and locomotor biomechanics in extinct theropods, and its evolution on the line to birds

Editor rating: 8 / 10

Mathew Wedel –– This work is legitimately groundbreaking in its scope and in its potential to move the field forward. The papers in this series seem destined to become citation classics. (Applies to all three papers in this series.)

28 September 2018

New records of the archaic dolphin Agorophius (Mammalia: Cetacea) from the upper Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation of South Carolina, USA

Editor rating: 8 / 10

J. Thewissen –– Modern toothed whales (odontocetes) are interesting because they are able to shed the design constraints that most mammals, including Eocene whales, have (for instance, in the number of teeth and the number of phalanges). Early odontocetes, such as the one described here, are on that path: they are exploring the limits of the mammalian bauplan. We don't know much about the morphology of these groups, so every fossil described helps us understand that evolutionary exploration better.

7 August 2018

Triassic pentadactyl tracks from the Los Menucos Group (Río Negro province, Patagonia Argentina): possible constraints on the autopodial posture of Gondwanan trackmakers

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Kenneth De Baets –– The authors describe new finds of a widespread trace fossil and manage to use it to constrain the anatomy of its producer. It will therefore be relevant for ichnologist, (paleo)biologists and (paleo)ecologists.

6 July 2018

Fossil eggshell cuticle elucidates dinosaur nesting ecology

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Graciela Piñeiro –– This is an important contribution to the dinosaur reproductive behavior, and offers a pormenorized study of the evidence to suggest the presence of a cuticle-like layer in oviraptorid and alvarezsaurid dinosaur eggs.

20 June 2018

Cranial morphology of Sinovenator changii (Theropoda: Troodontidae) on the new material from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning, China

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Hans-Dieter Sues –– Important study on troodontid cranial structure.

8 June 2018

Gorgonopsian therapsids (Nochnitsa gen. nov. and Viatkogorgon) from the Permian Kotelnich locality of Russia

Editor rating: 7 / 10

Mark Young –– Gorgonopsians are an unstudied clade, which this paper helps to begin to rectify.

1 June 2018

Cranial anatomy of Bellusaurus sui (Dinosauria: Eusauropoda) from the Middle-Late Jurassic Shishugou Formation of northwest China and a review of sauropod cranial ontogeny

Editor rating: 8 / 10