This is the first reconstruction of Coelophysis, made by Huene 40 years before the Ghost Ranch bonebed was found. It’s based on Cope’s original fossils and filled in with Anchisaurus. #PaleoSky

We spent a week at the Field Museum earlier this month, re-identifying a bunch of mislabeled material from China (soon to be returned) and a boatload of unpublished Cryolophosaurus material. These here are the jaws of a small crocodylomorph and sauropodomorph. #PaleoSky

Check out this cool new video showing the early days of the Peabody Museum. The Podokesaurus display remains just off-screen, but we do get to see Podoke-observer Richard Lull in (a form of) motion. #PaleoSky

Peabody in Pictures

YouTube video by Yale Peabody Museum

youtu.be

Huene’s rarely-seen reconstruction of Podokesaurus, from his 1932 “Die fossile Reptil-Ordnung Saurischia.” Look at that tail! #PaleoSky

Neat little unprepared Coelophysis snout we came across on our latest collections visit

I swear I had to get under this thing to get good pictures of real fossils that somebody built into the floor…

Fun fact: the fire that destroyed Podokesaurus also took with it one of the few casts of Rhomaleosaurus. Mount Holyoke *allegedly* had a complete collection of Ward’s fossil casts, all of which was destroyed except for the Megatherium.

Ben Miller@extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The Ward Scientific Company sold these Rhomaleosaurus casts to various museums starting in 1866 (for $150). The original at the National Museum of Ireland was broken up with sledgehammers during a move in the 1920s. #FossilFriday

We’re in Japan for the month, so we’re in Fukui checking out the current goings-on, including their fantastic special exhibition on theropods!

Hey, guys, so it turns out the Spinosaurus holotype wasn’t blown into oblivion, the Germans just sent it to Japan under the shroud of night! #paleosky

Did some quarrying today for the Museum and found a few Devonian fish elements #paleosky

Freya has been busy prepping a Jurassic plant from Massachusetts that we collected a few weeks ago; most of this was covered when we found it. She’ll need the practice for when we find CT Valley bones🤞 #PaleoSky

Spent the day at Yale checking out Connecticut Valley fossils, Coelophysis, and the oldest surviving dinosaur fossil found in the western hemisphere (2nd pic.) We also got Raising Cane’s for the first time. #paleosky

We got to walk on dinosaur tracks today (and also got a lot of real work done.) #paleosky

BEHOLD… Rupert Wild’s temnospondyl, from which tapioca boba are harvested. #PaleoSky

Getting help with the analysis

Happy #DinosaurDay to you and yours! If Mignon Talbot were here to celebrate, she’d probably say: “Where am I? How did I get here?”

Making some interesting breakthroughs in interpreting Podok’s dorsal verts. Thinking we’re seeing them from a different perspective than previously thought, + some internal features not before appreciated

Thanks again to Mount Holyoke for allowing us to present some of our in-progress Podokesaurus revision. The first new science on the species in almost 60 years!

We’ll be giving a short talk at Mount Holyoke this Thursday, in celebration of their new Podokesaurus exhibit. We will be sharing our latest anatomical observations and phylogenetic results that you won’t be able to hear anywhere else!

Preliminary phylogenetic analysis recovers Podokesaurus as a… podokesaurid (and I’m not telling what that means)

We’re at the AMNH this week visiting Podok’s cousin, Coelophysis. Featuring Freya with a large slab and me with my favorite bone: the pubis from the original type series of C. longicollis.

Help us look for Podokesaurus-bearing rocks! Volunteer sign-up for our first exploratory field trip is live, just fill out the form below (or contact us directly if you don’t have a Google account): docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/...

First Podokesaurus Project Exploratory Field Trip to be announced soon, going to be looking for volunteers. Keep your eyes on this space if you’re interested…

2/22 and 2/23 ONLY you can come and see our Podokesaurus model (and us) at the New York State Museum’s Rock and Fossil Fun Fair!

Approved to visit Dinosaur State Park and the American Museum of Natural History next month, to see their Podokesaurus casts, but also all the incredible Coelophysis material at the AMNH! Pic of the original Mount Holyoke cast for S&G:

Fans of Connecticut Valley dinosaurs are going to be very happy in a few days… watch this space

Distracting myself from everything with deez diapophyses

He’s a 10, but his proximal femur is fragmentary and difficult to interpret (but at least the cats are helping)