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.
