Mesozoic Miscellany 81

In the News

Dinosaur eggs. We love 'em. New research comparing the porosity of 29 species of non-avian dinosaurs' eggs to those of hundreds of extant birds and crocs has concluded that maniraptorans were unique in incubating their eggs in open nests. Read more at Science, The Royal Tyrrell Museum, and Live Science.

A significant new dinosaur tracksite, dating to the Middle Jurassic and perhaps preserving the footprints of Cetiosaurus, has been discovered on the Isle of Skye. The BBC has produced an impressive multimedia feature about it. Read more at PopSci and NatGeo. Fans of shrink-wrapped dinosaurs will be over the moon when they see the illustration included with the press release.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Parasitologist and illustrator Tommy Leung wrote a great overview about what we know about the parasites that hassled dinosaurs for The Conversation.

If you have the opportunity to check out fossil collections at a museum, be sure to read Victoria Arbour's post about how to prepare for your visit.

Gareth Monger probed the problems of skim-feeding pterosaurs at Pteroformer.

Emily Willoughby has written about Dakotaraptor in her first article for Got Science.

The second TetZooCon has come and gone, and LITC's Marc Vincent has recapped the festivities, as has Darren Naish.

You know you want to read about the Chinese museum that is packed with the most dinosaur fossils in the world, "stocked over just five years by the eccentric former head of a state-owned gold mining company." Dan Levin has the story at the New York Times.

"I want to give this animal the best chance of falling over..." is the kind of phrase we lovers of paleontology and its artistic interpreters are blessed with from time to time. At his blog, Mark Witton has taken a fresh look at the long-necked weirdo Tanystropheus, investigating the view that it could not have lived a terrestrial lifestyle because it was just too front-heavy.

Next time I'm in the Denver area, I hope I get to stay at the Dino Hotel. Check out the feature about Meredith and Greg Tally's labor of love at Atlas Obscura.

At ART Evolved, Herman Diaz reviewed The Puzzle of the Dinosaur-Bird and a Magic Schoolbus dinosaur book.

Liz Martin-Silverstone delved into the taxonomy of Dimetrodon at Musings of a Clumsy Palaeontologist.

David Prus wrote about the prehistoric wonderland that was Ha?eg Island.

Dinosaurs in Name Only: Andrea Cau has proposed a new term for those popular depictions of dinosaurs that can't be bothered to follow the palaeontological evidence.

The AV Club rounded up more than a dozen regrettable dinosaur entertainments - any they've unfairly maligned?

While Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Torvosaurus get a lot of attention, Brian Switek urges you to appreciate Marshosaurus, a smaller but no less nifty Morrison predator.

Linocut dinosaur greeting cards by Frank-Joseph Frelier, available at Etsy.

These here dinosaur skull greeting cards are the bee's knees. If you missed it, do check out the LITC gift guide published earlier this week. And go see Gareth Monger's as well, while you're at it!

Video Pick

Cartoonist Bob Flynn alerted me to this video that Fablevision, the studio he works for, produced with the Smithsonian Science Education Center. It is an installment of the "Good Thinking!" series, which launched this summer. More than explaining the idea of Deep Time, it delves into impactful ways to teach the concept of Deep Time. I think it's fantastic.

Mesozoic Miscellany 80

In the News

A new big hadrosaur is on the loose, showing off a wee crest hypothesized to be transitional between the non-crested and crested members of the family. Read the description of Probrachylophosaurus bergei and gawk at John Conway's gorgeous portrait.

There's a new feathered Ornithomimus specimen from Canada, and Brian Switek and Everything Dinosaur both covered the discovery. And, yes: gawk at Julius Csotonyi's gorgeous illustration.

Liz Martin-Silverstone wrote about her recently published research into the relationship between skeletal mass and total body mass in birds and how useful it may be in estimating body mass in critters outside of Neornithes. John Tennant also covered the paper at PLOS Paleo.

How wide could theropods open their mouths? New research explores the question.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Hat-tip to reader David Landis for letting us know about The New Yorker's recent look at Virginia Lee Burton's Life Story, which we covered for a Vintage Dinosaur Art post five years back.

Lisa Buckley's got a new blog, so head over and say "howdy."

Asher recently had another fantastic paleontology article published, about the journey of a Clidastes specimen in Alabama.

At the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History blog, Antoine Bercovici writes about the end-Cretaceous (or close to it, at least) dinosaurs of France.

Jason Brougham covered the challenges of reconstructing the mysterious Benettites.

Everything Dinosaur shows off the new CollectA Spinosaurus.

Speaking of spinos, Duane Nash wrote more about Spinosaurus lifestyle and about the and the recent Sigilmassasaurus paper.

The Dinosaur Toy Blog showed off the winners of this year's Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest. I always love checking out the entries.

Adventures in fossil prep: Daspletosaurus ilium edition! Brought to you by Anthony Maltese.

Andy Farke interviews Justin Adams about a new project to archive fossil mammals at Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in South Africa. Check out part one and two.

Fernanda Castano wrote about a new species of pollen grain from Argentina, including Darwin's puzziling over the appearance of dicots in the fossil record.

Chris DiPiazza made a sequel of his fun illustration from last year: check out his new line up of monstrously-named taxa for Halloween.

A bit more about SVP: Francois Gould wrote about how the conference remains his home even as he shifts from the paleontological research he pursued as a student. Palaeocast's Caitlyn Colleary filed a three-part report focusing on outreach, new research, and the history of the conference.

Paleoart Pick

The Cartoon Guide to Vertebrate Evolution by Albertonykus is freakin' sweet and now you can buy it at his new Redbubble shop!

The Cartoon Guide to Vertebrate Evolution by Albertonykus, shared with the artist's permission.

Mesozoic Miscellany 79

In the News

Dakotaraptor has stepped into the limelight. A giant Hell Creek dromaeosaurid with prominent quill knobs and wicked sickle claws, Dakotaraptor would have been a stout competitor for juvenile tyrannosaurs. More from A Dinosaur A Day, Theropoda, and Krankie. Beautiful paleoart has also been popping up, with particularly stunning work from RJ Palmer and Emily Willoughby (which is hardly surprising).

Gorgeous fossils are coming out of an important fossil site in Utah colorfully called the "Saints and Sinners Site." Learn more about it from this interview with Dan Chure of Dinosaur National Monument at KUER. Honestly, I want a large framed print of "the triplets" for my wall.

Mesozoic mammal news! A new spiny critter, aptly dubbed Spinolestes xenarthrosus, has been described. Brian at Laelaps and Liz at Musings of a Clumsy Paleontologist, and Amar Toor at The Verge have the skinny.

The story of the spinosaurs continues to twist and turn as more research comes out. New work on Sigilmassaurus brevicollis and Spinosaurus maroccanus has been published, responding to last year's major-publication-slash-National-Geographic-media-event. Jaime Headden at the Bite Stuff and Mark Witton both have good takes on the research.

Help out Phylopic and nab a spiffy tee shirt! Mike Keesey, creator of the site, is holding a campaign on Booster.com to support the costs of maintaining the site as well as further development. Providing free-to-use, Creative Commons licensed silhouettes of a huge variety of lifeforms, it's a terrific source of images for scientists and other science communicators.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

We'll start with a roundup-within-a-round up of posts about the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting that went down a couple weeks ago in Dallas, TX.

At the Theropod Database Blog, Mickey provided four days of commentary: day one, two, three, and four. Duane Nash wrote about the meeting at Antediluvian Salad. Victoria Arbour chimed in at Pseudoplocephalus. John Tennant wrote about his experience at Green Tea and Velociraptors. Albertonykus was there for the first time ever, and wrote about it at Raptormaniacs.

Speaking of Victoria, she talked about ankylosaur evolution on a recent episode of the great Palaeocast.

Fossil Day 2015 has come and gone, and Chris DiPiazza shared his personal fossil collection at Prehistoric Beast of the Week.

Curious about what we will see when the revamped dinosaur hall at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, opens? Ben Miller has something that may interest you.

At Dinosaur Postcards, Denver Fowler shared Iguanodon footprint casts.

Want to explore the Triassic via computer simulation? Head to Everything Dinosaur to learn about a new project that aims to do just that.

Not terribly recent, but I missed sharing it back in April. Brian Engh talks paleoart at a Bay area Nerd Nite event.

Paleoart Pick

Finding Julio Lacerda's recent painting of Pteranodon and Hesperornis squaring off underwater was a breath-taking moment. Golden Age of Paleoart, folks! Enjoy.

"Fish Theft: Subaquatic Edition," � Julio Lacerda. Shared here with the artist's permission.

Mesozoic Miscellany 78

In the News

The center of the paleontology universe this week has been the 2015 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Dallas, TX. Check out the official conference hashtag on Twitter. LITC's own Asher Elbein is there, and will be filing a report about his experience soon. Asher recently joined Twitter, and has been tweeting from the conference, including some wonderful sketches.

Speaking of SVP, those lucky devils get to see a newly prepped centrosaurine skeleton, which appears to be a new species of Avaceratops. It was discovered amid a pile of hadrosaur bones in 2012, and even had a bit of skin associated with the pelvic area. Anthony Maltese has the full breakdown over at the RMDRC Paleo Lab Blog, with great photos, so scoot!

We have a new giant in the North. The "Edmontosaurus" fossils of the Price Creek Formation have been reassessed, and the team of Hirotsugu Mori, Patrick Druckenmiller, and Gregory Erickson have dubbed the new taxon Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis. Read more from Brian Switek at Laelaps and Tanya Basu at Time.

Andy Farke writes about the publication of a new juvenile Saurolophus specimen at The Integrative Paleontologists.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

RJ Palmer drew a toon version of the Saurian T. rex we featured in the last roundup, and it sort of makes me think a toon version of Saurian would be the best idea. After the team wraps up Saurian itself, of course.

A couple of reviews of the recent book British Polacanthid Dinosaurs have hit the web: Everything Dinosaur gave it a read, as did Stu Pond at Paleoillustrata.

The Guardian is looking to recruit a new paleontology blogger, who will work under the Guidance of Dr. Dave Hone. The call for submissions will last until November 2. Read more about the opportunity here.

I loved this adorable felted Parasaurolophus at Needled by Nella.

Herman's back with another pair of dinosaur book reviews at ART Evolved. He looks at Dinosaur Parents, Dinosaur Young: Uncovering the Mystery of Dinosaur Families and Dinosaurs: Living Monsters of the Past.

For Ada Lovelace Day, Liz Martin-Silverstone paid tribute to the women who have brought so much to the field of paleontology.

It is the 100th anniversary of Dinosaur National Monument, and a major new project has been launched: The Digital Quarry Project. The interactive site allows visitors to explore the jumble of bones in the famous quarry wall by way of simplifies silhouettes. It's not complete yet, but the project site promises that "it will contain all 5000+ fossil specimens from the quarry, including those that have been excavated and now reside in museums far and wide." It's pretty cool, check it out!

I Know Dino celebrated Dinosaur National Monument's anniversary as well.

Paleoart Pick

Easily my favorite scene from Raptor Red, Robert Bakker's novel about a female Utahraptor, is the "snow sledding" scene. It was a bracingly fresh look at dinosaurs, from the play behavior to the snowy environment. Paleoartist Zubin Erik Dutta recently completed a beautiful rendering of the scene. Of it, he writes:

This is one of the most iconic scenes from the book thanks to Luis Rey's rendition of the scene years ago. I tried my best to make mine as different as possible and looked to Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes snow sleigh strips for ideas. Calvin and Hobbes crashing into the snow was the first thing to come to mind when I was figuring things out.

This piece brought the memory of reading that scene for the first time rushing back.

"The Raptor Red Snow Sled," � Zubin Erik Dutta. Shared here with the artist's permission.

Mesozoic Miscellany 77

In the News

Interested in the evolution of ankylosaur tail clubs? Of course you are, and you're in luck. Victoria Arbour's new research is all about it.

Matt Bonnan announces the publication of Pulanesaura, a new sauropod from South Africa dating from the early Jurassic - an important time in the evolutionary history of the clade.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

At SV-POW, Matt Wedel deigned to write about a "stinkin' ornithischian."

The Dinosaur Toy Blog reviewed the LEGO Velociraptor.

Trish Arnold trained her wit on Walking With Dinosaurs 3D during a recent live tweet session.

At Laelaps, Brian Switek interviewed paleontologist Robert Gay about his experiences teaching natural history to high school students.

Paleontology field work ain't all glamour and gorgeous badland vistas, Lisa Buckley reports.

At Prehistoric Beast of the Week, journey into the bowels of the AMNH with Chris DiPiazza.

Mark Witton recently announced his upcoming paleoart book, and has launched his own Patreon page.

An exceptional fossil mount at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science was profiled recently by Ben Miller.

Paleoart Pick

The Saurian team released some animations of their new T. rex design, and it's a stunner.

The Saurian T. rex, �2015 Urvogel Games, LLC.

Read more about the redesign of their tyrant at the Saurian game blog.

Mesozoic Miscellany 74

The Thunderously Big News

Didja hear about Brontosaurus yet? Eh? Well, if you haven't, hold on your butt. Arguably the most famous generic name in all of the dinosauria has returned, thanks to a massive phylogenetic reassessment of diplodocidae led by Emanuel Tschopp of Universidade Nova de Lisboan, and published in PeerJ. The press has, predictably, been mostly vomiting on its own shoes, grasping taxonomic and phylogenetic concepts with varying degrees of incompetence. Not all bad, of course, thanks to knowledgeable and clearly written posts by the researchers and journalists of the dinoblogosphere. Brian Switek, Andrea Cau, SV-POW, Dave Hone, and Everything Dinosaur have all covered it well. Anthony Maltese reminisces about working on a mount of the famous sauropod. Also see articles from The New York Times, Nature News, Wired, and SciAm. There are more, of course. Hey media! Enough with the swampbound, antiquated depictions of Brontosaurus. That beast is still happily obsolete.

Remember Project Daspletosaurus? We're seeing the research hit the press now! Dave Hone, who led the research with Darren Tanke at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, has written about it at his Guardian blog, Lost Worlds, as well as at Archosaur Musings. Cannibal tyrannosaurs and Brontosaurus. Funny week in Mesozoic news.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Last time around, I featured the news of Carnufex carolinensis. Jaime Headden has written a post about finding that one of his pieces of artwork was adapted for a figure in the publication, without credit. I think a lot of palaeoartists will find value in, and perhaps identify all too closely with, his reasoned post on the issue.

A Carboniferous forest simulator has been developed, and is in alpha testing. Watch the walkthrough by the Palaeocast team below, and check out the project team's work here and here.



The latest episode of the TetZoo Podcats featured conversations of special interest to palaeoartists, including stem-mammal gaits and the homology of scales. There will surely be follow up on the former topic, as John Conway has had some interesting conversations on social media after sharing his tall-striding Dimetrodon. Also see his jaw-dropping recent Dolichorynchops.

Trish Arnold invites you to watch the totally 90's "Bonehead Detectives of Paleoworld."

Jason Goldman's terrific interview podcast The Wild Life featured the fantastic Jennifer Hall, discussing taxidermy and Dreadnoughtus. Jennifer was also interviewed about her career by Pacific Standard. Jennifer's new-ish site is Art in the Age of Evolution.

At ART Evolved, please check out Herman's latest round of reviews, celebrating the occasion of one R. Bakker's hatching day.

Chris DiPiazza, formerly of the defunct Jersey Boys Hunt Dinosaurs site, has begun his own blog, and it promises terrific content. He plans on bringing more conservation issues to the fore, as well as sharing his gorgeous watercolor palaeoart. Go say "hello" to Prehistoric Beast of the Week.

The children's book blog Design of the Picture Book interviewed Flying Eye Books about their restoration and reissue of The Wonderful Egg. It's one that fans of our mid-century Vintage Dinosaur Art titles will love.

Paleoart Pick(s)

Designer-illustrator Sharon Wegner-Larson's Geo-rex Vortex is so cool. It is featured in the new Skullmore zine and as part of an exhibition called Revisited at Exposure Gallery in Sioux Falls, SD. Sharon wrote a bit about her process at her blog and has made the design available on shirts at Redbubble. Prints? Check her Etsy shop.

Geo-rex Vortex � Sharon Wegner-Larson

Speaking of tees that rock, Neatoshop is running a free shipping promotion this week. Which is pretty nifty because Raven Amos has some frickin' great stuff there. Her Art Nouveau Troodon, Pachyrhinosaurus, highly caffeinated pterosaur, and Styracosaurus are there and I proudly wear her "Swamp Dragon" Ichthyovenator design, seen below. Also: Kaiju/Nintendo mash-ups Gamario and Linkzilla! Go forth and dump legal tender into her coffers!

Swamp Dragon � Raven Amos

Mesozoic Miscellany 73

In the News

Meet Carnufex carolinensis, a new Triassic crocodylomorph that hit the web with a splash last week. Described by Lindsay Zanno and team in Scientific Reports, C. carolinensis was a massive, top-of-the-food-chain predator nicknamed "The Carolina Butcher." Co-author Susan Drymala discussed the find with BBC Radio's Up All Night. Brian Switek wrote about it over at Laelaps. Chris DiPiazza also whipped up a fantastic illustration of the new beastie. The Guardian published a report as well. Good to see this one getting so much press, and more on that a bit later in this post...

In ichno-news, Lisa Buckley has written a great post about a new set of lower Cretaceous trackways: ornithopod, non-avian theropod, and a newly described avian ichnotaxon, Paxavipes babcockensis. The bird tracks are notable, Buckley writes, for their unique orientation of toes, which reminds her of our extant Killdeer. Also check out the paper in Cretaceous Research.

Ha?eg Island continues to produce oddballs: this time, evidence of a new short-necked azhdarchid. Mark Witton discussed the research at his blog, while teasing that a complimentary publication relevant to Cretaceous pterosaur evolution is on its way. Nab the PDF here.

A new Pachyrhinosaurus bonebed has been discovered in the Upper Cretaceous Wapiti Formation. As the abstract says though, there's more here than the title of the paper suggests. "About 88% of vertebrate remains are ceratopsian, and dromaeosaurid, hadrosaurid, troodontid, and tyrannosaurid remains have also been identified." It's also notable for being the farthest-inland bonebed yet discovered, at almost 300 miles (450 km) away from the coastline of the ancient sea.

In other bonebed news and other Triassic news, squeaking in just as I wrap this post up, a new Triassic species of Metoposaurus, M. algarvensis, has been described in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology by Steve Brusatte and team. Coming from a new Portugese bonebed, this monstrous temnospondyl offers up new details of skull anatomy that will assist in further phylogenetic work on the metoposaurids. And the reconstructions released with the news are terrific, too. Read more at Live Science.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Back to Mark Witton, as he has been putting out a ridiculous amount of beautiful work lately. Witton has been revisiting some of his older pieces to incorporate changes in his thinking as well as his artistic technique. Check out his recent posts on his reclining Torvosaurus, pigeon-like Therizinosaurus, and a pair of controversial ceratopsians.

At his New Views on Old Bones blog, Paul Barrett republished his guest post at Dave Hone's Guardian blog on the process of the NHM acquiring their stunning new Stegosaurus, Sophie.

Speaking of Stegosaurus, Matt Martyniuk has written a wonderful, thorough post on the evolving look of the iconic taxon over the years.

Dean Lomax and Nobu Tamura collaborated on a recent book on British dinosaurs, and Darren Naish has an in-depth review for us.

Darren also reviewed Matt Martyniuk's gorgeous recent Beasts of Antiquity: Stem-birds in the Solnhofen Limestone.

At Extinct Monsters, Ben Miller writes about famous mounts that share an origin in the Carnegie quarry, though they may be stars of distant museums now.

Always a good time to talk about Mary Anning, and Fernanda Castano wrote a tribute to her at Notes from Gondwana.

Gareth Monger wrote a nice post about his process of rethinking his own Rhamphorynchus reconstruction, showing how he's improved on it since its conception and considering the possibility of showier color schemes than his earlier work.

Extant Theropod Appreciation

Some wonderful news from Colombia: the Blue-Bearded Helmetcrest (Oxypogon cyanolaemus), thought extinct, has been rediscovered. Its ultimate survival, however, is anything but guaranteed, as its habitat is threatened by livestock grazing and fires set for agricultural purposes.

Palaeoart Pick

It's not every day that an ancient crocodylomorph makes international news, but props to Zanno, Drymala, and team for achieving such coverage for The Carolina Butcher. One of the reasons for this must be the stunning restoration included in the press release. The work of one Jorge Gonzales, this fantastic piece is one more example of how important good palaeoart is. I've said it before, and I'll probably never stop: There is no palaeontology outreach without palaeoart.

Carnufex carolinensis, � Jorge Gonzalez, from the press materials distributed by NC State University.

Mesozoic Miscellany 72

In the News

Early snakes have been in the news, with a press push and gorgeous Julius Csotonyi artwork accompanying the publication of a paper in Nature Communications. In their new paper, Michael Caldwell et al have described four ancient snake species dating to the mid-Jurassic, including Diablophis gilmorei. Read more at Laelaps. This is another fine example of why art is central to palaeontological outreach.

That iconic ambassador of American sauropods, Dippy the Diplodocus, is ceding the main hall at the Natural History Museum in London to a new blue whale skeleton. Paleontologist Steve Brusatte is all in favor of it, even though public consternation has sparked a #SaveDippy hashtag. Read more from Brian Switek at Dinologue.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Our own Asher Elbein has written about Alabama's deep history at Atlas Obscura.

Liz Martin offers a great overview of Canadian pterosaurs at Gimpasaura.

Sci-art legend and stalwart artist's rights proponent Glendon Mellow shared some of his amazing tattoo commissions at Symbiartic, including Brian Switek's new Torvosaurus.

At Tyrannosauroidea Central, Thomas Carr continues to offer valuable insight into the ethics of the fossil market, weighing in on the Naturalis Museum's obtaining of a Tyrannosaurus rex specimen from a private landowner.

Speaking of the Tyrant Lizards, Mark Wildman writes about The Lost Tyrannosaurid of Kazakhstan at Saurian.

Check out Rebecca Groom's amazing plush Velociraptors, preparing for shipment.

For practical advice for those looking to pursue a science career and be good community members as well, look to Lisa Buckley at Shaman of the Atheistic Sciences.

Dino-fights! At his blog, David Prus offers up his favorite fictional dinosaur battles.

Garth Monger designed a cute papercraft Aquilops anybody can print and make.

Mark Witton revisited two of his iconic ceratopsid illustrations, but this is no George Lucas/Special Edition situation. The changes are definite improvements to my eye, and clearly show Mark's steadily improving skills.

Extant Theropod Appreciation

At the great Window to Wildlife blog, photographer Jim Edlhuber captured a great sequence of photos of a Red-Tailed Hawk nabbing a vole. I'm especially enamored of the fourth image in the series.

Paleoart Pick

Fuzzy wuzzy ceratopsids may yet be a stretch as far as fossil evidence goes (and some people have really negative reactions to them), but I appreciate them. Following the post about Mark Witton's ceratopsian pieces above, here's a super-quilly, porcupine-influenced Bagaceratops by DeviantArt member Azraelangelo.

Mesozoic Miscellany 71

Newsie Bits

The Danek Edmontosaurus Bonebed is the subject of the new issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. An important site for both research and outreach, the bonebed has produced over 800 specimens, dominated by E. regalis, but also containing the northernmost specimen of Albertosaurus, Troodon, and a bonus ceratopsian horncore.

More: Everything Dinosaur and Phys.org both featured articles about the bonebed. University of Alberta PhD candidate Michael Burns was interviewed about the issue in general at Canadian Science Publishing. The introduction is available for free[PDF link].

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Rebecca Groom's rooster-y troodontid is gorgeous! The superlatives are tripping over themselves to stampede out my mouth.

More book reviews from Herman Diaz at ART Evolved, this time focusing on a pair of titles from the Walking With Dinosaurs franchise.

Gareth Monger is really delivering the goods in the early days of his Pteroformer blog, including this post about the need to stay open-minded as research changes the look of prehistoric animals.

At SV-POW, Matt Wedel tips us off to the publication of his description of a new Haplocanthosaurus specimen, in the free-to-access journal Volumina Jurassica's new issue, which focuses on the Morrison formation.

Brian Switek writes about research into the ranges of the Cretaceous sea bird Hesperornis, taking the approach of studying extant penguin growth rings.

Liz Martin writes about one of the big reasons 2014 has been good to paleontology fans: two new pterosaur bonebed sites, which are exceedlingly rare. The Brazilian and Chinese sites feature multiple three-dimensionally preserved specimens of Caiuajara and Hamipterus, respectively. They really are treasure troves, adding new insights into social behavior, egg morphology, sexual dimorphism, ontogeny, and habitat. Read on at Gimpasaura.

Ben Miller offers a look at The Last American Dinosaurs, an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History. It looks amazing, and I agree when he writes that he's "...a fan of this personalized approach to science communication. In-house scientists are museums� most important and unique resources, and placing them front-and-center reminds visitors that science is done by real and diverse people, not caricatures in lab coats."

You may see Albertonykus at The Last American Dinosaurs in his role as a docent, but his recent museum visit post takes you to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History instead.

Fernanda Castano wrote a nice primer on the Anthropocene at Letters from Gondwana.

A clumsy Aucasaurus was the subject of one of Mark Witton's paleoart commission specials, and a unique piece it is - a bit of slapstick humor but beautifully rendered.

Lisa Buckley wrote about visiting the type locality of the ichnotaxa Ignotornis mcconnelli, sharing plenty of great photos from the site.

The Dinosaur Toy blog featured a review of the new CollectA Mosasaurus. They also previewed a mixed bag of upcoming figures from Schleich. The Kentrosaurus is nice, at least.

Extant Theropod Appreciation

Gray-Necked Wood Rails are Awesome (and Kind of Obnoxious).

Paleoart Pick

Apsaravis has done a gorgeous series on carcharodontosaurids, including this Acrocanthosaurus. You can and should buy prints of her work at DeviantArt.


Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, � Apsaravis, used with permission.

Mesozoic Miscellany 69

Newsie Bits

ThinkGeek, the popular on-line retailer specializing in, appropriately enough, geeky gifts, recently began selling fossils. This resulted in criticism from paleontologists, and eventually ThinkGeek's decision to halt the sales, at least for a time. Lee Hall posted about the controversy at Extinct Los Angeles, following his original post with a ThinkGeek reply, and his subsequent response. At Jersey Boys Hunt Dinosaurs - as well as her blog Shaman of the Atheistic Sciences, Lisa Buckley has shared her opinions on how to best approach the collecting of fossils. At i09, Artiofab wrote a series of posts on the issue - here, here, and here. Emily Graslie weighed in at the Brain Scoop blog. The American Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences issued a press release supporting ThinkGeek for selling fossils [PDF].

Around the Dinoblogosphere

At Dinosaur Postcards, Denver Fowler writes about some intruguing early 20th century photo postcards which seem to show paleontological work in the Morrison Formation.

It looks like Kansas has its very own bona fide Mosasaurus, after a history of taxonomic reassignments found putative specimens placed in other genera. Anthony Maltese gives you the low down.

Over at Art Evolved, Herman is back with more dinosaur book reviews, offering a positive look at Sloan's Feathered Dinosaurs and a less glowing review of the infamous How to Keep Dinosaurs.

Mark Witton is selling prints!

Learn about the less-publicized dangers of paleontology at Mary Anning's Revenge.

On the lastest episode of the TetZoo podcast, John and Darren offer a great tribute to Eleanor Kish, who recently passed away - in addition to discussions on the Shanklin croc, bird behavior, and the proud tradition of paleontologists giving lousy advice to artists. Thanks for the shout-out to Marc's 2013 post on Kish, guys!

James Gurney is on Soundcloud, and has been posting Dinotopia audio-books. episodes one and two are currently available. Expect a new chapter every Tuesday for the next three months or so. Gurney writes about the project at the Gurney Journey blog.

On the Dinologue Youtube channel, Brian Switek discusses the Carnegie Dinosaur Quarry at Dinosaur National Monument.


Paul Barrett writes about the Natural History Museum in London's unveiled a new Stegosaurus at New Views on Old Bones. It's the most complete specimen ever found and once it goes on public display on December 4, should be quite a centerpiece for their collection.

At Antediluvian Salad, Duane Nash writes about a visit to Big Sur, musing on redwoods living at the extreme edge of their range, the history of the taxon, and their use in environments in paleoart.

Jurassic World's teaser trailer is set to debut on Thursday, but since this is the way the world works now, there is a teaser trailer for the teaser trailer.



Edited: Well, that was quick. Here's the whole trailer, two days early. In-depth analysis to come!



Extant Theropod Appreciation

At 10,000 Birds, Larry Jordan writes about the Peregrine Falcon's use of tree cavities for nesting sites and shares a video of a peregrine taking on a brown pelican.

Paleoart(ish) Pick

I'm not going to pretend to get the whole Pokemon thing, but DeviantArt recently profiled RJ Palmer, who illustrated the realistic Pokemon series, about his dinosaur obsession and the way it informs his work. They're pretty great, and in the interview RJ gives props to some other great illustrators, including official friend of LITC Paul Heaston. Check it out (er, catch 'em all)!

Mesozoic Miscellany 68

The Big News

Vintana sertichi is a new Gondwanatherian mammal from Madagascar, and in expanding our knowledge of the clade beyond assorted jaw-y and tooth-y bits, it's a pretty significant discovery. It's one of the largest mesozoic mammals discovered, coming in second to the mighty Repenomamus. More on V. sertichi from the New York Times, NSF, National Geographic, Palaeoblog, and the Guardian.

Kulindadromeus on Twitter claims that the reconstructions we've seen are way off, however. Supposedly, this was what the critter looked like:



Last time around, I'd intended to include another new ankylosaur with a generic name starting with "Z" (the previous being Ziapelta). But that other splashy new research distracted me. So, I'm making up for it now. Zaraapelta is a new ankylosaurid from the Nemegt formation in Mongolia. Danielle Dufault created a gorgeous illustration for the press release, so be sure to gaze on its splendor. And be sure to read the post on it at Everything Dinosaur.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

John Hutchinson, who has given us so much insight by showing the contents of his freezer, has had a dreadful health scare. He wrote an affecting post about his adversity, which I can't recommend highly enough.

At DinoGoss, more cathartic ranting against crappy practices in paleo-toys. This time, Matt is training the crosshairs on the toy industry'penchant for rip-offs.

Fans of the spaghetti-necked Tanystropheus, hie thee to Nobu Tamura's Paleoexhibit blog.

Necks lie! And SV-POW tells all.

Pete Von Sholly had a bit of fun at the expense of people who allow their canine companions to defecate willy-nilly.

At TetZoo, Darren has begun writing a series on phytosaurs.

Rebecca Groom wrote about a plush Elginerpeton at the Dino Toy blog.

Extant Theropod Appreciation

I used to do occasional posts on those living theropods we like to call "birds," and I've decided it would be a great idea to bring it back as part of the Mesozoic Miscellany Series. For the first one, I'll strongly urge you to visit Tony Martin's Life Traces of the Georgia Coast blog for a ghoulish story of a decapitated gull.

Paleoart Pick

I mentioned the new "Z" ankylosaurs up above, so this led me to decide on Sydney Mohr, creator of the first reconstruction of Ziapelta, for this round-up's paleoart feature. Here is a terrific piece called "Campanian Scene." Check out more of Sydney's work at DeviantArt.


Illustration � Sydney Mohr, used with permission.

Mesozoic Miscellany 67

The Big News: Mega-Freaky Deinocheirus edition

The publication of new Deinocheirus mirificus material, finally fleshing out the body that was attached to those enormous arms, made a huge splash last week. Or, I should say, finally officially fleshing it out. We've known about the new Deinocheirus in broad strokes in a back-channel, unofficial sense, since last year, after paleontologists and other attendees of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's 2013 meeting had a peek at it. It only took an additional year for the thing to actually be published. Our new Deinocheirus builds on what Brian Switek described last November: a weird, hump-backed, giant ornithomimosaur. Since then, the head has turned up. How the head was procured from the black market has not been explained in detail, and that's a story I'm really interested in hearing.

More about our new superstar dinosaur: Ed Yong wrote about it at not Exactly Rocket Science. Ian Sample covered it for The Guardian. PRI interviewed Steven Brussatte about it. BoingBoing's Rob Beshizza called it adorable. The Associated Press put the image of a Barney/ Jar Jar Binks hybrid in our minds, threatening our collective sanity. Andrea Cau's multi-part series on the beast begins here.

Finally, see John Conway's wonderful illustration of a Deinocheirus pair, and buy a print for someone you love.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

You've probably seen the "tiny Brontosauruses" illusion meme pop up on Facebook or Twitter; if not, check it out at SV-POW. At this point, the original source of it is irretrievably lost, as it's reshared over and over. Search "tiny brontosauruses" on Twitter and marvel at all the spammy accounts claiming it as their own. And all the people who don't really care where it came from, because who really worries about something silly as who creates images? That's so last century.

A cool bit of Triassica: Thousands of burrows ranging from 14 to 40 cm (~5 to ~15 inches) in diameter have been found in the ~210 million year old Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle Formation in the vicinity of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. They had been provisionally assigned to lungfish, though more research was needed. At the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Vancouver, Stephen Hasiotis presented a poster offering a new interpretation of the burrows: tetrapods, perhaps small therapsids, due to similarities to Permian burrows.

If you like your dinosaurs on the campy side, see Kevin Dart's "Queen of Dinosaur Island" poster art Michael Ryan shared at Palaeoblog.

Check out the amazing winners of the Dinosaur Toy Forum's Diorama Contest. Really creative use of photography across the board.

Jaime Headden posted a wonderfully illustrated big-picture piece about toothed birds at the Bite Stuff.

Albertonykus was able to visit the National Geographic Museum's Spinosaurus exhibit, and has a report. I'm hoping to have the chance to see the exhibit in February, fingers crossed!

Meet the Underwhelming Fossil Fish of the Month! At the University College London's Museums and Collections Blog, Mark Carnall writes about the unloved Devonian ray-finned fish Cheirolepis.

Paleoart Pick

Robert Bakker presented a poster at the GSA meeting: Stegosaurian Martial Arts: A Jurassic Carnivore Stabbed by a Tail Spike, Evidence for Dynamic Interactions between a Live Herbivore and a Live Predator. And he illustrated it, too! Here's the newest Bakker original, seemingly a single screencapped moment from an animated battle.


Illustration � Robert Bakker.

Mesozoic Miscellany 66

In the News

Venezuela has gained another non-avian dinosaur taxon, making 2014 something of a boom year for the early Jurassic La Quinta Formation. Following the publication of Laquintasaura venezuelae in August, we now welcome Tachiraptor admirabilis to the fold. Mike at Everything Dinosaur has terrific pieces on both taxa: read his takes on L. venezuelae and T. admirabilis. Because of my recent post on dreadful stock image dinosaurs, please note that each of these publications were accompanied by commissioned illustrations for their press releases (by Mark Witton and Maur�lio Oliviera, respectively), resulting in the public reading stories illustrated in thoroughly non-embarrassing ways. Which is always nice.

A late Cretaceous ankylosaur from New Mexico was described in PLoS One in September, dubbed Ziapelta sanjuanensis. Lead author Victoria Arbour wrote at Pseudoplocephalus that this new armor-bearer "doesn't seem to be particularly closely related to the other ankylosaurid from the Kirtland Formation, Nodocephalosaurus. Instead, it's a close relative of Euoplocephalus and friends from Alberta." Read more on Ziapelta and its implications for ankylosaur evolution from Brian Switek.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Mary Anning's name is well-known, but what about other early female pioneers in paleontology? Fernanda Castano fills in the blanks at Letters from Gondwana with a post about Mignon Talbot and Tilly Edinger.

At Hawkmoth, Amy McDermott wrote about communing with Sue.

Zach Miller has returned to paleontology blogging, with his new posts at Waxing Paleontological. Hop over to welcome him back, and to read why he is greatly annoyed by the practice of naming new taxa after place names. So, our first news item up top is perfectly suited to peeve him.

Over the summer and fall, Mark Wildman has written a fossil hunting diary at Saurian. Read about his amble for ammonites in From the Toarcian to the Callovian: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and the addendum, which is essential to you intrepid explorers looking to replicate his journey.

Herman Diaz continues his book review posts at ART Evolved, and recently gave the thumbs up to Prehistoric Monsters and a big thumbs down to Brussatte and Benson's Dinosaurs. If you find yourself nodding along, be sure to click through to Amazon to upvote the reviews.

Robert Alicea still occasionally draws dinosaurs at Doodle of Boredom, such as a recent, adorable Allosaurus hug.

At the Dino Toy Blog, Gwangi writes about a 90's Velociraptor figure that *wasn't* influenced by the omnipresent JP design.

Matt Martyniuk also offered a critical look at a feathered theropod toy at Dinogoss with a look at a museum-endorsed dromaeosaur figure that nonetheless gets the feathers wrong.

Paleoart Pick

Why not continue the theme of feathered Mesozoic dinosaurs and how to restore them? Here's a terrific graphic by artist Mette Aumala, AKA Osmatar at DeviantArt. It's been shared around social media recently, as well as being tipped to us by reader Lew Lashmit. I love the subtlety of the humor.

Mesozoic Miscellany 65

After a really super-long break, we're back with the 65th post in the Mesozoic Miscellany series. I really haven't meant to do these posts so sporadically, but I had some freelance jobs come up that took up a lot of time over the last few months. Sorry about that! I hope to get back on a more regular schedule with them.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

At Life Traces of the Georgia Coast, Tony Martin wrote a touching post in the wake of his mother's passing, reflecting on how he came from a childhood in poverty to pursue his passion for learning about nature. It's a must-read.

A new site dedicated to Mesozoic paleontology has launched, called Dinologue, and is also active on Twitter. Dinologue also features the writing of Brian Switek, who also hosts short video features such as this one, in which Brian fields a question about whether Mesozoic dinosaurs lived in the mountains.


Surely you've heard of the minor kerfuffle kicked off by the new Spinosaurus material revealed by Nizar Ibrahim and team? Ben Miller at Dinosours! gives us a look at the exhibition tied to the publication at the National Geographic Museum.

Darren Naish, Mark Witton, and John Conway collaborated on an article for Palaeontologia Electronica, State of the Palaeoart, looking at the continuing difficulties of paleoartists wishing to be paid fairly in an atmosphere that rewards original, creative work.

Beasts of Antiquity: Stem-Birds in the Solnhofen Limestone, the new book by Matt Martyniuk, has been released in Kindle, iBook, and print formats. As he wrote at DinoGoss, there are "other books written on Solnhofen, but this is intended to be more of a synthesis of current research and understanding of it and its stem-bird fauna accessible to a general audience." Best of all, it's the first in a Beasts of Antiquity series.

The pneumaticity of bird skeletons and their evolution was covered by Liz Martin at Musings of a Clumsy Paleontologist.

Over at Jersey Boys Hunt dinosaurs, Chris DiPiazza treats us to a peek inside Jamie Oliver's American-themed diner in London. Why? Because it's packed with dinosaur stuff. There's a nice assortment of derpy, clever, and just plain neato art and sculpture, so check it out.

Maija Karala is back, and has been writing a series called Botany for Paleoartists at the Humming Dinosaurs blog (Parts 1 on ferns, 2 on fruits, and 3 on grasses). And if you didn't see it then, check out my interview with Maija published in July.

LITC contributor Asher Elbein was published at Bitter Southerner, writing about the phenomenon of snake-handling churches in the southern US. It's a terrific piece. Congrats, Asher!

Paleoart Picks

Hard to pick just one, so here's a brief round-up within the round-up of cool stuff that's crossed my path recently.

Shields and Spears is the title of the new art show from Raven Amos, Scott Elyard, and Zach Miller, opening at the Yak and Yeti Caf� in Anchorage today, October 3. I've been enjoying the works-in-progress shared on social media, including this great time-laps of Raven's great Leptoceratops piece.



Read more at Coherent Lighthouse.

Speaking of ceratopsians, Julius Csotonyi's "Ceratopsian Cornucopia" is available as a poster, a beautiful piece demonstrating the diversity of headgear among the ceratopsians.

Angela Connor, known as Amaruuk at DeviantArt, Newgrounds, and Twitter, also has a great Redbubble shop. Paleo Portraits is a charming series of various extinct taxa, available in a variety of formats.

Mesozoic Miscellany 64

In the News

Atopodentatus! Atopodentatus! What in the heck is going on with that crazy mug? Brian Switek and Jaime Headden both sum up this Triassic marine reptile and its bizarre split, needle-toothed maw.

Gobivenator isn't as weird as Atopodentatus, but hey. New troodontid from Mongolia. More from Dave Hone, Everything Dinosaur, and Nobu Tamura.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

So, this silver age comic called The Wanderers once featured a dude morphing into a gloriously ugly Deinonychus. For the sole purpose of getting Biblical with a female Deinonychus. When do we get to the point that Hollywood is desperate enough to make this?

Dr. Michael Ryan's Palaeoblog is back!

At the Integrative Paleontologists, Sarah Werning drops some learning... about the blossoming world of paleontology podcasts. Please note that we also added a list of these to our sidebar. Also, Andy Farke discusses dinosaurs and chocolate.

The CBS Sherlock Holmes adaptation Elementary recently featured some consarned black market fossil rustlers. Switek's got it covered.

Dr. Bakker answers a burnin' question about the feet of Dipsy the Diplodocus at the Beyond Bones blog.

Luis Rey's artwork was featured in the closing credits of Walking With Dinosaurs 3D, which is great for Luis... only they didn't like, credit him. At his blog, Rey lays out all of the work that was featured. Also, in case you haven't heard, there is going to be a Cretaceous Cut of WWD3D on its Deluxe Edition 3D Blu-ray, so you may now applaud, hoot, holler, fist-pump, or stoically nod in approval. Whatever it is you do.

Mark Witton wants to write about the crocodyliformes of the Wealden Supergroup, so he's going to do it, dammit. Whether you like it or not!

Matt Martyniuk wants to write about the recently proposed Bohaiornithid clade of enantornithes, so he's going to do it, dammit. Whether you like it or not!

At Paleoillustrata, Stu Pond wrote about the beginning of his life as a PhD student, including much reviewing of literature for his research into Polacanthus foxii. Good luck, Stu!

Trish Arnold is awesome, so she created dinosaur versions of the popular Wuzzles� characters. If you're not on Twitter, she's reason enough to join.

Paleoart PickIn honor of Stu Pond and his studies, let's go with Polacanthus, shall we? Here's the most accurate one I've been able to find in an exhausting, eye-bleeding twelve hours of intense internetting. It's the work of Bill Swets, a retired fireman in Fort Collins, Colorado, who used to operate the Swetsville Zoo, populated by his own metal animal sculptures. Here's Polly Polacanthus.


Photo � Paul Turner, via Flickr.