Parasaurolophus getting only 1% is sacrilege. We need a Para Awareness day

Cranial anatomy, palaeoneurology, palaeobiology and stratigraphic age of the large-bodied ornithopod, Muttaburrasaurus langdoni Bartholomai and Molnar, 1981, from the mid-Cretaceous of Australia
peerj.com/articles/207...

incisivosaurus stares into your soul; it is a feathered theropod with large eyes and rabbit-like first incisors in its jaws. looks rather nerdy

an incisivosaurus skull

happy easter from incisivosaurus, a small oviraptorosaur from early cretaceous china best-known for its large, rabbit-like front teeth 🐇 this dinosaur could pull double duty as easter egg producer and the easter bunny (art by @literallymiguel.bsky.social)

Say hello to another elongate-neural-spined dinosaur! #Gongshuilong appears to be from the latest Cretaceous of Southeast China. This dino's elongate neurals appear to run most of the way down the tail, likely giving its rear a tall, flat appearance in life. Yao et al, 2026 - not open access.

"Monsters Down Under" | Dinosauria Series | Animated Short Film (2026) YouTube video by Dead Sound

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc-R...
IT'S A BLOODY GOOD DAY, MATES!
#Dinosauria

Riguetti et al, 2022. Figure 4 - known elements of Jakapil in white show it is known almost entirely from a lower jaw, a scapula, a few vertebrae, osteoderms, and various fragments of rib/leg/hip/upper-jaw/vertebrae/etc.

Happy #FossilFriday from the enigma that is #Jakapil. It seems to be a ~1 meter long remnant of a very early branch of the armoured dinosaur lineage (containing stegosaurs and ankylosaurs), but many of its features are more similar to other herbivorous dino families.

What on Earth was this thing?

Archaeopteryx pulling a 'Highlander' on bird taxonomy by saying "There can only be one!" Interesting article proposing that other avian "taxa" may just represent growth stages of the Late Jurassic bird Archaeopteryx. 🧪🪨🐦

Photograph of the skull of BP/1/4779. Scale bar represents 10 mm. Photographs by Kimberley E.J. Chapelle (2019).

Happy #FossilFriday from the South African #Ngwevu! This Early Jurassic Sauropodomorph used to be lumped in with the larger and more common Massospondylus. But, like many other dinosaur species, it was "discovered" by studying already collected fossils assigned to another dino (Chapelle et al, 2019)

A digital illustration of Ichthyosaurs anningae, a prehistoric marine reptile, similar in size and shape to modern day dolphins.

Marking #InternationalWomenDay2026 by reposting my illustration of Ichthyosaurs anningae, named for the truly remarkable and groundbreaking Mary Anning.
#sciart

an adorable juvenile pachycephalosaur crosses a log over a stream in a dense conifer forest

look at this cute baby 😍 moore et al. describe a juvenile pachycephalosaur from saskatchewan's frenchman formation, with interesting implications for pachycephalosaur ontogeny
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
(art by kaitlin lindblad)

Just saw the incredibly sad news that Hans-Dieter Sues has passed away. Beyond his major contributions to paleontology, in all my interactions with him over the years, he was a stellar human being. He took great joy in life and in being a paleontologist. I learned so much from him.

Any of those verts have neurals or transverse processes intact? Thank you for taking the time to answer!

Looks like the article is behind a paywall, but it doesn't look like there's any postcrania? Just skull material?

Scimitar-crested Spinosaurus species from the Sahara caps stepwise spinosaurid radiation We describe a close relative of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, the sail-backed, fish-eating giant from nearshore deposits of northern Africa. Spinosaurus mirabilis sp. nov., discovered in the central Sahara...

Aaaand here's the paper! Looking forward to reading through!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

peerj.com/articles/207...

Figure 2: Three-dimensional model rendering from CT data for MOR 1627. (A) Left lateral view of entire skull with close-up (D) of the embedded tooth. (B) Dorsal view of entire skull with close-up (E) of the embedded tooth. (C) Anterior view of entire skull with close-up (F) of the embedded tooth. Dashed lines indicate the specimen midline. (Wyenberg-Henzler & Scannella, 2026)

New behavioral #paleontology paper out today about tyrannosaur predation! The authors (Wyenberg-Henzler & Scannella) contend that the find is "consistent with a bite inflicted during an attempt to control the struggling Edmontosaurus or deliver a killing blow followed by carcass consumption". Nice!

Probable evidence of *successful* predation by a non-avian theropod. Lucky day for paleontologists and enthusiasts!

peerj.com/articles/207...

How do I become a paleontologist? This is a revised and updated version of an old post of mine that’s now nearly 10 years old, so it seemed sensible to give it a polish and re-release it into the wild. So, what do you do to become …

I've decided to revise and update one of my most important and popular blogposts "How do I become a paleontologist?".

I still get asked this every few weeks so having a new version of this post to share is so useful to put people on track.

archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2026/02/17/h...

Skeletal and reconstruction from Martz & Small (2019). Known bone elements indicated in lighter colors. File accessed via Wikimedia Commons

#Kwanasaurus (Martz & Small, 2019) was native to North America ~210my ago. It belongs to the silesaurids - a clade that is increasingly interpreted as a step in the evolution of the ornithischian dinosaurs. Its leaf-shaped teeth indicate it was already well on its way to herbivory.

The Brymbo Fossil Forest is offering students the chance to get involved in palaeontological excavations of a Carboniferous fossil forest in North Wales. QR code on image directs to further details.

🚨 UK Student Palaeo Research Opportunity 🚨

Brymbo Fossil Forest are offering students the chance to get involved in active palaeontology research & excavations ⚒️ at a unique #Carboniferous fossil site in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 - See below for more details ⬇️

#Paleontology #Geology #Fieldwork #FossilFriday #ECR

A new titanosauriform with European affinities in the Early Cretaceous of Brazil: insights on Somphospondyli phylogeny, histology and biogeography

Dasosaurus tocantinensis gen. et sp. nov.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Famed paleontologist, Chapman lecturer appears in latest Epstein files release Emails show that Jack Horner visited Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico ranch in 2012 and 2016 before he was hired as a lecturer at Chapman University.

I dug into the Epstein files for this story.

Jack Horner visited Epstein at Zorro Ranch in 2012, emails show. He later thanked “the girls” as hosts.

Now a Chapman U fellow, Horner regrets using the term in emails.

The university is looking into the files.
www.latimes.com/socal/daily-...

happy #FossilFriday. It is very early in the year and I already have a favorite paper with the newly described Haolong. HOWEVER, this is *not* a feathered dinosaur! The structures on Haolong are very different from filaments. A 🧵

Maybe a bit late for web timing, but ehy, NEW PAPER ON #fossilfriday!!!

I am proud to present you Haolong dongi gen. nov. sp. nov., a new hadrosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of China!
The specimen, almost complete, is a juvenile iguanodontian from the Yixian Formation of the Barremian (125 Mya).

VOLUNTEER ON A DINOSAUR DIG: We run one of the only free dinosaur digs in the USA. We work public land and the fossils go in our public museum, forever. It's hard work, but we find some cool things. If this sounds like you, we're taking applications. Link in comms. #dinosaurs

CANNIBALISM OF AN ADULT TYRANNOSAUR BY A JUVENILE:
Our new study on a Badlands Dinosaur Museum fossil reveals dinosaur cannibalism where a juvenile tyrannosaur feasted on the carcass of a dead adult!

3D reconstructions supervision Yu Xin, designer Shen Li, sculptor Liang Junwei

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What is prospecting?

In paleontology, prospecting means carefully scanning and exploring the landscape for fossils exposed at the surface. Several of our active dig sites were first discovered this way by participants, proof that just being observant can lead to real scientific discoveries!

go.bsky.app/QWhLarC

Many more have joined our ranks since this was made, but here's a good starter pack for people and institutions to follow in the world of #PaleoSky:

A photograph of the research team who described this new dinosaur, with my illustration on a large screen behind them.

A digital illustration of Xenovenator - a dinosaur with a long snout, large eyes and a tough, bony mantle on the top of its skull. It is shown with a mix of blue/grey and peach coloured feathers.

Introducing Xenovenator espinosai, a new troodontid dinosaur with some fascinating cranial anatomy. I had the honour of being approached to create the illustration for this week’s official announcement. (1/3) #SciArt

#Xenovenator is one of the first named dinosaurs of the year! Assigned by Rivera-Sylva et al (2026) to the troodontid lineage, it has oddly thickened frontals - creating a bulbous/domed forehead. Could this be a combat or display adaptation? It's remains from Coahuila, #Mexico date back ~73m years.