Paleontology and science illustration, and feathering ALL the dinosaurs
Taxonomy – the naming, description, and classification of living things – is one of the foundations of biology and ecology. We need to know what things are in order to properly understand them and their evolutionary relationships, and without that we can’t build up an accurate picture of the true diversity of life on Earth. … Continue reading “It Came From The Wastebasket”
The eugeneodonts were a group of cartilaginous fish that convergently resembled sharks but were actually much closer related to modern chimaeras. They had unique “tooth whorls” in their jaws, and the most famous member of the group is probably Helicoprion, whose bizarre buzzsaw-like tooth arrangement was only properly understood within the last decade. Ornithoprion hertwigi … Continue reading “Ornithoprion”
So, Spinosaurus wasn’t technically the first known aquatic non-avian dinosaur. That title instead temporarily went to Compsognathus corallestris. While the idea that hadrosaurs and sauropods were wallowing swamp-dwellers had been completely abandoned at the start of the Dinosaur Renaissance, the new view of dinosaurs as active sophisticated animals led to a surprising aquatic hypothesis during … Continue reading “April Fools 2022: The Aquatic Dinosaur That Wasn’t”
Ammonites (or “ammonoids” in technical terms) are one of the most recognizable types of fossil, found in such high abundance that they’re frequently used to precisely date rock layers. They’re absolutely everywhere in fossil collections, and are even made into jewelry. So we must already know everything we possibly could about them, right? Except… we … Continue reading “Unsolved Paleo Mysteries Month #03 – Ammonite Anatomy”
