The Author
-
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. It, and all of its files and contents -- unless otherwise noted -- are protected by this license.License established 9/9/2012, while previously I was using a CC-BY-ND license instead.
Support this blog:
I have two websites, my DeviantArt and RedBubble accounts, which allow downloads and purchase of the imagery presented on this site. As I am a starving artist, I would appreciate support this way.
Category Archives: Science Reporting
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
A Brief Moment in Kulinda
Not that long ago, a new fossil locality was discovered in Kulinda, Chita (Chininskaya Oblast), Russia, and it has the potential to confirm a recent hypothesis: that the filamentous integument of many theropods, found apparently in some ceratopsian dinosaurs, may … Continue reading
Posted in Biology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Science Reporting, Taphonomy, Taxonomy
Tagged Daurosaurus, Feathers, Filaments, Integument, Kulindadromeus, Kulindapteryx, Lepidocheirosaurus, Ornithischians, Russia, TLS
13 Comments
Azendohsaurus – Former Dinosaur – Recieves Makeover
There’s no shortage of fossil archosaurs now named solely from teeth, or partial jaw bones but diagnosed or described primarily on teeth. Last I checked, this number was well over 150. Most recently, some of these used to be dinosaurs, … Continue reading
Posted in Paleontology, Science Reporting
Tagged Archosauromorpha, Azendohsaurus, functional morphology, Morocco, TBT, Tooth-Based Taxa
3 Comments
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
Herbivores All the Way Down
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, a revolution in the way dinosaurs were conceived to have evolved occurred, in which a basal stock of croc-ish animals (this was during the “thecodont origin of … everything (?)” phase of archosaur relationship … Continue reading
Strange Tid[w]ings
The new small theropod Yi qi was described 29 April, 2015, far too late to be a practical joke for All Fools’ Day (by 4 weeks, precisely). Why would it be? The animal, described by Xu Xing and a number … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Biology, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Science Reporting
Tagged Evolution of Flight, Gliding, Scansoriopterygidae, Scansoriopterygids, Yi qi
13 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
What Else Happened? II – More Tails of Pterosaurs
Continuing a story of the low-key, not-Spinosaurus paleontological papers recently published, discussing our bizarre Mesozoic macrofauna, this installment covers a few pterosaur tidbits. The first of these is an amazing assemblage of scattered bones of numerous different-sized individuals that are … Continue reading
What Else Happened? I – The Dawn Dryosaur
Ignoring Spinosaurus for now, paleontology came up with a few other announcements in the last few weeks. Some pterosaurs (gotta love them) but also non-theropod dinosaurs! They do exist, they are interesting, but they receive much less press. Over the … Continue reading
Jaime A. Headden