This Mesozoic Month: September 2017

In the News

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2017 meeting was held in late August in Calgary. There have been a few posts from attendees, though not as many as I'd hoped. Check out recaps from Liz Martin-Silverstone and Albertonykus. Alex Hastings presented a poster on dinosaurs in comics and writes about his extensive research. Over at the RMDRC Paleo Lab blog, Anthony Maltese writes about the creation of the Protosphyraena skeletal mount he unveiled at SVP.

Californians can finally relax: they have an official state dinosaur. It's the hadrosaur Augustynolophus [insert hilarious vegetarian joke here]. Read more from Smithsonian and the LA Times.

It's the case of the upside-down ankylosaurs! New research studies the phenomenon of armored dinosaurs being discovered on their backs. Read more at Live Science.

Morturneria seymourensis, an aristonectine plesiosaur that swam the Antarctic seas of the Late Cretaceous, was first discovered more than 30 years ago, but new research has revealed it to be an oddball in the family: a filter feeder, with teeth that interlocked to trap and strain krill and other small food from the water. Read more from Sci-News and Earth Archives.

And while we're talking marine reptiles, meet the mighty Thaumatodracon. Adam S. Smith writes about the newly named rhoemaleosaurid at Plesiosauria.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

If you were a bit thrown by the term "allokotosauria" when Shringasaurus was revealed last month, have no fear. Zach Miller has a new post at Waxing Palaeontological about this clade's history and current roster of beasts.

At Earth magazine, Thea Boodhoo profiles paleontologist Dr. Lisa D. White and her efforts to give youths in underrepresented groups access to the geosciences.

How do paleontologists in the field decide how to conduct their search for fossils? How do they determine the significance of what they find? Adrian Currie writes about the secret epistemology of field work at Extinct.

Victoria Arbour visits the Prehistoric Park at the Calgary Zoo. And if you didn't read her latest Vintage Dinosaur Art post here, get on it! Oh, and ONE MORE THING, vote for Pseudoplocephalus!

At Antediluvian Salad, Duane Nash muses about groundcover in the Mesozoic, especially as depicted in paleoart, and winds up thinking a lot about biocrusts. Definitely worth a read if you're into palaeoart that delves into the more subtle details of an environment.

Public paleoart projects are always worth a look. The Everything Dinosaur blog features a new project to honor Gideon Mantell with a life-size sculpture of an iguanodontid in the town of his birth: Lewes, in East Sussex, England.

At ART Evolved, Herman reviews Naish and Barrett's Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved.

The Empty Wallets Club

Amargasaurus tote bag designed by Levi Hastings, image used here with his permission.

I've long been a fan of Levi Hasting's abstract dinosaur watercolors and screenprints, and have featured his work here often. His new Amargasaurus tote bag is splendid. Perfect for carrying around a collection of dino toys. Pick it up in his Etsy shop.

Dinosaur gathering in my living room. #nevergrowup

A post shared by TRX Dinosaurs (@trxdinosaurs) on Sep 12, 2017 at 10:27am PDT

Have you seen the incredible models and puppets created by TRX Dinosaurs? Here's a pic from their Instagram feed, which also includes some fun videos. Head to the TRX Dinosaurs website, where you can order your own poseable, life-size sculpture of Velociraptor or Deinonychus, or order a custom puppet! They're pricey, but the attention to detail and fidelity to contemporary paleontological knowledge certainly make them worth every cent.

The LITC AV Club

Designer and illustrator Ian Stewart heroically animated the artwork of Ray Troll to make a music video for the Ratfish Wranglers' "Ages of Rock."

Read the excellent post on paleoart from the Royal Tyrrell Museum blog, featuring a look at the process by which the museum and Julius Csotonyi came to the final version of his Regaliceratops illustration. Here's a video to accompany the piece.

Hey. There's a video game called Anatomically Incorrect Dinosaurs. Sounds right up our alley, doesn't it? And doesn't this trailer make sense? Like, total sense?

Crowdfunding Spotlight

Last minute campaign alert! This one closes on September 30, so be quick about it. Especially if you're a fan of Victorian art and design giant William Morris (he of the Arts and Crafts movement fame). Especially if you're a fan of his famous "Strawberry Thief" pattern - because now, it's got dinosaurs in it. Pledge at Kickstarter for your pocket square, necktie, or scarf!

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

I'm in a sauropod mood and I just can't shake it, so this month let's bask in the glories of this Diplodocus piece by Stevie Moore. Available as a print from his on-line shop, too!

Diplodocus carnegii illustration be Stevie Moore, shared here with his permission.

This Mesozoic Month: August 2017

In the News

Meet Serikornis, a small troodontid whose feathers are utterly lacking in barbules. Read more at Theropoda and NatGeo. And check out the amazing Emily Willoughby illustration, featured at the end of this post as our Moment of Paleoart Zen.

Hot diggity, do I love weird Triassic stuff. Check out the twin-horned terror that is Shringasaurus! Read more at Everything Dinosaur, Letters from Gondwana, and NatGeo.

New research into the famous quad-flippered plesiosaurs looks at how they might have propelled themselves through the water. Coauthor Darren Naish writes all about it at TetZoo. And do check out the video about the research down in the LITC AV Club section of this post.

Patagotitan is the putative "largest dinosaur" now, finally getting published after years of notoriety and even display. And it's coming to Chicago's Field Museum, kicking Sue off of the perch she's occupied for two decades. Read more from Paleo-King, Ben Miller, and Ed Yong at the Atlantic.

Lemmysuchus obtusidens is a new teleosaurid on the scene, made to crush shells. And yes, it's named for Lemmy Koopa. Er, I mean Kilmeister. Read more from Sci News, the Telegraph, and WaPo.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

At Waxing Paleontological, Zach follows up last year's Hopeful Dinosaurs article in the wake of new research that puts Pisanosaurus in the silesaurid bucket.

Mark Witton writes an exhaustive post on the paleoart sin of shrinkwrapping.

Head over to the New York Times, where Asher Elbein has written a great piece on the ongoing saga of the tangled dromaeosaurs of The Utahraptor Project.

Los Angeles will be hosting next year's Flugsaurier conference, and Dave Hone has the details.

You probably like dinosaurs. Otherwise, why are you here? If you like the world-famous LEGO brand of construction bricks too, boy howdy do you want to see Gareth Monger's latest Pteroformer post.

Lisa Buckley's back with another post from the field, in which she discovers her first Cretaceous bird tracks.

Herman Diaz is on a quest to compile a list of every dinosaur natural history book, and you can add your own suggestions at ART Evolved.

Prehistoric Pulp has moved to a new location, so update those bookmarks. Check out the recent review of Michael Crichton's Dragon Teeth.

The Empty Wallets Club

Mary Sanche runs a great Redbubble shop called Thoughts Up North. If you love ceratopsians in brilliant hues, this will be right up your alley. I love her Regaliceratops. Such a frisky pose.

Hey, I got back into the dinosaur heraldry game a little while ago! Here's my Sauropoda family crest design, featuring a Brontosaurus rampant. I have some ideas for others but haven't had the time to really figure them out. But the 'pod lovers are covered. Available on tees, mugs, stickers, and more at my Redbubble Shop.

The LITC AV Club

Draw a coelocanth with Brian Engh!

Listen to Memo Kosemen and Joschua Knüppe talk paleoart!

Luke Muscutt talks about the awesome new plesiosaur locomotion research!

Crowdfunding Spotlight

We've obviously featured it on this blog in the past, but since Asher's article in the NYT has been published, I'll mention the Utahraptor Project again. Go to GoFundMe to contribute to this monumental effort.

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

It was an obvious pick, but I had to go with Emily Willoughby's stunning Serikornis illustration. The kind of paleoart you just lose yourself in.

Serikornis by Emily Willoughby, shared here with her permission.

This Mesozoic Month: July 2017

July! That really was a month, wasn't it? A mellow month after the sturm und drang of June, but still plenty of fun to be had, so let's start having it.

In the News

Razanandrongobe sakalavae is a new, giant notosuchian from Jurassic Madagascar. Learn more about this fearsome beast from Jon Tennant at PLOS.

Straight out of the nineties: fossils that have been in the Royal Tyrrell Museum since 1993 and 1996 have received new attention, found to be a new species of troodontid. Read about Albertavenator curriei at Live Science.

Drs. Hone and Holtz teamed up for a big overview of spinosaurs. Read about it from Archosaur Musings and grab the paper here [PDF link].

The earliest neornithine bird, Vegavis iaai, was recently the subject of osteohistological research, offering confirmation that it was a diving, foot-propelled bird. Read more from Fernanda Castano at Letters from Gondwana.

Read about the ongoing effort to recover and prepare "Walter," a giant hadrosaur from Rangely, Colorado, by a team from Colorado Northwestern Community College.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Mark Witton interviews artist Johan Egerkrans, who has been doing some fantastic, cartoony prehistoric art lately.

At the Inverse, Jacquelyn Ronson talks to Mike Habib and Jordan Mallon about The Land Before Time and its scientific accuracy.

Darren Naish returns with another post about the big empty space in the noggins of ceratopsians at TetZoo.

At Raptormaniacs, check out some animatronic beasts at the Bristol Zoo.

NatGeo has done an amazing 3D tour of the Suncor nodosaur fossil.

Chris talks dinosaurs and beer at Prehistoric Beast of the Week.

Since industrial operations are digging in places where rock isn't naturally exposed, some unique fossils can turn up. The Royal Tyrrell Museum blog delves into this intersection of industry and science.

Paul Pursglove writes about Wukongopterus lii, now on display in the Dinosaurs of China exhibition at Wollaton Hall, at the Pterosaur database blog.

At the RMDRC blog, Anthony Maltese shares the story of finding a tyrannosaur's ass. Glamorous field work alert!

One of the most enduring questions about theropods -especially non-maniraptorans - is how they used those often small forelimbs. "T. rex trying," anyone? Duane Nash takes a critical look at some of our prevailing assumptions and comes up with some pretty satisfying counterpoints.

Liz Martin-Silverstone wraps up her "150 Things about Canadian Palaeontology" series with a look at some of the country's truly ancient fossil sites.

The Empty Wallets Club

Ted Rechlin's new dinosaur graphic novel, Jurassic, is now available from his own Rextooth Studios imprint. Pick it up at Amazon and read more at Rextooth.

Rebecca Groom of Palaeoplushies fame unveiled her painstakingly crafted Yutyrannus huali art doll, and it can be yours.

The LITC AV Club

Who's ready for an hour of Dave Hone talking about tyrannosaurs? He offers a fantastic overview of the family. Pull up a seat!

As if that wasn't generous enough, there's a great Q&A portion that the Royal Institution has made available to the masses.

Not enough tyrant action for you yet? No? Well have some more: Dr. Thomas Carr talks about Daspletosaurus horneri.

Saurian is finally here! At the time of this writing, the team is simply awaiting for Steam to approve it. Here's the release trailer for the game.

Finally, Mark Witton has announced his next book, and it's a doozy. Check out his preview video!

Crowdfunding Spotlight

Diane Ramic's paleofauna coloring books are pretty wonderful, with an engaging aesthetic that allows colorers plenty of freedom to invent color schemes for the animals. Her second coloring book is being funded via Kickstarter. The campaign lasts until August 6, so hurry up and pledge.

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

So, this has been a tyrannosaur-heavy post. Why stop now? Here's Raph Lomotan's gorgeous Yutyrannus pair.

Yutyrannus huali © Raph Lomotan, shared here with the artist's permission.

Be sure to follow Raph at DeviantArt. If you're into Star Wars, he's done quite a few beautiful character paintings as well.

This Mesozoic Month: June 2017

It's kind of been an annoying month for those of us who don't think science exists to serve our personal preferences as to what prehistoric animals looked like (ahem). And if you're not into childish sensationalism in your science journalism, it's been doubly annoying. So... I made this.

I think I remember that line correctly...

In the News

Let's start with something light and non-controversial, shall we? Thank goodness for amber, that perennial benefactor of the prehistorically-inclined. The latest gift? A beautiful little enantornithe. Read more from Asher Elbein, writing for Audubon.

New research at the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, the site of a massive Jurassic bonebed dominated by Allosaurus remains, suggests a gradual deposition of carcasses over years of seasonal flooding, rather than a single catastrophic event. Read more from Brian Switek. Randall Irmis writes about iffy coverageof the research at the Natural History Museum of Utah blog.

There's been a streak of new insights into sensitive facial integument in theropods lately, and the newest published research is about Neovenator. Read more from Darren Naish at Tet Zoo (one of the study's coauthors) and Sam Barnett at the Natural Sciences Collections Association blog.

Finally, the story that inspired a thousand online arguments. Nothing like a new paper on tyrannosaur integument to get the people talking. There has been a ton of conversation over the paper itself as well as about the typically awful hot takes from sciencey websites and blogs. Read more from Meig Dickson at Earth Archives. Mark Witton's post is particularly insightful, and I for one will not fuss too much when I concede that my recent Science March sign has been rendered - probably - obsolete.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

At Prehistoric Beast of the Week, Chris has begun reviewing dinosaur figures by Safari, starting with a snazzy Coelophysis. Love the racing stripe.

Give a listen to WICN's Inquiry podcast, which recently featured Anthony J. Martin talking about paleontology, especially ichnology and his book Dinosaurs Without Bones.

At ART Evolved, Herman Diaz returns with more book reviews: Patricia Lauber's How Dinosaurs Came to Be (yay!) and Richard Moody's Dinofile (boo!).

There's a current effort to complete a database of every dinosaur specimen in the world, and Mike Taylor tells us about it at SV-POW.

In her latest post on Canadian paleontology, Liz Martin-Silverstone writes about the country's paleobotanical treasures.

Victoria Arbour visited the "coal age Galapagos," a fossil exposure in Nova Scotia, and found some beautiful stuff. Check it out at Pseudoplocephalus.

The LITC AV Club

PBS Digital Studios has begun a new paleontology video series titled Eons, hosted by Hank Green. Here's episode one, dedicated to trilobites. Subscribe at Youtube to see what they cook up next!

The Empty Wallets Club

The contents page of Taschen's Paleoart.

In August, the publishing company Taschen will release Zoë Lescaze's Paleoart, a scholarly look at the history of artistic depicions of ancient life. You know, paleoart.

The collection provides an in-depth look at this neglected niche of art history and shows how the artists charged with imagining extinct creatures often projected their own aesthetic whims onto prehistory, rendering the primordial past with dashes of Romanticism, Impressionism, Japonisme, Fauvism, and Art Nouveau, among other influences.

It looks gorgeous, but it does cost a pretty penny.

Crowdfunding Spotlight

Paleoartist Matt Martyniuk needs a new computer, and if you support him at GoFundMe, you get to help determine what his next project will be. Chip in at his campaign page!

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

Benke Bálint's Atopodentatus is one of my favorite depictions of the Triassic oddball.

Atopodentatus by Benke Bálint, shared here with the artist's permission.

This Mesozoic Month: April 2017

Not the roller coaster that March was, but April's been another nifty month in matters paleontological, and that's no foolin'!

In the News

Edmontosaurus lovers, heads up. The cranium of E. regalis is the subject of a new paper in PLoS One. Brian Switek has been writing a cool series called "The Dead Zoo" for Omni, and he profiled the mighty duckbill, taking into account all of this new information we've been getting about it over the last decade.

A new paper describes the earliest, basalmost phytosaur of all: Diandongosuchus fuyuaensis.

There's a wee lil' new microraptorine on the block, Zhongjianosaurus. Read more at Theropoda and Letters from Gondwana.

If early, early archosaurs are your thing - and why wouldn't they be, after all - you're in luck. The description of Teleocrater rhadinus in Nature fills in some gaps down at the base of the tree. Hear Liz Martin-Silverstone talk about it on Palaeocast.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Sarah Gibson did a two-part interview with Brian Engh at the PLOS Paleo Community blog. Check out part one and part two.

I wasn't able to attend Paleofest as I'd hoped, but David Prus is here with a write-up of his visit to the annual prehistoric bonanza in Rockford, IL.

At Earth Archives, Vasika Udurawane has begun a series on the evolution of plants. Start here.

Matt Martyniuk is back with another "You're Doing it Wrong" post. This time he covers the bill of Pteranodon.

At Pseudoplocephalus, Victoria pays a visit to a biomechanics exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre.

Zach writes about the snouty thallatosaurs at Waxing Paleontological. "The more I read about the Triassic," he writes, "the weirder it gets."

As Saurian gets closer to its pre-release, the team have released a new devlog teasing the field guide book.

Herman's back with a book review attack, upping one that rocks, dissing one that lacks. Hit it!

At Tyrannosauroidea Central, Thomas Carr writed about the implications of the recent publication of Daspletosaurus horneri: ontogeny and the anagenesis hypothesis.

Check out the sweet paleo-themed dinner plate Paul Pursglove found.

The LITC AV Club

The Royal Tyrrell Museum's speaker series continues, with a presentation on the halisaurine mosasaurs by Dr. Takuya Konishi of the University of Cincinnati.

Brian Engh revisits Aquilops in his newest paleoart video.

Crowdfunding Spotlight

Following up her portrait series on the diversity of the paleontology community, Thea Boodhoo is working on organizing a workshop on diversity at this August's SVP meeting in Calgary. They need funds to make the workshop a great experience for all attendees. Head to GoFundMe to help out.

After her successful set of prehistoric enamel pins funded a couple months ago, Jessy Smith is back with a set of Mesozic megafauna. Pledge at Kickstarter.

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

I love this Rodrigo Vega illustration of a gnarly-looking Yacarerani boliviensis, a notosuchian from the Late Cretaceous.

Yacarerani boliviensis © Rodrigo Vega, used here with the artist's permission.

This Mesozoic Month: March 2017

Well. That was a month, eh? Before we dive into this wild lunar cycle of paleontological action, I'll put out one more call: if you are a paleoartist and you haven't taken the 2017 Survey of Paleoartists, do it! It's easy and won't take too long.

In the News

Ornithoscelida. This is the name given new clade consisting of ornithischia and theropoda, according to a new phylogenetic study by Matthew Baron with Paul Barrett and David Norman. This new model proposes that the sauropodomorphs and theropods aren't quite as closely related as we've thought, with saurischia redefined to be sauropodomorpha + hererrasauridae. Many interesting implications here. Let's see how is pans out over time. Read more from Darren Naish at TetZoo, Ed Yong at the Atlantic, and Pete Bucholz at Earth Archives.

Anchiornis plus lasers! New research using the technique of laser-stimulated fluorescence has "fleshed out" the little-dinobird-that-could, confirming some hypotheses about soft tissue anatomy in paravians and throwing in some surprises, to boot (no pun intended, but the foot integument has stoked conversation online). Read more from Scott Hartman at Skeletal Drawing, Andrea Cau at Theropoda, and NatGeo.

Want more dinobird soft tissue, eh? A newly described, remarkable specimen of Confuciusornis has been found to preserve soft tissue features of the ankle and foot. "Microscopic analyses of these tissues indicate that they include tendons or ligaments, fibrocartilages and articular cartilages, with microstructure evident at the cellular level. Further chemical analyses reveal that even some of the original molecular residues of these soft tissues may remain, such as fragments of amino acids from collagen, particularly in the fibrocartilage." The authors conclude that Confuciusornis represents a transitional state between the leg posture of ancestral theropods and modern birds. Read the Nature Communications paper and the release from Bristol University.

Daspletosaurus isn't left out of the March integument madness. A new species of the tyrant, D. horneri, has been described by Thomas Carr, based on fossils that have been long awaiting description. Another new tyrannosaur, big whoop, right? Well, this one has major implications for restorations of these Cretaceous poster children. Carr and team studied an extremely well preserved specimen, determining that the face was covered by large scales like those of modern crocodiles, and had no lips. Furthermore, the face was supplied with a powerful web of nerves, making it highly sensitive. Read more from Phys Org, Science, and Eurekalert. Already lots of critiques popping up, but of course we'll have to see what pops up in further publications.

The Burmese amber strikes back. This time, mid-Cretaceous amber containing platycnemid damselflies shows evidence of courtship behavior. The insects possessed the enlarged tibiae of their modern relatives. It's a pretty stunning find, and thankfully the private collector who purchased the amber provided it to scientists so it could be published. Read more at Phys Org and Cosmos.

In the discovered-but-not-described bin, another titanic Mesozoic penguin from New Zealand. This new one is about as large as the largest ancient penguins and was found a few meters above the discovery site of Waimanu manneringi, most ancient of the proud lineage. Read more at Laelaps from Brian Switek.

New research has compared the lower jaws of a whole bunch of therizinosaurs to better understand the feeding adaptations of the various species. Read more about it from Albertonykus at Raptormaniacs.

A late Jurassic turtle has been found to have the ability to retract its neck into its shell. Read more on Platychelys from Jon Tennant at PLOS Paleo Community.

Finally, this one seemed to get buried in the press in February, so I'm including it this month, thanks to Ashley Hall calling attention to it. An absolutely gorgeous new fossil of Eoconfuciusornis from the Yixian Formation, preserving soft tissue of the ovaries and wing.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Writing for Palaeontology Online, Elsa Panciroli provides a comprehensive overview of the earliest mammals.

C.M. Kosemen is back on Youtube! Check out his first entry in his rebooted series, in which he tells the Parable of Darth Atopodentatus the Wise.

Luis V. Rey offers an intriguing look at Yehuecauhceratops, restoring it with big, fleshy nostrils.

On Discover's "Dead Things" blog, Gemma Tarlach is profiling up-and-coming paleontologists. The first profile in the series is all about Sanaa El-Sayed and one heck of a big catfish.

Over at the Paleo-King blog, Nima has estimated how much time a sauropod would have to spend eating each day.

Did you hear about all of the new coelurosaurian Monopoly pieces? A penguin, a rubber duck, and a so-so Tyrannosaurus rex. Read more at Everything Dinosaur.

Want to fight back against anti-science forces? At the SciAm guest blog, Jonathan Foley and Christine Arena have some ideas.

Jordan Mallon shared his most-overlooked paper with Dave Hone in an installment of the "Buried Treasure" series. Read more about "Taphonomy and habitat preference of North American pachycephalosaurids" over at Archosaur Musings.

At Mary Anning's Revenge, Meaghan and Amy shared a couple of their recent paleo talks. Check out the vids, do it.

One of my favorite podcasts is In Defense of Plants, so I was extra excited to see that Dr. Caroline Strömberg stopped by to talk paleobotany. She discusses her specialty in researching phytoliths, silica particles produced by certain plants, and gives a wonderful overview of the science.

At New Views on Old Bones, Paul Barrett has been writing about an expedition to Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, in search of Early Jurassic fossils. Check out parts one, two, and the recently published finale.

Duane writes about "the longest tenured and most successful marine tetrapod family of all time," the plesiosaurs, at Antediluvian Salad.

Some good posts on female paleontologists for Women's History Month: Learn about American paleontologist Mignon Talbot at the Tetanurae Guy and read about Mary Anning from Fernanda Castano.

The Empty Wallets Club

Comic artist Abby Howard (Junior Scientist Power Hour) announced her new book, Dinosaur Empire!, due to be released in August by Amulet Books. It looks amazing - a trip through the entire Mesozoic, with fauna that clearly is based on contemporary science. Check out her announcement comic, and then preorder it!

Dinosaur Art, the 2012 paleoart book edited by Steve White and published by Titan Books, was such a big deal that we dedicated a whole week to it. The book got a lot of press, but I think it's fair to say that LITC provided the most in-depth analysis you'll find, as each contributor to the blog provided a review, and we published an interview with White. So LITC is pretty excited that its sequel is coming this October! This time, we'll be treated to the work of Willoughby, Witton, Lacerda, Atuchin, and more.

Raven Amos has added another terrific design to her NeatoShop storefront, taking direct aim at the myopic, small-minded, backwards-thinking, and utterly annoying "science ruined dinosaurs" crowd. Science made dinosaurs awesome!

Illustrator Patrick Murphy has released his first book, an introduction to dinosaurs for kids 9 and up. Order it here!

The LITC AV Club

Wound up with more videos than usual, so why not give them their own special section?

Here's short n' sweet PBS News Hour feature on Julius Csotonyi's paleaort. Thanks to Michael Ryan of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (and Palaeoblog) for giving big ups to paleoart.

Larry Witmer talks about a sweet, sweet Triceratops brain endocast.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum's speaker series recently featured Peter Larson, who spoke on his research tracking theropod diversity and disparity in the late Cretaceous.

Filmmaker Lexi Marsh is challenging "a lost legacy" with The Bearded Lady Project. Her 20 minute short film, focusing on Dr. Ellen Currano, debuted early this month at the University of Wyoming at Laramie. Read Carolyn Gramling's great interview with Marsh at Science. Check out the trailer above, too.

Crowdfunding Spotlight

The Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs has just embarked on another field trip to educate the children of Mongolia about their country's priceless natural heritage. They can always use donations to fund their efforts, or you can visit their shop and pick up a shirt, mug, or print to support them.

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

I am a fan of Joschua Knüppe's naturalistic paleoartwork, and when I saw his latest pterosaur illustration for Pteros, I immediately asked for permission to feature it here. Gegepterus changi is a ctenochasmatid pterosaur hailing from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation.

Gegepterus changi, illustrated by Joschua Knüppe, and shared here with the artist's permission.

Read more about lil' G at Pteros. Keep up with Joschua at DeviantArt and Facebook.

This Mesozoic Month: February 2017

Though I typically post these on the first, I'm running February's roundup a day early to make room for the launch of the 2017 Survey of Paleoartists tomorrow. Come back tomorrow to read about, and take, the survey!

In the News

Early in February, The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology spoke out against the Trump regime's hotly-debated immigration ban from nine majority-Muslim countries. Check out the full statement here.

Isaberrysaurus mollensis is a newly described primitive neornithischian from the Early Jurassic Los Molles Formation. Discovered with a belly full of cycad seeds, it was initially thought to occupy a more basal spot in ornithischia on account of its rather stegosaurian noggin. Read more from Franz Anthony at Earth Archives.

It barely missed the cut last month, so I'll include it this time. Saccorhytus coronarius is the newly discovered, 540 million year old contender for earliest deuterostome. As NPR's All Things Considered put it, S. coronarius was "basically a giant gaping mouth with spikes and some extra holes — probably for oozing waste." Sounds like I've got my Halloween costume figured out. Read more from Smithsonian, Phys Org, and CNN.

At Laelaps, Brian Switek introduces us to Keilhauia nui, a Jurassic ichthyosaur discovered in Svalbard, Norway and notable among its kin for the fact that its hips were preserved with it. Now we just need to enlist Weird Al to parody Shakira to make this story blow up.

Bulbasaurus phylloxyron illustration by Matt Celeskey, distributed with press materials for the PeerJ publication.

Bulbasaurus phylloxyron is a new, gnarly-looking dicynodont from the Karoo basin of South Africa, described by Christian Kammerer in PeerJ. And there's a Pokémon connection, so it actually made the news! Read more from Everything Dinosaur, Shaena Montanari for Forbes, Jon Tennant for PloS Paleo Community, and Sarah Sloat for Inverse. Matt Celeskey's restoration, above, is a beauty.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

LITC's Asher Elbein has been a busy guy. First: his terrific piece for Audubon on how modern paleontology is harnessing the power of lasers to study fossils: in this case, research published in December on the early Cretaceous bird Confuciusornis, indicating it was capable of flight and adapted for arboreality. After that appetizer, dive into his new piece for the Bitter Southerner, in which he writes about the largely obscured history of the continent of Appalachia. Though many of the Mesozoic fossils of the eastern US are scrappy, Asher writes, "...put enough scraps together, and you can catch a glimpse of something more: the shape of a body, the shape of a forest, the shape of a land lost beneath fathomless time."

Popular Mechanics ran a brief article on the Paleobiology Database Navigator, a tool that allows users to explore fossil localities by geological timeframe, taxa, or location. It's pretty great, check it out if you haven't already.

Thea Boodhoo tells the story of her involvement with the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs and lays out the background of the institute's mission to raise up a new generation of Mongolian paleontologists.

Learn about the fossils of Big Bend National Park from the Mary Anning's Revenge crew. It's like... maybe public lands are super-important and worth preserving? Is that a crazy, fringe idea these days?

Continuing the public lands theme, Robert Gay visits the PLoS Paleo Community blog to tell the story of Bears Ears National Monument's fossil treasures. I previously linked to a post on BENM in January, but it's too good a story to miss.

At Archosaur Musings, Dave Hone has launched a new series in which paleontologists discuss favorite or unsung scientific papers. He kicks it off with Mike Taylor, who writes about the process of publishing his paper with Matt Wedel on sauropod neck length.

"Scientist-led palaeoart should be the best there is," says Mark Witton, "carefully-executed, evidence-led syntheses of research conclusions in compelling artworks." So it's incredibly frustrating when paleoart commissioned by a scientist and created under their guidance fails in fundamental ways. Read Mark's full commentary at his blog.

There's a new paleontology-infused podcast in town: Common Descent.

Darren Naish shares a write-up of his talk at last autumn's Popularising Palaeontology event at King's College London. Head to Tet Zoo to read about his talk on paleoart memes. You can check out more about the workshop, including videos of the talks, at the Popularising Palaeontology website.

Jillian Noyes celebrates the enduring power of Disney's "Rite of Spring" segment of Fantasia at Extinct.

Did you know about Peru's Talara tar pits? Brian Switek waxes rhapsodic about their beautiful, jet-black bounty, as well as discussing some other tar pit sites that don't get the attention La Brea receives. In another post championing an unsung fossil, he gives some overdue love to Torvosaurus' smaller cousin Marshosaurus, a mid-sized Morrison predator only known from some bits of jaw and hip.

At Musings of a Clumsy Palaeontologist, Liz Martin-Silverstone is celebrating 150 years of Canadian paleontology, a rich history that kicked off with the discovery of a Dimetrodon on Prince Edward Island in 1845. Read her first post in the series here.

The Empty Wallets Club

Some juicy new books and art to pick up this month! I figure they're deserving of their very own section here. We'll see if there's enough every month to keep it around.

Anthony Martin's new book was released on February 7. Pick up The Evolution Underground to learn about the natural history of burrowing animals. Also check out Tony's post on the book at his Life Traces of the Georgia Coast blog.

If you haven't been to Chris DiPiazza's on-line store, do yourself a favor and check it out. I am particularly enamored of his successful effort to counter the "tiny arms" slander T. rex is prone to receive.

Some great stuff has been coming out from the 252MYA crew. Just a few recent pieces: Greer Strother's Hatzegopteryx poster. Franz Anthony's Ediacaran Biota tee. Julio Lacerda's Age of Fishes poster. I'll also note that 252MYA's licensing arm is now live, so there's literally no reason any media needs to resort to atrocious CG abominations instead of good paleoart.

Brian Engh is selling his paleoart book to Patreon supporters who pledge at the $20 per month level or higher, and if you commit to keeping that pledge level for at least two months, he'll draw a custom illustration of your choosing on the inside cover! And while you're here, dim the lights and check out Brian's second video dedicated to the dinosaur trackmakers of Copper Ridge. He also touches on gnarly injuries, the vital role of predators, the importance of public lands. Details on his book promotion at the end of the video.

It's not in the 252mya shop at the moment, but Gabriel Ugueto has added to his growing selection of Mesozoic fauna posters. Now available at Redbubble: Wessex dinosaurs and pterosaurs and one dedicated to the fauna of the Las Hoyas Formation of Spain. Dude's got a selfie next to the word "prolific" in the Merriam-Webster's.

Sharon Wegner-Larson released another great fossil-based design this month: Triceratops Rocks. Minerals, ginkgo leaves, and one of the coolest skulls of all time, what's not to love?

Emily Willoughby, Jonathan Kane, and Mike Keesey's new book God's Word or Human Reason?: An Inside Perspective on Creationism is now available. A limited number of signed hardcover copies are available from Emily for $40 through Paypal, too. The book, as you may guess from the subtitle, lays out evidence for evolution from a group of authors who were at one time creationists. Also, I had the distinct honor of designing the cover!

Crowdfunding Spotlight

A panel from page 11 of Paleocene © Mike Keesey. Shared here with the artist's permission.

More from Mike Keesey, why not? I love his comic Paleocene. Set in the devastated post K-T world, the opening chapter of the comic (he completed page 20 recently) has set the stage for a story about a clan of stem-primates as they struggle for survival. It even involves issues of class. I love the writing, the color, the atmosphere... it's just great. To support him in this and other endeavors, sign on to be a patron at his Patreon page.

A Moment of Paleoart Zen

I felt like going non-dinosaurian this time around, and this terrific new illustration by Vladimir Nikolov fit the bill perfectly. At Facebook, he offers this description:

An unfortunate individual of the aetosaurian species Stagonolepis robertsoni is falling to its death, while a nearby passing Ornithosuchus woodwardi is suddenly offered a free lunch. In nature, in great many occasions, someone's loss and pain is someone else's gain. The scene takes place during the Late Triassic in what is now Scotland.

The Last Fall © Vladimir Nikolov. Shared here with the artist's permission.

You can check it out at DeviantArt and leave him a constructive comment, too.

That's a wrap for February. As ever, your comments and shares on social media are greatly appreciated. And seriously, come back tomorrow for the launch of the 2017 Survey of Paleoartists!

This Mesozoic Month: January 2017

In the News

Living on an island devoid of giant theropods, Hatzegopteryx was an azhdarchid pterosaur that acheived a status few of its brethren could hope for: top terrestrial predator. Read more about this "shoebill-hornbill-terminator" from Mark Witton and Brian Switek.

This year's edition of PaleoFest, held at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, IL is coming up in one month. Head to the museum's site to download the registration form. LITC's own Victoria Arbour will be speaking there! And I *miiiiiight* be able to go.

Illustration by Danielle Dufault/© Royal Ontario Museum

One of the more obscure casualties of the Permian-Triassic "Great Dying" was the mysterious hyolith. Now, it's been given a place on the great tree of life: as a member of Lophophora, along with the relatively more famous brachiopods. Read more about the "tentacled ice cream cone" from Everything Dinosaur and NPR, Live Science, and the NYT. Danielle Dufault's illustration, above, is another wonderful example of how a good piece of paleoart makes the alien approachable.

It got pretty darned cold after the Chicxulub impact. Fernanda Castano writes about new research modeling the post-KT global climate.

The US state of Arkansas is one step closer to naming its own state dinosaur, the undescribed coeleruosaur foot known as "Arkansaurus." For her part, Rebecca Hunt-Foster, who initially examined the fossils in the early 2000's, is working on getting the critter described. Check out that link to see loveable rouser of rabble Brian Engh's illustration, too.

How long did non-avian dinosaurs incubate? New research looks into the question by studying growth lines in the teeth of Protoceratops and Hypacrosaurus embryos, among other methods. Their conclusion is that it's likely that the rapid incubation we see in living dinosaurs is a later development, and most Mesozoic dinosaurs developed slowly. Read more from Carolyn Gramling for Science and NPR.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

At Aeon, Alex Riley writes about recent efforts to understand what prehistoric worlds sounded like, touching on Vegavis, Parasaurolophus, and the bush cricket Archaboilus musicus.

At SV-POW, Mike Taylor cautions us not to rely on a photo to interpret a fossil.

Rebor has released three Deinonychus replicas as part of a larger Acrocanthosaurus and Tenontosaurus diorama, and they are quite lovely. Check out Everything Dinosaur's post on the set. Now, I look forward to the alternate universe version, in which a Tenontosaurus triumphantly bellows a victory song atop a heap of fallen theropods it has bested.

Lisa Buckley, inspired by some proselytizing door-knockers, decided to start making science-oriented pamphlets to hand out when the need arises, starting her "Science Tracks" series with OMFG Birds are Great!

How does one keep up with the ever-increasing amount of paleontological research? At the SVP blog, Dr. Darin Croft has some advice.

At Quartz India, Pranay Lal writes about the dinosaurs of Cretaceous greater India.

At Paleo-King, Nima brings our attention to an article from 2015 that reports the results of a paleoart survey of 115 paleontologists (of whom 100 responded). The article, published in Current Trends in Paleontology and Evolution, had the goal of creating a working definition of paleoart. One question was for respondents to identify paleoartists whose work they recognized, with interesting results (Doug Henderson and Greg Paul each had only 5 mentions apiece). It would be interesting to see this performed with a larger sample size and with more international participation: Spain accounted for 70% of the respondents. Direct PDF link here.

Sometimes a fossil in prep confounds one's expectations: so writes Anthony Maltese about a spectacular, unexpected Ichthyornis fossil he's currently working on.

If you're into turtles and you're into latitudinal diversity gradients, Jon Tennant has you covered, sweetheart.

Susie Maidment ran through hypotheses about the function of stegosaurian plates and spikes for the website Know it Wall.

Duane Nash wades into the great feathers vs. scales fracas at Antediluvian Salad.

We'll end with a little field trip to Mongolia, starting at Extinct, where Leonard Finkelman writes a metaphysical musing on the "ownership" of fossils, stemming from the debate over repatriating fossils from the American Museum of Natural History back to Mongolia. Also read the statment from Bolortsetseg Minjin, president of the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs, on the complicated matter. She also spoke to Palaeocast about it last year. While we're on the topic, head over to Prehistoric Beast of the Week and check out Chris DiPiazza's recent post featuring great illustrations of Mongolian dinosaurs..

Crowdfunding Spotlight

Plenty going on this month! If you're not able to donate to these campaigns, help spread the word. It really does help, and folks running campaigns do appreciate every share. A couple of campaigns are closing soon at Experiment, a science crowdfunding site.

First is The end of an Era: Resolving the dinosaur extinction and the beginning of the 'age of mammals' in northwest Argentina. Ending in less than a week, a University College London team led by Anjali Goswami and Agustin Scanferla "will intensively explore new fossil sites in Northwest Argentina, where we have recently discovered dinosaur, crocodile, and other fossils from this period."

Next up is Geology of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of central Montana. A team from the University of Oklahoma led by Dean R. Richmond hopes to "describe the stratigraphy, sedimentology, and depositional facies of the Morrison Formation in central Montana." The crowdfunding effort will help cover the costs of analyzing a wealth of material that was collected in quarries last summer, including sauropod fossils, petrified wood, and freshwater and marine organisms.

Moment of Paleoart Zen

Artists Raven Amos and Scott Elyard, who run the excellent art and design firm Cubelight Graphics, are holding their ninth art show soon, taking place at Espresso Cafe in Wasilla, AK. They've held a successful Indiegogo campaign to fund printing of their art for the show, but it's still worth chipping in to help meet stretch goals - as well as to get some great perks, natch. So, I'll be sharing one of Raven's featured pieces, the wonderful Styracosarus Jungle. I'm not alone in my love for Raven's work, which often hearkens back to pop art and art deco.

Styracosaurus Jungle, © Raven Amos. Shared with the artist's permission.

Also check out the promotional video for the show shared below. Congratulations on the successful campaign and best of luck at the show, Raven and Scott!

This Mesozoic Month: December 2016

Happy new year! This month, after 90 installments over five years, Mesozoic Miscellany has evolved into a new form. The intent of these round up posts will be the same, but now they'll have a more fitting name: This Mesozoic Month. As the name implies, I plan on keeping to a monthly schedule so I can include fresher, and hopefully more, news of the mesozoical persuasion. 2016 ended with a bang, so let's see what made the rounds on blogs, podcasts, and the media.

In the News

Juvenile coeleurosaur by Chun-Tat Cheung, distributed with press materials for the Current Biology publication

The big news in December, and let's face it, 2016 as a whole, was the discovery of a fragment of a feathered theropod tail trapped in amber. With this specimen, we have physical evidence of how the tail feathers of non-avialans attached to the spine. It's the kind of paleontology story that hits the media with a big splash. I know I've had a few people ask me about the story, and not just on-line. Read more from Andrea Cau at Theropoda, Liz Martin-Silverstone at Musings of a Clumsy Palaeontologist, NatGeo, Daily Kos, The Verge, CNN, Science, Washington Post, New York Times, the Guardian, and NPR. As a nice little surprise, Brian Switek popped up on The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe to chat about this and more.

And that's not all we've received recently from Burmese amber. Also published this month was the discovery of an Aleocharine beetle dating back to 99 mya, almost doubling the previous oldest specimen of the family. These rove beetles are parasites of eusocial insect colonies, and this specimen is contemporaneous with the oldest known eusocial termite colony. Tidy! Read more from Entomology Today.

One of the happiest pieces of news in December was President Obama's creation of Bears Ears National Monument, protecting the vital paleontological resources within, and in part Robert Gay is to thank. Read his story on how he advocated for the protected status.

Body fossils of cephalopods are exceedlingly rare, but at Laelaps, Brian Switek has the story of a beautiful Jurassic octopus, Proteroctopus ribeti.

A biomechanical study of the skulls of Camarasaurus and Plateosaurus finds that the former was capable of stronger, more efficient bites, while the latter was adapted for closing its jaws quickly, suggesting that greater efficiency in feeding could be part of the story of how sauropods got so large. Read more from Jon Tennant at the PLoS Paleo Community blog.

More news from the prehistoric chomping beat: a new study finds that Didelphodon had the strongest bite force relative to body size of any mammal yet studied. Brian Switek tells all at Laelaps.

During the Turonian, the Earth was a freakin' sauna. At a North Pole that never got much colder than 57° F/ 14° C, a newly described bird called Tingmiatornis arctica dove for its dinner. Read more from the New York Times and Scientific Reports.

New research as part of the Chicxulub drilling program has found that soon after the great asteroid impact 66 million years ago, the phytoplankton Braarudosphaera and dinoflaggelate Thoracosphaera colonized the impact site. Read more from Sarah Kaplan at the Washington Post.

Around the Dinoblogosphere

Writing for the Inverse, Jacquelyn Ronson has penned a terrific paean to paleoart. She speaks with paleontologist Don Henderson, who recently worked with Bob Nicholls' famous "Double Death" piece, in which two mighty Carcharodontosaurus play tug of war with a sauropod. "For Henderson, bringing these extinct creatures back to life through art isn’t secondary to the science, it’s fundamental to it."

The Dinosaur Toy Blog recently reviewed a rather impressive - and pretty large - Amargasaurus figure.

Shaena Montanari was interviewed on the Female of the Species podcast, discussing her Dinosaur Doctors outreach efforts, writing science for Forbes, and more.

Rebecca Groom recently added a pretty awesome Ichthyosaurus enamel pin to the Palaeoplushies shop! Here's where to pick one up.

For Saurian's final Devlog of the year, the team shared their revised Triceratops sculpt and Chris Masna's design for Brachychampsa. I can't wait to play the game and hunt inadvisable prey animals.

At the PLOS Paleo Community blog, Tara Lepore writes a guest post about a gathering celebrating the role of women in the SVP at the Society's 2016 conference. She writes, "Especially enlightening was the idea that although women comprise roughly half of the SVP membership, women do not always tip the scales in terms of invited talks." I've linked to it before, but also be sure to read Victoria Arbour's post on this very topic at Pseudoplocephalus.

Poor, neglected Parksosaurus. Justin Tweet writes about the also-ran ornithopod at Equatorial Minnesota.

The large troodontid teeth that have been found on Alaska's north slope offer a tantalizing glimpse at a prehistoric environment in which relatively giant troodontids stalked snowy forests. Writing for Earth Archives, Pete Buchholz offers a great summary of what we know about the fauna of the Prince Creek Formation. Beautiful troodontid art by Julio Lacerda, as well.

Also at Earth Archives, Dean Lomax writes about the value of old museum collections to science. He tells the story of the description of Ichthyosaurus anningae, notable not only for being named for Mary Anning but for also being the first time we've possibly seen sexual dimorphism in an ichthyosaur species.

So, eight years ago, Cracked wrote an article that's pretty much Palaeofail 101, stuck hopelessly in the tar pit of awesomebroism. Responding to a recent reader question at Tumblr, Albertonykus ably and gleefuly dissects it. The original article may be an oldie, but the takedown is fun and informative.

At ART Evolved, Herman Diaz is back with a new pair of book reviews. this time, it's Dinosaurs and their Living Relatives and the unfortunately BANDit-friendly Outside and Inside Dinosaurs.

In a fascinating post at Waxing Paleontological, Zach delves into the silesaurids, providing great context for why Silesaurus was such a lil' weirdo in 2003 and how further discoveries since then have shaped our understanding of these critters.

Brian Engh has a brand new set of illustrations for the Bureau of Land Management, depicting the dinosaurs of the Copper Ridge tracksite near Moab, Utah. Brian's made another terrific video explaining the site and his thinking behind the sauropod trackmaker. Check it out at his site. Matt of SV-POW featured it, as well. Part 2, featuring the theropod trackmaker, will follow soon.

And speaking of tracks, it's "Name That Track!" The hottest ichnology-based game of the year, hosted by Lisa Buckley.

Mark Witton was one of the presenters at a recent workshop entitled Popularizing Palaeontology. At his blog, he expounds on one of the recurring themes of the event, concerning the positives and negatives of the long shadow dinosaurs cast over palaeontological outreach as a whole. His conclusions certainly line up with what I've observed in the instances when I've talked dinosaurs in public.

Crowdfunding Pick

This month, I'll suggest sending some support the way of Thagomizers, Scott Potter's video series that explores the intersection of science, art, and culture in how we understand dinosaurs. They've got a Patreon page for ongoing support, and they're getting close to one of their $20 monthly goal, which would allow for an Adobe AfterEffects subscription to help with production. If you've not seen any of their videos yet, here's one of their to show the quality of work.

Paleoart Pick

DeviantArtist Kirby, AKA KirbyniferousRegret, is building an impressive body of work. This recent Eoraptor family illustration is a masterpiece, with loving attention to textural detail.

Eoraptor Family by Kirby, used here with the artist's permission.

Follow Kirby's work on DeviantArt and Twitter. And remember, sweethearts: don't steal art!