#fossil relative

[respect-the-locals]

Daily Ray Fact:

The Fiddler Ray and their relatives are thought to be the oldest ray group, which explains why they are somewhere between a shark and a ray. It is understood that rays evolved from sharks and so really the Fiddler Ray is a visual demonstration of that change in biology, The earliest known fossil rays are only 150 million years ago and whilst there are very few well preserved fossils available there are whole bodies of ancient guitarfishes which very closely resemble that of modern day Fiddler Rays.

[quibbs126]

I feel like I need more content of TF One Megatron being unequivocally the youngest member of the Decepticons

Sure yes, in the angst/serious department because I eat that stuff up, but in this instance I mean more like in the funny department. Like, he’s casually making everyone else feel old and barely trying

Like talking about how a holofilm they remember going out to see was made before he was born, or he thinks they’re talking about a remake they didn’t even know existed. Or talking about video games and the High Guard not realizing how far the technology advanced, and so what they considered cutting edge mechanics is archaic to him. Or how their lingo or whatever you call it is painfully outdated and they have no clue what he’s even saying when he uses his. He’s defeating everyone here with the power of being from the youngest generation

I just think it’s really funny and I want to see more of it

Though also not just him making everyone else feel old, but also him just doing young person things in general. He’s <50 years old, he should be allowed to act like it

[housecow]

I'd pay so much money to hear you give a lesson on paleontolgy. Whenever you write about you seem so formal and passionate ✨️

this is sooooo sweet but i guarantee you don’t want this bc the first lesson would be on terminology and the geologic timeline, some of the most boring but fundamental shit 😭😭

or, hear me out—that but my feeder is stuffing me more and more. the lesson keeps getting interrupted by sips of weight gain shake and many belly rubs

[sannyo-appreciation-posts]

The Yamanba Hierarchy

Alternate Yamanba hierarchy

[paleoforest]

LEPTO HEAD ANATOMY ALERT

I was so obsessed with the anatomy of UDANOCERATOPS, so, I start studying body build of its closest and most accessible relative.. LEPTOCERATOPS.

I found Sketchfab 3D model by Inhuman Species (aka justin.vl). This model was made for an exhibit at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum with Dr. Denver Fowler validation:

Inhuman Species shared in FB with some references after I asked:

Truly this is the only good reference for ALL Leptoceratopsidae at the present time. Why? Cause it's impossible to find ANY FOSSIL PHOTO. Although it don't possessing fully scientific accuracy: Justin message to me "there's an element of interpretation, especially for the inside of the skull".

Well, it doesn't stop me using critter as reference

Behind-the-sketches and pain in the ass

I made own amateur research & comparisons between the drawing by Paleofile, CMN 8887 casts by WitmerLab and Royal Tyrrell Museum with Justin's model, so it's ± accurate

Wiki also says that CMN 8887 specimen are young (unfused skull bones). And I think that surveyed is the older one:

I also noticed that frill of Leptoceratopsidae was short, but massive. It clearly intended for musculature for bite force, not for display.

Moreover, they have gigachad deep jaw.

I even compared Protoceratops with Leptoceratops!

phew

[fromthedust]

reconstruction of Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx fossil - Berlin specimen

Paleontologists have long thought that Archaeopteryx ('ancient feather' or 'ancient wing') fossils placed the dinosaur at the base of the bird evolutionary tree. Recent evidence suggests the beast may be best described as a birdlike dinosaur rather than an early bird, though it probably could fly after a fashion. Archaeopteryx is about 150 million years of age, while the ancestor of all living birds lived sometime in the Late Cretaceous — 50 to 65 million years ago.

In 1861, the first Archaeopteryx skeleton, which was missing most of its head and neck, was unearthed near Langenaltheim, Germany. However, the most complete skeleton, the Berlin Specimen, was discovered in 1874 or 1875 near Eichstatt, Germany by farmer Jakob Niemeyer, who sold it in 1876 to innkeeper Johann Dörr. Through various transactions, the fossil, which is the first found to have an intact head, eventually wound up being in the Humboldt Museum fur Naturkunde, where it still resides. To date there have been 11 other Archaeopteryx fossils found, the latest discovered in 2010 (described in 2014). All of the fossils come from the limestone deposits near Solnhofen. Recent tests performed on the specimens indicate that the primary coloring of the feathers of Archaeopteryx were black, possibly with lighter colored tips.

Jurassic deposits of Solnhofen limestone in southern Germany are marked by rare but exceptionally well preserved fossils of many species. It was first quarried nearly 2,000 years ago by the Romans who used the stone for paving roads and building walls. In later Roman times the mosaic floor of the church of Hagia Sofia in Istanbul was made of this limestone. In the Middle Ages, the stone was also used as floor and roofing material, and artisans used the material in the making of bas-relief sculptures and headstones. A decisive turning point in the history of the stone was the determination in 1673 by Alois Senefelder that the dense, fine-grained material was ideally-suited for use in the newly discovered printing process of lithography, a use that caused quarrying to increase dramatically.

[the-golden-ghost]

Me: Hey wikipedia what's the closest living relative to bats?

Wikipedia: *sniffling* idk... kity... ouppy maybe....

Me: Wikipedia work with me here

Wikipedia: *tearing up, lip quivering* P-pangolin...

Me: Wikipedia you can do this :(

Wikipedia: *breaking down in tears* Horsey?!

[fatehbaz]

Vidal [...] emphasizes the close relationship that existed between the Louisiana settlement [at New Orleans] and the Caribbean island [Haiti, the colony of Saint-Domingue] during the former’s French colonial period (1718-69). It has become a bit of a popular adage to describe New Orleans as the northernmost port of the Caribbean, but Vidal’s Caribbean New Orleans: Empire, Race, and the Making of a Slave Society demonstrates the substance behind these claims. [...] New Orleans is the missing link, a late-forming city that largely inherited its founding ideas, practices, peoples, plants, and laws from its longer-established imperial neighbors [France, Spain, Britain, and what would become the United States]. It thus offers the ideal case study in which to consider how colonies around the Americas developed in conversation with one another [...].

Vidal convincingly argues that New Orleans was a “slave society,” or a settlement in which racialized slavery informed every part of everyday life from its inception, whose physical construction was done alongside the “construction of racial categories” (p. 1).

This is an important shift within Louisiana historiography, which has long stood by [...] [the] argument that early New Orleans offered the semi-unique example of a “slave society” devolving into a “society with slaves.” Abandoned by the French following the spectacular failure of the Compagnie des Indes, the standard story goes, New Orleans became an isolated backwater until the 1770s, struggling to survive and permitting, out of sheer need, less disciplined contact between residents of European, Indigenous, and African birth and descent. [But] Vidal, in contrast, shows that, while Louisiana struggled to create a full-fledged plantation economy during the French era, this did not prevent its capital from organizing itself along the highly stratified lines of the Caribbean islands.

---

Furthermore, she argues, because New Orleans did not see many new residents after 1731, free or enslaved, and because it was a smaller settlement, white inhabitants were able to build upon these ideas in a relatively stable environment - focusing much of their energies on surveilling, containing, and disciplining the enslaved and free persons of color (p. 26). [...]

Vidal especially points to the 1729 Natchez attack and ensuing Natchez Wars [against Indigenous peoples] as pivotal moments in the militarization of white New Orleanians [...].

Subsequently, a scrupulous supervision of racial boundaries became the norm for the rest of the French era and fostered “a sense of community among white urbanites” (p. 141). Chapter 3 takes readers to the streets, levees, and other public spaces of New Orleans, where whites sought to sculpt the privileges of “whiteness” against both residents of African birth and descent as well as one another. Elite men and their wives scuffled over the best seating at church in an effort to recreate France’s ancien régime culture; socially lower [...] nonslaveholders, meanwhile, carefully guarded their weaker claims at mastery through street violence [...]. Beginning with a careful reading of census categories, Vidal traces how distinctions between European settlers [...] were increasingly replaced with those centered exclusively on race by 1763. [...] [Vidal then] follows the ways in which the demographically diverse workforce of the early colony made up of white indentured servants, convicts, and soldiers in addition to enslaved Africans - gave way to associations of difficult and degrading labor limitedly with the enslaved. [...]

---

French Louisiana inherited racial categories from the Caribbean but adjusted them to fit local needs, experiencing “not so much a loosening, but a more complex transformation” of its racial regime, largely through violence (p. 371).

Vidal documents how the Superior Council utilized targeted prosecutions and punishments to increasingly “imprint terror and instill obedience” on the enslaved (p. 390). [...] [The book] thus details a society in which racial hierarchies were asserted and supported through both top-down and bottom-up policies and practices, as “no social institution or relationship was left untouched by race” (p. 504).

To this end, Vidal speaks to important conversations by historians of enslaved women in the British Caribbean, including Jennifer Morgan and Marissa Fuentes. These authors have used a similarly wide range of sources [...] [and] archives to underscore the invasive nature of colonial racism. [...] [I]n part [...] Vidal’s [chapters work] to decouple lower Louisiana history from the fur traders of New France [Ontario, Quebec, and the watershed of the Mississippi River] and to reattach it to the planters of Saint-Domingue [in Haiti and the Caribbean]. [...] Combing through administrative papers, censuses, laws, parish registers, correspondence, and judicial records from both sides of the Atlantic, readers will get a sense that there is little Cécile Vidal has not seen or considered. [...] Her book [...] hopefully will convince an even wider audience [...] [to engage with] comparative, cis-Atlantic, and transatlantic studies of imperialism, race, and slavery.

---

All text above by: Kristin C. Lee. "Review of Vidal, Cécile, Caribbean New Orleans: Empire, Race, and the Making of a Slave Society". H-Atlantic, H-Net Reviews. January 2022. URL at: h-net dot org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56913 [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism purposes.]

[reginaldubel]

idk if I asked you yet but favorite prehistoric animal?

AHEM

so for dinosaurs tyrannosaurus rex was always the favorite dinosaur ever even when i was a child and still is . it just looks awesome i dont mean its cus it was a powerful predator (that too) but it just looks so cute. its face makes me think of a dog kind of but i just love them <3 then other favorite dinosaurs are pachyrhinosaurus, specifically lakustai cause of the horns on its frill (walking with dinosaurs 3D/the movie made me love them more *atleast the version with no talking*), carnotaurus cus their little horns are so unique but theyre also absolutely SOSIG, may i say baryonyx too. i dont know why it just is

other prehistoric animals i may wanna mention (counts as a dinosaur too anyways) are dodos..... i remember reading a shitton of articles about them..... it kinda breaks my heart they got hunted to extinction. anyways, most most favorite one is also mammoth (because i already love elephants theyre my favorite animals) because IF YOU ALREADY LOVE ELEPHANTS WHY WOULD YOU NOT LOVE. THE FLUFFY ONES. then honorable mention to dimetrodons because they look funky. and also fool you because they ''look like dinosaurs'' to most people but theyre not

i may be forgetting some if not alot but those are the ones i can name on the top of my head...

[unsanctitude]

ough im thinking about my Otter

since i have an interest in making characters from extinct ice-age era species i may make him a fake species of sea otter! whom absurdly larger than extant sea otters! which is why hes so fucking big

[bones-n-bookles]

Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives & Evolutionary History, by Xiaoming Wang and Richard H. Tedford, illustrated by Mauricio Antón, 2008

Bought new at the La Brea Tar Pits museum, another book I cherish and want to reread and catch up on the science since published

[uk-fossils]

Polished Cenoceras Fossil Nautilus - Cretaceous, Madagascar | Genuine + COA

Authentic Polished Cenoceras Fossil Nautilus – Cretaceous Period, Madagascar

This is a genuine polished Cenoceras fossil nautilus, carefully sourced from the Cretaceous-aged deposits of Madagascar. This beautifully preserved fossil dates back approximately 145–66 million years and provides an extraordinary glimpse into prehistoric marine ecosystems.

The specimen has been expertly polished to enhance its natural structure, revealing intricate growth patterns and stunning mineralization within the shell.

Geology & Formation:

The fossil comes from the Cretaceous deposits of Madagascar, a region renowned for its abundant marine fossils. During the Cretaceous Period, Madagascar was surrounded by warm, shallow seas, which provided the perfect environment for cephalopods like Cenoceras to thrive. Over millions of years, these creatures were buried in sediment, where mineralization preserved their shells in exquisite detail.

Fossil Information:

Scientific Name: Cenoceras sp.

Location: Madagascar

Geological Age: Cretaceous Period (~145–66 million years ago)

Fossil Type: Nautilus (Cephalopod)

Polished Surface: Enhanced visibility of internal structures and mineral replacement

Guaranteed Authenticity:

All of our fossils are 100% genuine and come with a Certificate of Authenticity. The specimen shown in the images is the exact fossil you will receive.

Size & Presentation:

Scale Rule / Cube = 1cm (see photos for accurate sizing)

Specimen dimensions provided in listing images

Polished surface enhances natural details for an elegant display

Perfect for:

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Own a beautifully preserved piece of Earth’s prehistoric marine history today! Fast & Secure Shipping Available.

[bunjywunjy]

Have you heard that apparently the dinosaurs didn't die out from the meteor impact, but rather from a form of continuous volcanic eruption from the deccan traps?

Do you know if there's any merit to this theory?

that theory has been largely discounted because the Deccan Traps erupted around a million years before the meteor hit, and yet we see no decrease in fossil diversity in this period like we would expect if this caused the great extinction. Chicxulub is still the reigning champ of abrupt end-times, I'm afraid.

but this is probably because, unlike the Siberian Traps that accelerated the end-Permian Great Dying, the Deccan Traps were relatively slow! they did release absolutely staggering amounts of magma, but spread out over a period of like 800,000 years or so. life more or less just went on around it, presumably dodging the enormous surface pools of lava and plumes of toxic gas.

however there is a significantly more terrifying theory out there now that suggests that the Deccan Traps DID play into the end-cretaceous extinction event.... because the Chicxulub Impactor rattled the entire planet so hard that it caused almost every volcano on earth to erupt at the same time, including the Traps.

so yeah! fuck!

sleep well.

[amnhnyc]

Behold the dazzling colors of an iridescent ammonite (Placenticeras intercalare)! A relative of today’s squids, this ammonite lived some 80 million years ago near what is now Alberta, Canada. This fossil’s spectacular coloration is the result of millions of years of high temperatures and pressures. As these forces acted on nacre in this ammonite’s shell, it was transformed into a gemstone known as an ammolite. Along with amber and pearl, ammolite is one of only a handful of gems made by living organisms.

You can spot this rare specimen in the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core in the Museum’s Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation! Plan your visit.

Photo: © AMNH 

[kvroomi]

it's 9 o'clock in the evening when atsumu barges into your bathroom while you're taking off your makeup

“hey, babe, yer phone’s charged, right?”

his voice breaks through the quiet hum of your evening, pulling your attention away from the bottle of moisturiser you'd been trying to open for the past 5 minutes. you glance up to find him leaning in the doorway. his black dress pants and light blue button-up are long gone, now replaced with a large white t-shirt and his obnoxious 'world's best setter' boxers that he must've left in the dresser you bought for him when he started staying over more often.

“yeah, why?” you ask, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

he holds up his phone with an exaggerated sigh, the screen dark. “mine’s dead." he sighs and you look at him confused.

"i was gonna call ‘samu—messaged me somethin’ about the shop. think he forgot to order noodles or… or whatever. can i borrow yours for a sec?”

you furrow your eyebrows, skepticism creeping in. atsumu wasn’t exactly known for prioritizing osamu’s last-minute “emergencies” unless they directly concerned him. “can’t you just use the landline?”

“the landline?” he places a hand on his chest in mock offense.

“what am i, a fossil?" you turn your gaze back to the mirror with a roll of your eyes.

"c’mon, babe, it’ll only take a minute. please?”

you stare at him and he stares back, the two of you locking eyes in a silent standoff. atsumu, for all his dramatics, was never great at hiding when he was up to something.

alas, as much as you wanted to pry, you also didn’t have the energy to argue over something so trivial when it was so late into the day.

“okay,” you breathe out, followed by a long sigh as you hand your phone over.

“just don’t mess with anything.” your eyes narrow threateningly.

“mess with things? me?” he shakes his head around, feigning shock. “never. yer phone’s in the safest hands imaginable.”

that already should’ve been your second red flag—though before you can even question him, he's got his back turned halfway out the door yelling “thanks, babe! yer the best!” over his shoulder.

a brief fifteen minutes have passed, which you only vaguely realise in the haze of beginning your book. you're comfortably tucked into the corner of the couch when he strolls into the living room. plopping your phone onto the cushions beside you and pressing a quick, warm kiss to the top of your head—he pokes your cheek.

“yer a lifesaver,” he says with a grin, flopping down beside you. “what would i do without ya?”

you offer him a glance, “what did osamu need?”

“huh?” you notice his grin falter. it's a split millisecond, but he's quick to cover it with a casual wave of his hand. “oh, somethin’ about… rice.”

you squint at him, trying to read his face. “i thought you said noodles earlier?”

“rice, noodles—same difference,” he says, getting up and walking over to the fridge to pull it open. “food stuff... y’know how he is.”

you let out a hum, satisfied with his answer. and just like that, the moment passes. your attention is drawn back to your book while atsumu rifles through leftovers.

it isn't until later that night when you're climbing into bed and reaching for your phone to set your alarm that you notice. the screen lights up, and instead of your usual photo of cherry blossoms, you're greeted by him—a photo of atsumu.

and it's not just any photo of atsumu, though. this one was pure chaos.

his entire face filled the frame, nose slightly scrunched, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, and his golden-brown eyes wide with faux innocence. his lips were puckered in an over-the-top kissy face. across the bottom of the image in bright, white text were the words: “miss me yet, babe? ;)”

your jaw drops.

“what the—?” you're immediately sitting up and unlocking your phone, going straight into your photo gallery. what you find only makes your disbelief grow, (and maybe your heart too, out of fondness).

the first photo was relatively tame: a selfie of atsumu sprawled out on the couch with his head sitting in his hand with a cheeky and flirty smile. of course, you think.

the second was him in the doorway of the living room with his finger pressed to his lips in a "shh" gesture while you sat on the couch, engrossed in your book.

and then things get progressively more ridiculous, (assuming that's even possible).

there's a close-up of atsumu holding up your favorite snack with an inflated, brash grin, almost as if he was offering it to you. the caption reads: “this one's for you, babe."

another captured him perched on your desk chair, holding your pencil like it was a quill. his nose is scrunched again, an attempt to portray his concentration as he pretends to scribble something brilliant.

it's the final photo that stops you in your tracks.

it's atsumu stood on the balcony, wrapped in your favorite blanket like a superhero while his arm stretched dramatically toward the sky. the caption read: “protector of this household and defender of snacks ;)”

you stare at the screen in silence, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. quite frankly, you couldn't tell whether you wanted to laugh or cry.

atsumu was many things: he was ridiculous, he was almost always over the top, and he was also occasionally the most infuriating person you’d ever met. but, there was one thing for certain—he was undeniably, wholeheartedly yours.

many people don't understand him the way you do. atsumu hadn’t just messed with your phone for the sake of it—he’d left you a trail of love notes that were neatly tucked behind each photo’s absurdity. it was his way of saying "i’m here, even when i’m not," without actually saying the words verbally.

and it worked.

you didn’t text him right away. instead, you curled under the blankets, scrolling through the photos again and again. your heart swelled with every outlandish caption, every childish expression, every trace of him.

eventually, you couldn’t help yourself.

you: you’re a menace.

his reply was almost instant: atsumu: a menace with a pretty face, though. miss ya, babe x

you beamed, your thumb hovering over the lock screen settings, conflicted between whether or not you should switch back the photo. though how could you? not when you already knew tomorrow would bring another excuse for him to check your phone again, just to see if you’d kept it.

so you decide to leave it—his face on your lock screen as a proud display of the world’s most unconventional love letter.

KVROOMI © 2024, DO NOT REPOST, PLAGIARIZE, MODIFY OR TRANSLATE.

[sparrowlucero]

The genus Silurian ("Person of the Silures", in reference to the historical territory of Wales in which they were first found) was initially known only from a single fossil, notable in part for the unusual object fossilized alongside it (1). Though this was generally accepted to simply be a large petrified stick, the "Silurian Artifact" and the associated "Silurian Hypothesis" were often a point of discussion in the topic of dinosaur intelligence and the theory of pre-human civilizations. It wasn't until large-scale mining operations began to impede on their extensive networks of stasis chambers that the Silurians themselves finally woke up and were able to meet humankind in person. To the surprise of many (and dismay of a few) the Silurians were not the scaled, humanoid "dinosauroids" so often depicted, but colorful, feathered, and relatively goose-shaped. Most Silurians who were present in the planet's underground represent the gentry and high ranking military, who were given priority in the earth-based shelters. Most others were evacuated on large, extensive spaceships, all of which are yet to return to Earth. Due to this, the varied mindsets and cultures of the Silurians are in shambles at best, largely replaced by the speciesism and real estate concerns of the upper classes. (1) Much later, the original type fossil was identified as Rohlik, a student who fell to his death after attempting to drunkenly pole vault over a ravine with a large petrified stick.