Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

If you enjoyed this little thread, check out my last one and stay tuned for more from this wild and wonderful world that I've spent the last few years building. If you want to know more, don't be afraid to ask, I'm happy to answer any and all questions! (9/9)

Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 28d

A New Age of Reptiles Preview: The Masked Bitsybird!

The Bitsybirds, tiny neognaths found across Eurasia and Africa, are the smallest of all birds in the New Age of Reptiles. Comparable in size to the bee hummingbirds of our timeline, they subsist on a diet of small insects, fruits, and sap. (1/6)

A tiny, cream and yellow feathered bird with a long, straight beak, dark feet, and black-tipped feathers on the wings and tail. It is shown alongside the silhouette of a human hand, showing it to be small enough to perch on a thumb.

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

A New Age of Reptiles is set in a world where the K/PG impact occurs several hours late, resulting in a radically divergent stream of evolution where reptiles still rule the Earth, explored and described by field researchers from our own timeline! (8/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

Targeted studies on their reproduction has yet to be conducted, but it is thought that some turterrors nest in burrows excavated in clay-rich hillsides far above the waterline. Reports suggest that the speckle-nosed uses dead trees to nest, hinting at complexity within the group. (7/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

Generally solitary but not particularly territorial, these wide-ranging reptiles have surprisingly rich social lives and possess a sophisticated system of visual, auditory, and olfactory communication that is only beginning to be understood by para-temporal researchers. (6/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

Turterrors can pose a direct threat to para-temporal field researchers and several near-tragedies have been documented. These hunters, equipped with powerful frames and bone-crushing jaws, could make easy prey of an unsuspecting human and great precautions must be taken to minimise mutal risk. (5/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

The speckle-nosed turterror, found across much of the continent's north, is highly adaptable and modifies its dietary choices based on whatever is locally abundant. In some populations, average prey size may be no more than a few pounds, whereas others target prey closer to their own size. (4/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

The name Turterror, a common name used without much phylogenetic precision, reflects the high proportion of turtles in their diet. Both small species and young examples of larger ones are targeted, with dietary specialism occuring on both an individual and species level. (3/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

A specialised clade of durophagous turtle hunting sebecosuchians has seen remarkable success, of which the speckle-nosed turterror is a representative. Found in dense forest, this species can weigh as much as 170kg. It is a generalist predator that can process virtually any animal material. (2/9)

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 13h

A New Age of Reptiles Preview: The Speckled Turterror

South America in the New Age of Reptiles is home to a great variety of lineages found nowhere else on the planet. Most notable are megafaunal herbivorous turtles, which have spurred the evolution of formidable predators to hunt them. (1/9)

A low-slung but erect-limbed sebecian with a short, deep jaw and peg-like crushing teeth. It has a gray-blue skin with a lighter belly, and creamy speckles over the snout and neck. The tail is fairly short and swollen down most of the length, storing fat everywhere but the comparatively slender tip. A human silhouette shows it to be comparable in size to a large leopard or small tiger, its back reaching to waist-level on an adult man.

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Mike Keesey @tmkeesey.bsky.social · 1d

The first page of PALEOCENE #6 is complete! This post shows the entire process of making a comic book page. www.patreon.com/posts/140787... #paleoart #comics #sciart

Paleocene #6, Page 1 COMPLETE | Mike Keesey

Get more from Mike Keesey on Patreon

www.patreon.com

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · 1d

The huge Deinocheirus in its habitat. Illustration I did for the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Japan

In this illustration you can see a scene set in Late Cretaceous Asia where an adult Deinocheirus is scaring away a pair of young Tarbosaurus

#paleoart #dinosaur #art

Illustration depicting three Deinocheirus in a Late Cretaceous swamp. The one of the front is chasing a way a pair of juvenile Tarbosaurus in the foreground

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Dino Dad Reviews @dinodadreviews.bsky.social · 19h

Here’s a decent-looking book that unfortunately includes a lot of copied art, including some by @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social, @meganjacobspalaeo.bsky.social, @lacerdajulio.bsky.social, and others.

dinodadreviews.com/2025/10/10/h...

How Big? Dinosaurs

A “lifesize” book by Dougal Dixon.

dinodadreviews.com

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Sophie M. @sophiesaurus98.bsky.social · 17h

Thinking about some lesser known Steve Kirk dinosaur artwork today. His work shaped my childhood perception of prehistoric life more than any other artist and I have an endless appreciation for his ability to decorate his animals in eye-catchingly beautiful patterns that look painted from life.

The dome-nosed head of Giraffatitan, a huge sauropod dinosaur, looms into frame. The scaly, lightly wrinkled skin is splotched with a blend of greens, grey, and yellows in a pattern reminiscent of crocodylians.

A group of vibrantly patterned "hypsilophodonts" forage amid the misty fern-coated floor of a Jurassic prairie. A herd of massive Diplodocus, sporting crests of iguana-like spines, pass in the middle distance. Far off, a brachiosaurid browses from towering conifers.

A sandy-toned, subtly striped Allosaurus with blue crests charges through a dusty clearing, jaws agape and hands flexing.

Portraits of Corythosaurus, Lambeosaurus, and Parasaurolophus, shown with earthy green, brown, and reddish tones in complex mottled patterns. Their keratin-sheathed crests are richly detailed, as are their scaly hides.

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Reposted by Sophie M.

American Museum of Natural History @amnh.org · 18h

It’s Fossil Friday! This archival image, snapped in 1966, depicts Museum visitors gazing up at the mounted remains of Gorgosaurus. This slender tyrannosaur was smaller than its gigantic cousin T. rex, reaching lengths of up to 30 ft (9 m) and weights of 2,200 lbs (1,000 kg).

A photo of two Museum visitors gazing up at a mounted Gorgosaurus. The animal’s bones are posed on its hind legs, standing straight up with its tail dragging behind it. The Museum visitors’ backs are turned, facing the dinosaur.

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs @chasmosaurs.bsky.social · 18h

C. M. Kosemen, artist extraordinaire and friend of the blog, just uploaded this lovely review of some very strange French trading cards featuring all sorts of prehistoric critters. If you like Vintage Dinosaur Art give it a watch, you won't regret it!

So Bizarre! 🇫🇷🐍 Reviewing Obscure French Palaeo Trading Cards

YouTube video by cmkosemen

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 19h

Today I attended The Colour of Dinosaurs at MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton, a made-for-kids blend of science advocacy and theatre, with tons of music. It revolves around the work of Jakob Vinther, who plays himself, but also emphasises the diversity of its human cast and... cont

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Phil Mannion @pdmannion.bsky.social · 1d

New paper @journalsystpal.bsky.social with Drew Moore @stonybrooku.bsky.social re-evaluating diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur phylogeny + biogeography, including illustrating synapomorphies, with implications for the early evolution of the major lineages: doi.org/10.1080/1477... @es-ucl.bsky.social

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Milo Gaillard @milogaillard2.bsky.social · 21h

#FossilFriday I decided to try bring awareness to a dinosaur from where I live: California. Enter Augustynolophus morrisi. Discovered in the Moreno Formation, this hadrosaur lived sometime around 70-66 million years ago, and is the state dinosaur of California. 1/2

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Julianne Zelda Kiely 🌿Commissions open🌿 @palaeojules.bsky.social · 21h

A very happy #FossilFriday to everyone except this poor Darwinopterus, which has unfortunately succumbed to whatever ailed it. This is actually a redrawing of a Dead Darwinopterus which I drew years ago, only with updated anatomy. #paleoart #paleontology #pterosaurs #jurassic #sciart

A freshly dead darwinopterus corpse with a cream and brown body, and a blue headrest and tail. It's wings are folded partially and it's hard and tail are pulled up back. This position is based on the idea of it falling through the waters of a lake, or settled at the bottom with some of it's buoyancy keeping parts of it afloat.

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Literally Miguel 🇻🇪 @literallymiguel.bsky.social · 1d

Mahajangasuchus crunch

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Claude ✡️🦖🦕 @cascoclauda.bsky.social · 1d

hello gorgeous 😍 a warm welcome to xiphodracon goldencapensis, a new ichthyosaur described from the uk's famous jurassic coast by @deanrlomax.bsky.social, massare and maxwell! the holotype is absolutely stunning, congrats to the team 🥳
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

a photograph of the xiphodracon holotype, a nearly complete skeleton preserved three-dimensionally

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Cary Woodruff @doublebeam.bsky.social · 1d

For #FossilFriday, it's a *NEW PACHYCEPHALOSAURID*(!), and a project that is very near and dear to my heart. Let's welcome #Brontotholus_harmoni!

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Anthony Tackles Dead Cows @mosasaurologist.bsky.social · 23h

Injuries are actually fairly common to find in fossil specimens, even in the seaway that used to cover Kansas!

This #FossilFriday pic is the end of the tail of a Clidastes mosasaur. The gnarly mass in the middle is around 6 vertebrae that fused together due to trauma, likely an infected bite.🧪

Brown mosasaur vertebrae om yellow Niobrara chalk coalesced into a frothy bone mass due to injury

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 22h

The Peale mastodon at the National Portrait Gallery in 2021.

It’s the 1st mounted fossil skeleton displayed in the US (1805), and 2nd worldwide. Its original viewers didn’t know about evolution. Even extinction was a new concept. More fossils interpreted as history and art, please! #FossilFriday

Mastodon skeleton with long tusks on a gravel bed between two white columns in an art gallery. Seen from the front.

Same from driver side rear view. Red curtain entrance to exhibit is visible from
This angle

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Reposted by Sophie M.

Dr Dave Hone @davehone.bsky.social · 1d

In advance of the publication of my new book with @markwitton.bsky.social, "Spinosaur Tales" (Nov 6th), for #FossilFriday, here's a nice close up of a tooth of Baryonyx sitting in the jaw of the holotype. More spinosaur goodness coming in the next weeks as I desperately try to promote the book.

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