Turns out Sauropods Liked Pasta

First sauropod bones from Italy offer new insights on the radiation of Titanosauria between Africa and Europe

Authors:

Dal Sasso et al

Abstract:

Here we describe the first sauropod skeletal remains from the Italian peninsula that also represent the earliest record of titanosaurs in Southern Europe. Scattered bones, including an almost complete anterior caudal vertebra, were found in Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) marine deposits, some 50 km East of Rome. The vertebra shows a bizarre and perhaps unique orientation of the zygapophyseal articular facets that renders their interpretation problematic. Phylogenetic retrofitting tests support the placement of the Italian titanosaur among basal lithostrotians. Palaeobiogeographic analysis based on the resulting phyletic relationships suggests an Afro-Eurasian route for the ancestors of the Italian titanosaur, a scenario compatible with the palaeogeographic evolution of the Italian microplates during the Cretaceous. Together with previously recorded titanosaurian-like ichnites from a Cenomanian locality in Latium, this new find suggests a quite long emersion for the Apenninic carbonate platform. We suggest that the Italian titanosaur was member of a population that crossed the western Tethys Sea through a “filtering bridge” composed of a chain of ephemeral islands and peninsulae, known as Periadriatic (Adria) carbonate platforms, that connected sporadically Africa and Europe since the Early Cretaceous.

Chinese Police to Patrol...Italy?!?!

Chinese policemen are in Italy to start patrols with Italian officers in Rome and Milan in a two-week experiment.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Monday that the aim is to make Chinese tourists feel safe and noted that it's the first time China sent police to Europe for such a project.

Starting Tuesday, two Chinese uniformed policemen will patrol with Italian counterparts in Rome, while two others will patrol with Italian police in Milan. For the second week, the Chinese will switch cities.

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A Massive Roman era Vineyard in Vagnari, Italy

Archaeologists from the University of Sheffield have uncovered a unique insight into the life of one of the Roman Empire's most prominent landowners.

Until now, very little was known about Rome's Imperial leaders aside from their battle triumphs, territorial conquests and monumental legacies.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology investigating the vast Imperial estate of Vagnari in Italy, have now unearthed evidence of wine production on an industrial scale – shedding light on their home life away from the battlefield.

The excavation team discovered the corner of a cella vinaria, a wine fermentation and storage room, in which wine vessels, known as dolia defossa, were fixed into the ground.

The heavy and cumbersome wine vessels have the capacity of more than 1,000 litres and were buried up to their necks in the ground to keep the temperature of the wine constant and cool – a necessary measure in hot climates.

The scale of the wine production provides clear evidence for industrial activities and provides a glimpse into the range of specialist crafts and industries practised by residents - painting a better and more complete picture of life on the Imperial estate and the wealth it provided for its owner.

Maureen Carroll, Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Sheffield, said: "Before we began our work only a small part of the vicus, which is at the heart of the estate and its administrative core, had been explored though the general size and outline of the village had been indicated by geophysics and test-trenching.

"The discovery that lead was being processed here at Vagnari is also particularly revealing about the environment in which the inhabitants of the village lived and potential health risks to which they were exposed.

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Massive 3d Concrete Printer Prepares to Print a Village in Italy

Everyone likes to fantasize about a utopia, where everyone gets along, everyone is happy, and there is no war, injustice or suffering. Most religions teach the concept of some sort of ultimate utopia — heaven in the Judeo-Christian tradition, or, in Hinduism and Tibetan Buddhism, there’s Shambhala. The hidden kingdom is said to be a place of peace, and its name has been used for countless yoga studios, meditation centers, and retreats all over the world. Now it’s been taken as the name for an entire village. While this Shambhala, which will eventually be constructed in the center of Massa Lombarda, Italy, may not be an actual paradise, it’s certainly going to be unique in that it will be fully sustainable, self-sufficient – and entirely 3D printed.

Back in September, we reported on the world’s largest delta-style 3D printer. The appropriately named BigDelta is twelve meters tall, and when it was unveiled by Italian company WASP in Massa Lombarda, it was introduced as a potential means for 3D printing entire houses out of clay found in local soils. The idea is an incredible one, and no one can be blamed for being a bit hesitant to believe it will work, but WASP and the municipality of Massa Lombarda are getting set to prove it with the construction of their 3D printed village. BigDelta will be the center of Shambhala, which will be built in Massa Lombarda’s industrial district. Shambhala will be a high-tech, eco-friendly village with low energy consumption, a village whose inhabitants will be fully self-sufficient without reliance on outside corporations. The agreement to forge ahead with the project was signed yesterday by WASP owner Massimo Moretti and Massa Lombarda mayor Daniele Bassi.

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Italy Declares not to be Outdone by British 'Sub' Urban Farming, Have Their own Take on 'Sub' Urban Farming Underwater

The stand for the region of Liguria at the Milan 2015 Expo features a project as bizarre-sounding as it is intriguing: an attempt to grow crops underwater, inside air-filled biospheres. It's part of an effort that could prove a low-cost, low-energy solution to grow food in parts of the world where this was not previously possible.

Though of fascinating beauty, the land in the region of Liguria in Northern Italy is known to be especially poor for farming. Between the crowded population, rocky terrain, steep hills that often give way to landslides, and the periodic floods, the locals have had to resort to energy-inefficient terrace farming.

This is not an isolated problem: lack of fertile land and adverse climate conditions around the world means we've seen several projects involving growing crops creatively, including underground, inside a skyscraper, in a tiny greenhouse and even in the cloud, to try and deal with the issue.

For their project, however, scuba diving company owner Sergio Gamberini and his son Luca have picked an even more unusual spot: under the sea, inside biospheres 6 to 9 meters (20 to 30 ft) below the surface, just off the Ligurian tourist beaches of the town of Noli, near Savona.

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F-35B Does First Ski Jump Lift off for Royal & Italian Navies

The F-35B jump-jet version of the Joint Strike Fighter has completed its first takeoff from a ski jump, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

The stealthy fifth-generation fighter jet designed to fly like a plane and land like a helicopter accomplished the task Friday from a test-ramp at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, according to Joe DellaVedova, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s F-35 program.

“This test is one of the milestones along the way for integrating the F-35B aboard UK and Italian aircraft carriers,” he said in an e-mail.

Both countries plan to deploy their short take-off and vertical-landing (STOVL) versions of the jet aboard carriers equipped with a ski jump, a feature that allows aircraft to carry more weight despite taking off from a short runway.

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A key for Understanding Cisuralian Permian Tetrapod Ichnofaunas

The Gerola Valley site (Orobic Basin, Northern Italy): A key for understanding late Early Permian tetrapod ichnofaunas

Authors:

Marchetti et al

Abstract:

A taxonomic study has been carried out on the historical Gerola Valley locality (Pizzo del Diavolo formation, late Cisuralian), which represents one of the best tetrapod ichnosites of the whole Southern Alps (North Italy). With respect to previous studies, the ichnoassociation is now enlarged and lists the following taxa: Amphisauropus, Dromopus, Erpetopus, Hyloidichnus, Limnopus, Varanopus. The optimal preservation of the material, which in some cases shows even traces of the skin, allowed the recognition of a new morphotype of Varanopus. The invertebrate ichnoassociation is newly described and is representative of impoverished Scoyenia and Mermia ichnofacies. A detailed facies analysis of the uppermost arenitic-pelitic lithofacies of the Pizzo del Diavolo formation, which revealed the most abundant fossil content (Locality 1) and of two new localities (pelitic facies, Localities 2, 3) shows a transition from shallow lacustrine to floodplain and alluvial fan environments under a generally dry climate. Besides the taxonomic revision of vertebrate tracks, the final aims of our study are: i) the depositional, palaeoenvironmental and climatic reconstruction of this sector of the Orobic Basin through an integration of palaeontological data and facies analysis; and ii) the regional correlation of this key stratigraphic succession with other coeval ichnofaunas in Pangaea.

Evidence of Climate Change During Carnian Triassic

Sequence stratigraphy after the demise of a high-relief carbonate platform (Carnian of the Dolomites): sea-level and climate disentangled

Authors:

Gattolin et al

Abstract:

Sedimentary facies analysis aided by quantitative 3D georeferenced field data are applied to constrain the sequence stratigraphy of a complex stratigraphic interval in the Late Triassic of the Dolomites. This multidisciplinary approach was the key to disentangle the timing of climatic change vs. sea-level fluctuation and their effects on shallow water carbonate depositional systems. The “Carnian Pluvial Event”, a global episode of climate change worldwide documented at low latitudes, involved increased rainfall and possibly global warming. This climatic event begins before a drop of sea-level and caused the demise of microbial-dominated high-relief carbonate platforms that dominated the Dolomites region, and was followed by a period of coexistence of small microbial carbonate mounds and arenaceous skeletal-oolitic grainstones. A subsequent sea-level fall brought to the definitive disappearance of microbialites and shallow water carbonates switched to ramps dominated by oolitic-bioclastic grainstones. The crisis of early Carnian shallow water carbonate systems of the Dolomites generated a geological surface similar to a drowning unconformity, although no transgression occurred. As the high-relief microbial carbonate systems characterized by steep slopes switched to gently inclined oolitic-skeletal-siliciclastic ramps, basins were rapidly filled. The change of carbonate depositional systems was associated with an increase in siliciclastic input, in turn triggered by the onset of a humid climatic event and only later to a sea-level drop. This evolution of carbonate systems cannot be interpreted in the light of sea-level changes only: climate change, and consequent ecological changes in the main carbonate producing biotas, induced significant modifications in depositional geometries. This case study may serve as a conceptual model for the sedimentary evolution of carbonate systems subject to ecological crisis that do not evolve in platform drowning because, despite a drop in shallow water carbonate production, a combination of low subsidence and/or sea level drop maintains the platform top at shallow depth.

Pentagon Strikes Deal With Lockheed for $4.3 Billion F-35 LRIP-8: 29 American F-35s, 4 British, 4 Japanese, 2 Italian, 2 Israeli & 2 Norweigan

The US Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin have agreed in principle to the next yearly production contract for 43 F-35s worth $4.3 billion that lowers average unit costs by 3.6%.

The announcement is expected to be followed by a signed contract in the “coming weeks”, Lockheed says.

The promised, 3.6% unit cost reduction comes a year after Lockheed signed a $3.9 million contract for 35 F-35s in the seventh year of low-rate initial production (LRIP).

That number implies that the average unit cost across all three variants has declined from $111.4 million in LRIP-7 to about $107 million in LRIP-8.

Lockheed officials are not able to confirm the actual unit cost average until the contract is signed.

That total does not include the cost of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine.

The LRIP-8 contract includes orders for 29 US fighters and 14 international fighters, including the UK’s four F-35Bs, Japan’s four F-35As and two F-35A’s each for Israel, Italy and Norway. The US Department of Defense is buying 19 F-35As, six F-35Bs and four F-35Cs.

More than 200 F-35s are now under contract for delivery through the end of Fiscal 2016.

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Cenomanian Cretaceous Paleobotany Fossils From Italy

Cretaceous conifers and angiosperms from the Bonarelli Level; Reassessment of Massalongo's plant fossil collections of “Monte Colle”, Lessini Mountains, northern Italy

Authors:

Gomez et al

Abstract:

The lost plant fossil and fish locality of “Monte Colle”, near the village of Bolca, Verona province, northern Italy has been considered to be of Eocene age since the middle of the nineteenth century. However, upon re-examination of the plant fossils, especially the specimens of Aularthrophyton Massalongo, which closely resemble the fossil conifer Frenelopsis Schenk, led us to suspect that a Cretaceous age was more probable. Fieldwork to re-evaluate the local stratigraphy, and the identification of the radiolarians Crucella cachensis Pessagno and Patellula helios (Squinabol) within the matrix of surviving hand specimens, all definitively show that the fossil bed actually belongs to the uppermost Cenomanian Bonarelli Level. With this revised age, we properly describe the gross morphology of the surviving plant specimens and reinterpret their identifications and affinities. Frenelopsis petraepurae comb. nov., Geinitzia sp., and a single angiosperm leaf type are described and the consequences for nomenclature outlined. Comparisons with coeval Cretaceous plant taxa are also discussed.

RoboLaw Consortium Posts Guidelines to the Legal Aspects of the Robopocalypse

If a self-driving car causes an accident or a surgical robot kills a patient, whose fault is it? These are some of the questions a recent report funded by the European Union sought to answer.

Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov famously wrote about the "three laws of robotics." Essentially, the laws state that a robot may not injure a human being, that it must obey orders given by humans and that it must protect its own existence when this doesn't conflict with the first two laws.

Similarly, the newly released RoboLaw guidelines aim to set down basic principles for governing robot behavior in real life. The guidelines also aim to determine whether existing laws are adequate to regulate new robotic technologies, ranging from self-driving vehicles to robot caretakers.

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pdf of RoboLaw Consortium recommendations.

Next Ariane Development Will Dominate ESA Ministerial Meeting

The space ministers of France, Germany and Italy are scheduled to meet Sept. 23 in Zurich to assess how far they are from agreement on strategy and funding for Europe’s next-generation Ariane rocket, upgrades to the light-lift Vega vehicle and — as a lower priority — their continued participation in the international space station.

The meeting should give these governments a better sense of whether a formal conference of European Space Agency ministers scheduled for Dec. 2 in Luxembourg will be able to make firm decisions, or will be limited to expressions of goodwill.

France, Germany and Italy account for most European space spending, and they are the three biggest backers of Europe’s launch vehicle and space station programs.

After working through the summer, officials from the three governments and from the 20-nation ESA — pushed by an emerging consensus among industrial contractors and Ariane rocket customers — appear to have settled on an Ariane 6 design that meets the strategic and financial requirements.

Ariane 6, like the Ariane 4 rocket retired in the late 1990s and replaced by the heavy-lift Ariane 5, will start with one version — a common core with a first stage powered by the Vulcain 2 cryogenic engine, an upper cryogenic stage powered by the Vinci engine, and flanked by as many as four solid-rocket boosters, depending on mission requirements.

It is not an entirely new rocket. The Vulcain 2 engine was developed for Ariane 5. The Vinci upper-stage engine was developed for an upgraded Ariane 5, called Ariane 5 Mid-life Evolution, that now appears less likely to win final funding approval at December’s ministerial conference.

The Ariane 6 solid-rocket stages, each carrying 120,000 kilograms of propellant, will share development costs with the Vega rocket. The new stages, called P120, will power the first stage of the Vega Consolidated (Vega C) vehicle awaiting government approval.

With so many elements borrowed from other programs, the Ariane 6 could be operational as soon as 2019 or 2020 — just a year or two later than the Ariane 5 ME — at a cost that government officials said would be around 3 billion euros ($3.9 billion).

Ariane 5 ME’s development cost has been estimated at 1.2 billion euros. With self-imposed spending limit on rockets of 8 billion euros over 10 years, ESA likely cannot afford to build both Ariane 5 ME and Ariane 6 at the same time. The 8-billion-euro ceiling includes all launcher spending at ESA, including ESA’s share of Ariane 5 and Vega operations.

Ariane 6’s operating cost, once production reaches its cruise-phase, would be some 90 million euros with four strap-on boosters, and be able to lift 11,000 kilograms of payload into geostationary orbit, the destination of most telecommunications satellites.

The lighter Ariane 6, with per-vehicle production costs estimated at 80 million euros, would be used for European government missions, ultimately replacing the Europeanized Russian Soyuz rocket that is operated from Europe’s Guiana Space Center on the northeast coast of South America.

The differences of opinion about Ariane 6, whose design configuration has changed at least twice in the past year, have so preoccupied French, German and Italian government discussions that they have had little time to think about the international space station.

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Crustaceans Just Before the Permian Extinction

Evolution of Crustaceans at the edge of the end-Permian crisis: Ichnonetwork analysis of the fluvial succession of Nurra (Permian–Triassic, Sardinia, Italy)

Authors:

Baucon et al

Abstract:

Decapod crustaceans are among the most efficient ecosystem engineers of the Phanerozoic, but the path that led to their engineering success is poorly known. The Permian–Triassic continental succession of Nurra (early Cisuralian–early Middle Triassic; Sardinia, Italy) sheds light on this obscure subject, because it preserves the oldest (Roadian) fluvial Ophiomorpha and Camborygma, ascribed to ghost shrimps (Decapoda: Axiidea, Gebiidea) and crayfishes (Decapoda: Astacidea, Parastacidea), respectively. These crustacean trace fossils are part of a well-preserved ichnofauna including Arenicolites, Diplocraterion, Helminthoidichnites, Palaeophycus, Planolites, rhizoliths, Skolithos, Spongeliomorpha, Taenidium, Treptichnus, alongside an undetermined tetrapod footprint, helical burrows and Sinusichnus-like traces.

In light of the abundance of crustacean trace fossils, the Cala Viola section (Roadian–Anisian) was selected for ichnonetwork analysis. This novel approach, focusing on the topology of the association relationships of ichnotaxa, revealed six ichnoassociations, i.e., Rhizohaloes, Taenidium/Ophiomorpha, Helminthoidichnites, Palaeophycus, Skolithos and Arenicolites ichnoassociations. In addition, ichnonetwork analysis shown that Camborygma and Ophiomorpha colonised adjacent, partially overlapping fluvial subenvironments, ranging from active fluvial channels to periaquatic overbanks. As the Nurra occurrences are penecontemporaneous of the astacid/thalassinid diversification (Carboniferous–Early Permian) and coeval with the appearance of crayfishes (Middle Permian), fluvial environments played an important role in the evolution of both crayfishes and ghost shrimps. The most parsimonious explanation of the observed scenario is that astacid–thalassinid diversification happened in fluvial environments between the Carboniferous and Early Permian, while ghost shrimps invaded marine environments at the Permian–Triassic boundary. In addition, ichnonetwork analysis revealed that the ichnological system simplified across the Permian–Triassic boundary, accounting for a structured Permian ecosystem and fragmented, stressed habitats during the Early Triassic. This scenario is explained by a progressive drying trend that dramatically changed the hydrological features across the Permian–Triassic boundary. This supports the crucial role of global warming in driving the end-Permian crisis and its prolonged recovery.

Testing Proxies for Mobility Patterns in Paleolithic Northern Italy and Southeastern France

Changes in mobility patterns as a factor of site density variation in the Late Epigravettian of Northern Italy and Southeastern France

Authors:

Naudinot et al

Abstract:

This paper critically considers the use of radiocarbon dates as a demographic proxy for past population. Our goal is not to reject or valid this approach. We even did not focus on the various bias of this approach or on the several correction methods used to reduce them. We rather argue that when trying to interpret 14C dates in a demographic perspective, it is essential to analyze socio-economic parameters. Studying the case of the Late Glacial Upper Palaeolithic of Southeastern France and Northern Italy, we demonstrate that the use of techno-economic approaches allows discussing this way to interpret the radiocarbon data. From this analysis we argue that a change in the density of dates cannot be simply interpreted in term of demography. We demonstrate that these variations can be the result of changes in the way people organize themselves in a territory. In other word, we argue that mobility patterns are somehow responsible for the density of dates and sites.

Not Below 15%: Evidence of Wild Fires in Anisian & Ladinian Triassic Dolomites, Italy

Wildfires in the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic of the Southern Alps—the Anisian and Ladinian (Mid Triassic) of the Dolomites (Northern Italy)

Authors:

Uhl et al

Abstract:

Based on anatomical studies of fossil charcoal fragments the first evidence for palaeo-wildfires is presented for the Anisian and Ladinian of the Dolomites (Northern Italy). These charcoals are from the localities Kühwiesenkopf/Monte Prà della Vacca (middle-upper Pelsonian, upper Anisian) and Ritberg/Ju Rit (Longobardian, upper Ladinian), and they help to fill a gap in our current scientific knowledge on the fossil record of Triassic wildfires worldwide. Charcoal reflectance values from Kühwiesenkopf are surprisingly high, indicating a palaeo-wildfire temperature of approximately 650 °C.

A new Ypresian Eocene Paleogene Lagerstätte From Italy

A new Fossil-Lagerstätte from the Lower Eocene of Lessini Mountains (northern Italy): A multidisciplinary approach

Authors:

Giusberti et al

Abstract:

Hemipelagic dark limestones within calciturbiditic deposits at Monte Solane in the western Lessini Mountains of northern Italy yield a fish fauna dominated by stomiiforms. A minor component of the fossil assemblage is represented by a macroalgal non-calcareous flora associated with rarer terrestrial components including few angiosperm leaves and seeds. Micropaleontological (foraminifera, dinoflagellate cysts), sedimentological and geochemical proxies (TEX86) indicate a deposition of the fossil-bearing bed in a hypoxic to possibly anoxic, warm, restricted basin. High-precision dating based on rich foraminiferal and calcareous nannoplankton content allows ascribing the site to the upper part of the Ypresian (Lower Eocene). The site is slightly older than the Ypresian worldwide-famous shallow-water Bolca Konservat-Lagerstätte located in the same region. Convergent paleoenvironmental clues based on both microfossils and ichthyofauna indicate that the sediments were deposited in the upper bathyal zone, probably between 300 and 600 m. Solane is therefore one of the rare and precious Eocene Lagerstätte to have fossilized in a deep marine setting. The site contains the oldest Cenozoic record of an ichthyofauna dominated by meso-bathypelagic taxa.

First Discovery of an Ichthyosaur From Carnian Triassic Sicily, Italy

FIRST RECORD OF ICHTHYOSAURS IN SICILY (UPPER TRIASSIC OF MONTE SCALPELLO, CATANIA PROVINCE)

Authors:

DAL SASSO et al

Abstract:

Here we report for the first time on the presence of ichthyosaurs in Sicily, southern Italy. The deposit of origin (Mufara Formation) can be dated to the upper Carnian (Tuvalian substage) based on a typical association of ammonites, one of which (Shastites sp.) is embedded in the sediment still encrusting one of the bone specimens recently found. The latter consist of two isolated vertebral centra that are referred to the Ichthyosauria thanks to their disk-like shape (i.e. they are much taller than long) combined with the amphicelous condition, lack of transverse processes, and presence of rib articulations on the central sides. The largest specimen is more precisely an anterior dorsal vertebra from an adult individual, ascribed to Shastasauridae indet. By the presence of elongated reniform diapophyseal facets, cranially not truncated, and absence of parapophyses. The smaller specimen represents an anterior cervical element from an immature individual of a likely smaller-sized, indeterminate taxon. These finds indicate that the biodiversity of the Monte Scalpello Triassic fauna is higher than previously known, but above all represent the southernmost occurrence of Triassic ichthyosaurs in the western Tethys basin.

Venetian Separatist Linked to Crimea Arrested With "Tank" on Terrorist Charges

Italian police on Wednesday arrested 24 alleged separatists for terrorism after thwarting a plan to take over St Mark's Square in Venice armed with guns and a rudimentary "tank" made from a digger.

Police said they had arrested activists from a group called "The Alliance" on charges of "terrorism conspiracy and subversion of the democratic order," which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The underground group, made up of radical separatists from the Lombardy, Sardinia and Veneto regions, had been planning to "liberate" the iconic Venetian piazza using weapons from the Albanian mafia and set up a new independent government, police said.

They were planning an attack "by hundreds of people, some of them armed" and "an insurrection from the inhabitants of northern Italy most affected by the economic crisis," law enforcers said in a statement.

"The tank was built to be used for a spectacular action on St Mark's Square," police said.

The plan comes after more than two million residents of Venice and its surrounding region last month voted overwhelmingly in favour of breaking away from the rest of the country and forming their own state.

The online poll, although not legally binding and open to manipulation, showed the strenth of separatist feeling in Italy's northern regions.

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A Giant Campanian Cretaceous Mosasaur With Twisted Teeth From Northern Italy

A giant mosasaur (Reptilia, Squamata) with an unusually twisted dentition from the Argille Scagliose Complex (late Campanian) of Northern Italy

Authors:

Fanti et al

Abstract:

A snout of a large-sized mosasaur from the Upper Cretaceous pelagic-turbiditic deposits of the Argille Scagliose Complex of Northern Italy is described. Nannofossil assemblages from the immediately overlying strata belong to the late but not latest Campanian calcareous nannofossil standard zone CC22, based on the presence of Uniplanarius trifidus and Eiffellithus eximius. The specimen includes a broken premaxilla, the anterior part of the maxillae and dentaries in articulation: preserved teeth show distinctive characters previously unreported in other mosasaurs. Although the marginal teeth show a posterior migration of the labial carina along the jaw length – diagnostic of derived mosasaurines – they are unusual in the combination of features, including anteriormost teeth with asteroid cross section followed by teeth with crowns twisted labioposteriorly from one-third to one-half of their height toward the apices. A comparison between the new specimen and Mosasaurus hoffmanni skulls suggests an estimated skull length comparable with some of the largest known mosasaurids. Consequently, the new specimen represents the largest mosasaur and the largest fossil reptile found in Italy to date. Several lines of dental evidence also support the interpretation of the Italian mosasaur as a macrophagous generalist predator. Paleogeographic reconstruction for the Argille Scagliose Complex as well as the occurrence of typical low- to mid-latitude nannofossils support a southern Tethyan margin affinity of the taxon.

Will we now Have Little Venetians too?

"Ballot" is not originally an English word: It comes from the Venetian word ballotta, or "little ball." For centuries, councils elected the Doge of Venice, who ruled the city-state, with small silver and gold balls. Now Venetians have put their modern equivalent to good use in a bid to declare independence from Italy. And they have a pretty good case to make for restoring their once-mighty republic.

Last week, in a move overshadowed by the international outcry over Russia's annexation of Crimea, Plebiscito.eu, an organization representing a coalition of Venetian nationalist groups, held an unofficial referendum on breaking with Rome. Voters were first asked the main question—"Do you want Veneto to become an independent and sovereign federal republic?"—followed by three sub-questions on membership in the European Union, NATO, and the eurozone. The region's 3.7 million eligible voters used a unique digital ID number to cast ballots online, and organizers estimate that more than 2 million voters ultimately participated in the poll.

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