Pleistocene Pride

I am queer, I like paleontology especially the ice age megafauna, I think renewable energy is the bomb. So heres some pro-gay stonepunk

[bobnichollsart]

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology…

Here's my finished Hylaeosaurus coin art, from the 2020 Dinosauria collection (Tales of the Earth range), from The Royal Mint and the Natural History Museum, London.

[paleoart]

The birth of a Paraceratherium is an event to be celebrated. Momma is very proud.

Patreon • Ko-fi • Facebook  • Twitter • Prints & Merch

[jordankwalker]

Dsungaripterus

At the edge of a pond in Early Cretaceous China, a Dsungaripterus has come to feed. With a wingspan of nearly ten feet, he had some difficulty alighting to his perch in this small clearing. His troubles, however, will soon be rewarded. A pond such as this could contain a great bounty of mollusks hidden among slippery stones. The great pterosaur shuffles excitedly along a fallen log as he peers into the water.

Behind his curved beak lies a formidable set of molars, and he uses these to pry open and crush shells and bone. In his rush to search for snails and crustaceans hidden under the surface, he has failed to notice the plump turtle that slowly pulls itself across the muddy shoreline.

The turtle, on the other hand, has not failed to notice the pterosaur that looms above. She quietly makes her way toward a thicket of horsetails, hoping to hide before the unwelcome intruder decides to introduce himself.

16" x 20" Oil on Hardboard 2016

* Prints of this painting are available through Studio 252MYA, as well as through my own Print Shop. 

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Another #paleostream sketch

Dsungaripterus taking a bath. While in the past shown as near hydrophobic, there is no reason to assume pterosaurs did not swim, wade and overall get wet.

[chameleocoonj]

more paleostream! omnidens, thaisaurus, koleken, and brachytrachelopan :)

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Miracinonyx trumani

Source: http://teratophoneus.deviantart.com/art/Miracinonyx-trumani-405537986

Name: Miracionyx trumani (American Cheetah)

Name Meaning: Amazing Cheetah

First Described: 1969

Described By: Orr

Classification: Cellular Life, Archaea, Proteoarchaeota, Eukaryota, Unikonta, Opisthokonta, Holozoa, Filozoa, Metazoa, Eumetazoa, Planulozoa, Bilatera, Nephrozoa, Deuterostomia, Chordata, Craniata, Vertebrata, Gnathostomata, Eugnathostomata, Teleostomi, Euteleostomi, Sarcopterygii, Rhipidistia, Tetrapodomorpha, Eotetrapodiformes, Elpistostegalia, Stegocephalia, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Anthracosauria,  Batrachosauria, Cotylosauria, Amniota, Synapsida, Eupelycosauria, Sphenacodontia, Sphenacodontoidea, Therapsida, Eutherapsida, Neotherapsida, Theriodontia, Eutheriodontia, Cynodonta, Epicynodontia, Eucynodontia, Probainognathia, Chiniquodontoida, Prozostrodontia, Mammaliaformes, Mammalia, Theriiformes, Holotheria, Trechnotheria, Cladotheria, Zathria, Tribosphenida, Theria, Eutheria, Placentalia, Boreoeutheria, Laurasiatheria, Scrotifera, Fereuungulata, Pegasoferae, Zooamata, Ferae, Carnivora, Feliformia, Feloidea, Felidae, Felinae

The American cheetah is an extinct feline, and it actually has another sepcies in the genus, M. inexpectatus. It lived from the Piacenzian age of the Pliocene epoch of the Neogene, to the Tarantian age of the Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary, aka, from 2.6 to 0.011 million years ago. It lived in North America, and was very similar to the modern cheetah, but actually wasn’t very closely related to it. The similarities are more likely due to convergent evolution with the modern cheetah. It is most closely related to Puma, and evolved from cougar-like ancestors that either were already in America or migrated over from Asia. Convergent evolution is decidedly one of my favorite things, with two different lineage of cats evolving body morphologies that aided in moving rapidly. 

Source: https://chasingsabretooths.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/vanished-with-the-sabertooths-the-american-cheetahs/

It split from the cougar-like ancestor about 3 million years ago. It was morphologically similar to the modern cheetah, and about the same size as a northern cougar. It would have been about 170 cm long with a tail about 92 cm long and about 85 cm high. It would have weighed about 70 kg, but larger ones could reach 95 kg. It had a shortened face and expanded nasal cavities for increased oxygen intake. It had legs proportioned for swift running, and probably would have been a predator of hoofed plains animals such as the pronghorn. In fact, it might have been an interesting bit of an evolutionary arms race between the pronghorn and Miracinonyx, with the pronghorn evolving to outrun the American cheetah and the American cheetah evolving to catch up. 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cheetah

Shout out goes to that lovely anon!

Donate to the project for awesome (any amount) and I’ll write a factfile on the organism of YOUR CHOICE! 

[trisarahtops-sketches]

Dearly departed bewinged critters

[pleistocene-pride]

Desmatosuchus is an extinct genus of archosaur belonging to the Order Aetosauria which lived during Carnian to Norian of the Late Triassic period some 228 to 210 million years ago. The first remains now known to belong to desmatosuchus consisting of some preserved armor was discovered in the Dockum group of Texas in the 1890s by Edward Drinker Cope who assigned the animal the name Episcoposaurus haplocerus. In 1921 in the nearby Tecovas Formation one paleontologist by the name of Ermine Cowles Case would unearth a partially complete skeleton that included a series of armor, which he formally described and named as Desmatosuchus spurensis. With the name meaning linked crocodile in greek. Since the localities of Cope and Case were only a few miles apart, the two taxa were synonymized into Desmatosuchus haplocerus, the initial type species of the genus. Then in 2008, a revision of Desmatosuchus by William G. Parker found the lectotype of Episcoposaurus haplocerus to be referable to Desmatosuchus but indeterminate at the species level. Therefore, E. haplocerus was considered to be a nomen dubium and D. spurensis was named the type species of the genus. Two species were accepted as valid: D. spurensis and D. smalli, named after Brian J. Small for his contribution to the study of this genus. Since then a third species Desmatosuchus chamaensis has been recognized. Desmatosuchus is surprisingly common throughout late Triassic north american formations, and in several instances multiple individuals having being found together, indicating that these were possibly herd dwelling animals. Reaching 15 to upwards of 16.5ft (4.5 to 5m+) in length and 620 to 660lbs (280 to 300kgs) in weight, Desmatosuchus was a large quadrupedal archosaurian reptile. They sported wide bodies with long thick tails and shorter front limbs than back limbs. The heads were small, pointed, and shovel like featuring mouths with peg like teeth. Desmatosuchus was also heavily armoured with there body possessing multiple rows of thick boney scutes, they also sported spikes along the neck with particularly large and curved ones over each shoulder. In life it is believed that desmatosuchus were large social herbivorous animals (or possibly omnivores that ate a large amount of insects), which lived alongside various lakes, riverways, and water sources and may have burrowed to a decent extent.

Art used can be found at the links below

Desmatosuchus: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

Greetings from New Mexico!  Gary and I arrived on Friday and have spent the last two days at the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum researching on s

Desmatosuchus spurensis by FinwalSMD on DeviantArt

       Desmatosuchus is one of the better known aetosaurs that were squat quadrupedal archosaurs that fed upon low growing vegetation.‭ ‬Thi

Desmatosuchus

Desmatosuchus (/dɛzmætoʊsuːkəs/, from Greek δεσμός desmos 'link' + σοῦχος soûkhos 'crocodile') is an extinct genus of archosaur belonging to

Post by @wtf-triassic · 3 images

💬 0  🔁 64  ❤️ 118 · Desmatosuchus · By @apsaravis​ Etymology: Linked crocodile First Described By: Case, 1920 Classification: Biota, Arch

[wtf-triassic]

Desmatosuchus

By @apsaravis​

Etymology: Linked crocodile

First Described By: Case, 1920

Classification: Biota, Archaea, Proteoarchaeota, Asgardarchaeota, Eukaryota, Neokaryota, Scotokaryota, Opimoda, Podiata, Amorphea, Obazoa, Opisthokonta, Holozoa, Filozoa, Choanozoa, Animalia, Eumetazoa, Parahoxozoa, Bilateria, Nephrozoa, Deuterostomia, Chordata, Olfactores, Vertebrata, Craniata, Gnathostomata, Eugnathostomata, Osteichthyes, Sarcopterygii, Rhipidistia, Tetrapodomorpha, Eotetrapodiformes, Elpistostegalia, Stegocephalia, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Amniota, Sauropsida, Eureptilia, Romeriida, Disapsida, Neodiapsida, Sauria, Archosauromorpha, Crocopoda, Archosauriformes, Eucrocopoda, Archosauria, Pseudosuchia, Aetosauria, Stagonolepididae, Desmatosuchinae

Referred Species: D. spurensis, D. smalli

Status: Extinct 

Time and Place: 237 to 208 million years ago, from the Carnian to the Norian of the Late Triassic

Desmatosuchus is known from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming.

Physical Description: Desmatosuchus was yet another weird crocodile relative. It grew up to around 4.5 meters (15 feet) in length. Its head was small relative to its body size, and had a narrow, slightly upturned snout. The front of the upper snout was slightly expanded, forming a shovel-like structure. The teeth, which were only present in the backs of the jaws, were peg-shaped. It would have stood pretty much upright off the ground, although the limbs were not very flexible. The body was heavily armored, with the back being covered with a row of blocky osteoderms and bordered by a row of triangular osteoderms on each side. On the neck and over the shoulders, these had grown into large, backward-curved spikes.

Diet: Desmatosuchus was likely primarily herbivorous, although a degree of omnivory (for example, also eating insects) is not off the table, based on a few anatomial similarities to armadillos.

Behavior: Desmatosuchus like used its shovellike snout to uproot soft plants from the ground. This is slightly similar to modern pigs, but with less rooting around because Desmatosuchus probably didn’t have any movable fleshy bits to its snout. When chewing, the lower jaw would have fit almost perfectly into the upper jaw, to help shear soft plant material. Desmatosuchus lived in herds, possibly of related individuals - there are instances of Desmatosuchus fossils being found together in quarries, with up to 14 individuals found associated in the Placerias Quarry of Arizona. The spikes on its neck and shoulders were likely used for defense against predators such as Postosuchus, but given the size of them can vary dramatically, they may have also been used for visual display.

Ecosystem: Desmatosuchus is - yet again - from late Triassic North America! We’ve been over what lived in this area many times before. In one instance, Desmatosuchus was found in association with, among other things, temnospondyls, poposaurids, a pterosaur, and what was either an early ornithischian or Revueltosaurus. This assemblage only spans one meter of Dockum Group rock, suggesting that it was deposited there by a flash flood. Desmatosuchus probably hung around waterways, as it’s often found alongside phytosaurs and temnospondyls.

Other: There are two species of Desmatosuchus: D. spurensis and D. smalli. D. smalli lived later than D. spurensis and, among other minor differences, had fewer teeth and larger spikes. 

~ By Henry Thomas

Sources under the cut

Keep reading

[goth-queen]

[porridge-drawer]

Ugly teen baby practising walking steps on my roof . I love my ugly teen baby who was born on my roof .

[si-nequal-is]

Albertosaurus sarcophagus

[teaboot]

I love that I share my house with one of the most efficient apex predators millions of years of evolution could produce. I love that two of nature’s most prolific machines met and were like “hmmm. We should lay around and do nothing together”. Now we’re both fat and happy and full of meat. The hedonism of it all

[teaboot]

Humans keeping cats and dogs as family members is like three prodigy assassins being introduced in the back of a shady nightclub and 45 minutes later they’re 6 crunchwrap supremes deep passing a blunt in the back of a shag carpeted Volkswagen microbus rating Oreo varietals by fuckability

[miseria-fortes-viros]

tumblr users have the unique ability to string together sentences never before seen in all of human history and yet they conjure up such specific visceral imagery that you can’t help but be a little in awe. and i think that’s beautiful

[teaboot]

Love and peace on planet earth

[todaysbird]

Today's bird is this group of sunning pigeons!

[makairodonx]

Paleo-Files: Enigmacursor

Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae is a newly-described species of small neornithischian dinosaur hailing from the Morrison Formation of what is now Colorado, approximately 150 million years ago. It is a 1.5-meter-long North American relative of Yandusaurus from the Asian Shaximiao Formation and joins Nanosaurus and Dryosaurus as one of the few small neornithischians that lived alongside larger, heavier herbivores such as Camarasaurus, Diplodocus and Stegosaurus in the floodplains and around the rivers that made up much of the formation. The genus name, which has the same Greek word for "mystery" as that used for a certain cipher device developed by the Germans from 1918-1945, means "mysterious runner" and refers to the complicated taxonomic history of the Morrison's small ornithischians, and the species name refers to the person who donated the funds for the accquisiton of the type specimen, which was unearthed in 2021-2022 and consists of a well-preserved postcranial skeleton that consists of the forelimbs, shoulders, pelvis, hindlimbs and tail vertebrae and assicated teeth, by London's Natural History Museum in 2024.

[catchymemes]

[catchymemes]