Paleontological Illustrations—Megalancosaurus

As I’ve discussed before, I don’t usually blog about paleontology, even though that’s the field in which I work ( . . . kind of . . . sort of . . . somewhat . . . ).  But recently I’ve been noticing illustrations in scientific papers that might provide good blogging material, without requiring much effort on my part.

The illustration under consideration today is from the cover of the July 2023 issue of the journal Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia.  (You can read the relevant paper here.)  It depicts Megalancosaurus endennae, a drepanosauromorph reptile from the Triassic of Italy.  Megalancosaurus was not very big (as one can see from the fact that it is perched on the end of a tree limb), and is generally assumed to have been similar to a chameleon (in terms of its arboreal and insectivorous lifestyle, though not necessarily in terms of changing color). 

What strikes me about the picture is how evil Megalancosaurus is made to appear.  It has an absolutely crazed expression on its face, and its claws are poised to grab someone or something.

It definitely looks to be up to no good.  

I Read Somewhere that Blog Posts About the Super Bowl Get Lots of Views

  If the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl, will they pour Gatorade on Taylor Swift?

A Procrastinated Halloween Picture

 

I don’t normally take pictures of people, and I definitely don’t post pictures of people on this blog, because I don’t want to have to deal with indignant people who don’t want their pictures taken. 

But I have to assume that this guy wanted to have his picture taken.

  He was playing heavy metal guitar while wearing a Ghostface mask in a park by the Potomac in Old Town on the Saturday before Halloween. 

  Of course, his vibe is somewhat undercut by the fact that his guitar is pink . . . 

. . . and (for those who know about metal) by the fact that it’s a Strat.   

Fetch

 

In honor of the new Mean Girls movie, my browser apparently tried to make fetch happen. 

And, of course, my browser failed.  

(I have to admit that I never saw the original Mean Girls, and thus I am not 100% sure of what “fetch” is, or what would be required to make it happen.)

(I also have to admit that I don’t know very much about computers, as not only do I not understand what a “backend fetch” is, but I also have no idea why the error message involves “guru meditation” and “varnish”.)  

Blurry Rabbit, Trix Are for Kids

 

A Small Amount of Tinsel

 

UPDATE 12/28—This was supposed to be my Christmas photo, but looking at it now I realize that it is not at all Christmassy. 

Mushrooms in the Grass