#late triassic period

[sallywitchartist]

The first part of my dinosaur coloring-book series is finally out on Amazon! I would really appreciate, if you, lovely people, would go and check it out 💜

[extinctworld-ua]

Thalassiodracon

Thalassiodracon — вимерлий рід плезіозаврів з родини Pliosauridae, що існував у пізньому тріасі – ранній юрі і відомий виключно з Нижнього Ліасу Англії. Типовий і єдиний вид — Thalassiodracon (Plesiosaurus) hawkinsi (Owen, 1838).

Повний текст на сайті "Вимерлий світ":

https://extinctworld.in.ua/thalassiodracon/

[dizzybevvie]

Questions for dinosaur nerds!!!

1. what is the difference between Maiasaur and Shantungosaurus? is it just size?

2. is there a reason some dinosaurs are "saur" and others are "saurus" and/or are they interchangable?

3. What modern country/area had the most interesting dinosaurs in your opinion?

4. Do you enjoy jurassic park even though it's inaccurate?

5. Where do you get most of your dinosaur information?

6. Whatre your favourite carnivore + herbivore :> ?

7. Whats your favourite random dinosaur fact?

[desert-love]

No, no, this isn't an AI-generated image! It's a 220 million-year-old petrified log located in Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA. This park is famous for its vast petrified wood deposits. Petrified wood forms when minerals replace the wood fibers over millions of years, resulting in fossilized wood that can be as hard and colorful as gemstones. The log in the picture is entirely replaced by quartz crystals, making it sparkle in the close-up view. This log, dating back to the Late Triassic Period, about 225 to 207 million years ago, serves as a fascinating reminder of the ancient forests that once covered this area.

[angiospleen]

Slide 4: "Araucarioxylon" exhibit from the late triassic period in the Houston Museum of Natural Science

[dynasoar5]

opposite to conventional representation, massopoda sculpture of the late Triassic period was often brightly painted. Imagine the ancient city roads flanked with kneeling Kholumolumo Ellenbergerorum warriors such as this one

[fishenjoyer1]

Fish of the Day

Today's fish of the day is the spotted gar!

The spotted gar, known by scientific name Lepisosteus oculatus, is a common North American freshwater fish. Found across the South and Midwestern sections of the country, the spotted gar has a range stretching from South of Ontario Canada, to the Northern Gulf of Mexico. In Longitude their range is from Devils river in Western Texas to Florida, with particularly notable populations in the great lakes and Florida rivers. Within this range they can be found around clear and slow moving rivers and lakes, although they will put up with saltier brackish water, and areas with low dissolved oxygen. Spotted gars in particular are known for hiding along the shoreline, where they use vegetation as a cover from larger predators. However despite their large range, their numbers have been dwindling. Previously large populations of spotted gars, once found in Illinois their numbers have dwindled due to increasing lack of clear waters and habitat destruction by humans.

Gars themselves are an incredibly old living fossil animal, having evolved into existence 240 million years ago, in the middle Triassic period, they can still be found almost exactly the same as they were back then. There are only 7 extant species nowadays, spread almost equally across two families. The spotted gar in particular belongs to the Lepisosteus genus in particular, which it shares with the Florida gar, longnose gar, and shortnose gar. It can be visually distinct from these family members by the spotting patterns along the mature gars dorsal side. Other than the Lepisoteus genus, there is the Atractosteus genus, which is known for their ability to better withstand marine conditions, being made up of the alligator gar, tropical gar, and Cuban gar. Gars can be identified by the armored scales around their body and thin knife-like mouth. All gar contain a swim bladder that can be repurposed as a lung temporarily when not in oxygenated water, similar to many other living fossil fish from around this same time period.

Focusing once more on just spotted gar, their diet consists of fast moving prey. Primarily minnows, bluegills, sunfish, and other small fish in their shared environments.Other than fish, the gars diet is made up of freshwater shrimp, learvae, and other crustacean invertebrates. This diet supports them getting to a length of 2-3 feet, relatively small compared to other gar. Other than acting as a predator though, the spotted gar is predated on by larger fish, alligator, and heron. The life cycle of the spotted gar is like that of all other gar. Spawning occurs in the months of late spring to early summer from April-June, depending on sufficient water temperatures (70 degrees or higher) and amount of vegetation. Females can lay up to 20,000 eggs in a single breeding season but on average lay only 13,000. Like many gar eggs, these are adhesive and toxic to predators, taking only 10-14 days before hatching. over 80% of all fry hatched will die in this stage. But, of those who survive, they will sexually mature at an age of 2-4 years old, with most only living to the ripe age of 8-10. Although, in captivity some spotted gar have lived as long as 18 years before meeting their end.

That's the spotted gar, everybody! Have a wonderful day!

[trivia-polls-daily]

No cheating, please! Answer the trivia question to the best of your ability, then check below the cut! Please do not give away answers in comments or tags!

Answer below:

The triceratops lived in the Late Cretaceous period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triceratops

[bugblast]

NEW updated furby speculative evolution chart!!! :] click 2 zoom in or read under cut

SHELBY (2001) Evolving throughout Paleozoic Era, mainly Permian Period. ~275 MYA. Related to clams and horseshoe crabs. Lives on coasts.

FURBY (1998-9) First appeard in late Triassic period. ~220 MYA. Similar to early mammals like Morganucodon, with Lystosaurus-like beak and reptillian parietal eye (infared sensor). Lives on sandy beaches.

FURBY (2012) Like some birds, evolved to have brighter colors in response to tropical environment and abundance of species. Ears are made of cartilage, and larger eyes as a result of having no natural predators. (It's literally called Furby Island).

BOOM (2013) Different coat patterns evolve through selective mating. Holes in ears for wider range of hearing.

PARTY ROCKERS (2013) Experimental subspecies with differing beak, ear, and eye proportions. Honestly probably boardering on extinction.

EMOTOTRONIC (2005) Emerged during early Cretaceous period. ~105 MYA. Similar to Repenomamus in size in order to compete with dinosaurs. Thick, leathery skin replaces beak, and forms toenails for rougher terrain. Lives in lush tropical forests.

FUNKY (2006) A selection of Emoto-tronics that developed brighter colors, and tails developed from selective mating.

CONNECT (2016) Antenna forms for advanced communication. Beak size shrinks to compensate for larger eyes, ears, and increased brain size. Almost like aliens.

FURBY (2023) Glowing ears fromed from gradual absorpsion of antenna. More advanced communication and higher level of conciousness. Beak continues to shrink and eyes continue to enlargen.

FURBLETS (2023) Smaller subspecies, exchanged bioluminescence for higher range of motion. Can fold ears over body for protection.

[bethanythebogwitch]

If you asked me as a kid what my favorite animal was, there's a good chance I'd respond "chambered nautilus", though I probably would mispronounce it. I don't know if it's still my favorite but it's definitely up there in the pantheon of weird critters. For this Wet Beast Wednesday, I'll discuss my childhood favorite.

(image: a nautilus)

The nautilus is a cephalopod that lives in a curved shell and looks similar to (but is not closely related to) the extinct ammonites. There are 6 living species in two genera, but 90% of the time when someone is discussing nautiluses they are referring to the most well-known species: Nautilus pompilius or the chambered nautilus. Nautiloids are ancient, going back to at least the late triassic with their more primitive ancestors going back as far as the ordovician period, a time when only invertebrates and primitive plants occupied the land and true fish had not yet appeared. Because of their ancient history, nautiluses are sometimes considered living fossils. I have ranted before on how misleading the term "living fossil" is so I'll spare you that for now. Nautiloids are considered a sister group to the celoids, which contains all the squid, octopus, cuttlefish, and everything else we thinks of as cephalopods. Nautiluses should not be confused with paper nautiluses. Also called argonauts, paper nautiluses are a group of octopi that make an egg case which looks like a shell.

(image: a nautilus)

The most noticeable feature of a nautilus is its shell. The shell is smooth and finely curving, naturally growing in the shape of a logarithmic spiral (though not, as is commonly stated, a golden ratio spiral). The shell has a stripy outer layer and an inner layer coated with nacre. Internally, the shell is divided into camarae (chambers) separated from each other by walls called septa. Each septum has a small hole in it through which a strand of tissue called the siphuncle passes. Most of the nautilus's body is in the foremost and largest chamber. The shell grows new septa as the animal grows, with the nautilus's body moving to a new chamber as it becomes too large for previous ones. Juveniles are typically born with 4 septa, with adults having as many as 30. In addition to providing protection from predators, the shell is also key for regulating buoyancy. The septa can contain pressurized gas or water and the siphuncle regulates their contents by either adding or removing water to increase or decrease buoyancy. Because of its pressurized contents, the shell can only withstand pressure at depths up to 800 M (2,400 ft) before imploding. Oddly enough, nautiluses can be safely brought up from deep waters where most animals would be killed by the pressure changes. To move, the nautilus pulls water into the first chamber of the shell using its hyponome (siphon) and shoots it back out. The chambered nautilus is the largest species, with a maximum shell diameter of 25 cm (10 in), though most get no larger than 20 cm (8 in).

(image: a diagram of nautilus anatomy. source)

Where celoid cephalopods have tentacles, nautiluses instead have numerous cirri. Unlike tentacles, cirri are less muscular, are not elastic, and have no suckers. They are used to grab objects using their ridged surfaces and can hold in so hard that trying to take an object away from a nautilus can rip off its cirri, which will remain firmly attached. In addition, the nautilus has modified cirri that serve as olfactory receptors and a pair that serve to open and close the shell when the nautilus needs to retract into it or emerge. Nestled within the cirri is the beak, which is used to consume the nautilus's primary prey of invertebrates, though they have also been seen scavenging fish. Their eyes are less developed than most cephalopods, lacking a lens and consisting of a small pinhole that only allows the nautilus to see simple imagery. Their brains are differently structured than most cephalopods and studies have found them to have considerably shorter long-term memories.

(image: a chambered nautilus (upper left) next to a rare Allonautilus scrobiculatus. source)

Cephalopod reproduction is quite different than that of other cephalopods. While most cephalopods are short-lived and semelparous (reproducing only once), nautiluses can live over 20 years and reproduce multiple times (iteroparity). They do not reach sexual maturity until around 15 years old, with females laying eggs once per year. Eggs are attached to rocks and take 8 to 12 months to hatch. Males have a structure called the spadix composed of 4 fused cirri that they use to transfer sperm to females. Females lose their gonads after laying their eggs and will regenerate them for the next year's mating season. Interestingly, male nautiluses seem to vastly outnumber the females. EDIT: @bri-the-nautilus in the replies found an alternate explanation for the disparity in male and female numbers you should check out. TLDR; the females are asocial.

(image: nautiluses mating)

Nautiluses are found in the Indo-Pacific reagion of the ocean and can be found on the steep slopes of coral reefs. They prefer to inhabit waters several hundred meters down. It was once believed that they would rise to shallow waters at night to feed, lay eggs, and mate, but their vertical migration behavior has since been shown to be more complex than that. They have noon been fished by humans for their shells, which have become popular subjects in art and can be made into a number of decorative pieces. The nacre of the shell can be polished into osmeña pearl, which can be quite valuable. Demand for the shells combined with the late sexual maturity and low fecundity is threatening all the species. As of 2016, nautiluses have been added to the CITES Appendix II, making them protected by limiting international trade of their shells. Despite this, they are still threatened and require further protection

(image: a carved and painted nautilus shell from the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan)

[bestanimal]

Round 2 - Arthropoda - Chilopoda

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Chilopoda is a class of arthropods commonly called “Centipedes”. They include the Scutigeromorphs (“House Centipedes”), Lithobiomorphs (“Stone Centipedes”), Scolopendromorphs (“Tropical Centipedes”), Geophilomorphs (“Soil Centipedes”), and the Craterostigmomorphs which consists of only two living species.

Centipede means “hundred feet”, though no species of centipede actually has exactly 100 feet, as their pairs of legs are always an odd number, ranging from 15 to 191 pairs of legs! All centipedes are venomous predators, delivering venom through a pair of fang-like front legs called forcipules. Prey include other invertebrates like earthworms, fly larvae, collembolans, and other centipedes. The giant Scolopendromorphs are able to tackle larger prey including vertebrates such as lizards, frogs, birds, mice, snakes, and even bats. They live in tropical or desert habitats worldwide, but only in moist environments, meaning they must be more active under cover or at night. Many species lack eyes, though some have simple eyes that allow them to distinguish light from dark. Some species use their first pair of legs similarly to antennae, sensing vibrations and even using them to “hear.” Their bodies consist of 15 or more segments, with one pair of legs attached to the sides of each segment. Their back legs, called “ultimate legs”, are modified depending on species, and can be elongated and thin, thickened, or pincer-like. They are not used for walking, but instead can be used in defensive displays, for hunting, or for interspecies fighting, and they often play a role in mating rituals and are usually sexually dimorphic. Centipedes range from a few millimetres to 30 cm (1 foot) long.

Centipedes are generally solitary, not even meeting up to mate. Males will leave spermatophores on the ground for females to pick up. However, females provide parental care, coiling around both their eggs and young and grooming them (first image). Some species grow anamorphically: adding on segments with each moult until they reach their adult number of segments. Some species grow epimorphically: growing all their segments and legs as an embryo before hatching, and not adding on any more when they moult.

Centipedes arose during the Late Silurian, but were considerably rare until the Triassic Period. The modern Scolopendromorphs and Scutigeromorphs appeared in the Cretaceous.

Propaganda under the cut:

In my desire to show just how colorful and beautiful centipedes could be, my first rendition of this post featured 3 Scolopendromorphs and 1 House Centipede. I then realized how unfair that was and changed it to include most of the major types of centipede, which reduced a lot of the color of this post unfortunately. I believe the centipedes I’ve chosen are still beautiful regardless, but if you want to see some pretty colorful centipedes, check out the rest of Scolopendromorpha!

Similarly to spiders, while all centipedes are venomous, none are particularly deadly to humans. Most small centipedes’ jaws are too small to break human skin, but large tropical centipedes’ bites can be quite painful: causing swelling, chills, fever, and weakness, especially in children and those allergic to bee stings. These bites are always in defense, so if you leave them alone, they have no reason to bite.

Some large centipedes are consumed in China, usually skewered and grilled or deep fried. Thailand produces centipede vodka: large centipedes steeped in alcohol.

The common house centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata) originated in caves in the Mediterranean, but has evolved alongside us to live inside human homes. The dark and humid corners of buildings are literally their habitat! They are beneficial predators, feeding on many species humans consider pests such as cockroaches, termites, ants, bed bugs, spiders, and silverfish.

Centipedes have long lifespans for arthropods, some living up to 10 years.

They are friends! Or maybe… lovers?

[dozydawn]

Opalized belemites, backbones of extinct squid-like cephalopods that were alive in the late triassic to late cretaceous periods.

[extinctworld-ua]

Amanasaurus

Amanasaurus — рід силезаврових динозаврів з пізнього тріасу Бразилії, формація Санта-Марія у Ріу-Гранді-ду-Сул. Рід містить один вид, A. nesbitti, відомий за двома неповними стегновими кістками.

Повний текст на сайті "Вимерлий світ":

https://extinctworld.in.ua/amanasaurus/

[bellysoupset]

Now I need a fic about the boxing class! I was thinking maybe Jonah ate either something bad, or he ate too much, or he was just feeling kinda weird before the class but didn’t think anything of it. And somebody in class either accidentally or on purpose punched him in the stomach(if that happens in boxing idk). I’d also like it if the whole fic was from Jon’s POV, but if you feel differently that’s fine to.

If for any reason you don’t feel like writing this no hard feelings.

"Faster," Bella panted, raising her arms as guards and glaring at Jonah. The man huffed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his forearm.

"Bells-"

"Faster!" She scoffed and Jonah gritted his teeth, throwing a harder punch at her. Bella moved away quickly, bouncing on her feet and opening a smug smile, before kicking in his direction.

Jonah was too slow, too tired and new at this, to avoid the kick and he crumbled to his knees with a pained gasp, clutching his stomach, "fucking-" a burp snuck up and Jonah slammed a hand over his lips when it turned loud and wet. He gulped down, "fuck you, Bella."

"Sorry," Bella crouched down next to him, still shaking slightly with a chuckle, "I didn't think it was going to hit that high-" she removed one of her gloves in order to plant it in his naked back, "sorry."

"Uhm," Jonah panted through the nausea and finally straightened up, sitting on the mat, "I think I'm done."

"It's the end of the class," Bell pointed out, removing her other glove, "I didn't mean to be so rough, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine," Jonah removed his own gloves, getting up, "I'll see you outside?"

"Yep," Bella jumped up quickly and they walked out of the mat, to the different locker rooms.

Jonah's easy attitude slipped off the minute he was alone in the bathroom. He moved to one of the stalls and took slow, measured breaths. If he was honest, this had little to do with Bella's kick straight to his gut. He had overdone it at lunch - not his fault the cafeteria served salmon for the first time in the month! - and all the jumping around in the gym had already been making him nauseous, the kick had only taken it up a notch.

He leaned back against the thick plastic wall and forced up a couple burps, muffling them in his fist. His stomach churned uneasily and he could taste lunch all over again, causing him to shudder, but the small release of air helped a bit and Jonah gulped down the watery sensation in his mouth.

Feeling like it was more or less safe to leave, Jon headed to the shower area.

Bella was waiting for him just outside the gym, clad in tight jeans, combat boots and an oversized biker jacket, her long curly hair was out of the braids she sported during class and limp and wet. She had that familiar frown on her face, that Jonah knew by now was just her face and lit up as she saw him.

"Hey, took you forever," Bella teased him lightly, reaching without thinking to push a humid coil from his hair away from his eyes, "do you wanna get dinner?"

It was a court day, meaning Leo was going to get home super late, so Jonah shrugged, "yeah, sure," he looked around, "you're driving today?"

"No, Luke dropped me off, he said I should call," Bella moved so she was side by side with Jonah and they started walking down the street, "if you ask me, I think he's boycotting my car."

"As he should, that's a relic from the triassic period," Jonah laughed, causing her to pout.

"Don't say that, she's my baby," Bella groaned, "I drove her here all the way from New Mexico more times than I can count, she's a trooper."

"That means she's probably a safety hazard," Jon rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the fact the heavy feeling from before was returning, sitting in his stomach like a brick, "how's work coming along?"

Bella was incredibly easy to talk to, she never took any of Jon's curt answers to the heart and offered some of her own straight to the point, no nonsense jabs.

As they walked to the restaurant they chatted about her job — she had a big project happening and everyone was super stressed about it and taking on jobs that weren't theirs to try and speed the process along —, Jonah shared some of the stories from Europe and got chewed up for treating Angie like a little kid.

"She's turning eighteen in what, a couple of months?"

"October," Jonah grumbled, holding the restaurant door open for her and Bella walked in backwards so she could keep looking at him.

"Less than six months then," she grabbed his forearm to pull him to the table she had already decided on, "I get that you're still finding your footing, but she's a big girl."

"She doesn't act like a big girl," Jonah scoffed, sitting down in front of Bella and grabbing the menu so he could avoid her piercing gaze, "she's a baby."

"She's spoiled," Bell's voice was matter of fact and Jonah looked up to glare at her, only to realize this was not a discussion he was going to win. Bella was the only one who'd ever tell him something this and stand by her opinion, Leo and Vince were both too polite to say it and Luke had no ground to even recognize it, Wendy had brought it up only once and raised her hands in defeat when Jonah prickly about it. Bella didn't give a single fuck.

He sighed and looked back down.

None of the plates looked remotely appetizing. Jonah squirmed in his seat as he felt his pants digging in his stomach, flipping the page of his menu and avoiding looking at the pictures. His belly let out a loud whine, although the restaurant's noise covered it up and Jon felt his gut bloat up a bit more.

"You don't have to glare holes in the menu, Jon," Bella rolled her eyes and reached in to grab his wrist, until he looked at her, "she's spoiled, I can say because I married the male version of her."

"Don't say that," Jonah groaned and Bell smiled, pulling back her hand.

"I don't mean it like that, I mean I married someone who was spoiled as well. And trust me, you gotta let her mess up on her own and not try to Yoda her through life, otherwise she'll make her mistakes later, when the consequences are bigger and much less understandable. You're not making her a favor by doing that."

"When you put it like that," Jonah sighed, shutting the menu, "I'm not really hungry."

"I'm starving," Bella put hers aside as well, "I'll order a big one and we can share, how about? This way you're not ordering a full one just to eat half of it?"

Jon would rather not eat anything, but he knew saying that, especially after they had spent two hours exercising, was going to raise a red flag for her. He nodded, "yeah, alright. What are you ordering?"

"Ribs," Bells opened a smile, "you want a beer?"

Fuck no, Jon flinched at the thought and shook his head, "nope, I... Uh," he opened the menu again, "I'll have an orange juice."

A waiter approached their table and Bella told him the order, causing Jonah to frown as she asked for two juices, "you don't have to not drink as well, Bell-"

"No, it's fine," she shushed him with a handwave that caused the waiter to chuckle, "I think that's all, thank you."

Bella launched herself into telling him all the gossip from their gym and Jonah was enthralled enough he momentarily forgot about his upset stomach, only to be starkly reminded of it as the large plate of glazed ribs was put before them, as well as the two glasses.

The smell was overpowering and Jonah leaned as far back as his chair allowed, gulping down nervously, while Bella served herself.

His stomach churned at the sight of the ginger tearing into the meat and Jonah breathed slowly through his mouth, reaching for the juice, hoping he could push everything further down.

As he was too busy fighting the growing nausea, Jonah was barely paying any attention to whatever Bell was saying, until she quirked her head and waved in front of his eyes.

"Anyone home?" She raised her eyebrows, "you zoned out on me."

"Sorry," Jonah gulped down, moving once again and tugging on the waistband of his pants. He really wanted to undo them, they felt like they were cutting in his tummy, "you were saying?"

Bella squinted at him, picking up a rib and pushing the plate his way, "you're not eating."

"Not hungry," Jonah shrugged and she frowned.

"Well, I can't eat all of it, at least get a bite," Bella licked the sauce off her fingers, "you heard about Vince's new little friend?"

"Little-" Jon grimaced and muffled a burp against his had, "little friend? He got a cat or something?"

"No," Bella snorted, "it's a coworker that he's made his mission to adopt. Luke hates him, it's all he complains about now. That Max this, Max that, Max is short, Max is annoying, Max is taking up too much attention, Max is a jerk-" Bella's amusement was evident in her words, "he's like a little kid."

"Max annoying Luke already puts him in my good graces," Jonah forced a smile, which quickly turned sour when Bella chugged the rest of her juice and gestured to the half eaten plate.

"I can't eat anymore, all yours."

Jonah genuinely tried to eat, grabbing the secondary set of fork and knife and tearing a rib apart, but he couldn't even bring it up to his lips. The smell was too strong and his queasiness turned up a notch, causing him to gag and drop the fork back down, turning his head.

"Knew it," Bella sighed, rolling her eyes, "you're not half as good an actor as you think, Jon," her voice was sarcastic, but still kind and she got up with a sigh, circling the table to pat his arm, "c'mon, big guy, let's get you out of here before you cause a scene."

"If you knew I felt like shit why didn't you say something?" Jonah groaned, grabbing his ditched jacket and leaning into her arms, as Bella guided him towards the door.

"Why didn't you?" She scoffed, helping him out, "stay here, I'll get the bill."

Outside the air was much colder and there wasn't the overwhelming smell of food, but his stomach wasn't feeling even a little bit settled. Jon moved away from the entrance, to the other side of the street, and braced against his knees, taking deep breaths.

He could feel his lunch flipping inside of him and Jonah coughed weakly, blowing out a deep belch and staring at his shoes. It felt like just ten seconds passed, but he knew it was longer, when Bella wrapped an arm around his back and helped him straighten up.

"I'll drive you home, c'mon," she planted a hand on his chest, bracing him and Jonah let out a groan, feeling humiliated.

"Sorry..." His stomach let out another loud growl and he didn't bother muffling the belch, only turning his head. It was sickeningly wet and he groaned under his breath, "gross..."

"Don't be stupid, you're not gross," Bella reprimanded him sharply, rubbing his back. She was quiet for a second, before saying in a smaller voice, "were you sick already...? Is this because of the kick?"

"No," Jonah pressed a hand over his lips as they kept walking back to the gym, "lunch..." his mouth watered at the thought, "lunch just- just isn't- Sitting well..."

Bella moved her hand down, from his chest to his stomach and Jon felt his whole face burn. Not only a belly rub from her was mortifying enough, but it was even more so in public.

The street was deserted though, they had already left the area with the most commotion, and Bell's fingers against his bloated stomach managed to work up another thick belch. It burned his throat, bringing up a splash of sickness with it, that Jonah gulped convulsively.

"Fuck," he whined, feeling clammy and jittery, "I'm gonna be sick."

"Now or-"

She never finished her sentence, because Jonah's grabbed on her shoulder to push her out of the way and bent in half, just in time to redecorate the patch of sidewalk they were on.

He groaned loudly, wrapping an arm around his upset stomach and feeling the gurgling inside, struggling to spit the ropey saliva.

"Aw, darling," Bella's voice was incredibly gentle and she had jumped back, but the tip of her sneakers were covered in white specks of the chunky vomit. Yet, she was rubbing his back, unbothered, "it's alright, get it up, Jon..."

Jonah's stomach gave another growl and he nearly went down with a unproductive heave, his ears going totally deaf for a second as he struggled to breathe and coughed up another disgusting splash of sick. He moaned, burping softly and squeezing his eyes shuts, hearing his heart in his ears, drowning all noise out.

"Jon?" Bella's voice filtered through after a minute and he realized she was almost hugging him, to keep him standing, "Jonah, you're alive over there?"

He coughed, burping once more and nodding, finally opening his eyes. It was a gruesome sight and he let out a groan, immediately closing his eyes again, "Ew... I'm sorry..."

Bella's voice was lighthearted and amused as she patted his back, "please, in the Atwood scale this was barely a seven," her pats forced up another belch, "hold on me, let's move around..."

Slowly she maneuvered him away from the disgusting puddle and Jonah let out a yelp as he felt Bella's hand go in his front pocket, "that's sexual harassment, Bella."

"You must think my standards are incredibly low if you think I'm making a move on you given what I just watched," Bella snorted, then he heard his car key's clicking and his car beeping.

Jonah opened his eyes, wiping at his mouth and the clammy sensation, taking a deep breath, "well, yeah. You married Lucas."

Bella let out a cackle, shoving his arm, "get in the car, asshole. I'm gonna drive you home."

[vickysaurus-art]

One paleoart for each period since the Cryogenian

Thanks to the timeline on my walls that I've been trying to fill in with my art, I have now reached the point where I've done paleoart for every single period of the Phanerozoic, plus the Ediacaran and Cryogenian! That is to say, every period of the last 700 million years. So with that milestone, I thought it'd be fun to go through those periods in order and show off one paleoart of mine for each!

Cryogenian

In the Cryogenian, the Earth completely froze over. Twice! Life wasn't much to look at yet, but I enjoyed drawing what our planet might have looked like at the time. The girdle of lakes at the left is the equator, which may have had ice-free patches.

Ediacaran

When the ice retreated, animals first began to blossom into their endless forms most beautiful. Ediacaran life was strange and quite unlike the creatures that would come later, but it was nonetheless an incredibly important chapter in life's history. Here we see the Ediacaran weirdos washing up on shore after a storm.

Cambrian

The Cambrian explosion brought much more recognisable creatures. But one thing that's easy to miss is that they were all tiny! All of them? No, Anomalocaris was, with a length of about 40 cm, the dragon of the Cambrian.

Ordovician

Life continued to diversify in the Ordovician, and among this diversity were the cephalopods. They produced the largest animals yet to exist, the orthocones, who hung vertically in the water column and decended upon their prey like a claw game.

Silurian

Although fungi and bacteria had already made forays onto the land deep in the past, things began to get busier there in the Silurian. But these horseshoe crabs, and their larger cousins the sea scorpions, have not come to the shore to stay, but to mate and lay eggs. Unfortunately for the horseshoe crabs, they have come to the very same shore.

Devonian

Our own vertebrate ancestors, like Tiktaalik, were pretty late to the party, only taking their first steps on land in the late Devonian. That's no knock against them - there was plenty to do underwater! This Tiktaalik is busy guarding his eggs while his mate is busy hunting, for example. Who has time to step on land?

Carboniferous

The end of the Carboniferous saw some quite large bugs, like these two Mazothairos chasing off an interloping Meganeura. They're representatives of a pretty interesting group of basal insects called the Palaeodictyoptera, who have a set of weird little extra wings on their thorax.

Permian

Among the many fantastic creatures of the Permian were our own cousins, the synapsids, like these lovey-dovey Moschops. As you can see, this picture and the previous one are done in coloured pencils instead of watercolour, because they're the oldest images I'm including in this post. I only very rarely used watercolours before this year. I think it means I should do some more Permian art, it's such a cool and underexposed period.

Triassic

One mass extinction later, the archosaurs are diversifying all over Triassic Pangaea. Here we have the three main groups of them: Paratypothorax, a pseudosuchian in the background; Peteinosaurus, a pterosaur on top of the cliff; and Procompsognathus, a dinosaur climbing the cliff.

Jurassic

I had three different option for Jurassic paleoart to showcase, so I picked the most experimental one. These backlit insects are not butterflies, but kalligrammatids, a group of large-winged neuroptera, some of which even mimicked maniraptoran dinosaurs like this iridescent Caihong with their patterns.

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous featured some of life's most gorgeous crescendos of diversity, like the Yixian formation, where a Psitaccosaurus wants to visit the favourite tree of a group of Sinosauropteryxes, who are having none of it. This is still one of my favourite pieces I've ever drawn.

Paleogene

The Paleogene featured some of the highest global temperatures of all time, leading to tropical climates all over the planet, including at this lake in what will one day be Messel, Germany. Darwinius, a close cousin to our own ancestors, is having a staredown with the lizard Geiseltaliellus.

Neogene

The world turned colder and dryer in the Neogene, leading to the spread of large grasslands, like these South American ones. Phorusracos, a large terror bird, has caught a Thoatherium on the edge of the forest they both live in. South America was an isolated continent for the duration of the Neogene, leading to a quite unique fauna.

Quaternary

The Quaternary, our current period, is marked by the cycle of ice ages regularly freezing the northern hemisphere. But even during the ice ages, spring would come to the mammoth steppes, and these steppe mammoths are happy to celebrate its coming with a bath in the river.

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Monday Musings: Synapsida

Last week we talked about Diapsids. The other large group of vertebrates is synapsida (one pair of temporal fenestrae in the skull). Like their diapsid cousins, this extra hole was likely for extra jaw muscle attachments. Higher therapsids and mammals have a sphenoid bone that covered that opening.

A huge difference from other vertebrates is the teeth. Synapsids have differentiated teeth which include canines, incisors and molars. Furthermore, their teeth are occluded which will be explained later this week.

Synapsids also took the multiple lower jaw bones and moved them into the inner ear so that the lower jaw was only made of the dentary.

while modern mammals possess the malleus, incus and stapes, basal synapsids (like all other tetrapods) possess only a stapes. The malleus is derived from the articular (a lower jaw bone), while the incus is derived from the quadrate (a cranial bone).

As synapsids continued to evolve, they developed a secondary palate that separated the nasal cavity from the mouth.

They also developed a thick skin, or dermal layer from which various structures including hair and fur grow.

Lastly, mammals developed mammary glands as a means to feed their young in early stages of life.

Synapsids first appear in the fossil record during the Carboniferous much like diapsids. One of the oldest synapsids is Archaeothyris florensis. Like early diapsids, it had a very lizard-like appearance. Clearly a very popular body plan.

It was more advanced than early sauropsids in that it had stronger jaws that could open wider and it possessed enlarged canines.

The synapsids became the largest land animals during the Permian Period. Many well-known synapsids from this time include Moschops,

Lystrosaurus (who survived into the Triassic unlike it's other counterparts),

and Dimetrodon.

Cynognathus was a famous Triassic synapsid. It is likely it had primitive hair and mammary glands.

The first true mammals appeared during the Late Cretaceous. Brasilodon quadrangularis is one such mammal. Found in Brazil, it was tiny at only about 12 cm in length.

Of course, we all know that after 66 million years ago, the synapsids, specifically mammals became the dominant vertebrates.

Now you know a little bit more about synapsids! Tune in tomorrow for some trivia!