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Axel Sauro

@axelsauro.bsky.social

Naturalist, paleontology enthusiast, animal keeper. Cover by Mette Aumala

1854 Posts189 Follower 411 Folgt

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · 2d ago

Kukri snakes are so cool: they exapted their unusual egg shell-slicing teeth for taking chunks out of prey, like eviscerating toads to avoid their poisonous glands. This makes them the only (afaik) snakes which can effectively prey upon vertebrates too large to swallow!

Schmidt Ocean Institute @schmidtocean.bsky.social · 4d ago

This is a false catshark, Pseudotriakis microdon, named for catlike eyes. A bit soft around the middle — some might even say these ground sharks are flabby — and they move rather slowly, which led to another common name: “sofa shark.” #DeepWonders, 1,086 m

Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 6d ago

Results from the Flocking #paleostream! Waptia, Megapterygius, Eomola and Talpanas.

Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 4d ago

Results from the #paleostream! Arctobatrachus, Austronaga, Carnufex (plus Rutiodon) and Palaeochiropteryx.

Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 4d ago

Result from the López de Bertodano Formation #paleostream! I have been looking forward to this one for a while as it combines some fascinating aspects of the latest Cretaceous. This formation was deposited in Antarctica and I hear you all: "wait a sec, that's not what I...

Dr. Scott Hartman - but not THAT kind of doctor @skeletaldrawing.bsky.social · 4d ago

Ok, after a successful roll out, some of the feedback asked for me to return the dates that record when a skeletal was last updated. It took a week of running them down, but now they're back, and hopefully better than ever: www.skeletaldrawing.com/blog/check-t...

Check the expiration date on that skeletal drawing? | Skeletal Drawing

It's been a couple of weeks since the launch, and while feedback has been good there's also been a feature request - returning the year of the most recent update to the skeletals. Let's take a look at...

skeletaldrawing.com

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · 5d ago

There was a very cool photo of a lion skull on top of a T. rex skull circling around some time ago, does anyone still have access to it?

Heitoresco @heitoresco.bsky.social · 7d ago

Barytherium - Transformando fotos da vida selvagem em Paleoarte

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · 5d ago

I would like to put some self proclaimed "YouTube biologists", who speak very confidently about the "obvious" anatomical differences of tigers and lions to make definitive behavioral conclusions, in front of a few dozen skeletons without the skull and tell me which one is which.

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · 6d ago

Nanotyrannus barely had the time to be valid, and people already pitted it against juvenile T. rex and now tigers (?). Damn give it some time to acclimate to its own validity first, poor thing, before starting with this carnivoraforum nonsense.

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · 7d ago

The more the subject is researched, the more the idea that ectothermy is "primitive" gets dismantled.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.@arctomet.bsky.social · 7d ago

Seymour, R. S. et al. (2026). Blood flow rates to long bones of archosaurs reveal high aerobic metabolic rates and endothermy throughout most of their evolutionary history. Paleobiology, 1–13. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · last wk.

The human urge to pit the imaginary (from fantasy or reconstructed) giant reptiles against the most charismatic contemporary megafauna

Ausarchosaur@ausarchosaur.bsky.social · last wk.

I saw art of a Meraxes (the dinosaur) fighting a dragon earlier today (well, more like about to be killed by it), and I wanted to say I don’t think I’ll ever be over the concept of real animals fighting dragons.

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · last wk.

I'd also like to add that nocturnal behavior has often been suggested to be about predatory relationships (avoiding predators and/or hunting preferences), but cases like the dodo or Aepyornis, if confirmed, would help dispelling this view. Sure, that still plays a role, but there are other factors.

Axel Sauro@axelsauro.bsky.social · last wk.

Very fascinating. What I find the most outstanding is how different the dodo and the Rodriguez solitaire, two closely related animals sharing apparently comparable environmental pressures, ended up being.

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · last wk.

Weisbecker B&B Lab@weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social · last wk.

Nocturnal and not that silly? New paper headed by @evolsara.bsky.social with @evoneuro.bsky.social , @aub-birdy.bsky.social and many others about the dodo's sensory world! See links to Sara's YouTube video and our The Conversation article below 👇. doi.org/10.1093/zool...

Journal of Systematic Palaeontology @journalsystpal.bsky.social · last wk.

🐬 Lambert 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. report a new species of 𝙈𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙨 from the Middle Miocene of Peru: buff.ly/qeky7Pc A beautifully preserved skull from the Pisco Formation reveals a new large delphinidan: 𝙈𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙖𝙞, with a similar cranium to the modern beluga- 𝘿𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙪𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙨 #PaleoSky

Amypteride🏳️‍⚧️🔻🕷🦂@amypteride.bsky.social · last wk.

Of course for #spidersaturday, spiders are in the house, and dang I drew A LOT of them compared to other groups. Most of them are current species but I managed to snuck in some cretaceous species #spider #jumpingspider #tarantula #crabspider #paleoart #sciart #invert #bugsky 5/6

SPIDERS PART 1

Burmathele biseriata
Holocene (Present day), 0,5-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a mesothele, a spider heavily built & with a segmented opisthosoma

Aliatypus californicus
Holocene (Present day), 1,2-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a brown spider with heaver short legs, a strong body and a raised occular region near the body front

Dysdera crocata
Holocene (Present day), 1-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a spider with a strong reddish color, yellow legs ad big fangs (the size of a leg joint)

Poecilotheria metallica
Holocene (Present day), 6-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a blue tarantula spider

SPIDERS PART 2

Afrarchaea woodae
Holocene (Present day),
3-ish mm in main body length
The animal drawn is a spider on lateral view, with its first body part highly raised in the eyes area & with long chelicerae, making it almost look a bit like a pelican. It also has a mushy sac on its last leg, which is the egg s

Macracantha hasselti
Holocene (Present day),
0,6-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a spider with a yellow abdomen and black spines

Grandoculus chemahawinensis
Late Cretaceous, 0,5-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a spider with a large pair of eyes on its sides

Deinopis spinosa
Holocene (Present day), 2 cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a spider with a slim tubular body, long thin legs and giant eyes, as big as its fangs

SPIDERS PART 3

Eresus kolari
Holocene (Present day), 1-ish cm in main body length
The animals drawn are a female and a male ladybird spiders. The female looks like a heavy bulky black spider, while the male have bright red colors on the posterior half of its body, making it look a bit like a ladybug

Anyphaena accentuata
Holocene (Present day),
0,7-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a pale-looking spider with slightly brown-ish marks on its back

Misumena vatia
Holocene (Present day),
1-ish cm in main body length
The specimen draw is a large white crab flower spider with some red lines, with its legs widely opened.

Peucetia viridans
Holocene (Present day),
2-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a green spider with long thin legs covered by many spines

SPIDERS PART 4 (Jumping spiders)

Maratus volans
Holocene (Present day), 0,5-ish cm in main body length
The animals drawn are a male & female jumping spiders, & like all jumping spiders they have a compact body, big eyes facing upfront and short but strong legs. The mal have complex colorful patterns on its back.

Bagheera kiplingi
Holocene (Present day), 0,5-ish cm in main body length
The animals drawn are a male & female jumping spiders, & like all jumping spiders they have a compact body, big eyes facing upfront and short but strong legs. This species has a strong green color on its back.

Uroballus carlei
Holocene (Present day), 3-ish mm in main body length
The animal drawn is a jumping spider (trong short legs, big eyes) with an elongated body full of hair, looking like a fluffy caterpillar

Amypteride🏳️‍⚧️🔻🕷🦂@amypteride.bsky.social · last wk.

We continue now with ricinuleids, pseudoscorpions, scorpions, trigonotarbids, telyphonids & amblypygids, most of them having book lungs! #scorpion #pseudoscorpion #trigonotarbid #whipspider #whipscorpion #arachnid #paleoart #sciart #invert #bugsky 4/6

PSEUDOSCORPIONS

Heurtaultia rossiorum
Late Cretaceous, 5-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a pseudoscorpion, an animal looking a bit like a mix of a mite body type with the pincers of a scorpion

Geogarypus gorskii
Eocene, 3-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a pseudoscorpion, an animal looking a bit like a mix of a mite body type with the pincers of a scorpion

Withius eucarpus
Holocene, 1,5 mm in length
The animal drawn is a pseudoscorpion, an animal looking a bit like a mix of a mite body type with the pincers of a scorpion

RICINULEIDS

Ricinoides atewa
Holocene (Present day), 1-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a ricinuleid, looking like a armored little spider withouth eyes or fangs

SCORPIONS

Eramoscorpius brucensis
Late Silurian, 10-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a brown scorpion with little yellow lines on its sides

Opsieobuthus tungeri
Early Permian, 13-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a scorpion with a brown body and yellow appendages

Praearcturus gigas - 2026 major revision
Early Devonian, 1-ish m in length
The animal drawn is a large scorpion with pointy sides and short but heavy legs

Belisarius xambeui
Holocene (Present day), 3-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a pale looking scorpion without any eyes

TRIGONOTARBIDS

Gondwanarachne argentinensis
Late Carboniferous, 3-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a trigonotarbid looking like a heavy spider-like animal, with segmented abdomen and numerous tuberculation on its skin

Aphantomartus ilfeldicus
Early Permian, 2-ish cm in length
The animal drawn look like heavy spider-like animal, with segmented abdomen and numerous tuberculation on its skin

TELYPHONIDS

Antillostenochrus pseudoannulatus
Early-Mid Miocene,
0,5 cm in length
The animal drawn is a schizomid, an eyeless arachnid walking on 6 legs and using its first legs as antennae

Mastigoproctus giganteus
Holocene (Present day), 6 cm in length
The animal drawn is a vinegaroon, an arachnid looking a bit like a scorpion with long thin first legs used as antennae, and it has a raised opisthosoma, ready to defend itself

AMBLYPYGIDS

Phrynus resinae
Early-Mid Miocene,
0,8-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a light brown ampblypygid, looking like a thin spider with long legs but no fangs, raptorial appendages at the front, segmented opisthosoma & it walk only on 6 legs, the first pair being modified to serve as antennae

Charinus kakum
Holocene (Present day), 0,6-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a light brown ampblypygid, looking like a thin spider with long legs but no fangs, raptorial appendages at the front, segmented opisthosoma & it walk only on 6 legs, the first pair being modified to serve as antennae

Amypteride🏳️‍⚧️🔻🕷🦂@amypteride.bsky.social · last wk.

For these drawings, it's apulmonate arachnids time: harvestmen, mites, ticks, solifugids, palpigrades & a phalangiotarbid! #arachnid #mite #tick #solifugid #arthropod #paleoart #sciart #invert #bugsky 3/6

HARVESTMEN

Mitostoma gruberi
Late Eocene, 1,5-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a harvestman, a spider-like animal with extremely long thin legs and a main body made of 1 part (spider's body is split in 2 parts

Neokayania bicolumnata
Holocene (Present day), 0,5-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a harvestman with super thin & long legs, way longer than its small boxy body. The main body also comprise 2 raised areas making it looks like a bit like a bunny cartoon head

Phalangium opilio
Holocene (Present day), 0,6-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn is a harvestman, a spider-like animal with extremely long thin legs and a main body made of 1 part (spider's body is split in 2 parts

Neopantopsalis pentheter
Holocene (Present day), 4-ish mm in main body length
The animal drawn is a harvestman, a spider-like animal with extremely long thin legs and a main body made of 1 part (spider's body is split in 2 parts)

PARASITIFORMES

Sternothyrus braueri
Holocene (Present day), 0;5-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a reddish mite with a ball-shaped body and 8 walking legs

Dermacentor rerticulatus
Holocene (Present day), 4-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a tick (round body, short legs, short mouthparts to suck blood) with colored pattern on its back made of yellown red & black

Macrocheles subbadius
Holocene (Present day), 0,6-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a mite with a brown reddish main body, 8 yellow legs and ellongeted pincer-like chelicerae

PHALANGIOTARBIDS
Mesotarbus peteri
Late Carboniferous, 1,2-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a phalangiotarbid, an arachnid looking a bit like a super heavy spider and with an abdomen made of 6 little segments followed by a broad plate taking up to 2/3 of the abdomen's length

PALPIGRADES

Eukoenenia mirabilis
Holocene (Present day), 2-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a palpigrade, a beige scorpion/spider like animal but with long front legs and a long tail-like flagellum at its end

Electrokoenenia yaksha
Late Cretaceous, 1,5 mm in length
The animal drawn is a palpigrade, a beige scorpion/spider like animal but with long front legs and a long tail-like flagellum at its end

SOLIFUGES

Rhagodes melanus
Holocene (Present day), 2-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a black solifuge, looking a bit like a spider but with short large pincers instead of fangs, & with long pedipalps almost leg-like compared to the small pedipalps of spiders

Metasolpuga picta
Holocene (Present day), 2-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a black solifuge, looking a bit like a spider but with short large pincers instead of fangs, & with long pedipalps almost leg-like compared to the small pedipalps of spiders, and long legs. it's mainly yellow but a bit red & orange on its head

ACARIFORMES

Eriophyes tiliae
Holocene (Present day), 0,2-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a mite with a worm-like body and 4 short legs at its body front

Trombidium holosericeum
Holocene (Present day), 2-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a mite with a large red main body & 8 short but thin legs

Acarus siro
Holocene (Present day), 0,5-ish mm in length
The animal drawn is a small mite with a rounded oval body, long filaments and 8 stuby legs

Gehypochthonimimus hibernicus
Early Carboniferous, 0,43 mm in length
The animal drawn is a yellow mite with long setae on its back

Amypteride🏳️‍⚧️🔻🕷🦂@amypteride.bsky.social · last wk.

Let's start first with the aquatic chelicerates : stem chelicerates, pycnogonids, horseshoe crabs, eurypterids & chasmataspidids! #horseshoecrab #eurypterid #paleozoic #pycnogonid #paleoart #sciart #invert #bugsky 2/6

STEM LINEAGES CHELICERATES

Mollisonia plenovenatrix
Mid-Late Cambrian, 3-ish cm in length
The animal drawn looks like a shrimp with a short, round & domed head without antennae

Megachelicerax cousteaui - 2026 discovery
Mid-Late Cambrian, 10-ish cm in length
The animal is drawn view from below, looking a bit like a horseshoe crab attached to a shrimp abdomen

Urokodia aequalis - 2026 major revision
Middle Cambrian, 3,5-ish cm in length
The animal drawn looks like a mix of a millipede with a flattened body end and a shrimp-like head but with very short legs and no antennae

Bunaia woodwardii
Late Silurian, 3-ish cm in length
The animal is drawn view from below, and looks like a bunch of segmented legs followed by large body segments

PYCNOGONIDS

Pigrogromitus timsanus
Holocene (Present day), 1,5-ish mm in main body length
The animal drawn looks like a bunch of yellow long segmented spinny legs

Palaeomarachne granulata
Late Ordovician, 3-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn looks like a spidery figure with 8 long legs but with a long tail beind it and a weird 5 segmented head with large claws at its front

Eurycyde golem
Late Jurassic, 0,5-ish cm in main body length
The animal drawn look like a red spider-figure without abdomen, with really long legs

XIPHOSURANS (HORSESHOE CRABS)

Tasmaniolimulus patersoni
Early Triassic, 2,5-ish cm in length
The specimen drawn looks like a horseshoe crab with extra long spines on its sides

Guangyuanolimulus shangsiensis
Early Triassic, 10-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a grey horseshoe crab with brown spines

Lunataspis aurora
Late Ordovician, 4-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a brown-yellow horseshoe crab, with a wide lunar-shaped first body part and a long sword-like ending to its body

Prestwichianella rotundata
Late Carboniferous, 15-ish cm in length
The animal drawn is a brown horseshoe crab, with a wide spiny first body part and a long sword-like ending to its body

EURYPTERIDS

Paraeurypterus anatoliensis
Late Ordovician, 10/15-ish cm in length
The animal drawn looks a bit like a scorpion but without claws, short spiny legs at the front, a last pair of legs enlarged and used as fins, and a long sword-like telson in place on the sting

Kokomopterus longicaudatus
Late Silurian, 20-ish cm in length
The animal drawn looks a bit like a scorpion but without claws, short spiny legs at the front, smooth long posterior legs, and a long sword-like telson in place on the sting

CHASMATASPIDIDS

Octoberaspis ushakovi
Early Devonian, 6-ish cm in length
The animal drawn looks like an eurypterid with a body looking like a mix of a horseshoe crab at the front and shrimp at the back

Diploaspis casteri
Early Devonian, 3/4 cm in length
The animal drawn looks a bit like a boxy shrimp without antennae with an overall brown color

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.@arctomet.bsky.social · last wk.

E.A. Meilak, N.J. Gostling, C. Palmer, P. Provini & M.O. Heller (2026) Hop, hop and away: On the take-off of Archaeopteryx using a multiple leaping mechanism Developmental Biology (advance online publication) doi: doi.org/10.1016/j.yd... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Redirecting

doi.org

Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · last wk.

Here are the concept designs of two mammals I did for the last two episodes of Surviving Earth. The famous Mastodon and Falcontoxodon #paleoart #sciart

Philip Donoghue @phil-donoghue.bsky.social · last wk.

Our latest: Xinyuan Meng @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social describes Bataspis crux, expanding galeaspid (jawless fish) disparity with a bat-like head adapted for dynamic lift. Xinyuan's study was aided by @ferronhg.bsky.social Davide Pisani, Zhikun Gai and myself. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Claude ✡️🦖🦕@cascoclauda.bsky.social · last wk.

another new delightfully silly galeaspid has been named 🐟 bataspis crux originates from the early devonian of china, and is described by meng et al. in an #openaccess paper, linked below onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... (art by dinghua yang)

artistic depiction of bataspis, a jawless fish that very vaguely resembles a manta ray, fleeing the pincers of a eurypterid (also known as a sea scorpion, though they are not scorpions)

the holotype of bataspis, an incomplete skull

Sarah Primate @langurlover.bsky.social · last wk.

👀🐟

New museum find shows nature can't stop inventing seahorses

At first glance, it looks exactly like a seahorse. It has the same horse-shaped head tilted down from the body, the same curled, grasping tail and, in the males, a fully enclosed pouch for brooding th...

phys.org

BranArtworks|🐳🐬🦭🎨@branartworks.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Different sharks scavenging the giant carcass of Livyatan melvillei~ #paleoart

BranArtworks|🐳🐬🦭🎨@branartworks.bsky.social · 2w ago

A huge Livyatan sp breach out the water on where one day will be Beaumaris, Australia, one of the youngest localities in the world that bears fossils of these humongous super predators. #livyatan #paleoart #sciart

BranArtworks|🐳🐬🦭🎨@branartworks.bsky.social · last wk.

Imagine you are one of the smallest marine mammals ever and you had to share the sea with the two most impressive marine predators ever...🫠among a horde of smaller "versions" of them and marine gharials... that was Australophoca's life... #paleoart

Mario Lanzas @mariolanzas.bsky.social · last wk.

ENDOCERAS, from the ✨new video✨: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNpx... dedicated to animals of the Ordovician period 🐙 #endoceras #ordovician #paleoart #cephalopoda

Axel Sauro @axelsauro.bsky.social · 2w ago

Do we know what's the largest known animal still affected by insular gigantism? I mean the largest ancestral form which got bigger still in an insular context, not the largest insular giant period. Surprisingly hard topic to research online.

Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 2w ago

Results from the Flocking #paleostream! Cephalaspis, Sclerocormus, Eoceras and Praearcturus!