Whatever happened to Cambaytherium?

[reitia]

Hello all,

In November 2014, an extremely important palaeontological discovery was made in Gujarat, India. This discovery made sensational headlines for a month or two; afterwards, there was only silence. Why, I wonder?

The details, in brief, are these: a group of palaeontologists had previously found, in the area around an abandoned coal mine in Gujarat, some sparse bones and teeth which were classified as having belonged to a prehistoric anthracobunid mammal. As these remains were not plentiful and were not considered significant at the time, they were stashed away and given little further scientific attention.

Then, in November 2014, a prestigious international team of palaeontologists, including several of the world's top experts in vertebrate palaeontology, decided to do additional excavation in the same area of the coal mine. And what they discovered was stunning: extensive skeletal remains of that same "anthracobunid", which allowed them to reconstruct this mammal and to determine that it was none other than a primitive ancestor of rhinos, tapirs, and horses; as this pig-sized animal seems much closer anatomically to horses than to rhinos and tapirs, it has been called a genuine missing link in equine evolution. More primitive than Eohippus, yes, but much more derived than supposed horse ancestors such as Phenacodus.

The amazing little creature has been given the name of Cambaytherium thewissi.

A breakthrough palaeontological discovery! So why is hardly anything being said now about Cambaytherium, either in the press or in scientific circles? Has research on this magnificent missing link come to a halt?

Can anyone provide me with information concerning this?

[Mike Pocock]

Hi I cant say what happened but its an interesting post and I think I will do a bit of searching on the web

Thanks for the post

Regards

Mike

[reitia]

Dear Mike,

Concerning Cambaytherium thewissi, you'll find thousands of news bulletins on Internet, dating back to November-December of last year. Most of them are of the tabloid type; they mostly imitate or repeat each other. As many of them contain quite unscientific conjectures and errors, they should be taken with more than a grain of salt.

You might want to take a look at the preliminary report by Kenneth Rose, one of the discoverers of Cambaytherium. Dr Rose is a serious, highly respected palaeontologist. His technical report on the finds, available online, is well worth reading.

Best wishes, hope to hear from you again.

[Mike Pocock]

Hi Reitia,

Thanks for the tip re what to read, you are right the report by Kenneth Rose was well written and interesting.

Regards

Mike

[reitia]

Hello again Mike,

I'm glad that Dr Rose's report was useful to you.

I'd like to mention another very interesting palaeontological discovery; this one was made in England, in 2011. As the find consists of a single bone, reconstruction of the creature can be at best hypothetical...But there is no doubt that this fossil represents a dinosaur: the smallest yet known, and possibly covered with feathers.

Please take a look at the article I've attached. Hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.

Best wishes.

A truly tiny Cretaceous theropod… from England – Tetrapod Zoology.htm

[Mike Pocock]

Hi Reitia,

Unfortunately my computer wont let me open the attachment it wants to save it and it wont let me do that.

Could you re send as a link and not a doc?

Regards

Mike

[reitia]

Hello Mike,

Sorry, I'm not too familiar with the method of sending links; but you can find this article easily in Google; type in the title "A truly tiny Cretaceous theropod from England", and it will appear. This article is a lot more scientific than the average tabloid reports on Internet.

[Mike Pocock]

Will do thanks

Regards

Mike