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Cy Marchant

@slvrhwk.bsky.social

200 followers 390 following 61 posts

◇ Paleobiology student ◇ Science illustration dilettante ◇ Osteographer ◇ Ancient life reconstructions ◇ PhyloPic contributor ◇ 🦕🦖🦎 ◇ he/him ◇

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Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Jan 3

2024 was a big year for dinosaur paleontology! 🦕 Here is a brief review of most* of the new dinosaurs described this year, and some interesting highlights. (1/🧵)

#SciArt #paleontology #dinosaur

Poster including all non-avian dinosaur genera announced in 2024 to scale, generally arranged by color. A key listing each genus is included at the top right.

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

orsomoretti.bsky.social @orsomoretti.bsky.social · 9d

Qilin tungurensis- A newly identified new genus of giraffe from the Miocene of Inner Mongolia, China.

An extinct giraffe from the Miocene of Inner Mongolia stands in a clearing among trees and bushes.

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Beth Verity - Artist & Illustrator @bethverityart.bsky.social · 19d

Great Auk

Japanese ink painting of a Great Auk. The pose is loosely based on the incredible work by John Gould.

#japaneseink #greatauk #extinctbird

Japanese sumo ink painting of a great auk. The auk has captured a fish, there are ink splashes and ripples to show this quick movement. Its large webbed feet try to keep itself steady as it eats the prized fish.

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Dr. Jaimi Gray @jaimiagray.bsky.social · 29d

Meet the newest species of Brazilian flea-toad 🐸 Brachycephalus nanicus! 🐸

B. nanicus is <1cm long & dwells under the leaf litter in the cloud forests of Serro do Mar, southeastern Brazil

I CT scanned this specimen for the osteological description

Out today in Zootaxa: mapress.com/zt/article/v...

3D rendering of a CT scan of Brachycephalus nanicus, with the skeleton rendered in light brown and skin rendered in transparent purple. Top = dorsal view, bottom = ventral view. In the bottom right corner there is an image of the frog (a small brown frog) sitting on a coin.

3D renderings of the skeleton of Brachycephalus nanicus, rendered in light brown. Top left = whole skeleton in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views. Top right = skull in dorsal (left), ventral (middle), and right lateral (right) views. Bottom from left to right, 3D renderings of the hand, foot, spinal column, and should girdle (top) / pelvic girdle (right lateral).

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Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Sep 8

Reconstructed skeleton of Spicomellus ('spiky collar'), certainly one of the most unusual dinosaurs known. Found in the mid-Jurassic El Mers Group of Morocco, it is also the oldest definitive ankylosaur.

Reconstructed skeleton of Spicomellus afer, an armored ankylosaur dinosaur, showing known material on a black silhouette. The holotype specimen (an isolated partial rib) is shown in yellow, with a more complete referred specimen in white. Unknown material is indicated in grey, inferred from surrounding elements and related taxa. The arrangement of many of the osteoderms is speculative. Scale bar=1m.

Graphic illustrating the reconstructed skeleton of Spicomellus afer, an armored ankylosaur dinosaur. The smaller two skeletals at the top show known material on a black silhouette; the first shows only the internal bones in light blue, while the second shows only the osteoderms in yellow. Unknown material is indicated in grey, inferred from surrounding elements and related taxa. The arrangement of many of the osteoderms is speculative. The larger bottom diagram shows a hypothetical full skeleton, with a human (~1.8m) for scale. Scale bars=1m.

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · Sep 3

Last week in Nature: ooo look at my spiky dino. This week in Nature: EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT BIOLOGY IS WRONG www.nature.com/articles/d41...

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Xavier Jenkins @semifossorial.bsky.social · Aug 28

In fact, we suggest that the tympanum of modern reptiles originated in the common ancestor of Parapleurota in the middle Permian. Excitingly, recent developmental work by Bronzati et al. has shown that the modern reptile tympanum was present in their common ancestor, congruent with this hypothesis

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Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Aug 28

Fantastic work by Xavier and team, many years in the making ~

So many important implications for our understanding of reptile (and broader) relationships. More to come soon! 🦎

Xavier Jenkins @semifossorial.bsky.social · Aug 28

It’s finally out!

Our work addressing the origins of reptiles is published in PCJ! peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10....

We use novel info gleaned from the scan data of dozens of stem reptiles to substantially revise our understanding of early reptile evolution #paleontology #herpetology

Reposted by Cy Marchant

Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hi all, me, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and the amazing UK-US-Moroccan team are delighted to announce that.. we have a new specimen of Spicomellus AND IT'S WAY WEIRDER AND WAY COOLER THAN WE EVER IMAGINED!!

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Natalia Jagielska @nataliajagielska.bsky.social · Aug 14

Fujianvenator

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Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · Aug 14

A scene of ca. 252 million years ago during the Late Permian in the Madumabisa Mudstone Formation in Zambia, Africa. You can see here various therapsids and a Pareisaur
#paleoart #art #permian

Scene of Late Triassic Africa showing various therapsids and a pareisaur in their environment

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Xavier Jenkins @semifossorial.bsky.social · Aug 7

Now introducing Amenoyengi mpunduensis ('many-tooth from Mpundu'), a small moradisaurine captorhinid from the late Permian of Zambia with multiple rows of teeth! #Permian #Paleontology 😄

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Photos of a skull of a captorhinid in standard anatomical views. The skull is preserved in a brownish red mudstone and is badly weathered, but the internal anatomy is well-preserved.

Mandible of Amenoyengi in dorsal and lateral views showing at least three rows of preserved dentition, with other rows weathered prior to discovery

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Henry Thomas 🦤🏳️‍🌈 @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social · Aug 7

And I named one of them!!! Meet Aulacephalodon kapoliwacela - the Iron Hog - the first and so far only geikiid known from the Luangwa Basin! I worked on this taxon for my Master's thesis, and it's been lovely

NHCC LB737, holotype of Aulacephalodon kapoliwacela, in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) views. Scale bar 10 cm

NHCC LB737, holotype of Aulacephalodon kapoliwacela, in lateral (left) and posterior (back) views. Scale bar 10 cm

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Henry Thomas 🦤🏳️‍🌈 @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social · Aug 7

As of this morning, SVP Memoir 23 - Vertebrate Evolution in the Permian Rift Basins of Tanzania and Zambia - has been published!!! What's inside? Let's dig in:

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · Jul 28

Geologic Periods

xkcd.com/3120/

Comic. [3-column table with headers Period, My Favorite Part, and My Biggest Complaint] [Row 1] P: *Precambrian*, MFP: Life develops, MBC: Snowball Earth episodes [Row 2] P: Cambrian, MFP: Trilobites!, MBC: Evolution could stand to calm down a little [Row 3] P: Ordovician, MFP: Earth might have had rings, MBC: Scary volcanic eruption in North America [Row 4] P: Silurian, MFP: First land animals, MBC: Earth’s newfound mold problem [Row 5] P: Devonian, MFP: Big mountains in Boston, MBC: Yeah, sure, what those giant killer fish needed was *armor* [Row 6] P: Carboniferous, MFP: Cool forests, MBC: Bugs too big [Row 7] P: Permian, MFP: Pangea, MBC: Google “The Great Dying” [Row 8] P: Triassic, MFP: Tanystropheus [dinosaur with extremely long neck next to tiny person for scale], MBC: Damage to Canada still visible from space at Manicouagan [Row 9] P: Jurassic, MFP: Birds, MBC: Parasitoid wasps [Row 10] P: Cretaceous, MFP: Raptors, MBC: Raptors [Row 11] P: Paleogene, MFP: Pretty horseys!!!, MBC: Paleocene-eocene thermal maximum [Row 12] P: Neogene, MFP: Forests of *Dracaena* Dragonblood Trees, MBC: Zanclean Flood [Row 13] P: Quaternary, MFP: Burrito invented, MBC: Whoever picked this name for the third period of the Cenozoic

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Stephan Spiekman @stephanspiekman.bsky.social · Jul 23

I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · Jul 23

Here it is! Please welcome the AMAZING Mirasaura grauvogeli, a NEW MARVELOUS Drepanosaur published in NATURE today!
This astonishing reptile lived during the Middle Triassic in Europe and it possessed an amazing crest made of plume-like structures!

I was commissioned to bring it to life
#paleoart

Illustration showing a pair of Mirasaura perched on fern fronds. The green animals show their tall orange, brown and white crests while a small beetle flies over one of them

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Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · Jul 2

Everyone, please meet Sphenodraco! A newly described sphenodontian (a tuatara relative) from the Late Jurassic of Europe published TODAY!

#paleoart #reptiles #sciart #art

An illustration showing Sphenodraco perched on a tree trunk while a group of Rhamphorhynchus fly in the background

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Reposted by Cy Marchant

Stavros Svensson Kundromichalis @stavrossk.bsky.social · Jul 2

Southern #Sweden during the late Cretaceous. A pair of pteranodontids trying to keep a healthy distance from an admittedly passive mosasaur. Meanwhile, the hesperornithids take a short break from foraging to catch some rays. #paleoart #sciart #scicomm #dinosaurs

A scene from Kristianstad in southern Sweden (the Kristianstad Basin) during the late Cretaceous. A pair of pteranodontids trying to keep a healthy distance from an admittedly passive mosasaur (probably a Prognathodon, but could also be a Tylosaurus). Meanwhile, the hesperornithids take a short break from foraging to catch some rays.

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Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Jun 16

When including remains described in 1977 by A. Perle (which unfortunately could not be located for the 2025 publication), we get a reasonable picture of much of this dinosaur’s skull.

Reconstructed skull of Khankhuuluu mongoliensis with unknown bones in grey. Three specimens are known: the holotype (shown here in white), and two referred specimens (shown in light pink and dark pink). Regions that fade into grey indicate uncertainty regarding the extent of preservation.

Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Jun 16

Khankhuuluu is somewhat ‘transitional’ in both size and anatomy between the earlier tyrannosauroids and later, more familiar, tyrannosaurids like Tyrannosaurus itself.

Size of two Khankhuuluu specimens compared to a human (~1.8 m tall): the larger holotype (MPC-D 100/50, dark purple, left) and a smaller referred specimen (MPC-D 100/51, light purple, right).

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Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Jun 16

Khankhuuluu ("dragon prince") is a recently named tyrannosauroid from Mongolia's Bayanshiree Formation. 🦖

This reconstruction includes the holotype (white) and a slightly smaller referred specimen (pink). Both scale bars = 1 m.

Reconstructed skeleton of Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, a tyrannosauroid dinosaur, showing known material on a black silhouette. The holotype specimen in shown in white, with a referred specimen in light pink. Unknown material inferred from surrounding elements and related taxa is indicated in grey.

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Mark Witton @markwitton.bsky.social · May 30

New #paleoart for #FossilFriday: battling Borealopelta with deep (instead of "high waisted") armour and pigmentation. There's a scientific rationale behind this #ankylosaur #art, which you can read here, along with viewing the hi-res and WIPs of the painting. www.patreon.com/posts/130274... #sciart

Against a light purple sky and yellowish plantscape, two russet-coloured armoured dinosaurs wrestle in wet mud, one having got purchase under its rival to heave it up: will it topple over? Why would ankylosaurs do this? Fighting over resources, like lady ankylosaurs or territory? It's hard to say. Ultimately, animals are a lot like people, Mrs. Simpson. Some of them act badly because they’ve had a hard life or have been mistreated. But, like people, some of them are just jerks.

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Petite Paleoartist | Sauriazoicillus @ppaleoartist.bsky.social · May 31

happy #PrideMonth btw

#gayleoart #paleoart #sciart

a courting pair of female Terminonatator bond by cooperating in processing their latest kill. they rip into the juvenile mosasaur with their large teeth, ripping it apart by holding on to either end and pulling away with their muscular necks and flippers. the dappled light of the surface can be seen behind them

Terminonatator is an extremely pin headed elasmosaur, long necked marine reptiles with four powerful flippers that they used to propel themselves through the water. Terminonatator had a very long neck and was most likely macropredatory based on the size of its teeth

a mated pair of female Coelurus travel through an area of open scrubland, one of the females has found a particularly interesting stick that she shows to her mate.

Coelurus is a small theropod dinosaur that has had a complicated history of study with many species being described and then split from the genus, it had a long neck and tail and most likely hunted small mammals and reptiles, maybe birds and amphibians

a mated pair of male Apatosaurus greet each other with a nuzzle

Apatosaurus is a kind of sauropod (typically long necked and usually large quadrupedal reptiles) and specifically an apatosaurine (a group of sauropods that were very robust with shorter necks than other sauropods). Apatosaurus had the thickest neck of the group and it's speculated that they would've used them to fight somewhat like the way giraffes do

a pair of female Camptorhynchus labradorius (labrador ducks) mate in open water

Labrador ducks are an extinct genus of duck closely related to the still living Steller's eider, they were presumed extinct in 1878. Their bills are large and robust as they fed on small hard-shelled animals living in the sediment. they most likely used their soft beaks to probe the bottom of coastal waters for molluscs and crustaceans, it was noted by fishermen that labrador ducks were sometimes caught on fishing lines baited with mussels

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Mark Witton @markwitton.bsky.social · Apr 30

In another post, I discuss the evolution of different types of phytoplankton: what it means for the appearance of our planet and animals that ingested them. When did marine carotenoids become abundant enough to turn the animals that ate them pink and red? The early Mesozoic, probably? (3/4)

A flock of red, white and black Balaenognathus fly over a Jurassic coastline experiencing a bloom of red and green phytoplankton. These pterosaurs filter marine organisms from the sea, and have (speculatively) sequestered the red pigments from the phytoplankton in their skin fibres.

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Cy Marchant @slvrhwk.bsky.social · Apr 18

To those who celebrate...
#VelociraptorAwarenessDay

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