Dinosorex, the "terror shrew", was a genus of eulipotyphlan mammal found across much of Europe for most of the Miocene, ranging from about 23 to 9 million years ago. Part of a family of stem-shrews known as heterosoricids, it was larger than most of its living relatives – probably around 15-20cm long (6-8") – and inhabited subtropical swampy forest environments.
Dinosorex kaelini here was one of the later species in this lineage, living in what is now Switzerland around 12-10.5 million years ago.
It had massive incisor teeth at the front of its jaws and crushing teeth further back, specialized for grabbing, immobilizing, and cracking open prey like hard-shelled invertebrates. Similar to some modern shrews the tips of these teeth were also reinforced with iron in their enamel, which would have given them a striking dark red coloration.
But while Dinosorex was quite abundant and successful during its time, it seems to have had such a specific ecological preference that it couldn't adapt when the climate shifted towards the end of the Miocene. Drier conditions and more open savannas quickly took over, and the terror shrews disappeared along with the lush humid forests they were so dependent on.
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References:
Cailleux, Florentin, et al. "Revision of Dinosorex (Heterosoricidae, Eulipotyphla), with special reference to Slovak and Swiss material." Historical Biology (2025): 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2025.2476116
Furió, Marc, Jerôme Prieto, and Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende. "Three million years of “Terror-Shrew”(Dinosorex, Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) in the Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (Barcelona, Spain)." Comptes Rendus Palevol 14.2 (2015): 111-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2014.12.001
Wikipedia contributors. “Dinosorex” Wikipedia, 22 Dec. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosorex
Yuan, Haobo, et al. "The origin and evolution of shrews (Soricidae, Mammalia)." Proceedings B 291.2037 (2024): 20241856. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1856
An artist’s reconstruction of the world’s oldest modern bird, Asteriornis maastrichtensis, in its original environment.
Asteriornis is one of the oldest-known birds irrefutably belonging to the group Neornithes, which encompasses all modern birds. It possesses characteristics of both galliformes (chicken-like birds) and anseriformes (duck-like birds), indicating its position as a close relative of the last common ancestor for both groups…
A dicynodont synapsid that lived during the late Triassic in Poland. It was about 4.5 to 5 meters long and stood over 2 meters tall, making it the largest known dicynodont, as well as the largest non-mammalian synapsid.
How do you get your art to be so clean? No smudges or erased lines or anything! What’s your secret?? :P
You’d be surprise how clean your traditional art can become with the use of a clickable eraser. The narrower head gives you room to erase more precisely and use it as a tool for work!
Another thing I am careful about when drawing is prioritizing line weight and depth, as those areas get redrawn again to look neater.
Lastly, I edit my work post production. I have an iPhone and use the in-app photo editor to contrast my work to the highest setting to display my pencil work to the fullest, followed by adjusting brightness to not show any shadows.
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