Specifically Raath argued that Syntarsus could have used feathers to insulate itself from extreme heat, like ostriches do today. So the vaguely emu-like feathers on the model are probably based directly on his thesis
Raath was keenly aware of various bird-like features of Syntarsus including speculating about feathers in the 70s so arguably the meme was just reflecting up to date science!
A pile of grey rocks packed with ammonites and bivalves
Chunks of the Charmouth Liassic sea bed for #fossilfriday. Crammed full of ammonites and bivalves, slowly being reclaimed by the sea
Slabs showing ripples and tracks of the chirotherium (hand beast) in mid Triassic sandstone from Burton upon Trent in the Midlands. Sadly these have been lost but you can see how they got their name. #FossilFriday
* there's a joke about British dentistry in there somewhere
Skull of NHMUK PVR 41212, a specimen of Dimorphodon. The nostril opening is visible as are sharp black teeth of various sizes
Timeline cleanse from a certain celebrity theropod for #fossilfriday here's a skull of Dimorphodon macronxy.
Like most early pterosaurs it has an impressive array of strangely proportioned teeth*, while classically reconstructed as puffin like these teeth suggest it wasn't a specialist piscivore
If the paleo community is going to be serious about Horner’s connection to Epstein, we also have to be serious about Myhrvold’s, because guess who contributed photos of animals mating to Epstein’s birthday book and has been appearing in new paleo papers this year - including the new Spinosaurus.
A new species of Spinosaurus is cool
& all that but what I’d really love to see Sereno describe is that Kayenta heterodontosaurid species first mentioned in a paper 41 years ago.
My first publication is out at last !!! 🐟🥳 We looked the effects of oil pollution on colouration, a key sexually selected trait in male guppies. A few key takeaways in the thread below, or read the full text if you want all the juicy details: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
I think the splitting of Terrestrisuchus, a taxon previously throught to be present across multiple fissure fill sites, has interesting implications for the debate over the age of these sites
New fissure fill whippet croc! Congratulations to Ewan et al
Meet Galahadosuchus jonesi, a new crocodylomorph from the Late Triassic of the UK, described by @es-ucl.bsky.social & @nhm-london.bsky.social PhD student Ewan Bodenham (with @stephanspiekman.bsky.social, @tweetisaurus.bsky.social & Paul Upchurch): anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
*if you think this is true please get in touch about an exciting bridge buying opportunity
A cast of a Rhamphorhynchus (pterosaur) wing with different bones highlighted in different colours
Real fossils are actually colour coded like this palaeontologists just paint them monochrome to make their jobs seem more impressive*
True dinosaur connoisseurs appreciate Ornithopods and non-sauropod sauropodomorphs😉😂
Super cool evidence for *non-feather* integumentary experiments in dinosaurs
I gotta say though... they've known about this person's behavior for *decades*. I first heard rumours of it on my first trip to the US in 2005! Why would they act now, rather than that time he married *his own undergrad?*
Also it shouldn't matter but I'm dyspraxic and I grew up next door to my uncle who had down syndrome so this is an area where I do have lived experience
It's weird, wrong and stigmatising to claim that Jack Horner's behaviour was linked to him being dyslexic. I can't believe that needs to be said
Nice to see this taxonomic issue get straightened out, I'm hopeful that if people start scoring Alwalkeria from this new restricted holotype we can narrow down it's affinities
Timeline of taxonomic history of Alwalkeria maleriensis
Alickmeron Sen & Ray, 2025 is an objective junior synonym of Alwalkeria Chatterjee & Creisler, 1994 @slvrhwk.bsky.social @ijreid.bsky.social
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
happy #WorldWetlandsDay !!🐟🐸these photos are all from the same site- the Pitch Lake in Trinidad, the worlds biggest tar pit 🇹🇹. despite how barren the asphalt in the middle here appears, the rainwater pools that form in the cracks are home to genetically unique guppies, + fish, frog and bird species!
It's always people, usually women, on lower rungs of the career ladder who suffer the most when men like him are not only tolerated but celebrated by science
I think everything that could be said about Jack Horner has already been said on here.
I just hope the female undergrad involved is doing okay and was able to build the research career they wanted despite it starting like this
This Jack Horner. Who’s been known to the whisper network for some time now. There’s a reason I have repeatedly turned down writing about his work or him.
Would have been nice to get a citation, but I guess it might have looked silly citing a paper saying "we should stop basing these hypotheses on poorly sampled datasets" when you are basing your hypothesis on a poorly sampled dataset...
Would a second theropod have really killed you?
An additional layer of complication is the ‘ornithischian silesaurid’ hypothesis (Müller & Garcia, Citation2020; Norman et al., Citation2022): although this has only been proposed as a variation of the Ornithischia/Saurischia topology, it is not mutually exclusive with the other two hypotheses (e.g. a topology with silesaurids as early-branching ornithischians within Phytodinosauria).
Interesting to see this a variation of this hypothetical from our 2024 review paper actually get recovered by an analysis...
Even more worrying for outer London, considering the number of level crossings and the tram network, is the fact one of these got confused and drove down a railway line!
This raises the question of what counts as a good home for a giant mechanical scorpion...
Giant heat lamps? Good hiding spots? A supply of pets and/or small children for it eat?
Two articulated neck vertebrae on a black background. The vertebrae on the left is the axis. A partially cervical rib is visible at bottom
Looking through my photos of the Triassic archosaur Incertovenator on this #fossilfriday. It's currently unknown whether this animal is more closely related to birds or crocodiles...
