Tristan J. Stock
@archelosaurian.bsky.social
Master of Science in Paleontology working on fossil Archelosauria. Currently studying Miocene sea turtles at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. Enjoys talking about Reptiles (including Birds!), SpecEvo, and general nerd stuff.
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
What might be my favourite fossil has been just published by Kiat et al. 2025. Years ago I saw a pic of this Anchiornis specimen in nat geo article and I audibly gasped.preserving not only the feathers but also the original patterns as well. I made this drawing on the spot. Maybe its time to do v2.0
November 21, 2025 at 7:27 PM
What might be my favourite fossil has been just published by Kiat et al. 2025. Years ago I saw a pic of this Anchiornis specimen in nat geo article and I audibly gasped.preserving not only the feathers but also the original patterns as well. I made this drawing on the spot. Maybe its time to do v2.0
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
We'll close out this #FossilFriday with the obvious choice of Nanotyrannus. I couldn't share this CT scanning session at the time (June 2023) but can now. @jgn-paleo.bsky.social brought the holotype Cleveland skull he had on loan, and CMNH VP curator Caitlin Colleary & I joined in the fun!
October 31, 2025 at 6:51 PM
We'll close out this #FossilFriday with the obvious choice of Nanotyrannus. I couldn't share this CT scanning session at the time (June 2023) but can now. @jgn-paleo.bsky.social brought the holotype Cleveland skull he had on loan, and CMNH VP curator Caitlin Colleary & I joined in the fun!
Thanks to everyone who came by my #2025SVP poster yesterday! Very happy to talk about a large chunk of my master’s thesis.
Thank you to my supervisor James Parham, as well as @medenadragon.bsky.social and @wolpard.bsky.social for their artwork which helped to bring our animal to life.
Thank you to my supervisor James Parham, as well as @medenadragon.bsky.social and @wolpard.bsky.social for their artwork which helped to bring our animal to life.
November 15, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Thanks to everyone who came by my #2025SVP poster yesterday! Very happy to talk about a large chunk of my master’s thesis.
Thank you to my supervisor James Parham, as well as @medenadragon.bsky.social and @wolpard.bsky.social for their artwork which helped to bring our animal to life.
Thank you to my supervisor James Parham, as well as @medenadragon.bsky.social and @wolpard.bsky.social for their artwork which helped to bring our animal to life.
Tomorrow’s the big day. Feel free to stop by my poster on the evolution of pan-cheloniid pelagic specializations!
#2025SVP #SeaTurtle
#2025SVP #SeaTurtle
Wonder what’s in here? If you’re at #2025SVP and would like to know, drop my by Friday poster in the Turts and Crocs space, board B301.
I will be presenting my graduate research on Pan-Cheloniids, including revealing a new morphotype of Cenozoic sea turtle that lived surprisingly recently.
I will be presenting my graduate research on Pan-Cheloniids, including revealing a new morphotype of Cenozoic sea turtle that lived surprisingly recently.
November 13, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Tomorrow’s the big day. Feel free to stop by my poster on the evolution of pan-cheloniid pelagic specializations!
#2025SVP #SeaTurtle
#2025SVP #SeaTurtle
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
And that's the end of that chapter. What a great success: the SVP Palaeoart Workshop.
November 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
And that's the end of that chapter. What a great success: the SVP Palaeoart Workshop.
The #DorsetMuseum is really great. They have original notebooks from Mary Anning and several famous holotypes from the area out for people to see.
November 11, 2025 at 2:27 PM
The #DorsetMuseum is really great. They have original notebooks from Mary Anning and several famous holotypes from the area out for people to see.
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
Alright, now that I'm not on the road - full thread on our new azhdarchoid phylogeny paper and what it means for pterosaurs big (like this one) and small! 1/23
November 5, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Alright, now that I'm not on the road - full thread on our new azhdarchoid phylogeny paper and what it means for pterosaurs big (like this one) and small! 1/23
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
Soon... Very, very soon...
November 5, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Soon... Very, very soon...
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
JUST PUBLISHED!!!! A major azhdarchoid phylogeny paper coauthored with @skyemcdavid.com - the fruit of years of work - is now out in @journalsystpal.bsky.social! New clades, reconstruction of size evolution, and more. Full thread to come soon!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Enter the dragons: the phylogeny of Azhdarchoidea (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) and the evolution of giant size in pterosaurs
Azhdarchidae is a clade of pterosaurs which includes the largest-ever flying animals. The evolutionary history of this clade and its closest relatives remains incompletely understood and highly deb...
www.tandfonline.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
JUST PUBLISHED!!!! A major azhdarchoid phylogeny paper coauthored with @skyemcdavid.com - the fruit of years of work - is now out in @journalsystpal.bsky.social! New clades, reconstruction of size evolution, and more. Full thread to come soon!
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Me a week ago: “It’s a whole family of T. rex. How wholesome.”
Me today: “Little guy is so screwed.”
#NHMLA #LACM #JordanTheropod #Nanotyrannus?
Me today: “Little guy is so screwed.”
#NHMLA #LACM #JordanTheropod #Nanotyrannus?
November 1, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Me a week ago: “It’s a whole family of T. rex. How wholesome.”
Me today: “Little guy is so screwed.”
#NHMLA #LACM #JordanTheropod #Nanotyrannus?
Me today: “Little guy is so screwed.”
#NHMLA #LACM #JordanTheropod #Nanotyrannus?
LACM 28471, the holotype of “Stygivenator” and possibly the only Nanotyrannus on display along the west coast. Turtle-loving human for scale.
It’s very fragmentary (what you see is what you get) so the ID is tentative, but it lacks a subnarial foramen, which is a synapomorphy of Nano. (Circle)
It’s very fragmentary (what you see is what you get) so the ID is tentative, but it lacks a subnarial foramen, which is a synapomorphy of Nano. (Circle)
November 1, 2025 at 4:46 PM
LACM 28471, the holotype of “Stygivenator” and possibly the only Nanotyrannus on display along the west coast. Turtle-loving human for scale.
It’s very fragmentary (what you see is what you get) so the ID is tentative, but it lacks a subnarial foramen, which is a synapomorphy of Nano. (Circle)
It’s very fragmentary (what you see is what you get) so the ID is tentative, but it lacks a subnarial foramen, which is a synapomorphy of Nano. (Circle)
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
So looks like I was right and there's various people crowing about how they were always right about Nanotyrannus because they'd seen some private specimens or their take on the data was best or special and not at all about how the weight of evidence had shifted now. It's personal opinion > science.
November 1, 2025 at 8:08 AM
So looks like I was right and there's various people crowing about how they were always right about Nanotyrannus because they'd seen some private specimens or their take on the data was best or special and not at all about how the weight of evidence had shifted now. It's personal opinion > science.
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
It's #Halloween, so here's some scary #paleoart of the dreaded MAMMALIAN NOCTURNAL BOTTLENECK HYPOTHESIS. Which of these Megaconus will survive - AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?
(Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)
(Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)
October 31, 2025 at 7:16 PM
It's #Halloween, so here's some scary #paleoart of the dreaded MAMMALIAN NOCTURNAL BOTTLENECK HYPOTHESIS. Which of these Megaconus will survive - AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?
(Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)
(Image just uploaded to #Patreon, along with a detailed discussion of this idea: www.patreon.com/posts/142523...)
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
On this Halloween, a reminder that a sculptor included a Xenomorph gargoyle during the 1990s restoration of Paisley Abbey
October 31, 2025 at 11:07 AM
On this Halloween, a reminder that a sculptor included a Xenomorph gargoyle during the 1990s restoration of Paisley Abbey
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
An interesting quirk of today's taxonomic revision is that one jacket from the Jane Quarry, long assumed to contain specimens of famous species, actually contained what would become two holotypes of two distinct species — Infernodrakon hastacollis and Nanotyrannus lethaeus
October 30, 2025 at 8:22 PM
An interesting quirk of today's taxonomic revision is that one jacket from the Jane Quarry, long assumed to contain specimens of famous species, actually contained what would become two holotypes of two distinct species — Infernodrakon hastacollis and Nanotyrannus lethaeus
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
The worst part of anything Nanotyrannus has always been the personalities. We got some cool science today but it sucks to see quotes from an bully, and a man who helped create the commercial vs academic tension that’s sent many relevant fossils to private collections, doing the “I was right” circuit
October 30, 2025 at 7:53 PM
The worst part of anything Nanotyrannus has always been the personalities. We got some cool science today but it sucks to see quotes from an bully, and a man who helped create the commercial vs academic tension that’s sent many relevant fossils to private collections, doing the “I was right” circuit
Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous
Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous | Nature
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
I'm pretty confident that certain online people are going to be cheering about how they were right all along on Nanotyrannus. Their take will be that they were right all along and their arguments, based on private specimens of uncertain provenance, photos of things without scale bars, and ideas...
October 30, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I'm pretty confident that certain online people are going to be cheering about how they were right all along on Nanotyrannus. Their take will be that they were right all along and their arguments, based on private specimens of uncertain provenance, photos of things without scale bars, and ideas...
Lancian tyrannosaur diversity tripling overnight is cool and all, but I feel like the takeaway of this paper isn’t that Nano is now real.
The takeaway should be that we were mislead into thinking it wasn’t real because all the “science” tied to it was bad or inconclusive for basically 40 years.
The takeaway should be that we were mislead into thinking it wasn’t real because all the “science” tied to it was bad or inconclusive for basically 40 years.
October 30, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Lancian tyrannosaur diversity tripling overnight is cool and all, but I feel like the takeaway of this paper isn’t that Nano is now real.
The takeaway should be that we were mislead into thinking it wasn’t real because all the “science” tied to it was bad or inconclusive for basically 40 years.
The takeaway should be that we were mislead into thinking it wasn’t real because all the “science” tied to it was bad or inconclusive for basically 40 years.
Reposted by Tristan J. Stock
My latest for @nytimes.com! For 40 years, paleontologists have grappled over whether a small tyrannosaur — named Nanotyrannus — was its own animal, or simply a teenage T.rex. The debate has been ... contentious. Which is why it's so fun to finally be able to say this:
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
The Case of the Tiny Tyrannosaurus Might Have Been Cracked
www.nytimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
My latest for @nytimes.com! For 40 years, paleontologists have grappled over whether a small tyrannosaur — named Nanotyrannus — was its own animal, or simply a teenage T.rex. The debate has been ... contentious. Which is why it's so fun to finally be able to say this:
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Folks? Nanotyrannus is real.
Wonder what’s in here? If you’re at #2025SVP and would like to know, drop my by Friday poster in the Turts and Crocs space, board B301.
I will be presenting my graduate research on Pan-Cheloniids, including revealing a new morphotype of Cenozoic sea turtle that lived surprisingly recently.
I will be presenting my graduate research on Pan-Cheloniids, including revealing a new morphotype of Cenozoic sea turtle that lived surprisingly recently.
October 29, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Wonder what’s in here? If you’re at #2025SVP and would like to know, drop my by Friday poster in the Turts and Crocs space, board B301.
I will be presenting my graduate research on Pan-Cheloniids, including revealing a new morphotype of Cenozoic sea turtle that lived surprisingly recently.
I will be presenting my graduate research on Pan-Cheloniids, including revealing a new morphotype of Cenozoic sea turtle that lived surprisingly recently.
Watch until the end.
October 24, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Watch until the end.