#Extinct

[fangtalksdragons]

In a monumental discovery for paleontology and the first of its kind "Mummy of a juvenile sabre-toothed cat Homotherium latidens from the Upper Pleistocene of Siberia"

Abstract The frozen mummy of the large felid cub was found in the Upper Pleistocene permafrost on the Badyarikha River (Indigirka River basin) in the northeast of Yakutia, Russia. The study of the specimen appearance showed its significant differences from a modern lion cub of similar age (three weeks) in the unusual shape of the muzzle with a large mouth opening and small ears, the very massive neck region, the elongated forelimbs, and the dark coat color. Tomographic analysis of the mummy skull revealed the features characteristic of Machairodontinae and of the genus Homotherium. For the first time in the history of paleontology, the appearance of an extinct mammal that has no analogues in the modern fauna has been studied. For more read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-79546-1

[unita-n]

My old piece with quaggas.

watercolour on wallpaper back

[shamanicganja]

[sticksandsharks]

little cenozoic guys

(hyaenodon, langstonia, smilodon, dromornithidae, stegotetrabelodon, glyptodon, moropus)

[in-vyn-cible]

I’d like to remind everyone that a photo of a nestling Kaua’i ō’ō exist and should give a BIG thank you to John Sincock who also has an unpublished paper about the ō’ō and his trips to Alaka’i swamp. This is the only known photograph of a nestling ō’ō. You can find this photo on the birds of the world website (linked in citation)

Sykes Jr., P. W., A. K. Kepler, C. B. Kepler, and J. M. Scott (2020). Kauai Oo (Moho braccatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.kauoo.01

I hope the rest of his photos are out there somewhere. I was super lucky to be able to find his unpublished paper as well as some memos (shout out to Daniel Lewis who was able to send me the memos AND wrote about sincock and the ō’ō in his book Belonging on an Island : Birds, Extinction and Evolution in Hawai’i)

[johann1220]

Greater Jaws

(All assets are done in Blender & made by me.)

[plushieanimals]

Anomalocaris plushie 🦐

[rgibson63]

Lost Americans wheel. Watercolor and ink.

[new-dinosaurs]

Lokiceratops rangiformis Loewen et al., 2024 (new genus and species)

(Reconstructed skull of Lokiceratops rangiformis [scale bar = 1 m], with unpreserved portions in gray, from Loewen et al., 2024)

Meaning of name: Lokiceratops = [Norse deity] Loki's horned face [in Greek]; rangiformis = Rangifer [genus of the extant reindeer]-shaped [in Latin]

Age: Late Cretaceous (Campanian), roughly 78.1 million years ago

Where found: Judith River Formation, Montana, U.S.A.

How much is known: Partial skeleton of one individual, including a partial skull, several vertebrae, and some limb bones.

Notes: Lokiceratops was a centrosaurine cereratopsian, making it a horned dinosaur more closely related to Styracosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus than to Triceratops. It is one of the largest known centrosaurines, with its skull alone being nearly 2 m long.

The skull of Lokiceratops was highly distinctive. A pair of very large, curved horns at the back of its frill pointed out to the sides. Furthermore, a pair of smaller horns closer to the center of the frill was asymmetrical, with one horn being larger than the other. Asymmetrical head ornamentation is also seen in the antlers of reindeer, hence the species name "rangiformis".

Lokiceratops is known from approximately the same time and location as three other centrosaurines, Albertaceratops, Medusaceratops, and Wendiceratops. Despite their diversity, all centrosaurines discovered so far are only known from very narrow ranges in both time and space. This may suggest that these horned dinosaurs diversified rapidly into numerous forms differentiated primarily by display features such as the shape of their horns and frills, with each species lasting only a short time in a small geographic region before evolving into new species or going extinct.

Reference: Loewen​���, M.A., J.J.W. Sertich​, S. Sampson, J.K. O’Connor, S. Carpenter, B. Sisson, A. Øhlenschlæger, A.A. Farke, P.J. Makovicky, N. Longrich, and D.C. Evans. 2024. Lokiceratops rangiformis gen. et sp. nov. (Ceratopsidae: Centrosaurinae) from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana reveals rapid regional radiations and extreme endemism within centrosaurine dinosaurs. PeerJ 12: e17224. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17224

[warandpeas]

Only Skeletons

[ornithologyorthodoxy]

5/29/24

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

I've collected some weird vintage bird imagery, from bird hats to bird people, ghost birds to giant birds.

[moonlight-wolf-archive]

Colorized Thylacines pt. 3

[actual-haise]

The Mists of Lourinhã Eousdryosaurus encounters Lusotitan.

[sticksandsharks]

little cretaceous guys + guest appearance of our even older friend the gorgonpsid (triceratops, pteradon, carnotaurus, parasaurolophus, deinonychus, ichthyosaur, gorgonopsid, repenomamus)