iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Adam Yates

Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

I once rescued a big female Common toad from a storm drain and released her in the adjacent woods. That's a happy story. What's not happy is that I still visit those woods and the ponds there never, ever contain toad spawn. She was an endling, the last toad in the area.

Two people in the woods and a toad in a box.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It was wildly uneven from about that point forward but there were still some superlative episodes in its future (Heaven Sent, World Enough and Time, in particular standout)

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Or at least protect their eyes from the splatter

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Ragebait: modern theropods literally shit on tyrannosaurids

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Ville Sinkkonen @villesinkkonen.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

There are some pieces of paleoart that to my eye are so fantastic that I regularly come back to them to just stare and marvel them. Peter Trusler has made many such pictures but these 3 particular ones are just of such exquisite quality that they take my breath away every time.

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Kieran 🦘🇨🇦 @hellbendermuseum.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Proud to present my lifesize T. rex head, affectionately named Hannibal. I created this myself from start to finish- digital sculpture, resin 3D printing, painting, etc. Huge thanks to my friend @rj-palmer.com for instrumental crits and redlines during the sculpting process.

Life-size t rex head model from front 3/4 view. I am also in frame

Life size t-rex model, from front and staring directly down the barrel of the camera

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's October, and here in southern England it's around 17 deg C today, which is something like 6 deg C over the mean. Decades of failing to take action mostly mean that it's too late to disrupt climate breakdown. Vote for people who speak about the issues and are prepared to do something.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm not quite so pessimistic, but I would agree we need a better understanding of what a morphological characters actually are and how they relate back to their underlying heritable units

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

This got me thinking about heterodox ideas. Not outright crank-level stuff but opinions in the field of palaeontology that are in the minority. I definitely have some, e.g. I still think Palorchestes had a trunk, or that thalattosuchians really aren't mesoeucrocodylians. Anyone care to share theirs?

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

hmm, I dunno about that, I'm really quite fond of the idea

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Not bad, but I'd call it "palaeontology"

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I will always hold a place in my heart for the Mount Lofty Ranges and Fleurieu Peninsula

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Gen Conway @trigonotarbida.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Rocks at Onkaparinga NP

Photograph of a rocky gorge with orange/grey cliffs and greenish murky water

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

It may be failing memory but I do recall being told that the holotype of Eocursor parvus was found on conference trip.

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Ned Raggett @nedraggett.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Okay so @defector.com has had an odd glitch since the site redesign a couple of weeks back where the wrong photo and headline are often put together on the main page and I was going to ask them about fixing it but this just happened and as far as I'm concerned they have to leave it as is.

Screenshot for a Defector podcast episode with the headline "Consider the Emotional Lives of Scallops" only the accompanying photo is a white gormless stubbled red-headed UK singer of recent notoriety giving a flat smile to the camera while wearing a washed out peach top as beige as he is against a flat background. So, actually, probably a scallop anyway.

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Claude ✡️🦖🦕 @cascoclauda.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

a belated warm welcome to mandrasuchus 🐊 this alligator is described from the early paleocene corral bluffs site in colorado by lessner et al., and was likely only 2m long when fully grown, comparable to some of the smallest living crocodilians (art by andrey atuchin)

art of mandrasuchus in a swampy environment crunching down on a crustacean

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Got me wondering when the euarchontoglirans acquired theirs.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Good point. There is definitely more going on than snout shape in dorsal view. Baru, for instance has a rather pointy snout in dorsal view and would fall outside the macro-generalist category, but it is very dorsoventrally deep and has an arched cross-section. Totally built for strength.

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Ausarchosaur @ausarchosaur.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

This is the broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) by the way. Skull image source: collections-zoology.fieldmuseum.org/catalogue/18... Dietary study: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Dr Cecily Nicholl @piginatutu.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

After a nasty post-festival flu, it’s very nice to come back online and see that our paper: “Osteohistological evidence for terrestrial adaptation and an extended growth period in mekosuchine crocodylians and its potential role in their extinction”, is out now in The Anatomical Record!

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Jorgo Ristevski @jorgoristevski.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Great paper on mekosuchine osteohistology!

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

I don't want to be construed as bashing this particular youtube creator. Vividen's material is almost always accurate entertaining and well-produced. Just this one suffers from being a little far outside the creator's wheelhouse. 3/3

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

To point out a few: There is a Permian apex predator - Trucheosaurus major, a roughly 1m long temnospondyl. Wakaleo alcootaensis is from the Neogene (late Neogene at that). The Pliocene mekosuchine Paludirex vincenti, was certainly a more massive and dangerous predator than Liasis dubudingala. 2/n

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

While I support any effort to put a spotlight on Australian palaeontology, this video suffers from unfamiliarity with the aussie fossil record and consequently has many inaccuracies and omissions. 1/n

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Literally Miguel 🇻🇪 @literallymiguel.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

here, i applied a conservative approach to the un-preserved lenght of the snout, because the biomechanics of it already concern me lol

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Make your favorite film sound as boring as possible without giving away the title: Bruce Willis divulges to his psychologist his desire to visit the seaside

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Liam Elward Paleoart 🇵🇸 @paleobyliam.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Anybody recognize this trilobite? Even family level or time period would be cool to know. Was a gift

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

It is Flexicalymene from the Ordovician. From the preservation I'd say it is one of the Morroccan specimens which are widely sold in the fossil trade around the world

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Result from the Tiaojishan Formation stream, or rather Yanliao biota stream. This incredible assemblage was on my mind from the very start of doing these pieces, not just because it has tons of fascinating critters but because a big portion of the vertebrates here appear...

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Oops, chalk up another bad field ID, this is a Kolopsis torus dentary, not a maxilla.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

There is only K. torus in the main bone bed, so it is certainly that species. It is cool but Alcoota is so fantastically rich, that this isn't much of a big deal, all our excavators will find some Kolopsis during their time at the site, usually on the first day.

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Fossil site of McGraths Flat in NSW was covered by a megaphillous rainforest - just look at the size of this leaf #fossil, that we found in 2020! Now the site is withing mesic savannah, quite a lot of climate change since Miocene

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Speaking of Alcoota, I was at the site Yesterday, delivering fuel for the upcoming field season. I was only there briefly but I did get time to snap this Kolopsis maxilla weathering out for #fossilfriday

A bank of grey clay, weathering outside. White chunks of bone with bilophodont teeth are emerging and tumbling downslope

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Reposted by Adam Yates

DrongoJackBirb_art @drongojackburb.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Wakaleo alcootaensis Illustration! More context of the scene, fauna, flora and enviroment in comments! This illustration has had lots research and planning with help from the leading palaeontologist for the Alcoota Beds, Adam Yates! @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social #sciart #paleoart #megafauna #alcoota

Wakaleo Alcootaensis Mother&Joey Walk by a defensive Male Wakaleo with a hunted Kolopsis torus carcass perched in a banksia tree. With the Male Grunting in defense from the mother, An Alcoota Goanna stands shell shocked nearby in the same Banksia tree, and in the distance, a pair of Dromornis stirtoni stay alert, as they heard the grunting from the Male Wakaleo. A few Alcoota Large Flamingo stand by, but one flies away in fear of the grunts. A looming storm in the furthest distance towers over the enviroment. With the floodplain at its max water level, this storm may prove devastating for the Alcoota Fauna/Flora.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I've always thought and am still sticking with the interpretation that Protomelission is the scleritome of Cambrocavus and so the supposed thecae were in fact solid. Not a bryozoan.

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Jorgo Ristevski @jorgoristevski.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

New paper alert! Our study published at @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social, reviews the late Quaternary crocodylian record from Australasia. This study was conducted during my postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology with @nicoleboivin.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Hey, its out! I've been busy on a project that has kept me out of my office and away from email for a week, so I didn't know. congrats!

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DrongoJackBirb_art @drongojackburb.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Wakaleo alcootaensis Final Coneptualisation - For the next 2 months, I will be working on the final W. alcootaensis and adjacent flora and fauna illustration on A2. Thank you Dr. Adam Yates for feedback and criticisms for Wakaleo and Alcoota sp.! #sciart #paleoart #palaeontology #alcoota #wakaleo

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

This is true, but in this case I think something more is going on. The tens of millions of years spent with smooth carinae when serrations could potentially pop-up in the evolutionary blink of an eye (see how quickly the Carcharodon lineage switched from smooth carinae to serrated) is kind of odd.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

So the question is what are those serrations actually for?

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Reposted by Adam Yates

Alex Slavenko @alexsla.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

A recent paper claims, opposed to what conservation science has known for decades, that there is no evidence that foxes and cats were a major driver of Australia's mammal extinctions. Turns out there are quite a few issues here. Strap in for a looong thread 🧪 academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...

academic.oup.com

Review of evidence that foxes and cats cause extinctions of Australia's endemic mammals

Abstract. Over half of Australia's threatened and extinct endemic mammal species have been attributed to introduced red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and cats (Fel

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

I'd read it. I find them strangely fascinating. I'm trying to remember the name used by that particularly aggressive and racist sender of unsolicited emails from back in the 2000s. The one who thought every word that Von Huene wrote was gospel.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Aussie here, I didn't know the answer either and had to look it up. Shame on me, I know. And yes, Australian TV is dire.

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Honestly, that would have to be the best ammonite reconstruction I've seen.

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PALAEONAVIX @palaeonavix.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

www.palaeonavix.org/index.php/pa...

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Adam Yates @reddirtpalaeo.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Pretty excited to see what looks like a quadrupedal early sauropodiform (Antetonitrus or Ledumahadi perhaps?) stamping in front of what looks like a bipedal sauropodomorph. One of my dinosaurus making it to the screen!

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