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Category Archives: Biomechanics
Nano Keeps on Slipping, Slipping…
So much has been written about Nanotyrannus, a catch-up article is hardly necessary. Indeed, many have been written, some published. The history of the name, and of the specimen that underlies it, is well-known. It behooves us, instead, to look … Continue reading
The Best Little Oviraptorid in Mongolia
The sweaty summers of the mid 1970s give way to cooler climes indoors, as a block of sandstone pulled from the red-and-orange rocks of the Djadokhta Formation in Mongolia’s southern Gobi Desert finds itself in Ulaanbator, the nation’s capital. Initially … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Biology, Biomechanics, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Reconstruction, Science Reporting, Taphonomy
Tagged Citipati, Oviraptoridae, Oviraptorosauria, Theropods, Tongues
5 Comments
Facial Expressions
The various and many ways to make a “cheek,” and the various facial tissues for which we have primary (preserved remains) and secondary (inferred) evidence for, in fossil sauropsidans. (These images are CC-BY-ND-NC. Please don’t take them without permission.)
Posted in Art, Biological Comparison, Biology, Biomechanics, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Reconstruction
Tagged Birds, Cheeks in Dinosaurs, Diet, Integument, Lips, Lizards and Snakes, Ornithischians, Uromastyx
7 Comments
Orpheus Rex
Last time I talked about Erlikosaurus andrewsi, it was Stephan Lautenschlager’s paper with Larry Witmer, Perle Altangerel, and Emily Rayfield discussing the biomechanical aspects of toothloss and beak formation in Erlikosaurus andrewsi. That work indicated a far likelier restoration of … Continue reading
Toothed Birds
It soars over the tossing waves on enormous, outspread wings. With nary a flap, the bird is soaring dynamically high above the ocean, its eyes scanning the sky around it and sea below. It may seem unremarkable to us today: … Continue reading
The Outlaw Spino Saurus
There’s been a lot of news now about Thursday’s (Sep. 11, 2014) publication on a new specimen attributed to Spinosaurus aegyptiacus. A lot of hype rose up months back about the release of a photo of a mount of some … Continue reading
Posted in Biology, Biomechanics, Paleontology, Science Reporting, Taxonomy
Tagged Aquatic adaptations, Ecology, Spinosaurids, Spinosaurus, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, Theropods
41 Comments
Pterosaur, Inter-Modulated
When Helmut Tischlinger and Eberhard “Dino” Frey team up for a paper, you know it’s gonna be good. Almost certainly, there will be UV involved. The pterosaur fossils of the Solnhofen are especially UV reflective, which brings out obscure or … Continue reading
Posted in Biology, Biomechanics, Paleontology
Tagged Pterodactyloids, Pterosaurs, Rhamphorhynchoids, Wukongopterids
6 Comments
Wrench in the Works of Head Attitude
The orientation of the head for standardized anatomical comparison is important for biological and paleontological analysis. It influences anatomical direction, description, the relationship of soft-tissue, study of behaviors such as feeding by the orientation of muscles versus gravity, and so … Continue reading
The Skimmer, Exploded
Rhynchops niger is a fun animal. Not only does it have this wonderfully huge lower bill, there’s lots of fun little structures of the jaw that interact in ways one doesn’t really expect in birds.(The gap in the upper and … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Biology, Biomechanics
Tagged Beaks, Birds, Black Skimmer, Jaws, Rhynchops niger
1 Comment
Jaime A. Headden
The Bite Stuff 