[1] The oldest known unambiguous elephant seal fossils are
fragmentary fossils of an unnamed member of the tribe Miroungini described from the late Pliocene Petane Formation of New Zealand.
Fragmentary fossils of the new species — bones from a fairly complete skull, as well as some from one wing and leg — were discovered in 1983, when excavations began for a new terminal at Charleston International Airport.
Researchers gather in the Eastern Gallery of Denisova Cave, a location that has yielded thousands of artifacts and bones, including all of
the fragmentary fossils of Denisovans yet known.
Not exact matches
««
Fossil evidence
of human evolutionary history is
fragmentary and open to various interpretations.
1825: Only the second dinosaur (after Megalosaurus) to be classified scientifically, the species's first
fragmentary fossils were named by British paleontologist Gideon Mantell for the similarity
of their teeth to those
of iguanas.
For decades,
fragmentary fossils had hinted that extinct birds once had wingspans
of 6 metres, more than twice that
of the wandering albatross, which now holds the record.
After four years
of searching, he uncovered a skullcap with a simian - like brow ridge and a large brain case, along with other
fragmentary fossils, buried near the Solo River on the Indonesian island
of Java.
«As lots
of new
fossil species are named every year, in some cases, such as with
fragmentary or limited remains, the decision to name a new species should be considered very carefully.»
Unfortunately,
fossil specimens that could help to trace earlier phases
of cichlid evolution are quite rare, and most are poorly preserved and / or
fragmentary.
This study suggests that more detailed studies
of fragmentary fossils may reveal additional, currently unrecognized, species.
As with other evidence
of smaller pterosaurs, the
fossil specimen is
fragmentary and poorly preserved: researchers should check collections more carefully for misidentified or ignored pterosaur material, which may enhance our picture
of pterosaur diversity and disparity at this time.»
Calvapilosa wasn't the oldest creature in its primitive lineage, the researchers note, but it is the best known because
fossils of its closest kin have been extremely
fragmentary.
Many anthropologists have argued that A. africanus couldn't be our direct ancestor largely because
of timing: The earliest known members
of the genus Homo — though their classification remains controversial and their
fossils fragmentary — turn up in East Africa soon after A. africanus appears in South Africa.
Bird
fossils from 72 to 66 million years ago are
fragmentary, says Joel Cracraft at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York.
Thewissen uncovered some isolated
fossil whale astragali a few years ago, but those bones were
fragmentary and showed a puzzling combination
of whale and artiodactyl features.
Between about 200,000 and a million years ago, our view
of human origins is blurred — most
of the
fossils of hominins, or members
of the human family, are isolated,
fragmentary, or spread widely across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Early hominin stature reconstructions are notoriously difficult to assess: the limited number
of intact long bones available in the
fossil record often requires reconstruction
of the long bone length from
fragmentary remains, before different methods can be used to estimate the stature; the eventual results can differ according to the method employed.
Although specimens
of fishes, marine reptiles, non-avian dinosaurs, birds, and mammals
of this age have all been recovered from this now - frozen continent, most
fossils, especially those
of land - living species, are
fragmentary and poorly informative, and a number
of major vertebrate groups that likely once lived in Antarctica (e.g., amphibians, crocodilians) have yet to be discovered at all.
Here, we prospected the Cape Lamb and Sandwich Bluff localities, which had already produced important, if generally
fragmentary,
fossils of fishes, marine reptiles, dinosaurs, and birds.
Researchers from the Institute
of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology found some
fossils in the Kulinda Valley near Chita in 2010 but they were
fragmentary.
«He is a small guy, and [the
fossil is] very
fragmentary,» paleontologist Brian Andres
of the University
of South Florida, a co-author
of the study, told LiveScience.