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The recovery period after an extinction event may lead to evolutionary bottlenecks. Counterintuitive. https://m.phys.org/news/2019-03-fossils-recovery-extinction-event-evolutionary.html

Hello all, My good friend Jeffrey P and I were finally able to coordinate a day out hunting together in our favorite Devonian spot upstate, as well as one I hadn't visited yet. ( The Briggs Road site!) Both are Moscow Formation, Hamilton group Middle Devonian sites. I haven't been out much this year, and so I decided to take a floating holiday to make it happen. We had missed the opportunity of collecting together when we were both in Western NY during the 4th of July week. This is usually a really fun get together, and while I did OK at our usual haunt, I did miss my frequent collecting partner's company. Anyway, as stated, ... I took a Monday off of work to make the trip to see Jeff last Monday, ... July 16th. Jeff generously offered to drive to the sites. Deep Springs Road is about a 4.5 hour trip for me to make from my home. But with Jeff driving, I only had to drive an hour to meet him at a commuter lot off of I-84 in New York. We met up at 6:00 AM, moved my gear to his car, and off we went. The 3.5 hour drive to the site was full of good conversation and tales of his adventures, and our hopeful find list for this trip. Jeff had brought his I-pad with him, so that I could peruse photos of his recent fossil finds and vacation adventures, (here, and abroad.) during the trip. The weather forecast was calling for a partly cloudy day, with a high of 89. The slight chance of rain that was forecast never materialized. We arrived at the first site between 9:30 and 10:00 AM. Briggs road is a small roadside quarry. Lots of broken rock was around - evidence of other area hunters. We spent about 40 minutes here, Jeff working some slabs, while I did my wander and split thing. I was unlucky enough to flip over a rock and find a yellow-jacket nest. Luckily, I got away without being stung. It definitely agitated the yellow-jackets, though. I picked up a few things, here and there. Mostly 3/4partial Eldredgeops rana, missing the cephalons. Nothing worth photographing. With the Yellow-Jackets guarding the productive layer, we headed over to Deep Springs Road. *************************************************************************************** By this time, the sun was getting higher in the sky, and it was starting to get hot. Deep Springs Road Quarry is like a parking lot. The gray matrix gets hot to the touch, and there is little shade. After about an hour of poking around, and 2 20 OZ bottles of water later, I decided to try to find some shade. I was finding some cool things here and there. I took shelter under a thorn bush that provided a bit of respite from the heat. I pulled rocks over and split them as I sat on a kneeling pad and rested my elbow on my bandana, drinking water now and again. Hydration is important. Jeff was a trooper, and spent most of his time in the full sun, lifting out blocks and splitting them down. Moving about the quarry from spot to spot. He said that he was in "training" for his trip out to Texas later this summer. I broke for lunch, and a cold seltzer refreshed me, and gave me a second wind. I made a number of good finds, and was happy, as this was only my 3rd time out collecting this year. Life has been busy, so it was nice to make up for lost time. Jeff did not do as well, although he found some interesting pieces things. My luck was with me, and a number of my finds were found just by looking at the ground. I'm not a real motivated digger when I don't have to be, and am content finding what others have missed. I like to split things down until there is no chance that a fossil is hiding. Anyway, these techniques worked in my favor this time. The day went on, and shade started to appear. Jeff took a break, and recharged himself with some time in the shade. By nearly 5:00 PM we decided we were done. We packed up our gear and finds, and headed out on the road. I enjoyed the conversation with Jeff, and his eclectic taste in music. Always relaxing and interesting music of all varieties coming from his car stereo/ipod hook-up. Actually made some notes on bands to check out when I had the chance. We arrived at the commuter lot at around 9:25 PM, said our goodbyes, and I headed for home. With traffic and all, I reached home at about 10:40 PM. Thanks @Jeffrey P, for a great day out hunting. ****************************************************************************************** I ended up having quite the day with phyllocarids. I ended up with 10 partialphyllocarids - 2 Echinocaris punctata, and 8 partial Rhinocaris columbina . Only a few trilobites - 1 enrolled Eldredgeops rana, one enrolled Greenops sp., one prone partial Greenops sp., and 3 Dipleura dekayi pygidiums. A host of gastropods, bivalves, and brachiopods found their way home with me as well. First - a grouping of my finds. and some close ups ... Trilobites: Dipleura dekayi pygidiums Eldredgeops rana Greenops sp. Greenops sp. Phyllocarids: Rhinocaris columbina Rhinocaris columbina Echinocaris punctata Gastropods: Paleozygopleura hamiltonae covered with bryozoan. Paleozygopleura hamiltonae "squish-out" with a Glyptotomaria capillaria and another Paleozygopleura hamiltonae. Retispira leda Glyptotomaria capillaria Brachiopods: Rhipidomella penelope Athyris spiriferoides Lingula spatulata Pelecypods: Grammysioidea alveata Cypricardella bellistriata Paleoneilo emarginata & Paleoneilo filosa Pholladella radiata Modiomorpha concentrica, Cypricardella bellistrata, Nuculoidea corbuliformis, +2 unknown Unknown Pteriomorpha bivalve: Leiopteria conradi?? Pseudoaviculapecten sp. a Assorted other finds: First item is unknown,.. possibly a hyolith. Plant fragment, orthocone cephalopod, possibly Spyroceras sp.. Tornoceras uniangulare unknown Thanks for reading.

A very cool article and let the intro speak for itself To most people, crocodilians are large-bodied carnivores that have been unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs. However, during their 230 million-year history, modern crocodilians and their extinct relatives evolved a stunning diversity of body plans, with many looking very different from those alive today (crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials). If you are interested in further readings lots of suggestions at the end of the article. https://www.palaeontologyonline.com/articles/2018/fossil-focus-thalattosuchia/