(ASBURY PARK, N.J.) — A lifeguard is in the hospital after she was impaled by an umbrella at a New Jersey beach on Wednesday morning, officials said.
The woman was found on the ground near the lifeguard stand with an umbrella stake that had pierced the front of her left shoulder and was sticking out the back of her arm by about 1 foot, Asbury Park Fire Chief Kevin Keddy told ABC News.
She was being treated by her fellow lifeguards, Keddy said, and when the fire department officials arrived they took over and stabilized her. The fire department responders also cut the umbrella stake in the front and in the back to make the wound more manageable, he said.
Paramedics then responded and took the lifeguard to a hospital, Keddy said, adding she was conscious and alert the whole time.
“She’s a tough young woman,” the chief said.
The circumstances surrounding the impalement were not immediately clear, but Keddy said his advice to beachgoers is to always make sure umbrellas are placed securely in the sand and are carried with the point down.
(LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C.) — Twenty people were injured by a reported lightning strike while swimming at a beach in South Carolina, officials said.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m. on Tuesday, when multiple agencies responded to a “reported electrocution” due to lightning at Dominion Beach Park near the Lake Murray Dam in Lexington County, South Carolina, officials said in a press release.
When first responders arrived on the scene, 20 patients — eight adults and 12 juveniles — had been injured by the strike, officials said.
Eighteen of those individuals were treated at the scene, while 12 were sent to three local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, Vanessa Diaz, the public information officer for Lexington County, told ABC News in a statement.
All of the patients are expected to recover, officials said.
When the strike occurred, it was a “bright and sunny day” at the lake, but then a bolt of lightning hit the water and “energized a metal cable with buoys on it that surrounds the swimming area,” the Irmo Fire District said in a statement.
“Lightning can strike far away from a cloud. It doesn’t seem logical but a few hundred of us are believers today,” the fire district said.
Several people had swam out to the buoys and were holding the cable when the lightning hit, with others nearby in the water, the fire district said.
“Everybody got quite a jolt, we’re so fortunate that injuries were not worse than they were,” the fire district said.
Dominion Beach Park is expected to reopen on Wednesday “following safety assessments and clearance from authorities,” Lexington County officials said.
This week is Lightning Safety Awareness Week, which began in 2001 “in order to call attention to lightning being an underrated killer,” according to the National Weather Service. So far this year, there have been four reported deaths from lightning strikes in the U.S., according to the National Lightning Safety Council.
(WASHINGTON) — Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s former defense attorney who took aggressive steps to enforce Trump’s political agenda at the Justice Department in the early months of his presidency, told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “I’m not anybody’s henchman” at a confirmation hearing Wednesday to consider him for a federal judgeship.
Trump last month tapped Bove, who has been helping lead the Justice Department, for a judgeship on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In his opening statement Wednesday, Bove vigorously disputed what he described as “a wildly inaccurate caricature” of himself generated by the “mainstream media” which has cast him as a “henchman” of President Trump.
“I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right, I’m not afraid to make difficult decisions — I understand that some of those decisions have generated controversy,” Bove said. “I respect this process, and I’m here today to address some of your questions about those decisions, but I want to be clear about one thing up front: There is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media. I’m not anybody’s henchman. I’m not an enforcer.”
The hearing comes one day after a former top DOJ career official issued an explosive whistleblower complaint accusing Bove of allegedly suggesting the Trump administration should defy judicial orders that sought to restrict their aggressive efforts to deport undocumented immigrants earlier this year.
The 27-page complaint, provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department’s top watchdog and obtained by ABC News, alleges that Bove and other top DOJ officials strategized how they could mislead courts regarding the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts and potentially ignore judges’ rulings outright.
Addressing the complaint, Bove denied the allegations outright.
“No, I have never advised the Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” Bove said. “Even if that account is taken at face value, the whistleblower acknowledges that he left the meeting on March 14 of this year with the understanding that, of course, the department would advise clients to abide by court orders.”
Bove also suggested the issuance of the complaint by Erez Reuveni, a longtime career official who was promoted under the first Trump Administration for his immigration legal work, was an example of the “unelected bureaucracy” seeking to thwart “the unitary executive” and “the people that elected the president.”
“What I mean by that is, throughout this complaint, there’s a suggestion that a line attorney, not even the head of the Office of immigration litigation, was in a position or considered himself to be, to bind the department’s leadership and other Cabinet officials,” Bove said. “I don’t abide that line thinking in my management style, and I’m not apologetic of that.”
Bove also rejected allegations that there was any “quid pro quo” deal with New York Mayor Eric Adams in the DOJ’s decision to drop federal corruption charges against him in exchange for his support on immigration enforcement.
“That’s simply false and it’s refuted by — refuted by the record,” Bove said.
Multiple career prosecutors resigned in protest over the move and described the arrangement as a clear ‘quid pro quo.’ A federal judge ultimately rejected the department’s request to drop the case ‘without prejudice’ — which would have left the prospect they could seek charges against Adams again if he did not continue supporting the administration. In his ruling dismissing the charges, Judge Dale Ho was deeply skeptical of the government’s motives, writing, “Everything here smacks of a bargain.”
Adams has denied the allegations and has pushed back on accusations of a quid quo pro.
Ranking Democratic Senate Judiciary member Sen. Dick Durbin, in his opening remarks at Wednesday’s hearing, said, “The former personal defense attorney of President Trump, Mr. Bove has led the effort to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president’s enemies. Having earned his stripes as a loyalist to this President, he’s been rewarded with this lifetime nomination.”
Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley cast Bove as a victim of an “intense opposition campaign” by Democrats and the media.
“I think that this committee owes this nominee a fair shake and respect at this hearing,” Grassley said. “This is hardly the first time this Congress that we’ve come into a nomination hearing against a backdrop of breathless claims that one of President Trump’s nominees is uniquely unqualified or unfit.”
Grassley argued that lawmakers should instead look to Bove’s resume as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and his time as a judicial clerk on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, prior to serving as Trump’s personal attorney.
“This high stakes worked demands sharp legal judgment and steady resolve,” Grassley said. “Day in and day out, he was in the trenches putting terrorists and drug traffickers behind bars … Put very simply, Mr. Bove checks every box — academic distinction, federal courtships, complex trial and appellate litigation, senior Justice Department leadership. His experience isn’t just sufficient, it is very exceptional.”
(NEW YORK) — The first major heat wave of the summer will bring another day of dangerously high temperatures to the East Coast on Wednesday before relief moves in.
The oppressive heat shattered records across the Northeast on Tuesday. New York City and Philadelphia hit 99 degrees, breaking the city’s daily record highs. Baltimore and Newark, New Jersey, soared to 104 degrees and 101 degrees, respectively, also setting new daily records.
On Wednesday, more than 120 million Americans from Louisiana to New Hampshire remain under heat alerts.
Excessive heat warnings are in effect for a number of cities, including Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Richmond, Virginia; Charleston, West Virginia; and Wilmington, North Carolina.
Overall, the heat won’t be as extreme as Monday and Tuesday, but Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia could still break records with highs close to 100 degrees.
The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to reach 99 degrees in New York City, 105 in Philadelphia, 108 in D.C. and Wilmington, 104 in Charleston, South Carolina, and 106 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Relief from the oppressive heat will arrive on Thursday.
Click here for what you need to know to stay safe in the heat.
Angela Palermo/Idaho Statesman via TNS via Getty Images
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The woman who said she will offer key eyewitness testimony in Bryan Kohberger’s upcoming capital murder trial repeated that claim at least four times, to three different officers, after she was pulled over last year, according to police footage obtained by ABC News.
The body camera and dashcam footage, along with a police report from the unrelated September 2024 incident were released last weekend by police in Pullman, Washington, in response to a public records request.
In the videos, the woman explained to police that among her many life stressors, she was due to take the stand in the high-profile trial of the man charged with killing four University of Idaho students in 2022. She had been pulled over on Sept. 4, 2024, first for driving with expired registration, then was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence, the police report said.
After the woman was placed under arrest, she told officers that she was the DoorDash driver who, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, dropped off food for Xana Kernodle, one of the four killed that night. Police believe Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death by a masked intruder in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, just minutes after the DoorDash driver pulled away.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary for the four Idaho college students’ stabbing deaths. He could face the death penalty if convicted. His lawyers insist that he is innocent, and that he was driving around alone on the night when the killings occurred. The woman, in talking to police while in custody, reiterated that she would be testifying “against Bryan” four times, to three different officers.
“I’ve gotta testify against Bryan next year. I’ve got enough crap going on,” she told one officer through sobs, handcuffed in the back of the police vehicle.
As she was driven to the Pullman Police holding facility, the woman again repeated that claim.
“I’m supposed to testify against Bryan next year,” she said, “The guy that killed all the freakin’, all the girls over in Moscow.”
“Well, this won’t change any of that,” the officer said.
“Yea well, I got a DUI on my record? That’s gonna look like crap,” the woman said.
“I think maybe be more concerned about the drug use than the DUI,” Pullman Police Officer Breauna Carpenter said.
The woman responded, “Yeah.”
The woman’s DUI charge was later amended to first-degree negligent driving and she pleaded guilty.
While being questioned at the Pullman Police holding facility ,the driver once again said, to a third officer, “Now I have to testify in that big murder case here, ’cause I’m the Door Dash driver.”
When asked, she clarified the “murder case with the college girls … I’m the DoorDash driver, I saw Bryan there. I parked next to him.”
The driver has not responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
Prosecutors have already signaled they will want to use Kernodle’s DoorDash order in their case against Kohberger. They have told the court the driver’s presence at the crime scene would help them establish a “timeline of events” for Kernodle before the killings, and to corroborate their witnesses’ testimony, according to court records.
The case against Kohberger is largely circumstantial. As of now, the DoorDash driver could well be one of only two people still alive who could put the intruder in the vicinity of the crime scene on the night the students were killed.
Also expected to testify — the girls’ surviving roommate who told police she saw a masked, male intruder with “bushy eyebrows” in the home right around the time the killings occurred. That descriptor was given to investigators early on, and has been a hallmark of the case since the start.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Aug. 4 in Boise, Idaho. Opening arguments are set for Aug. 11.
A protester holds a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is back in the U.S. after being mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador, is set to appear in court in Tennessee on Wednesday for a hearing to address the conditions of his release after a magistrate judge ordered that he should not be detained while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges.
However, he is not expected to go free because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely take him into custody.
On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes acknowledged that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is “little more than an academic exercise” because ICE will likely detain him due to an immigration detainer the government has on him.
Yet the judge said the government failed to prove there is a “serious risk” that Abrego Garcia will flee or that he will obstruct justice in his criminal case.
Abrego Garcia has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle since he was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed the undocumented immigrant was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
The Trump administration, after arguing for nearly two months that it was unable to bring him back, returned him to the U.S. earlier this month to face charges of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In her 51-page ruling, Judge Holmes raised questions about some of the evidence the government presented during a June 13 hearing — much of which she said consisted of “general statements, all double hearsay from two cooperating witnesses.”
Statements from the two witnesses about Abrego Garcia’s alleged MS-13 membership contradicted each other, Holmes said. One cooperating witness, according to the special agent who testified during the hearing, said that the Salvadoran “may belong to MS-13.” But a second witness, according to the special agent, said that in ten years of acquaintance with Abrego Garcia, there were no signs or markings, including tattoos, indicating that he is a member of MS-13.
“Even without discounting the weight of the testimony of the first and second male cooperators for the multiple layers of hearsay, their testimony and statements defy common sense,” Holmes said.
“The government alleges that Abrego is a longtime, well-known member of MS-13, which the Court would expect to be reflected in a criminal history, perhaps even of the kind of violent crimes and other criminal activity the government describes as typically associated with MS-13 gang membership,” Holmes said. “But Abrego has no reported criminal history of any kind.”
Statements from the cooperating witnesses introduced during the June 13 hearing accused Abrego Garcia of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing women and minors that he allegedly transported.
(Merritt Island, Fla.) — After several postponed launches, Axiom Space’s four private astronauts are finally on their way to the International Space Station (ISS).
The multinational crew lifted off successfully aboard a SpaceX Dragon launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida early Wednesday at 2:31 a.m. EDT. The Dragon will dock with the ISS at approximately 7 a.m. EDT on Thursday.
In the final minutes before lift-off, SpaceX mission control wished the crew well, telling them to “Enjoy the ride and science the heck out of all your experiments.”
After the launch, it took about nine minutes for the spacecraft to reach orbit and begin its more than 28-hour journey to the ISS. SpaceX successfully returned the first-stage booster to Earth a little over seven minutes into the mission, with it landing nine miles from the launch site. The company plans to reuse the booster on a future mission.
For a time, the launch was in danger of being scrubbed when mission control had an issue with uploading wind conditions to the Dragon’s launch escape system. The data is crucial, as it enables the computer to accurately target an offshore splashdown location if the capsule needs to unexpectedly separate from the rocket in the event of an emergency.
The mission was delayed several times due to mechanical issues with the Falcon 9 booster and the ISS itself. NASA postponed the launch temporarily so it could evaluate repair work made to the Russian-built and maintained Zvezda Service Module.
For years, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has been attempting to seal air leaks in the module. In the days leading up to the Axiom launch, a “new pressure signature” was detected in an area with a long-standing leak. NASA said that the agency and Roscosmos have agreed on a technical solution to make the Axiom mission possible.
“NASA and Roscosmos have a long history of cooperation and collaboration on the International Space Station. This professional working relationship has allowed the agencies to arrive at a shared technical approach and now Axiom Mission 4 launch and docking will proceed,” said acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro in a statement.
The AX-4 mission marks another milestone for Axiom as it advances plans to build the world’s first commercial space station, Axiom Station, before NASA retires the ISS in 2030. Wednesday’s mission is the fourth team to visit the ISS since Axiom began partnering with NASA in 2022. The astronauts use their time aboard the station to conduct research, undergo training and participate in various scientific activities.
“The AX-4 crew represents the very best of international collaboration, dedication, and human potential. Over the past 10 months, these astronauts have trained with focus and determination, each of them exceeding the required thresholds to ensure mission safety, scientific rigor and operational excellence,” said Allen Flynt, Axiom Space’s chief of mission services, during a pre-launch press conference.
The four-person crew is traveling to the ISS aboard a newly built SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX says this is the second time the Falcon 9 booster has been used and the maiden flight of a new Dragon capsule—named Grace—that includes multiple design upgrades.
“This is the first flight for this Dragon capsule, and it’s carrying an international crew—a perfect debut. We’ve upgraded storage, propulsion components and the seat lash design for improved reliability and reuse,” said William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability.
Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now director of human spaceflight at Axiom, is commanding the mission. Whitson, who has already spent 665 days in space across three long-duration NASA missions, also commanded Axiom’s AX-2 mission in 2023, adding another 10 days in orbit. She now holds the record for the most cumulative time spent in space by a woman.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Peggy Whitson back. This will be her fifth trip to space—three with NASA and now two with Axiom,” Dana Weigel, NASA’s manager of the International Space Station Program, said. “She’s made substantial contributions to ISS and now helps lay the foundation for future commercial missions.”
Joining Whitson on the AX-4 mission are astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary. This will be the first time that nationally-sponsored astronauts from those countries have visited the ISS. It has also been more than 40 years since those three countries sent someone into space.
Indian Air Force pilot and astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, the mission’s pilot, will be the second person from India to go to space and the first since 1984. Polish engineer Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewsk, a mission specialist and a European Space Agency project astronaut, will be the second person from his country to head to space and the first since 1978. And Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer and mission specialist, will be the second Hungarian astronaut to rocket into space. That country’s last space mission was 45 years ago.
“For India, Poland, and Hungary, this mission marks a return to human spaceflight after more than 40 years, and their first missions to the ISS. It’s a powerful reminder of what we can achieve when we work together across borders, disciplines, and cultures,” Flynt said.
The AX-4 mission will last up to 14 days, during which the crew will conduct about 60 scientific studies and experiments. The company said 31 countries have contributed to the research plan, and the projects will focus on biological, life and material sciences, as well as Earth observation. Axiom said that the work done at the station will help the company advance its goal of building Axiom Station, which would be the world’s first commercial space station.
To lay the foundation for its space station, Axiom plans to attach several of its commercial modules to the ISS while it’s still operational. When the ISS is decommissioned, those modules will detach from the station and become part of the privately run Axiom Station.
Unlike space tourism, which is operated independently of NASA and government support, the Axiom mission is part of NASA’s private astronaut mission program. This private-public partnership provides selected commercial space companies with access to the ISS and technical and logistical support from NASA.
“NASA’s framework for private astronaut missions gives industry responsibility for launch, free flight, and landing,” Weigel said.
“It’s an incredible time for spaceflight. These missions help train teams, build partnerships and shape the future of low Earth orbit,” she added.
SpaceX’s Dragon program has completed 52 launches and 17 human spaceflight missions while safely transporting 66 crew members from 17 countries. It has facilitated over 1,000 research experiments in microgravity and delivered 300,000 pounds of cargo to the ISS.
(PALM SPRINGS, Calif.) — The man charged earlier this month with conspiring to assist the suspected California fertility clinic bomber has died in federal custody, according to a statement from the Bureau of Prisons.
Daniel Park was found unresponsive on Tuesday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, the federal law enforcement agency said.
“Responding employees initiated life-saving measures. Emergency medical services (EMS) were requested while life-saving efforts continued,” the statement said. “Mr. Park was transported by EMS to a local hospital and subsequently pronounced deceased by hospital personnel.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service were notified, the Bureau of Prisons said.
Park, a 32-year-old Washington state native, was charged with conspiracy to manufacture an unregistered device and terrorism in the car bombing at a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. The explosion occurred on May 17 at about 11 a.m. local time, rocking nearby buildings and leading to a fire and the collapse of a building, according to authorities. The debris field covered over 250 yards.
Four people were transported to the hospital for injuries sustained in the blast but were released the following day, officials said at the time.
The clinic, the American Reproductive Center of Palm Springs, said no members of its staff were harmed, and its lab — including all eggs, embryos and reproductive materials — were undamaged in the attack.
The primary suspect in the case, 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, was found dead next to the detonated vehicle, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s LA field office said last month.
Park was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York earlier this month after being detained in Poland on May 30, officials said at the time. Park allegedly fled to Europe four days after the bombing, officials said.
Park allegedly shipped approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor commonly used to construct homemade bombs, from Seattle to Bartkus in California as part of a plot related to the pair’s nihilist beliefs, according to officials. Park also allegedly paid for an additional 90 pounds of the substance in the days leading up to the Palm Springs attack, officials said.
Federal investigators allege the materials were used in the car bombing. Park also allegedly spent two weeks visiting the main suspect’s home in late January and early February of this year, the officials said. The two are believed to have been conducting experiments together in the main suspect’s garage.
Park and Bartkus followed a “pro-mortalism, anti-natalism, and anti-pro-life ideology,” officials said in a press conference after his arrest, adding the pair believed people should not be born without their consent and “nonexistence is best.”
Park and Bartkus appeared to have found each other in chat forums online as like-minded individuals, according to officials.
(NEW YORK) — A life-threatening heat wave has enveloped the East Coast, hitting cities with the worst of the high temperatures on Tuesday before relief moves in later in the week.
This is the first major heat wave of the season, with extreme heat warnings and heat advisories in effect for over 150 million Americans from Texas to Maine, including the entire Interstate 95 corridor.
Extreme heat warnings are in effect across the Northeast, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Actual temperatures are approaching 100 degrees, while the heat index — what the temperature feels like with humidity — is soaring above 100 degrees.
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Raleigh, North Carolina, all broke daily heat records on Monday with temperatures of 99 degrees, 104 degrees and 100 degrees, respectively. In New York City, the heat index on Monday reached 106 degrees — the highest in the area in four years.
Tuesday is the hottest day of the heat wave for the Northeast. Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and D.C. could break daily record highs.
Amtrak said some trains in the Northeast may be delayed due to heat-related speed restrictions. Amtrak issues these restrictions when temperatures are higher than 95 degrees and the tracks reach 128 degrees.
On Tuesday, it’ll feel like 106 degrees in Boston and Philadelphia; 102 degrees in New York City; 109 in D.C.; 107 in Charlotte, North Carolina; and 105 in Charleston, South Carolina.
The extreme heat will even reach upstate New York and New England, where the heat index is forecast to hit 102 degrees.
This kind of rare, long-duration heat with little overnight recovery can be life-threatening, especially for people without adequate cooling or hydration available.
Con Edison is urging everyone in New York City to conserve energy.
“Customers’ need to run their air conditioners to stay comfortable place stress on electric delivery equipment,” Con Edison explained. “The company asks customers to refrain from using intensive appliances such as washers, dryers, and microwaves during peak hours.”
Relief from the oppressive heat will arrive on Thursday. Temperatures will drop to 69 degrees in Boston, 78 in New York City, 91 in Philadelphia and 93 in D.C.
Click here for what you need to know to stay safe in the heat.
Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK, Texas) — Paleontologists have found fossilized remains of a giant possum-like mammal that lived 60 million years ago.
The fossils, found at Big Bend National Park in Texas, belong to a group of ancient near-marsupials from the Paleocene period that scientists call Swaindelphys, according to a paper published last week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
The prehistoric species, called Swaindelphys solastella, was “gigantic” compared to other Swaindelphys at the time but are actually about the size of a modern hedgehog, according to the researchers.
“I compared them to a lot of other marsupials from around the same time period to see what they’re most closely related to,” said Kristen Miller, a doctoral student at The University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum and lead author of the paper, said in a statement.
At first, the paleontologists thought the fossils belonged to a group of metatherians — or marsupial-like mammals — from the Cretaceous period that survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, the mass extinction event believed to have wiped dinosaurs from the planet 66 million years ago.
But additional analysis revealed that the specimens belonged to a “surprisingly large” new species of Swaindelphys.
“Not only are they the largest metatherians from this time period, but they’re also the youngest and located at the most southern latitude,” Miller said.
The new fossil is the largest marsupial — in terms of body and size — found so far in North America from the Paleocene period, Chris Beard, senior curator with KU’s Biodiversity Institute, said in a statement.
“Since everything is bigger in Texas, this is perhaps not surprising,” Beard said.
“I call them ‘primatomorphans,'” Beard said. “They’re not, technically speaking, primates, but they’re very close to the ancestry of living and fossil primates. These marsupials are probably ecological analogues of early primates.”
The researchers’ work is aimed at uncovering some of the smaller and harder-to-find fossil mammals that lived at Big Bend at the time, Beard said.
The paleontologists are also interested in the differences in the kinds of fossils found in more northern regions, such as Wyoming and Alberta, Canada.
“North of that ancient divide, we see the classic Bighorn Basin taxa in their expected time periods,” Miller said said. “But south of that, in river drainages that originate in the central Rockies and areas farther to the south, things start to go a little wacky.”
More research into Swaindelphys solastella, as well as new fieldwork in Big Bend, is planned.
