New research shows “Juvenile T. rex” fossils are a distinct species of small tyrannosaur

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BATH

 

IMAGE: 

ARTIST ILLUSTRATION OF NANOTYRANNUS ATTACKING A JUVENILE T. REX.

view more 

CREDIT: ANDREY ATUCHIN

A new analysis of fossils believed to be juveniles of T. rex now shows they were adults of a small tyrannosaur, with narrower jaws, longer legs, and bigger arms than T. rex. The species, Nanotyrannus lancensis, was first named decades ago but later reinterpreted as a young T. rex.

The first skull of Nanotyrannus was found in Montana in 1942, but for decades, paleontologists have gone back and forth on whether it was a separate species, or simply a juvenile of the much larger T. rex.

Dr Nick Longrich, from the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath (UK), and Dr Evan Saitta, from the University of Chicago (USA) re-analysed the fossils, looking at growth rings, the anatomy of Nanotyrannus, and a previously unrecognized fossil of a young T. rex.

Measuring the growth rings in Nanotyrannus bones, they showed that they became more closely packed towards the outside of the bone - its growth was slowing. It suggests these animals were nearly full size; not fast-growing juveniles.

Modelling the growth of the fossils showed the animals would have reached a maximum of around 900-1500 kilograms and five metres - about 15 per cent of the size of the giant T. rex, which grew to 8,000 kilograms and nine metres or more.

The researchers have published their findings in Fossil Studies.

“When I saw these results I was pretty blown away,” said Longrich. “I didn’t expect it to be quite so conclusive.

“If they were young T. rex they should be growing like crazy, putting on hundreds of kilograms a year, but we’re not seeing that.

“We tried modeling the data in a lot of different ways and we kept getting low growth rates. This is looking like the end for the hypothesis that these animals are young T. rex.”

Supporting the existence of distinct species, the researchers found no evidence of fossils combining features of both the Nanotyrannus and T. rex - which would exist if the one turned into the other.  Every fossil they examined could be confidently identified as one species or the other.

Neither did the patterns of growth in other tyrannosaurs fit with the hypothesis that these were young T. rex.

Dr Longrich said: “If you look at juveniles of other tyrannosaurs, they show many of the distinctive features of the adults. A very young Tarbosaurus - a close relative of T. rex - shows distinctive features of the adults.

“In the same way that kittens look like cats and puppies look like dogs, the juveniles of different tyrannosaurs are distinctive. And Nanotyrannus just doesn’t look anything like a T. rex.

“It could be growing in a way that’s completely unlike any other tyrannosaur, or any other dinosaur- but it’s more likely it’s just not a T. rex.”

But that raises a mystery — if Nanotyrannus isn’t a juvenile Tyrannosaurus, then why hasn’t anyone ever found a young T. rex?

“That’s always been one of the big questions. Well, it turns out we actually had found one,” said Longrich. “But the fossil was collected years ago, stuck in a box of unidentified bones in a museum drawer, and then forgotten.”

The research led Longrich and co-author Evan Saitta to a previous fossil discovery, stored in a museum in San Francisco which they identified as a juvenile Tyrannosaurus.

That young T. rex is represented by a skull bone - the frontal bone - with distinctive features that ally it with Tyrannosaurus, but which aren’t seen in Nanotyrannus. It comes from a small animal, one with a skull about 45 cm long and a body length of around 5 metres.

Dr Longrich said: “Yes, it’s just one specimen, and just one bone, but it only takes one. T. rex skull bones are very distinctive, nothing else looks like it. Young T. rex exist, they’re just incredibly rare, like juveniles of most dinosaurs.”

The researchers argue these findings are strong evidence that Nanotyrannus is a separate species, one not closely related to Tyrannosaurus. It was more lightly-built and long-limbed than its thick-set relative. It also had larger arms, unlike the famously short-armed T. rex.

“The arms are actually longer than those of T. rex. Even the biggest T. rex, has shorter arms and smaller claws than in these little Nanotyrannus. This was an animal where the arms were actually pretty formidable weapons. It’s really just a completely different animal - small, fast, agile.

“T. rex relied on size and strength, but this animal relied on speed.”

The long arms and other features suggest it was only distantly related to T. rex - and may have sat outside the family Tyrannosauridae, which T. rex is part of, in its own family of predatory dinosaurs.

The new study is the latest in a series of publications on the problem, going back decades.

Longrich said: “Nanotyrannus is highly controversial in paleontology. Not long ago, it seemed like we’d finally settled this problem, and it was a young T. rex.

“I was very skeptical about Nanotyrannus myself until about six years ago when I took a close look at the fossils and was surprised to realise we’d gotten it wrong all these years.”

The authors suggest that, given how difficult it is to tell dinosaurs apart based on their often-incomplete skeletons, we may be underestimating the diversity of dinosaurs, and other fossil species.

Longrich said: “It’s amazing to think how much we still don’t know about the most famous of all the dinosaurs. It makes you wonder what else we’ve gotten wrong.”

Comparison of T. rex and Nanotyrannus skulls

CREDIT

Nick Longrich

Graph comparing growth curves of T. rex vs Nanotyrannus

CREDIT

Dr Nick Longrich

---

JOURNAL

Fossil Studies

DOI

10.3390/fossils1010009 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

ARTICLE TITLE

Taxonomic status of Nanotyrannus lancensis (Dinosauria:Tyrannosauroidea) - a distinct taxon of small-bodied tyrannosaur

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

3-Jan-2024

 

Chicken whisperers: humans crack the clucking code

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

A University of Queensland-led study has found humans can tell if chickens are excited or displeased, just by the sound of their clucks.  

Professor Joerg Henning from UQ’s School of Veterinary Science said researchers investigated whether humans could correctly identify the context of calls or clucking sounds made by domestic chickens, the most commonly farmed species in the world.

“In this study, we used recordings of chickens vocalising in all different scenarios from a previous experiment,” Professor Henning said. 

“Two calls were produced in anticipation of a reward, which we called the ‘food’ call and the ‘fast cluck’.

“Two other call types were produced in non-reward contexts, such as food being withheld, which we called the ‘whine’ and ‘gakel’ calls.”

The researchers played the audio files back to test whether humans could tell in which context the chicken sounds were made, and whether various demographics and levels of experience with chickens affected their correct identification.

“We found 69 per cent of all participants could correctly tell if a chicken sounded excited or displeased,” Professor Henning said.

“This is a remarkable result and further strengthens evidence that humans have the ability to perceive the emotional context of vocalisations made by different species.”

Professor Henning said the ability to detect emotional information from vocalisation could improve the welfare of farmed chickens.

“A substantial proportion of participants being able to successfully recognise calls produced in reward-related contexts is significant,” he said.

“It provides confidence that people involved in chicken husbandry can identify the emotional state of the birds they look after, even if they don’t have prior experience.

“Our hope is that in future research, specific acoustic cues that predict how humans rate arousal in chicken calls could be identified, and these results could potentially be used in artificially intelligent based detection systems to monitor vocalisations in chickens.

“This would allow for the development of automated assessments of compromised or good welfare states within poultry management systems.

“Ultimately this could enhance the management of farmed chickens to improve their welfare, while helping conscientious consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions.”

This research is published in Royal Society Open Science.

---

JOURNAL

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.231284 

ARTICLE TITLE

Humans can identify reward-related call types of chickens

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

3-Jan-2024

 

Diversity of bioluminescent beetles in Brazilian savanna has declined sharply in 30 years

Surveys conducted in the Cerrado since the 1990s show falling biodiversity as the agricultural frontier advances in the vicinity of Emas National Park. Species with biotechnological potential are dwindling and even disappearing

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

 

IMAGE: 

LUMINOUS TERMITE MOUND IN EMAS NATIONAL PARK, GOIÁS STATE: LARVAE OF CLICK BEETLE PYREARINUS TERMITILLUMINANS PRODUCE A SPECTACLE NOW CONFINED TO THE PARK, AN ISLAND IN AN OCEAN OF MONOCULTURE 

view more 

CREDIT: VADIM VIVIANI

At night in the Cerrado, Brazil’s savanna and second-largest biome, larvae of the click beetle Pyrearinus termitilluminans, which live in termite mounds, display green lanterns to capture prey attracted by the bright light.

In more than 30 years of expeditions with his students to Emas National Park and farms around the conservation unit in Goiás state to collect specimens, the phenomenon has never been so rare, said Vadim Viviani, a professor at the Federal University of São Carlos’s Science and Technology for Sustainability Center (CCTS-UFSCar) in Sorocaba, São Paulo state.

“In the 1990s, we would see many of these termite mounds full of fireflies and other bioluminescent insects, even in areas of pasture. Now, sugarcane is grown in most of the areas and we hardly see any,” he noted.

The dearth was one of the main findings of a study supported by FAPESP via its Research Program on Biodiversity Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use (BIOTA-FAPESP), as reported in an article by Viviani and collaborators published in Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

The penultimate author of the article, Etelvino Bechara, a professor at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP), was Viviani’s master’s and PhD thesis advisor in the 1990s and is also supported by FAPESP.

The other co-authors are Cleide Costa, a researcher at the University of São Paulo’s Museum of Zoology (MZ-USP), and Simone P. Rosa, an entomologist at the Federal University of Itajubá (UNIFEI) in Minas Gerais state. Both are authorities on the taxonomy of the click beetle superfamily Elateroidea.

The survey recorded 51 species, most of which are fireflies (Lampyridae). The rest are click beetles (Elateridae), which have two lanterns on their back, and railroad worms, also known as glow worms (Phengodidae), which can produce light of different colors at the same time.

In Goiás, besides the specimens collected in Emas National Park in the municipality of Mineiros, and nearby farms, the researchers cataloged specimens in Perolândia and Campinorte. In Mato Grosso state, the survey covered Chapada dos Guimarães National Park and three towns (Alto Garças, Novo Santo Antônio and Rio Manso). In Costa Rica, a town in Mato Grosso do Sul state, they visited two farms and Sucuriú Falls Municipal Park. Emas National Park was the most productive site, providing 35 species.

The researchers say the diversity of these beetles in remnants of the Cerrado and farms neighboring the park has declined sharply over the last three decades, concurrently with the substitution of soybean and sugarcane plantations for pasture, as well as a reduction in the Cerrado overall, and more specifically in dense dry forest areas within the Cerrado known as cerradão.

The occurrence of luminous termite mounds in Chapada dos Guimarães National Park is reported for the first time in this article. Many mounds full of firefly larvae are found in Emas National Park and neighboring areas. Previous research by the same group reported the phenomenon of bioluminescence in the Amazon Rainforest (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/23640).

Railroad worms are disappearing

Pesticides and artificial lighting are also enemies of bioluminescent beetles. Bright light produced by humans prevents them from being located by mates and reproducing. In particular, the researchers noted the absence of railroad worm larvae in recent expeditions. These insects can emit red and green light at the same time and have significant biotechnological potential (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/31481).

“The decline in this family [Phengodidae] was especially evident. Adult males are no longer attracted to light traps on farms surrounded by sugarcane since 2010. Furthermore, the increasing levels of artificial light coming from nearby urban centers at night may threaten several bioluminescent species inside Emas National Park. The problem merits special attention and further studies,” Viviani said.

Extinction of bioluminescent species is not only a loss to biodiversity and the ecosystem services provided by these animals but also represents lost technological and economic opportunities.

Bioluminescence – production and emission of cold visible light by living beings – is useful to many analytical processes deployed in scientific research, medicine, industry and environmental management. Cold light means less than 20% of the light generates thermal radiation (i.e. heat).

Bioluminescence derives from oxidation of luciferin, a compound present in these insects and other animals as well as some fungi. The oxidation process is catalyzed by enzymes known as luciferases.

Over the years, the group led by Viviani has isolated and cloned the largest number of luciferases of any group globally. The luciferases are from different insects, including flies that produce blue light (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/34061 and agencia.fapesp.br/29066).

Luminescent beetles produce colors such as green, yellow, orange and red. Their luciferases are used to mark cells and proteins, for example (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/36427 and agencia.fapesp.br/20609).

Viviani is currently coordinating a project supported by FAPESP to develop bioluminescent reagents for immunoassays, environmental analysis and bioimaging. The reagents will be based on luciferases from Brazilian species. Most of these materials are currently imported.

“It’s important to grasp the fact that the Cerrado isn’t just scrub or bush. It’s a repository of water in the soil, a source of evaporation that generates rain, and also an immense store of exclusive species. We can learn a tremendous amount from all that treasure,” Viviani said.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.

---

JOURNAL

Annals of the Entomological Society of America

DOI

10.1093/aesa/saad029 

ARTICLE TITLE

Inventory and ecological aspects of bioluminescent beetles in the Cerrado ecosystem and its decline around Emas National Park

 Ants recognize infected wounds and treat them with antibiotics

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

 

VIDEO: 

EXAMPLE OF WOUND CARE PERFORMED WITH METAPLEURAL GLAND SECRETIONS COLLECTED FROM THE GLAND OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROVIDING CARE. THE INFECTED ANT IS MARKED IN WHITE. WE FIRST OBSERVE WOUND CARE BY THE NURSING ANT, FOLLOWED BY THE COLLECTION OF METAPLEURAL GLAND SECRETIONS USING THE FORELEGS TO REACH THE GLAND AND MOUTH AND FINALLY APPLICATION OF METAPLEURAL GLAND SECRETIONS ON THE WOUND.

view more 

CREDIT: ERIK FRANK / UNIVERSITY OF WUERZBURG

The Matabele ants (Megaponera analis), which are widespread south of the Sahara, have a narrow diet: They only eat termites. Their hunting expeditions are dangerous because termite soldiers defend their conspecifics – and use their powerful mandibles to do so. It is therefore common for the ants to be injured while hunting.

If the wounds become infected, there is a significant survival risk. However, Matabele ants have developed a sophisticated healthcare system: they can distinguish between non-infected and infected wounds and treat the latter efficiently with antibiotics they produce themselves. This is reported by a team led by Dr Erik Frank from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg and Professor Laurent Keller from the University of Lausanne in the journal Nature Communications.

Treatment Drastically Reduces Mortality

"Chemical analyses in cooperation with JMU Professor Thomas Schmitt have shown that the hydrocarbon profile of the ant cuticle changes as a result of a wound infection," says Erik Frank. It is precisely this change that the ants are able to recognise and thus diagnose the infection status of injured nestmates.

For treatment, they then apply antimicrobial compounds and proteins to the infected wounds. They take these antibiotics from the metapleural gland, which is located on the side of their thorax. Its secretion contains 112 components, half of which have an antimicrobial or wound-healing effect. And the therapy is highly effective: the mortality rate of infected individuals is reduced by 90 per cent, as the research group discovered.

Analysis of Ant Antibiotics is Planned

"With the exception of humans, I know of no other living creature that can carry out such sophisticated medical wound treatments," says Erik Frank. Laurent Keller also adds that these findings “have medical implications because the primary pathogen in ant’s wounds, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is also a leading cause of infection in humans, with several strains being resistant to antibiotics”.

Are Matabele ants really unique in this respect? The Würzburg researcher now wants to explore wound care behaviours in other ant species and other social animals. He also wants to identify and analyse the antibiotics used by Matabele ants in cooperation with chemistry research groups. This may lead to the discovery of new antibiotics that could also be used in humans.

Matabele Ants in a Netflix Documentary

A few years ago, Erik Frank's research into the African ants that care for their injured nestmates sparked the interest of a film production company. The company was commissioned by Netflix to find exciting stories for the eight-part nature documentary "Life on Our Planet", which focuses on the evolution of life over the past 500 million years.

After six years of work, the series can now be seen on Netflix. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and the English version is narrated by actor Morgan Freeman. The series has been translated into German and numerous other languages. The Matabele ants appear in the fifth episode, which is called "In the Shadow of Giants" and lasts 51 minutes.

The sequence about Erik Frank's ants was filmed in April 2021 at the Comoé research station of the University of Würzburg in Côte d'Ivoire. "It took three weeks, the effort was enormous," says the JMU researcher. The film was shot in the ants' natural habitat, but also in artificial nests in the research station's laboratory. And Erik Frank's expertise was in constant demand during this time.

Weblink

"Life on Our Planet" at Netflix https://www.netflix.com/de/title/80213846

A Matabele ant tends to the wound of a fellow ant whose legs were bitten off in a fight with termites.

On the left a fresh injury, on the right the condition one hour after treatment. The wound surface appears to be sealed.

Erik Frank (right) and former Bachelor student Florens Fischer are investigating the behaviour of Matabele ants in artificial nests under laboratory conditions.

CREDIT

Erik Frank / University of Wuerzburg

Autobiographical book by Erik Frank

The paperback edition of Erik Frank's "Une Histoire de Fourmis" (A History of Ants), previously only available in French, has been on the market since October 2023. In this autobiographical story, the author describes his research, his experiences at the Comoé research station and his time as a doctoral student at the University of Würzburg. In France, the book was one of the six works nominated as the best books for science communication in 2022. Website of the publisher https://www.cnrseditions.fr/catalogue/societe/une-histoire-de-fourmis/

---

JOURNAL

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-023-43885-w 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society

MIND OVER MATTER 

Perceived time has an actual effect on physical healing

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Perceived time has a significant impact on the actual time it takes to heal physical wounds, according to new research by Harvard psychologists Peter Aungle and Ellen Langer.

Their study, published late last month in Nature Scientific Reports, challenges conventional beliefs about psychological influences on physical health. The findings suggest a broader range of psychological influences than is currently appreciated.

To complete their study, the authors used a standardized procedure to mildly wound volunteer subjects. Perceived time was then manipulated in the lab, with each study participant completing three experimental conditions: Slow Time (0.5x real time), Normal Time (1x real time), and Fast Time (2x real time).

Wounds were documented as healing faster when participants believed more time had passed. Likewise, the healing process proved slower when less time was perceived to have gone by. Actual time elapsed was the same under all three conditions.

Further research is underway to better understand the underlying mechanisms and broader implications of these findings. In the meanwhile, the study makes a compelling case for more fully incorporating the idea of mind-body “unity” into subsequent inquiries on mind-body health effects. In particular, researchers are urged to consider a broader range of psychological influences on physical health.

Psychological influences on physical health are typically understood in terms of influences on emotion (e.g., stress, inflammation, and immune function) and behavior (e.g., beliefs that promote healthy actions). This research suggests abstract beliefs about how our bodies work also directly shape physical health.

The full study is available in Nature Scientific Reports: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-50009-3

---

JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Physical healing as a function of perceived time

 

First step towards synthetic CO2 fixation in living cells

Three modules forming a new-to-nature CO2 fixation cycle successfully implemented in E.coli

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT

 

IMAGE: 

RESEARCHERS AT THE MPI FOR TERRESTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY HAVE DESIGNED AND CONSTRUCTED A NEW SYNTHETIC CO2-FIXATION PATHWAY, THE SO-CALLED THETA CYCLE.

view more 

CREDIT: MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR TERRESTRIAL MICROBIOLOGY/GEISEL

Synthetic biology offers the opportunity to build biochemical pathways for the capture and conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology have developed a synthetic biochemical cycle that directly converts CO2 into the central building block Acetyl-CoA. The researchers were able to implement each of the three cycle modules in the bacterium E.coli, which represents a major step towards realizing synthetic CO2 fixing pathways within the context of living cells.

Developing new ways for the capture and conversion of CO2 is key to tackle the climate emergency. Synthetic biology opens avenues for designing new-to-nature CO2-fixation pathways that capture CO2 more efficiently than those developed by nature. However, realizing those new-to-nature pathways in different in vitro and in vivo systems is still a fundamental challenge. Now, researchers in Tobias Erb's group have designed and constructed a new synthetic CO2-fixation pathway, the so-called THETA cycle. It contains several central metabolites as intermediates, and with the central building block, acetyl-CoA, as its output. This characteristic makes it possible to be divided into modules and integrated into the central metabolism of E. coli.

The entire THETA cycle involves 17 biocatalysts, and was designed around the two fastest CO2-fixing enzymes known to date: crotonyl-CoA carboxylase/reductase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. The researchers found these powerful biocatalysts in bacteria. Although each of the carboxylases can capture CO2 more than 10 times faster than RubisCO, the CO2-fixing enzyme in chloroplasts, evolution itself has not brought these capable enzymes together in natural photosynthesis.

The THETA cycle converts two CO2 molecules into one acetyl-CoA in one cycle. Acetyl-CoA is a central metabolite in almost all cellular metabolism and serves as the building block for a wide array of vital biomolecules, including biofuels, biomaterials, and pharmaceuticals, making it a compound of great interest in biotechnological applications. Upon constructing the cycle in test tubes, the researchers could confirm its functionality. Then the training began: through rational and machine learning-guided optimization over several rounds of experiments, the team was able to improve the acetyl-CoA yield by a factor of 100. In order to test its in vivo feasibility, incorporation into the living cell should be carried out step by step. To this end, the researchers divided the THETA cycle into three modules, each of which was successfully implemented into the bacterium E. coli. The functionality of these modules was verified through growth-coupled selection and/or isotopic labelling.

"What is special about this cycle is that it contains several intermediates that serve as central metabolites in the bacterium's metabolism. This overlap offers the opportunity to develop a modular approach for its implementation.” explains Shanshan Luo, lead author of the study. “We were able to demonstrate the functionality of the three individual modules in E. coli. However, we have not yet succeeded in closing the entire cycle so that E. coli can grow completely with CO2," she adds. Closing the THETA cycle is still a major challenge, as all of the 17 reactions need to be synchronized with the natural metabolism of E. coli, which naturally involves hundreds to thousands of reactions. However, demonstrating the whole cycle in vivo is not the only goal, the researcher emphasizes. "Our cycle has the potential to become a versatile platform for producing valuable compounds directly from CO2 through extending its output molecule, acetyl-CoA." says Shanshan Luo.

“Bringing parts of the THETA cycle into living cells is an important proof-of-principle for synthetic biology”, adds Tobias Erb. “Such modular implementation of this cycle in E. coli paves the way to the realization of highly complex, orthogonal new-to-nature CO2-fixation pathways in cell factories. We are learning to completely reprogram the cellular metabolism to create a synthetic autotrophic operating system for the cell."

---

JOURNAL

Nature Catalysis

DOI

10.1038/s41929-023-01079-z 

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Cells

ARTICLE TITLE

Construction and modular implementation of the THETA cycle for synthetic CO2 fixation. Nature Catalysis, 6(12), 1228-1240.