Erich Fitzgerald
@palaeowhales.bsky.social
Vertebrate palaeontologist at Museums Victoria: marine vertebrate evolution and a bit of Triceratops
20 years ago today, the bizarre toothed baleen whale Janjucetus hunderi was announced to the world! royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
This is a large shark vertebra from the upper Miocene of Victoria. It might be C./O. megalodon.
The OG whale (21 million years old) from Ocean Grove, Victoria @melbournemuseum. An odontocete. Skull elements at left, hammer for scale. #FossilFriday
New pub! @royalsocietypublishing.org New evidence of a toothed mysticete from the Vaqueros Formation of California fills a gap in the palaeobiogeographic range of Aetiocetidae url: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...
New evidence of a toothed mysticete from the Vaqueros Formation of California fills a gap in the palaeobiogeographic range of Aetiocetidae
Abstract. Extant baleen whales (Mysticeti) are toothless aquatic predators that use keratinous baleen plates to capture and filter smaller prey. Although a
royalsocietypublishing.org
A 21-million-year-old fossil found along Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula has been recovered in what has been described as one of the largest and most complicated excavations in the state's history. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02... #fossils #paleontology
Cochlear analysis of Kekenodon onamata, a late Oligocene stem whale, suggests they specialised in low-frequency hearing, a trait of raptorial feeding in fossil whales. Low-frequency hearing may be characteristic of raptorial macrophagous fossil cetaceans @joshcorrie @Blogozoic
It’s Prosqualodon! Important new paper by Maxi Gaetan and colleagues on this enigmatic austral fossil odontocete #FossilFriday aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
New Aussie dinos, including the first records of carcharodontosaurians and unenlagiines here!
Erich Fitzgerald@palaeowhales.bsky.social · 2y agoMajor advance in Aussie theropod dinosaurs by @monashuniversity.bsky.social and Museums Victoria PhD student @dinoman-jake.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Major advance in Aussie theropod dinosaurs by @monashuniversity.bsky.social and Museums Victoria PhD student @dinoman-jake.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Evolutionary and paleobiogeographic implications of new carcharodontosaurian, megaraptorid, and unenlagiine theropod remains from the upper Lower Cretaceous of Victoria, southeast Australia
The Early Cretaceous non-avian theropod body fossil record of Victoria, Australia dominantly comprises isolated dental and postcranial remains. Numerous specimens have been collected from both the ...
tandfonline.com
New publication: taxonomy and classification of every fossil mammal species in Australasia—Wallace Line to New Zealand! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
An annotated checklist of Australasian fossil mammals
Australasia has had a rich history of discovery of fossil mammals, with the first specimens collected within Wellington Caves, New South Wales and described by Richard Owen in 1838. Currently, a to...
tandfonline.com
Fossil #whale skeletons are genuinely amazing. #Whales evolved from four-legged hooved mammals (their closest relatives are hippos), & don't have hind-legs today (but they do have a pelvis). This is a 40-million-year-old whale called Cynthiacetus at @mnhn.fr, with a full leg skeleton. #FossilFriday
FISH!!!! Big hypural bone (tail tip vertebra) of a large marine fish from the latest Miocene of Beaumaris, Victoria, which will be studied in a new project starting very soon!
Incredible views of the external morphology of Indopacetus pacificus, the holotype specimen of which is from Queensland, Australia!
Jeremy Kiszka@jjkiszka.bsky.social · 2y agoPretty awesome sighting of Longman’s beaked whales (Indopacetus pacificus) in the Mozambique Channel, near Mayotte. So much to learn about these animals. One of the least known whale species in the world! Pictures: N. Bertrand
Should probably remind folks I’m also an illustrator, you might see my work out in the wild on a cover like this recent one for Scientific American
I started my career as a traditional painter, and I used to hand-paint gigantic canvas murals (like this 58’x14’ one from 2015 (c) Blue Rhino Studio). These days I’ve transitioned to doing the same kind of work, only digitally.
Quick comparison between a southern cassowary femur (top) and a recently found Late Miocene casuariid bird femur (bottom) from Beaumaris, Victoria
Landed in Perth ready for #SMM2024! Interested in the unique amphibious hearing abilities of pinnipeds? So am I! Come see my talk on the evolutionary origins and anatomical evidence for amphibious hearing in seals! Monday, 11:30am in Room 4 (Hearing Mechanisms) @marinemammalogy
New paper by Sanchez-Posada et al. in JVP: a new early Miocene dolphin, Romaleodelphis pollerspoecki, from Austria. Possibly related to Chilcacetus from Peru and some other poorly known long-snouted dolphins of the same time period. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
