Another great addition to the TONMO.com article base was contributed this weekend by Phil:

Vampyroteuthis infernalis

Thank you, Phil!!

:notworth:

Great article Phil, had some nice photos I hadnt seen before too.

Great stuff Phil - another fascinating article:smile:

Absolutely wonderful article, Phil-- I had no idea that so much was known about these animals at this point, particularly with respect to reproduction.

One minor passage I found a bit confusing, though, was this:

It maintains buoyancy via the use of statoliths (balancing organs akin to a human's inner ear) and tissues rich in ammonium ions that closely match the density of surrounding seawaters.

Do the statoliths have something to do with buoyancy? I thought they were about orientation and acceleration, but don't have anything to do with buoyancy control...

:vampyro:

:vampyro: Very informative article Phil, another masterpiece:notworth: :grad: :notworth:

Great article Phil, easy to understand but packed with information. :notworth:

YES FINALLY SOME GREAT VAMPY FACTS!!!! I've been waiting all my life for this...

Thanks very much chaps, I'm glad you all enjoyed it. It was cobbled together from numerous internet sites and research papers freely available online, most of which I quoted in the references. The Tree of Life pages were particularly valuable

I'd also like to thank Steve for taking the time for checking the article through and correcting me where I was going wrong. Cheers Steve!

I'm not too sure about your query there Monty, that sentence was one of Steves corrections. I'll try and find out for you.

Awesome stuff :vampyro: :vampyro: :vampyromo

Thanks alot for this article Phil ! It certainly broadens my understanding of these fascinating creatures. :smile:

Terrific article, Phil! I'm a big fan of these living fossils and was very happy to see this. Informative with beautiful pics! The 1903 illustration is public domain, eh? Methinks it shall be working it's way onto a flier sometime very soon... always loved that picture...

Yep, I believe it is in the public domain. I took it from the Wikipedia which stated as such as it is over 100 years old.

Thanks Joel, Erich and Snafflehound, much appreciated.

Superb work Phil. Hugely informative. Thank you.:vampyromo :thumbsup:

Great article. liked vampys ever since I first saw an illustration of 1 thirty years ago in a nature book I got for christmas.:grad: You rock Phil.

Fabulous work, Phil! I'm fascinated by the bioluminescent cloud.

Melissa

100% fascinating ! top job Phil
10/10 with bar.

Keef

I thank you once again, Capn, Mr Delta, Melissa and Lord Spart.

I believe it is now time to reveal the inevitable rejected picture (every article has at least one unloved and tearful). I was so short of uncopyrighted pictures I could use at one point I even resorted to photographing small Japanese model vampire squid available in packets of chocolate in vending machines.

One gets a lot of chocolate with an Architeuthis, I can tell you. :hmm:

Hello Phil,

Your article is outstanding. The vampyromorphs always left me a wee bit confused, but you've cleared all of that up. Quite brilliant, Sir.

Cheers,
Clem

Hi Phil,

like the others, I have enjoyed it very much...
Truly amazing and unique group of cephs that would require more attention...

eups

Thanks Clem and Eups. Steve deserves a great deal of credit for the proof read.

There are plenty of fossil vamps I'd like to have included details on, but finding information on them on the net is almost as hard as photographing a live Architeuthis. For example, there is an enigmatic well preserved mid-Jurassic beast known from Voulte-on-Rhone called Vampyronassa that I would have loved to include. Unfortunately, not all researchers reply to enquiring e-mails...

Maybe when the Treatise of Invertebrate Palaeontology Part M. Mollusca 5 (Coleoidea) is eventually published we'll get some interesting facts and figures. Until then it's just bits and pieces I'm afraid.

Hello Phil,

Your article is outstanding. The vampyromorphs always left me a wee bit confused, but you've cleared all of that up. Quite brilliant, Sir.

Cheers,
Clem

me too, stupid here :oops: <--- thought it was an octopus, where's my Stanley knife :goodbye: cruel world !

Keef

Wicked article. I keep forgetting how much I like Vampyroteuthis.

Ah, thank you very much. I had fun writing that article and it is really nice to know it was appreciated.

It's about time I started a new one. Overdue in fact.

Hello all,
I agree, this is a wonderful article. Phil, I read the old post saying you'd like info/pics on vampyronassa. I have the french copy of its description, and I have a picture of a nice specimen of Vampyronassa. I can take more if you want a close-up of a part. Attaching photo. Let me know if you want me to repost the photo to the gallery or if it gets automatically posted there.
--Will

:welcome: to TONMO Will,
Thank you for posting the Photo, I think you have to post it to the gallery seperately. Any more close-ups of the little beastie would be well appreciated. Do you have access to the fossil?

Indeed I do. I'll get my camera out and start picturing. I just realized how tiny a pic it really is.

Hi Will,

Thanks everso much for that stunning contribution. I couldn't find any details about Vampyonassa when I wrote that article other than a few hints about its existance, and certainly no details. The picture you have provided is fascinating - the thing even looks like the Vampire Squid. Yes, any details you could provide will be very welcome, and please upload it to the gallery.

To set a context, Vampyronassa is about 162-165m years old (middle Jurassic) and was found at Volte-sur-Rhone in France, the same site as was found the unique specimen of Proteroctopus.

I imagine that this fossil must have caused quite a stir amongst those researchers studying vampyromorph cephalopods and coleoid evolution.

Thanks also for your kind words too!

Phil

Is that a fin I can see at the posterior of the mantle?

I've just found the abstract from the desription of Vampyronassa. Unfortunately the full article is $30 (don't you just hate that?):

Vampyronassa rhodanica nov. gen. nov sp., vampyromorphe (Cephalopoda, Coleoidea) du Callovien inférieur de la Voulte-sur-Rhône (Ardèche, France)

Jean-Claude Fischer, A and Bernard Riou

Annales de Paléontologie, Volume 88, Issue 1, January-March 2002, Pages 1-17



Abstract

Vampyronassa rhodanica nov. gen. nov. sp., Vampyromorpha (Cephalopoda, Coleoidea) from the Lower Callovian of la Voulte-sur-Rhône (Ardèche, France). The Vampyromorpha, an order of cephalopods closely related to Octopoda, have been yet undubitably identified only in recent time, always in deep oceanic waters. Their occurrence since the Middle Jurassic is evidenced by about twenty specimens from the Lower Callovian of la Voulte-sur-Rhône (Ardèche), which exhibit vampyromorph fundamental features : eight sessile arms showing one row of suckers with bordering cirri, a web uniting the arms, a pair of brachial tentacles, well shaped lateral eyes, an internal uncalcified supporting organ (gladius), a pair of supero-posterior fins, two postero-dorsal light-organs, no ink-sac. These specimens, here assigned to the new genus and species Vampyronassa rhodanica, still differ from recent Vampyromorpha by their two first dorsal sessile arms clearly longer than the others, their more important funnel and their longer and slightly more spindle-like body. This characteristic Middle Jurassic vampyromorph leads to admit a much older origin for this cephalopod order. The probably mesopelagic mode of life of this new vampyromorph is then tentatively examined. Critical arguments about the assignment to Vampyromorpha of three large teuthid-like species from the Upper Jurassic of Germany are developed.

Ah, yes.
The cost of articles is terrible, unless of course you are a student of a university as I am. :smile: Free access is good. However, in the full article the last english word you get is in the abstract. Altavista will probably get you an idea of what it all means. Also it's 700k or so whereas the attachment size for these messages is limited. I'll try the message service to get it to you. Also, yeah, the tiny blob at the very end of the cone appears to be the flap. It's somewhat poorly defined, since all the material was pyrite replaced and probably the flaps were almost if not sticking together while that took place.
--Will

Well, it turns out it's more like 800k. I can't seem to attach anything this big to anything else. So, I've posted it here:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wstoddar/vampyronassa.pdf
I should take it down in a week or so to make sure it doesn't appear on the google search and get the publishers mad at me. Also, another neat article:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~wstoddar/voultesurrhone.pdf
This is on the whole formation with some belemnites in there as well. Also the clam or oyster that's above the vampy here and the not yet pictured shrimp that's behind it.
--Will

:shock: Wow, that belemite fossil is amazing. As are most of the cephalopod fossils in that article.

I do have to say that the Thylacocepalid crustacean was a little scary looking...

Just posted 2 pics for approval. Here's the main one.

:notworth: Great articles Will, Thanks for posting those.

And thanks for the Pics.

Are you a :vampyro: :grad:

Wow! The level of detail preserved in the fossils is stunning.

Well, if you have full access to the opriginal french version, I'd be willing (during the week-end) to translate it for you (French is my first language, my geology years were either in french or english and my paleontology class had both language).

Thanks everso much for the the links Willsquish, the images were fascinating. Unfortunately my 'O' level grade 'C' French 1985 wasn't quite up to the job. If Stephanopod would like to have a crack at translating the cephalopod sections I'm sure we'd all very much appreciate it. Thank you for the offer.

Interesting to see the web has been reconstructed as varying in length dorsal - ventral. The overall shape is incredibly similar to Vampyroteuthis.

It was also to interesting to see Rhomboteuthis, that's one I had heard of, but have not seen a reconstruction before. The long tapering gladius reminds me of the much better known Plesioteuthis.

Well, if you have full access to the opriginal french version, I'd be willing (during the week-end) to translate it for you (French is my first language, my geology years were either in french or english and my paleontology class had both language).

That'd be wonderful, though it is pretty huge (I fear it may take awhile).

Well, my main squeeze won't be back before the 22nd.That ought to keep my me away from almost certain temptations. Whci one shall I start with?

And by the way, I wouldn't mind having someone to check on overall style. Some of the french form might pop in once in a while.

:notworth: Great articles Will, Thanks for posting those.

And thanks for the Pics.

Are you a :vampyro: :grad:

Well, I've been called a squid before, but only by my squid sister. I am a grad/ soon to be researcher, but not in this field I'm afraid, at least not in terms of being published/publishable. I envy those that are. I do aerospace engineering, but also was a naval architecture undergrad, along with an aero undergrad and a paleo minor. Took all the paleo classes offered at University of Michigan, and indeed did a term paper on the sutures of ammonites vs the nautiloid septae. That aside, I research only for my own curiosity, and probably won't be published, unless I switch over to paleo full time. I've heard that all sorts of majors can actually get into paleo grad program in University of Chicago or something. I'm almost tempted to go there, since aerospace is getting awfully competitive. Anyway, so that's my background.

Perhaps I am a :vampyro: and a :grad:, but not a professional :vampyro: :grad:

Well, my main squeeze won't be back before the 22nd.That ought to keep my me away from almost certain temptations. Whci one shall I start with?

And by the way, I wouldn't mind having someone to check on overall style. Some of the french form might pop in once in a while.

Whichever you like. I'm biased in favor of the vampyronassa article, due to the total ceph content (no arthropods to muddle through) and the fact it describes mine in great detail, but as I say, whichever you like. After all, some others here might like to hear more about the rhomboteuthis or belemnites. Thanks again in advance for looking into them! :notworth:

Oh, I just wish I had a copy of a translation of both those stunning articles when I wrote my pieces on Fossil Octopuses and The Vampire Squid. Some of the information there would have been invaluable. I did attempt to contact the museum at Voulte at the time, but nothing was forthcoming after a brief initial response. Oh well, it's a good couple of years ago now...

I suppose revised versions would not be out of the question one day.

I suppose revised versions would not be out of the question one day.

I hope sooner rather than later :grin:.

Whichever you like. I'm biased in favor of the vampyronassa article, due to the total ceph content (no arthropods to muddle through) and the fact it describes mine in great detail, but as I say, whichever you like. After all, some others here might like to hear more about the rhomboteuthis or belemnites. Thanks again in advance for looking into them! :notworth:

Then vampyronnassa it will be. Just don't expect a version by tommorrow. It might take a bit of time. My priority right now is to make a round-up of the US grand prix on sunday for a web site i'm with since 2000.

Any luck translating? Just curious.
-Will