Mesozoic Miscellany #22

The Big Stories
Boneyard 2.7! David Tana of Superoceras did a helluva job this month.

Terror Bird Gallery! ART Evolved is back with a new batch of paleoartistic pandemonium.

The supposed "dinosaur petroglyph" of Kachina Bridge was revealed definitively to be an illusion in a new study published in Palaeontologia Electronica. Read about it at the PE blog and Dinosaur Tracking, as well as my own post.

A bunch of interesting Triassic research has come out, including a redescription of the Postosuchus holotype skull, a paper on the anatomy of hilariously named basal sauropodomorph Pantydraco, and new tanystropheids (Chinleana, Pterosauria). As always, Chinleana is the ultimate way to keep up with new research into the Mesozoic's first act.

Victoria Arbour is the lead author of a new paper examining the pelvic shields of ankylosaurian dinosaurs in Journal of Paleaontology. Looking at the shields across the whole family, she has done the work of separating them into different categories and analyzing the differences between taxa and through time.

Around the Dinoblogosphere
Jack Horner is giving a TED speech today about his chickenasaurus quest. Read an interview at Wired.

Dave Hone waxed imaginative and shared his time travel wish list.

Saurian chronicles the winding-down of fossil hunting at Quarry 4, and a rainy spell reveals some new pieces of a lost Mesozoic ecosystem.

Paleontologist Scott Sampson continues his musings on biophilia at Whirlpool of Life, this time writing about human love. "I predict that future research will reveal solid evidence of a human bond with (nonhuman) nature—what people have referred to as 'biophilia' (see my previous post)—and that this bond will be facilitated by none other than our hormonal friend oxytocin."

Brian Switek shared fond remembrances of a formative documentary about dinosaurs, entitled... Dinosaur!

Everything Dinosaur reveals details about the Planet Dinosaur project.

Whales, Camps, and Trails shows off the new identify design for Beloit, Wisconsin's new tourism campaign, focusing on native son Roy Chapman Andrews.

Trish Arnold gets straight-up cruel all up in here, sharing dinosaur illos you can't un-see.

SV-POW goes into deep detail about the process of the raptor-kicking Brontomerus.

Along the same lines, Paleo Illustrata featured a post about the 3D modeling of extinct beasts.

Twit Picks
Stuff I've linked to at Twitter in the last week or so.

• Check out the podClast with @yorrike, @rschott, @allocthonous, and @hypocentre, about the Feb 22 NZ earthquake
• Coming issues of Palaeontologia Electronica to feature commentaries on "fossil collecting in the new legal environment"
• This dude loves his crystal.
• SV-POW's Mike Taylor profiled at NYTimes.com
• Iapetus Adventures: a frigid camping trip on a Carboniferous beach
• Louisville Fossils has featured very cool brachiopods lately, including this Orthospirifer with coral growing on it.

Tumblin'
I Effing Love Dinosaurs notified us of a life-size T. rex model that can be yours for the princely sum of £32,999.99. It's butt ugly, though.



Also, another uncredited piece is pretty cool. Lookie.

Paleoart of the Week
Patrick Redman's Lancian scene is complete, with a moody, drizzly, misty look. I love his oviraptorids. Click the image to give him feedback - he's wondering about whether he should include individual raindrops.


Outrageously Off-Topic Indulgence
For @tomhouslay: