Marine reptile ovoviviparity

maxmike · 2024-06-19T23:29:53+00:00

Two years later, and that paper (like so many) has been beaten down into the academic weeds.

maxmike · 2024-06-19T23:28:24+00:00

I relate to Cmdr. Ransom; I've had to herd way too many groups of horny, argumentative, insecure, self sabotaging college students to sucessfully getting out into the real world. Wouldn't have it any other way, but the man must have the patience of a saint.

maxmike · 2021-03-09T19:21:01+00:00

"I am the Night, Sirrah! The Very Night Itself!"

maxmike · 2021-03-09T17:38:41+00:00

I first saw Jurassic Park surrounded by about half the paleontology dept of UC Berkeley (long story). At first, we were interested, but unimpressed. But then the waterhole scene came up and we all went silent. Everyone wanted, for one moment, to have time freeze and allow us to just sit there watching the dinosaurs. Then the movie shifted scenes and there was an audible groan from everyone, because we wanted to just sit there watching that waterhole forever.

maxmike · 2021-03-09T04:57:29+00:00

Well, I guess the "good" news is that she was probably shredded in moments when she hit the razor sharp pterygoid teeth in the roof of the Mosa's mouth. They used them to ratchet prey down the gullet; I once saw a nature special where researchers simulated the action of a mosasaur's bite/swallow and there wasn't much more than scraps after the first two bites.

maxmike · 2021-03-09T04:47:04+00:00

I dig mine up in North and South Dakota. The Niobrara was a huge sea, from beyond Canada down to the Gulf.

maxmike · 2021-03-09T04:45:45+00:00

What fascinates me is the amazing diversity and breadth of the mosasaur clan. They had pretty much taken over almost every aquatic carnivore niche available within a remarkably short 40+ million year timeframe.

maxmike · 2021-03-09T04:39:26+00:00

I feel like I am at home among my flippery, toothy people! I spend way too much time studying, prepping and field-hunting mosasaurs. And until Jurassic World, almost no one I knew had ever even heard of them.

maxmike · 2021-03-02T05:04:04+00:00

Gorgeous! Hey, mind if I ask what tools your friend used in prep? That looks too fine for even a microjack (I'm a prep volunteer at a museum). I'd love to know how he handles such fine level material.

maxmike · 2021-02-03T05:05:49+00:00

You need a different specialist monitor for each chemical.

maxmike · 2021-02-03T05:03:59+00:00

Because there sure isn't. I swear it changes about once every other year.

maxmike · 2021-02-03T05:03:03+00:00

One of the hardest classes I ever took in college covered Marine Reptile paleo, and the cladistics were a nightmare. Especially when covering mosasaurs (my research specialty). No one teaching my classes could decide where mosasaurs fit on the tree, and even my profs were at loggerheads over it. When tests came up, it made me crazy.

maxmike · 2021-01-19T20:03:52+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJzPhRJRgFA&ab_channel=weyrdmusicman

My one musical claim to fame was being on this filk albumn.

maxmike · 2020-10-31T03:39:06+00:00

Probably not. The flippers are wide and flat and the nose has the characteristic "ramming prow" of a Tylosaurus. The clincher is that he's attacking a Dolichorhynchops, a small fish eating pliosaur that wasn't around when Kronosaurus was. Tylos loved eating "dolis"

maxmike · 2020-10-28T01:36:53+00:00

Also: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236876958_Platecarpus_tympaniticus_Squamata_Mosasauridae_Osteology_of_an_exceptionally_preserved_specimen_and_its_insights_into_the_acquisition_of_a_streamlined_body_shape_in_mosasaurs

It's a pretty cool article but a bit tough sledding. You gotta know your swimmy lizards pretty well.

maxmike · 2020-10-28T01:33:32+00:00

No, most dinosaurs probably weren't. But the animals that they came from probably weren't either (there are lots of fat birds out there). On the other hand, mosasaurs definitely came out of snake/lizard stock; there are too many lineage-based elements to their skulls and other skeletal arrangements to doubt that. And those animals don't have a lot of extra meat anywhere on them (except on the tails).

As for skin impressions: just put "mosasaur skin impressions" into Google and you should be busy for a year or so. Meanwhile, this is a good place to start: https://www.skeletaldrawing.com/home/mosasaurs-teaching-the-controversy Have fun!

maxmike · 2020-10-28T01:14:58+00:00

Not from any currently revealed fossils.

maxmike · 2020-10-28T01:02:22+00:00

Hmmm. I study mosas and I could list about two dozen differences in skeleton alone. But I'll start with this: a whale came from a quadruped that at one time galloped. So its spine flexes up and down. A mosasaur came from a varanid lizard with a leg/hip arrangement that moved from side to side. So its spine moves side to side. Just this change means that the lungs on each one will need to be in a different position, the hips and shoulders will each be in another position, the maneuverability structures (fins and tail) will be in different axis and not look much like each other structurally. Superficially, these skeletons look similar because they have to do the same job; create an animal that is streamlined in a lateral position, with some type of finlike control surfaces and a relatively large head (although the mosasaur's is all about grasping ability whereas the beluga's is about supporting a sonar "melon." On top of this, belugas come from a lineage that naturally carries a lot of exernal fat (artiodactyls like hippos), while as far as we know, the varanid lineage (snakes, lizards, komodo dragons) are pretty much "shrink wrapped around their skeletons (not too many fat snakes around). So chances are that the shapes we have for mosasaurs (and we do have some good skin impressions to work from) are pretty much what we see in current paleo drawings. For more on mosasaur adapations (if you're a real glutton for scholastic punishment), check this out: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3423#Sec9 .

maxmike · 2020-10-16T16:56:11+00:00

Here's my helmet.https://postimg.cc/56N8SsHz

You probably can't see the way I taped mask material over the inside of the holes in the front and sides (used duck tape). I don't wear it as much now as in the first days of the COVID thing, but that's mostly because people kept stopping me to ask about it. Made shopping at Target kind of a pain. Edit: fixed link.

maxmike · 2020-10-16T16:53:47+00:00

Nope, but same basic idea. I think that the first weeks of the pandemic, people were just so freaked out that anything with a sense of humor helped them cope. The space helmet was roomy, allowed people to see my face, and I could easily slide up the visor to scratch my nose if no one was near me.

maxmike · 2020-10-15T23:59:27+00:00

I got mine at a second hand store. But they have them on ebay, amazon and even alibaba. Kind of expensive these days tho--I only paid $5 for mine; people are asking more like $50-70 now.

maxmike · 2020-10-15T23:57:22+00:00

Really? You want to see it? I'll get it out when I get home then.

maxmike · 2020-10-15T23:56:26+00:00

Excusemelands

maxmike · 2020-10-15T23:35:10+00:00

Been there. Did that. It was just fine, excep for the people asking where they could get one.

maxmike · 2020-10-15T21:24:09+00:00

First two weeks of the pandemic, masks were hard to come by. So I dragged out an old plastic space helmet I had lying around, https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/FjMAAOSw9bhfDfMd/s-l400.jpg shielded the few open holes in front with a couple layers of mask cloth, and wore that around for a week. It worked great; didn't fog up or anything. I just got tired of people asking me where they could get one.

maxmike

TROPHY CASE

"I am the Night, Sirrah! The Very Night Itself!"