Dr Suresh Singh

Revealing the hidden patterns of shark and ray diversity over the past 145 million years Gardiner et al. reconstruct the diversity of sharks and rays across the past 145 million years using deep learning and an extensive dataset. Their results unveil previously hidden patterns, including ...

Revealing the hidden patterns of shark and ray diversity over the past 145 million years: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Dicynodonts survived multiple environmental upheavals & mass extinction events but finally met their end in the End-Triassic Mass Extinction (~201 Ma). Why they finally went extinct remains somewhat unclear - perhaps due to their increasing niche specialisation through the Late Triassic?

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#Ischigualastia was among the largest of known dicynodonts & one of the last, evolving in the Late Triassic as the group declined. Nonetheless, despite becoming rarer, these latest dicynodonts grew larger, with the youngest species, #Lisowicia being the largest (rhino-sized).

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#Dicynodonts were notably able to survive the worst mass #extinction event in history: the End-Permian event (~252 Ma). Despite this evolutionary bottleneck, they were able to diversify & regenerate a comparable level of diversity in the Triassic to their pre-extinction levels in the #Permian.

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These herbivores possessed a unique beaked jaw & jaw adductor muscle arrangement that produced powerful & efficient cropping bites. They also had a rolling jaw joint that enabled them to effectively break down plant matter when eating. It’s thought these features contributed to their success.

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#Dicynodonts were an ancient & successful group of #synapsids that lived from the middle of the #Permian to the end of the #Triassic. They were among the largest terrestrial animals of their time, only really surpassed when large dinosaurs began to evolve in the Late Triassic.

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This specimen was found on a 1964 expedition that took BYU's James A. Jensen & a Harvard team of paleontologists to the #Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina. This formation has yielded an amazing array of animal & plant fossils from the #Carnian stage of the Late #Triassic (237-227 Ma).

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The lateral view of a skull of the dicynodont, Ishigualastia jenseni, on display at the Brigham Young University Museum of Paleontology in Provo, Utah. This skull was discovered in 1964 from the Ishigualasto Formation, Argentina.

Presenting a skull of the #dicynodont, Ischigualastia, at the BYU Museum of Paleontology in Provo, Utah 🇺🇸 for this #FossilFriday. This ancient, beaked herbivore was the size of a cow & lived in Argentina 🇦🇷 during the Late #Triassic (~230 Ma).

#Paleontology #Science

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I need a mood booster, let's talk about capybaras.

Here's a capy demonstrating one of MANY ways they can move through the water: running along the bottom.

They're 'semi-aquatic' mammals, just like hippos, seals & beavers. They LOVE water.

(📷: Fernando Maidana)

Sketches showing reconstructions of Dimetrodon limbatus (top), D. loomisi (center) and D. limbatus (bottom)

Sketches showing reconstructions of Dimetrodon angelensis (top), D. milleri (center) and D. grandis (bottom)

Reconstructions of all Dimetrodon species shown in previous plates in scale next to silhouettes of a ca. 1.8 m tall human

Selected species of Dimetrodon.

Here are various sketches showing some species of Dimetrodon, which was a quite diverse genus during the Early Permian. The genus includes about a dozen of species

#paleoart #sciart #synapsids

Just in time for #FossilFriday

Ammonite survival across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary confirmed by new data from Denmark - Scientific Reports We provide a reassessment of the hypothesis of ammonite survival across the Cretaceous–Paleogene (Maastrichtian–Danian) boundary, based on new data from the lower Danian Cerithium Limestone Member at ...

Earliest Cenozoic ammonoids:

Machalski, M., Olszewska-Nejbert, D., Landman, N.H. et al. Ammonite survival across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary confirmed by new data from Denmark. Sci Rep 15, 45802 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A chunk of Weald Clay from SE England, covered with fragments of ferns, conifers and other seed plants from 130 million years ago.

A chunk of Weald Clay from SE England, covered with fragments of ferns, conifers and other seed plants from 130 million years ago.

Mesofossils may not look as appealing as large hand specimens, but can provide a better snapshot of vegetation.

#FossilFriday ⚒🌏🌱🔬🌿🌲

An Engine of Fossil Discovery Fights Its Own Extinction

For #fossilfriday, The New York Times has written a good article about the Paleontological Research Institution, what the museum means to the field of Paleontology, and its current financial situation (much improved even from a few weeks ago).

🧪🦑⚒️🦣 #paleontology

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/s...

Apparently Bill Simpson, longtime Collections Manager of fossil vertebrates at the ⁦‪@FieldMuseum‬⁩ in Chicago, is retiring—after 46 yrs! Bill has always been so helpful, including pulling out the skull of ⁦‪@SUEtheTrex‬⁩ for study multiple times! Happy Retirement, Bill! 🎥: Emily Rieff #FossilFriday

Nice new study by Martinez & Jenkins on procolophonid #parareptile tooth morphology & dietary #evolution ⬇️ Great to see their quantitative comparison to living reptiles 🦎 to infer procolophonid feeding habits 🍽️

#Paleontology #Science #Permian #Triassic

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#Stegosaurus is perhaps most known for the bony plates along its back. Their function is still unknown, but it has been proposed that they may been displays to help deter predators or attract mates. Or perhaps thermoregulation structures. Still much to learn about these #dinosaurs!

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Sophie is a #Stegosaurus stenops, a species found across the Morrison Formation in western USA 🇺🇸, with fossil found across Wyoming, Colorado & Utah. It lived during the Late #Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago, and was a herbivore (plant-eater) 🌿.

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It’s not actually known whether Sophie was a female as it’s very difficult to sex extinct animals, especially dinosaurs, when all we have are their bones. This specimen was named after the daughter of the donor who helped the NHMUK to acquire the fossils.

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Sophie was not yet an adult when she died, so despite being 5.5 metres long & 2.9 metres tall, she still had some growing left to do! It’s thought that not many #dinosaurs reached their max size as just surviving to adulthood was difficult (especially with all the larger predators about… ).

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Sophie was discovered in 2003 at Red Canyon Ranch in Wyoming, USA 🇺🇸. Her fossilised skeleton encompasses ~360 bones & is around 85% complete, making her perhaps the most complete #stegosaurus skeleton in the world. She was put on permanent display at the NHMUK 🇬🇧 at the end of 2014.

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A photo of Sophie the Stegosaurus on display within the Earth Hall, beneath a huge sculpture of the Earth that visitors can walk through. This hall marks the Exhibition Road entrance to the Natural History Museum UK in London.

A somewhat festive snapshot for this last #FossilFriday before Christmas! 🎄 - Presenting Sophie the #Stegosaurus, one of the most complete stegosaur skeletons ever found, proudly on display front & centre in the Earth Hall at the @nhm-london.bsky.social.

#Paleontology #Science

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Tiktaalik slugs its way over a muddy bank in a flooded Devonian landscape while the sun sets over the horizon. Banks of pink and purple clouds loom in front of distant streaks of orange as clear turquoise sky peeks through cloudless regions. Various trees and shrubs stand tall above purple water glistening with gold wavelets. With vision that could probably see in the UV spectrum and eyes beginning to adapt for the infinite visual range provided in aerial habitats, Titaalik pauses to take this all in, being among the first animals that can see the natural world in such detail. All which is to say - the next time you admire sunsets or the night sky, consider what this owes to events of 375 million years ago. When the first vertebrates struggled out of the water they rapidly developed eyes that were much sharper and clearer than those of their fishy ancestors, vision being of variable utility in most freshwater habitats. Millions of years on, what probably started as a means to navigate and find prey allows us to observe and enjoy the natural world with a sense of awe and wonder.

New #paleoart on #FossilFriday: #Tiktaalik sees the world. Discussions of early #tetrapods often focus on limbs and lungs, but major changes also took place in their eyes. Seeing further and clearer than any animal before, they were the first to clearly see sunsets, stars, and the moon. #sciart

A row of painted 3D printed skulls on a table

A group of painted 3D printed skulls on a table

The Vertebrate Paleontology students did a great job 3D printing and painting skulls—look at that homology!

A new fossil fish sheds light on the rapid evolution of early lungfishes Qiao et al. report a new Early Devonian lungfish from China, Paleolophus, which bridges the morphological gap between Diabolepis and eudipnoans. Its three-dimensional preservation reveals cranial anat...

In the early Devonian #lungfishes — now considered "living fossils" — were all the rage!

A new #fish from China attests to this early diversification.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Excited to announce that my second manuscript, “Fossilised Melanosomes Reveal Colour Patterning in A Sauropod Dinosaur” has been published in
@royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26

Adaptive radiation of pelagiarian fishes at the K/Pg boundary led to rapid diversification of mandible morphology Abstract. Mandibles represent a key evolutionary innovation that has enabled jawed vertebrates to adapt and diversify in response to a range of food source

New paper! Here we look at shape evolution of the mandible in Pelagiaria, a group of open-ocean fishes that includes tuna and mackerel. We find that shape disparity accumulated rapidly at the origin of the clade at around the K/Pg boundary... academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

An early origin of gigantism in anacondas (Serpentes: Eunectes) revealed by the fossil record Anacondas (Serpentes: Eunectes) are among the largest extant snakes, reaching body lengths up to 7 meters, but the evolution of gigantism in anacondas and its environmental drivers is poorly unders...

Interesting new paper by Alfonso-Rojas et al. on #anaconda 🐍 size #evolution using fossils from Venezuela 🇻🇪 - they suggest giant anacondas are survivors from the radiation of giant vertebrates in South America during the Miocene ⬇️

#Paleontology #Science #Snakes

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

‘Free-Range’ Dinosaur Parenting May Have Created Surprisingly Diverse Ancient Ecosystems | College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences | University of Maryland New University of Maryland research suggests that dinosaur parenting strategy fundamentally reshaped the Mesozoi

Press release for my "Bringing Up Baby" paper finally out!

cmns.umd.edu/news-events/...

Great opportunity for ECRs, especially those with tight funding! ⬇️

Did a couple courses with @tscourses.bsky.social when I was a PhD student & would thoroughly recommend!

#PhD #Postdoc #ResearchSkills #ScienceTraining #ProfessionalDevelopment