This major fossil discovery is also an important milestone for home-grown Egyptian paleontology. Congrats to the Mansoura University team, including UMMP's Sanaa El-Sayed! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
There's also a Perspective on it, by Dr David M. Alba and I, check it out here👇👇
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Masripithecus was very interesting to learn and think about!
Check out this new Early Miocene ape, Masripithecus, from Egypt! 👀
Paper by Al-Ashqar et al.👇https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4102
Very happy to share that our paper on Masripithecus is now published in @science.org
A new Early Miocene ape from Egypt that helps fill an important gap in ape evolution.
Proud to be part of the Sallam Lab team, MUVP, and the Egyptian team behind this discovery.
Great work by my graduate student Abdullah Gohar on bear femur and rib histology published today in the Journal of Anatomy!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
New Publication Alert!
Our new paper on black bear bone histology is out today in the Journal of Anatomy!
Read the paper here:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Life restoration of Phiomicetus anubis, a walking whale, going after a sawfish.
The original skull, mandible, and skeleton of Phiomicetus anubis, a walking whale from the Eocene of Egypt.
Phiomicetus anubis turns 4 today! So proud of the little guy 🥹P. anubis is a 42-43 million year old "walking whale" from the Fayum desert of Egypt. #whaleontology 🧪🦖
Scientific figure showing the skull of the protocetid whale Protocetus atavus and the newly published endocranial cast; the endocast is shaped like a flattened Hershey's kiss, with a long olfactory tract and well-developed olfactory bulbs.
Life restoration of Protocetus atavus with the skull and endocast shown. Illustration by Tyler Stone.
#whalewednesday Endocranial anatomy of the OG protocetid whale, Protocetus atavus - protocetids had surprisingly large brains, indicating brain expansion occurred early in cetacean evolution; also retained well-developed olfactory bulbs (and smell). 🐬🧪🦖Read here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Here is an amazing paloart by Tyler Stone
It was for me a first opportunity to work with @muvp-eg.bsky.social , i.e., @hesham-sallam.bsky.social and @gohar.bsky.social , which was a blast! Thank you as well to @gsferreira.bsky.social and all other co-authors not on Bluesky.
You can find the paper here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Regarding the sense of smell, we basically found that no part of the olfactory apparatus was significantly reduced, indicating that these amphibious cetaceans most likely had a good nose (likely much better than ours), and that the reduction of this sense most likely came later in their evolution.
Comparing the relative volume of the brain endocast, we found that this early whale was quite brainy, which is a surprise, as the first cetaceans with big brains were so far understood to be the fully aquatic basilosaurids.
We addressed two aspects of cetacean evolution: their acquisition of a relatively big brain and the evolution of their sense of smell. As other mammals secondarily adapted to the aquatic environment, cetaceans have been assumed to reduce their sense of smell (which is air-born in this group).
We ct-scanned the skull of Protocetus atavus, an amphibious cetacean coming from the Mokattam Formation in Egypt. The inner anatomy of the skull was reconstructed, and we were able to reconstruct the brain imprint (endocast) as well as the different components of the nasal cavity.
Fossil brain 🧠🧟 of a 45-million-year-old cetacean! We are proud to publish @journal-evo.bsky.social l the result of Elena Berger’s Bachelor’s thesis @smnstuttgart.bsky.social. Thread 👇
Named after the cat-headed goddess Bastet, Bastetodon is symbolically linked to Sekhmetops, inspired by the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. Mythology meets science in this incredible find! #SallamLab #MUVP
Our new discovery, led by @shorouqalashqar.bsky.social , has unveiled a new 30-million-year-old species of apex predator, #Bastetodon, in Egypt’s Fayum Desert! Check out the study in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. @matt-borths.bsky.social @erikseiffert.bsky.social #SallamLab #MUVP
Thank you @gohar.bsky.social for a very nice invited talk on whale evolution for our group in Oslo yesterday!🐳🐋🐬
As usual, one of the best reconstructions of a protocetid early whale!
Oh groovy, our paper on the hindlimb biomechanics of the Triassic dinosauriform Lagosuchus is out! A quick thread for now. We uCT-scanned most of the existing skeletal material for this important outgroup to Dinosauria. We sorted through the elements and chose the best ones to make a 3D model from.
Dave traveled ✈️ to Egypt to interview Dr. Hesham Sallam, Egypt's first paleontologist and founder of the country's first Vertebrate Paleontology Center.
NEW! Episode #80: Walking 🦶 Egyptian Whales 🐋 from the Sahara with Dr. Hesham Sallam.
🔊 www.paleonerds.com/podcast/heshamsallam
You did a great job!
My initial sketches, transferring the anatomy of different modern animals onto the skull to see what felt plausible.
The reconstruction I settled on, taking cues from moose and camels along with my own previous drawings of other protocetids.
Some sketches exploring the reconstruction I’ve settled on. You know you love an animal when you’re willing to absolutely roast it.
Full painting of Makaracetus based on my earlier research and design work. This actually started as a screenshot of a swimming moose from Planet Zoo, which I warped and painted over in Procreate.
#FossilFriday with its bizarre skull, the protocetid whale Makaracetus has become my beloved nemesis. It’s extremely hard to reconstruct, but @gohar.bsky.social recently told me that my illustration of it is the most accurate he’s seen, so I must be on the right track. #paleoart #sciart #whale
I was searching for information about odontolite, which I did not find, but this fascinating article about early whales popped up instead. And now I need you all to learn about Tutcetus rayanensis and the Valley of the Whales. 🐳 (gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/s...
Holotype skull of Tutcetus rayanensis, taken from Antar et al 2023
Phylogenetic tree of cetaceans, including Tutcetus, taken from Antar et al 2023
Described only a week after the most massive basilosaurid, Tutcetus is not only one of the very smallest, with an estimated body length of only about 2.5m, but one of the earliest, coexisting with protocetes in the shallow coasts of Egypt during the early middle Eocene.
