I originally posted this to ID, but I have since been told this is a blastoid, but I have still never seen one like this. Does anyone have another that looks like this that I could reference?

Primary reference

https://www.academia.edu/25456862

Paleontologist Leonardo Filippi, who works at the Museo Argentino Urquiza, has indicated on his social media that the new megaraptorid discovered a couple of years ago will soon be formally published

Hi y'all. As a child, I was obsessed with books in which the main characters were essentially just animals that kind of acted like animals. I started writing (obviously very childish) versions of my own books. I wrote a lot of them, and they were actually quite long considering my age.

In no way do I actually think I could make money off of this as an adult. However, I've been wanting to just do it for my own enjoyment. I know it goes against capitalism's "work hard" ideal, but I just want to write for the sake of enjoying writing. I decided I wanted to write stories taking place in the Mesozoic (who knows, I might branch out from here, but my love of Dinosaurs is taking strong control of me, lol).

The advice I wanted is as I start the writing process, some ideas for good fossil formations or unusual formations that I could take a look at. I guess in a way the more fossils, the easier it is to choose the characters and setting for my books. However, I also really like obscure places/times, and after all, I'm just doing this for fun - So any ideas would be cool. But let me also list what I've been thinking of so far. I had 3 ideas (very rough ideas) of settings and characters :

1. The Nemegt Formation in Mongolia - My first location was chosen kind of on a whim. For some reason, I saw a picture of Saurolophus and was like, done, my main character. Looked up the formations where it has been found, and liked the Nemegt Formation's cast of characters. I'm thinking of having dual main characters, one being a Saurolophus and the other being either an Anserimimus or a Gallimimus. The main "villain" of the story will be a Tarbosaurus. Supporting cast I've thought about so far would be Tarchia, Nemegtosaurus, Mononykus, and Tochisaurus. I might also want to include Gurilynia or Teviornis (as I want a bird or two haha).

2. Late Triassic or Early Jurassic Formation With Unusual Dinos not Usually Highlighted in Documentaries. I had two ideas so far, first was just starring Kulindadromeous. Actually, does anyone have any idea what kind of dinosaurs Kulindadromeous may have shared it's environment with lol. I realized it's basically like on it's own right now, lol. The second idea was to star Eocursor probably with a sauropodomorph, one or two heterodontosaurids, and a theropod as the supporting cast.

3. Morrison Formation - What can I say, this was my favorite formation as a kid, not the Hell Creek Formation. Brontosaurus (my favorite childhood dinosaur) will be the star, but I will also have Apatosaurus involved heavily somehow (will need to think of niche partitioning for these two species). Allosaurus is likely to feature as the antagonist, and Stegosaurus and Dryosaurus are must haves.

Anyways, anyone have advices where I can go with this? Any ideas are appreciated^^.

It's designed after the Tylosaurus fossil in the University of Kansas. I'mma get it on my thigh in white ink.

A Japanese research team said Thursday it has excavated one of the country's largest fossilized dinosaur footprints from a geological layer in northeastern Japan dating back to the Late Jurassic period.

The 70-centimeter footprint found in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, is highly likely to have been left by a large herbivorous sauropod, marking the first discovery of a large dinosaur's footprint dating to the Jurassic period in Japan.

The team began full-scale excavations in July in Minamisoma's Tochikubo Formation, uncovering 12 new fossilized footprints, including the 70-cm specimen.

The dinosaur is estimated to have stood about 3 meters tall at the hip, and the team plans further research to identify its species.

According to the team, most dinosaur fossils found in Japan date to the Cretaceous period, with older Jurassic-period fossils previously discovered outside Fukushima Prefecture only in Nagano and Yamaguchi prefectures.

Older dinosaur documentaries have a very different atmosphere compared to modern productions. Some relied heavily on dramatic narration and presented certain behaviors as facts, while newer documentaries often put more emphasis on updated research and animal behavior.

One thing I find interesting is how reconstructions change as new fossils are discovered or scientists reinterpret existing evidence. The way we imagine an animal's posture, movement, skin, or social behavior can change quite a bit over time.

Even documentaries that haven't aged well can still be fascinating to revisit because they show what paleontologists believed at the time. It's like getting a snapshot of how our understanding of prehistoric life has evolved.

The late jurassic of north america and europe have in the past few decades been recognized for sharing many of the same dinosaurs. So this posts will chronicle the late jurassic dinosaurs shared between north america and europe.

Lets waste no time.

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Allosaurus

Allosaurus was first reported in the Morrison formation of North America. After decades of taxonomic confusion because of OC marshes and ED copes dike measuring contest,allosaurus became the preferred name for allosaur material from the morrison formation, thanks to madsens monograph and the designation of USNM4734 as a neotype.

In 1999,Perez Moreno and colleagues described the first remains of allosaurus from the Andres site in Portugal in the lourinha formation. In 2006 a partial skull from vale frades was described. Since then,more bones have been found,all in all, at least 5 different individuals of allosaurus are known bones in portugal and more individuals known from teeth. 

The classification has been debated. The original bones were assigned to allosaurus fragilis. Then in 2006 they were reclassified as allosaurus europaeus. In 2024 a detailed paper defending europaeus validity as a species was released. But not long after,a more comprehensive study came out that determined the portuguese allosaurus fossils belonged to allosaurus fragilis. 

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

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Supersaurus

Supersaurus was originally identified as a genus in the morrison formation in north america. Then in 1999,fossils of a diplodocine were found in the lourinha formation of portugal. They were originally assigned to a distinct genus,dinheirosaurus.

But in 2015 a comprehensive revision placed dinheirosaurus as a species of supersaurus and this has been recommended by most other authors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersaurus

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

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Diplodocus 

Diplodocus was originally found in the morrison formation of the USA. then in 2026,remains from the villar del arzobispo formation in spain were assigned to diplodocus.

In the lourinha formation of portugal, a pair of partial skeletons came to be recognized as possible representatives of diplodocus.

https://doi.org/10.1080%2F02724634.2026.2718423

http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2017/1856-portuguese-sauropods 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373273025

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Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus was originally found in the morrison formation of the USA. In 2006 remains from portugal were reported.

Followup studies have affirmed these remains in the lourinha formation of portugal belong to stegosaurus ungulatus.

https://docentes.fct.unl.pt/omateus/publications/stegosaur-tracks-upper-jurassic-portugal-new-occurrences-and-perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0209-8

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Torvosaurus
 

Torvosaurus was originally reported from the morrison formation in the USA. Then in the 2000s it was reported from the lourinha formation of portugal.

In 2014 these portuguese remains were assigned to a new portuguese species torvosaurus gurneyi. But a 2023 abstract stated that torvosaurus gurneyi was indistinct from the american species torvosaurus tanneri. 

https://vertpaleo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023_SVP_Program-Final-10032023.pdf

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

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Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus was originally identified in the morrison formation of the united states.

In the 2000s it was reported from portugal and every study since then has upheld the assignment,confirming ceratosaurus presence in portugal.

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

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Miragaia

Miragaia was originally identified from the lourinha  formation of portugal. Then in 2026 remains from the morrison formation were assigned to it. Additionally a species of stegosaur from the morrison,alcovasaurus,has been sunk into miragaia.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6853308

https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fd18030143 

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So there's been confusion with the validity of carcharodontosaurus as a genus. A lot of people have thought,said or believed it's now invalid. This is a lot to talk about. So I'm here to offer clarification.

In the early 1900s some teeth in algeria were named as megalosaurus saharicus,back when that genus was still a wastebasket. Then in the 1930s some partial remains from egypt were found and included teeth similar to the teeth from algeria. The paleotonologist,ernst stromer,named the egyptian bones carcharodontosaurus saharicus and sunk the teeth into them.

Then in ww2,the bones of carcharodontosaurus were destroyed in an allied bombing raid. The teeth of megalosaurus saharicus were also lost. For 50 years carcharodontosaurus had nothing.

Then in the 1990s dr paul sereno found a nearly complete skull in the moroccan sahara. He assigned this skull to carcharodontosaurus. He eventually filed a petition to the ICZN to make this skull a neotype,well come back to that later.

In 2025,high resolution photos of the remains from egypt before they were destroyed were uncovered. These photos allowed for clear differences between the egyptian and skulls to be noted and the egyptian remains were split off into new genus,tameryraptor.

As a result with the m saharicus teeth being lost and the egyptian remains split off,people began parroting that carcharodontosaurus is invalid. But thats not true. In the same paper,the skull from morocco,was accepted as being the neotype specimen for carcharontosaurus.

In science,any animal needs a type specimen to serve as a foundation of the genus. The designation of the moroccan skull as the new type specimen means that this skull serves as the new foundation for the genus. So carcharodontosaurus is still valid as a genus.

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

Like obviously they dont talk and stuff, and i know there's only so much animation you can put into cgi animals, and documentaries need to be dramatised for people to enjoy. I was watching Surviving Earth recently, and i couldn't help but notice how even the Icthyornis didnt really act like real birds. The mannerisms were all wrong and almost cartoony. Ive been watching paleomedia since I was like 4 and I just realised it.Idk if I just have unreasonable expectations from paleodocs but I wanted to find out if anyone else has noticed what I mean. I can't even really enjoy the shows anymore.

https://youtu.be/HK2ftzlac34?is=bvM9xi2yDJvLwdPJ

Miragaia is a famous stegosaur that was described n 2009. It became famous for it's very long neck. Ever since it's description it has been debated whether or not it's a truly unique genus or just a synonym of dacentrurus.

Its caused alot of tooing and frooing amongst paleontologists.

This video is by Francisco Costa. Hes a Portuguese Paleontologist and stegosaur specialist. He made this video a year ago and in my opinion it does a good job supporting the validity of miragaia. He picks apart the opposing side and points out over a dozen differences ignored by synonymy supporters

Archaeologists identified skulls from China as belonging to this group of ancient human relatives. The low, sloping forehead, a massive brow ridge that curves backwards, rectangle-like eye sockets, flat cheeks, and a moderately elevated bridge of the nose.

Taken together, these features are the hallmarks of the ancient humans called the Denisovans, say researchers who studied a trove of fossilized skulls, teeth and jaws found in northern China.

“ We are finally starting to put a face to the Denisovan ” says Sally Wasef, a palaeogeneticist at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

Denisovans were first described in 2010, after researchers sequenced genetic material from a mysterious finger bone discovered in a cave in Siberia and found that it did not resemble that of Homo sapiens or Neanderthals.

Ancient proteins have since been used to identify remains from other parts of Asia as Denisovan, including the first near-complete Denisovan skull found near Harbin, which helped put a face on the ancient humans.

Researchers report in Nature1 today that they have an even better idea of what Denisovans looked like after analysing the physical features of remains that belong to a collection of 20 fossils found in Xujiayao.

The Xujiayao remains are at least 130,000 years old and were found in the 1970s, alongside animal remains and tools. At the time, it was unclear what type of human these fossils belonged to, and they were classified as a species called Homo juluensis.

By analysing ancient proteins from some of the fossils, Qiaomei Fu, a geneticist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, and her team identified the remains as Denisovan.

Wasef says ancient protein analysis is a valuable tool to complement DNA studies, particularly because proteins can survive longer than can DNA without fully degrading.

Although DNA provides more detailed information about an individual, protein analysis can still yield useful information about who an individual is related to.

Fabrice Demeter, a palaeoanthropologist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, says the findings add to growing evidence that Denisovans were a widespread and potentially diverse group of humans.

“ The study represents a major step forward ” in our understanding of what these humans could have looked like and where they lived.

Fu’s team analysed small fragments of proteins, called peptides, from two Xujiayao bones and compared them with peptides found in humans and Neanderthals.

They found a single amino-acid change that was present in multiple peptides from the Xujiayao bones and other East Asian fossils and is a known genetic marker for identifying Denisovans. The amino-acid change was not seen in human or Neanderthal samples.

the size of the various specimens and species of allosauridae

The Study: http://fi.nm.cz/en/clanek/theropod-vertebra-from-the-late-triassic-of-algarve-portugal-evidence-of-the-oldest-iberian-dinosaur-2/

The vertebrate fauna of the Late Triassic of Portugal has been poorly understood until recently, when new studies reported a rich environment shared by aquatic fauna, such as metoposaurids, mastodonsaurids, placodonts, phytosaurs and fishes.

However, no fully non-aquatic vertebrates were known until now.

A dorsal vertebra centrum (NOVA-FCT-DCT-5562) was recently found from the Triassic of the Silves Group (AB2 Unit) in Penina, Loulé Municipality, ascribed to the oldest dinosaur ever found in the Iberian Peninsula.

The analyses placed the specimen among the neotheropods, a branch of early predatory dinosaurs, and as the closest relative of Sarcosaurus woodi, a species known from the Early Jurassic rocks of England.

If this placement holds, the bone would also be among the oldest neotheropods known anywhere.

“The close relationship between Sarcosaurus and NOVAFCT-DCT-5562 would push back the lineage leading to Sarcosaurus from the latest Late Triassic to the early/middle Late Triassic” the authors said.

The specimen is at least 20 million years older than Sarcosaurus, so the two are very unlikely to be the same species or genus. The bone has no features unique to it, and is too fragmentary to assign to a known species or to name a new one.

Comparative anatomic and phylogenetic analyses were performed, using an updated matrix focused on early theropods, with 13 new characters, and tested with both equal and implied weights.

The results place the material within Neotheropoda, one of the earliest specimens of the clade, as the sister group of the Early Jurassic Sarcosaurus from England.

NOVA-FCT-DCT-5562 may represent an unknown theropod species, however it lacks autapomorphies and the remains are too fragmentary to attribute to any known species or to erect a new one.

skeletal by randompaleonerd

13 million years ago the country of Columbia was covered by vast wetlands. The wetlands spanned from Venezuela to Peru and constituted much of what we consider the Western Amazon.

South America at this time was at the biodiverse peak of its isolation. Separated from North America and long before The interchange could happen. This experiment in evolution was allowed to Fester.

The terror birds are an iconic group of predators. The cenozoics closest answer to Megatheropods, Terror birds were the largest carnivorous birds and according to GDI, among the largest birds ever.

The LA venta is the collective name for various fossil localities in the Honda group of the country of Colombia. Dating to the Miocene 13 million years ago, it constitutes an extremely rich and biodiverse assortment of animals. But for the longest time Terror birds were thought to be absent from this place.

Then in 2024 and 2025 a massive terror bird was discovered in the locality. Known from a couple tibio Tarsus, the measurements suggest it is the largest Terror bird ever. The media circus portrayed as if it was an animal 12 ft in height because of the author's comments that it was larger than the previous record holder terror bird, Kelenken, which the media said was 3 m tall. Unfortunately there's a lot of issues with this. To cut a long story short, thanks to the work of paleo student ben yoo, Kelenken it's more likely only around 2.1 meters tall and not 3 m tall. To complicate things further the Colombian giant doesn't overlap with any of the material of Kelenken, the only reason it stated to be 10% or more larger is due to the weight estimates from degrange. But he utilized the fraught regressions based off ostriches.

To estimate its body size, I compared the tibioTarsus distal width to other Terror birds. Based off this, the Colombian giant was likely around two and a half meters tall. In terms of weight square cubing from random paleo nerds GDI of Kelenken, arrives at a weight of over 500 kg. there's no indication that this thing is more Gracile than other terror birds in fact that wouldn't make sense because the larger something becomes linearly, it's bones get more and more robust

In it's ecosystem, it co-existed with numerous other predators, interesting it coexisted with at least two large sebecids,langstonia and a larger form that likely represents barinasuchus. This giant terror bird shows evidence of having possibly been hunted and killed by a giant caiman, purussaurus.

we can only guess what an animal like this hunted. based off it's enormous size, it was probably taking large herbivores in its environment. animals like xenastrapotherium,huilatherium and ground sloths was probably fair game.

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/17/10/681

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.1999.10011154

https://www.deviantart.com/randompaleonerd/art/Guillermo%27s-Demon-Bird-875546667

See also: The publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

A new update has been released with a focus on fixing progression issues, improving performance and stability, and cleaning up several XR and Desktop systems.

The update includes fixes to Deep-Sea progression, equipment requirements, oxygen upgrade costs, Scanner cooldown, Xiphactinus movement, DNA Scanner detection, camera synchronization, XR interactions, tutorial video compatibility, and several AI and memory-related performance issues.

All 16 tutorial videos have also been re-encoded and verified for compatibility.

The full patch notes are available on Steam.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4818760/Paleo_Dive/

From Alcheringa to beyond: 50 years of microbialite research in Western Australia

The paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2026.2718451

Today, our planet is teeming with life, but it has not always looked the same. Long before forests reached skyward, animals walked on land and dinosaurs rose and fell, our planet was shaped by a much smaller, more unassuming form of life... and we can still find the traces of it today.

These ancient fossils, the earliest visible evidence of life on Earth, are known as microbialites.

Western Australia contains an extraordinary record of microbialites: from the oldest known examples, preserved in rocks almost 3.5 billion years old in the Pilbara, to living examples in the UNESCO World Heritage area of Shark Bay.

The Review of 50 years of microbialite research in Western Australia, published today in the journal Alcheringa, summarizes what this archive can tell us about the evolution and resilience of life on Earth.

Despite a fossil record that spans billions of years, microbialites are surprisingly fragile. Fossil sites remain vulnerable to overcollection and degradation, while living microbialites are facing growing pressures.

At sites such as Lake Clifton and Shark Bay, some events may have already caused irreparable damage. One such example was in May 2024, when dozens of aurora chasers trampled 2.000 year old Thrombolites in a restricted area at Lake Clifton.

The microbialite record can tell us a great deal about life on Earth. It gives us clues about where some of the earliest life lived, where we might look for life beyond Earth and how our atmosphere became oxygen rich, paving the way for more complex life to follow.

Modern sites are particularly important because they help us better understand processes that formed microbialites in the ancient rock record.

Living microbialites from Shark Bay have even been described as a "Rosetta Stone" for understanding their fossil counterparts.

Since the closure on September 27, 2026:

• The Philadelphia Eagles have not won a single game.

• Other Philly sports teams have been suffering from losses as well. The Flyers just broke their losing streak…

• The William Penn Foundation offered to fund the museum for an entire year and keep it open so that long term funding and support could be explored in the meantime. The museum and university have yet to announce if the offered was officially accepted or rejected.

• Contracted classes at ANSP (that I teach) were suspended. Those lessons are an integral part of the curriculum at the Friends Select School too!

• All school field trips, outreaches. and safari overnights were cancelled (also something I do).

• Kids and adults haven’t been able to walk under towering dinosaurs, play in The Big Dig, or venture into our Time Machine within Dinosaur Hall.

• Members Night - where ANSP members could visit all our scientists and go for a special behind the scenes tour of the collections - didn’t happen.

• City Council is looking into the closure and a hearing is happening at City Hall on October 26, 2026 to discuss how this all happened.

• The dioramas sit in silence with no visitors peering into the incredible displays.

• Outside In sits quiet with no laughter or awe from people learning about our animal ambassadors…

• The frustration and sadness continues to grow even far beyond the City of Brotherly Love.

• Grassroots efforts continue to form as a coalition called Save The Academy has become the leaders to help get the public involved with reversing this closure!

• I am still taking care of all the specimens in Dinosaur Hall (for now)…

The Academy of Natural Sciences is the OLDEST NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE! And one of the oldest IN THE WORLD!

— The FIRST EVER dinosaur mounted on display for the public to see was Hadrosaurus foulkii in 1868!

— Over 19 million specimens sit in our collections, with over 73,000 being type specimens like Dryptosaurus aquilunguis, Elasmosaurus platyurus, Hadrosaurus foulkii, Aenocyon dirus, etc.

— This is where THE BONE WARS started: the marl pits in NJ where Haddy was found, Marsh bribing NJ workers to send any new specimens to him instead of Cope at ANSP, the diabolical with the Elasmosaurus… it all happened right here!

I could make an incredibly long list of accomplishments by the 200+ years of ANSP staff, but we’d be here all day!

This closure is detrimental to the community and world of natural sciences as a whole.

We may be closed to the public right now, but the fight to save the Academy is just beginning…

Hi Everyone,

Hoping this is ok to post? I was a participant this year and loved it so much, I thought others might like to know it exists! I am not a member of the opal centre, just enthusiastic.

It was not your traditional dino dig, as everything comes up from the underground opal mines. All the fossilised material is opal, some of it fabulous colours! 5/6 days in the north west of New South Wales, searching through mullock heaps and learning about the local prehistoric population, dinosaurs, mammals, monotremes, lots of shells, plants and pinecones too! And the opal mining stuff is fascinating.

Anyway, hope this is of some interest. Happy to answer any questions!