Installation of our new 'Discovering Dinosaurs' gallery has begun, beginning with wall graphics that hint at what dinosaur specimens will be installed later. And we're constructing a base below our T. rex skeleton.
Happy #FossilFriday, check out this Allosaurus fossil with amethyst growing at its center! It's likely water rich with silica and a touch of iron leeched into the bone during the fossilization process, allowing the growth of crystals over time. (1/2) #paleontology#geology#dinosaur#allosaurus#science
Happy #FossilFriday. Here's my illustration of Williamsoniella coronata, a bisexual bennettitalean cone from the Middle #Jurassic of Yorkshire, England. This plant had a cone with both male (bright yellow outer) and female (inner cone) sections. #paleobotany#paleoart#plants
This one I would rate as easy. This is theropod is one of the most well known from North America.
Reminder: hide your answer behind a content warning. This will allow others to guess without a hint. I will post the answer tomorrow (and to anyone who guesses correctly).
From the 1920s, Soviet scientists found fragmentary fossils in Dzharakuduk, Uzbekistan. All they could tell is it was some kind of ceratopsian.
In 1988, Lev Aleksandrovich Nesov published about these fragments naming them Turanoceratops tardabilis. But due to lack of description it was deemed a nomen nudum.
In 1989, Nesov et al formally named, with proper description, Turanoceratops. This was based on a partial, damaged, maxilla.
This one I would rate as medium. This is small sized ceratopsian.
Reminder: hide your answer behind a content warning. This will allow others to guess without a hint. I will post the answer tomorrow (and to anyone who guesses correctly).
This was designed by Kongzilla and modified to a new species by me
In 1994, Colombian paleontologist María Páramo, published the details of the, at the time, most complete mosasauridae from South America.
The original skull was 47cm in length, and it was estimated to be 5m long. Since then a far larger, 87cm skull has been found. This implies that it could grow far larger, comparable to other larger mosasaurids.
Oligocene-Miocene silicified palmwood (Palmoxylon sp.), east Texas. I once used it as a #flintknapping hammerstone. The dots in 2 photos represent sclerenchyma vascular bundles. It was found near crocodilian #fossils, so based on the rounded shape it could be a gastrolith. #FossilFriday
This one I would rate as hard. This mid sized marine reptile is known from Colombia, South America.
Reminder: hide your answer behind a content warning. This will allow others to guess without a hint. I will post the answer tomorrow (and to anyone who guesses correctly).
I was trying to take a nap, but I was awakened by a nightmare: in my dream, early-branching tetrapodomorphs like Acanthostega and Ichthyostega with 7+ fingers were denounced as forgeries of so-called "AI" and erased from natural history.
Like nearly all dreams, it didn't make any sense when examined in the cold light of reality. At least, I hope not.
Happy #FossilFriday, check out this skull from a juvenile Gryposaurus! These hadrosaurs called North America their home roughly 75 million years ago, and this particular individual would have enjoyed the lush jungle that makes up the Kaiparowits Formation. (1/2) #paleontology#dinosaur#science
Here's my finished, coloured Procretevania exquisita drawing. This was a hatchet wasp from the Yixian Formation of China; hatchet wasps still exist today and specialise in parasitising cockroach ootheca. #FossilFriday#paleoart#wasp#insect#entomology
Modern flakes of the same Oligocene silicified wood from west-central Louisiana. Top views are a flintknapped perforator. This particular "petrified wood" (~50 lb. block) is extremely hard & mostly only suitable for tool production. #FossilFriday#fossils#Archaeology#Flintknapping