Podcast 338 - Trilobite and Terror Bird

The gang discusses two papers that describe fossils which provide glimpses into the evolution and ecology of animals that were "late editions" to their clade. In other words, this podcast is focusing on fossils whose ages place them were close to the extinction of their respective groups. The first paper identifies ecological preferences in late Paleozoic trilobites, and the second paper describes a terror bird from South America that provides further evidence for a younger extinction of the group than traditionally understood. Meanwhile, Curt proposes a sitcom, Amanda has great timing, and James enjoys watching robots fail.

Up-Goer Five (James Edition): This week the group read two papers about some of the last members of some groups of animals that are now dead. The first paper looks at small animals with hard skin and lots of legs that can roll up into balls. Although these animals used to come in lots of different shapes, by this time they come in only a few different shapes and are thought to all look like each other. The animals in the paper are found toward the end of when they lived and come both rolled up, all stretched out, and broken up into little bits, showing that some of them were moved into where they are found by water. The animals found in the area are of two different kinds that are almost the same to each other but are found in different parts of the area, with one living in water that is not as deep and the other living in deeper water, showing that they were doing different things. The other paper is looking at the bone of a big angry animal that walked and had a body covered in things that are not hair but would have helped it fly if it was not so big. This one is found long after we thought these animals all died, and is also found from the bottom of the two big bits of land that got married at some point. When these bits of land got married, a lot of animals moved to the bottom bit of land and some moved to the top bit. These animals moved to the top bit and then went missing from the bottom bit, but because this animal bone was discovered we know that they actually still were in the bottom bit long after we thought they went missing.

References: Kudo, Nakuru, and Yuta Shiino. "Taphonomy and environmental distribution of Pseudophillipsia in the middle Permian Kamiyasse Formation of the Southern Kitakami Terrane, Japan." Journal of Paleontology (2026): 1-18. Machado, Victor Hugo M., et al. "A new terror bird (Cariamiformes, Phorusrhacidae) from the Late Pleistocene of Brazil: insights into the last representatives of the family." Papers in Palaeontology 12.2 (2026): e70080.