iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

Dr Suresh Singh @palaeosingh.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Presenting the skull of one of the earliest theropod #dinosaurs for this #FossilFriday, Daemonosaurus chauliodus, from the Late #Triassic of New Mexico 🇺🇸. It was unearthed from rocks of the famous Chinle Formation, which outcrops across the Southwestern USA. #Paleontology #Science 🧵 1/

The skull of Daemonosaurus chauliodus at the museum at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, USA. The snout of this basal theropod dinosaur is short and ends at the front with highly procumbent teeth.

37419

Dr Suresh Singh @palaeosingh.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

This little dinosaur has quite a unique morphology with its unusual teeth that stick out prominently at the front of its jaw. It also has an unusually short snout for an early #theropod dinosaur. Why did it evolve these features? 🧵 2/

131

Dr Suresh Singh @palaeosingh.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Perhaps adaptations to catching & eating insects? Its mix of derived & basal anatomical features make it a perplexing dinosaur, so much so that it’s been quite tricky to place in the dinosaur evolutionary tree - there has been some suggestion that Daemonosaurus may not actually be a theropod… 🧵 3/

111