Luke Meade

Europe’s missing ceratopsian dinosaurs have finally been found | Natural History Museum A dinosaur named Ajkaceratops has revealed that relatives of Triceratops lived in Europe after all.

Relatives of Triceratops have never been found in Europe – until now.

New research reveals that many rhabdodontid dinosaurs might actually be ceratopsians after all - rewriting what we know about Cretaceous Europe!

Find out all about these dinosaurs 👇
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

A shake-up of the dinosaur family tree! Rhabdodontids are not ornithopods. They are ceratopsians.

There were horned dinosaurs in Europe! As shown by a new fossil of Ajkaceratops from Hungary!

Check out our new study, led by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social ⤵️

New material of Ajkaceratops cements its identity as a ceratopsian, but adds a new wrinkle. It turns out that many european ornithischians previously classified as iguanodontians may actually be ceratopsians! New paper by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social et al., that I provided art for (link in reply).

Excited to see this work out and delighted to have been able to contribute! 🎉😄

Rare as hen's teeth: an Assistant Curator job, with our fantastic team at National Museums Scotland! Closing date 24th August #museums #museumjobs
careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553

📢 Job available here at University of Birmingham for a CT scanner experimental officer to run and manage our micro-CT facility! Scanning a range of paleontological, geological and biological samples edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Example of Middle Jurassic mammal fossils from Skye, published by Elsa Panciroli et al. 2024.

Cuillin Hills, the view from our field site on the Isle of Skye.

📣 Come work with us! Three year Research Associate position to work as part of Leverhulme Trust funded project collecting and studying amazing Jurassic mammal fossils from the Isle of Skye. PhD not necessary; CT segmentation skills essential. Contact me for details:

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLK473/r...

Linked to this: we will be hiring soon a three-year research assistant. PhD not necessary but needs fossil CT segmentation skills and willing to work in the lab and field. Send me a message if of interest!

Delighted to have been awarded a project grant from @leverhulme.bsky.social to work on amazing Middle Jurassic mammal specimens collected from our Isle of Skye field sites! Grant with @elsa-panciroli.bsky.social @lukeemeade.bsky.social Roger Benson & Stig Walsh.

A small, tubby reptile, the new species Threordatoth chasmatos, rests on a grey rock with yellow lichen. The reptile is mottled grey, brown and orange, with small orange horns on its cheeks. Its eye is dark, and the lower jaw has a bluish tinge. Behind it are taller grey-yellow rocks - the walls of the fissures that this animal would be fossilised in.

New #paleoart and new species for #FossilFriday! Meet Threordatoth chasmatos, a small Triassic procolophonid named today by @lukeemeade.bsky.social, @richardjbutler.bsky.social, @marcehjones.bsky.social and Nicholas C. Fraser. Link to paper: doi.org/10.1002/spp2... #sciart #paleontology

These features of the jaw and teeth may indicate feeding or food processing in quite a different way to other procolophonids, perhaps a range of foods including plants and insects 🌱🐛🌲 🐜 4/4
#Zoology
#Museum
#science
#biology
#fossils

Photo of dentary bones of Threordatoth chasmatos

Many of the lower jaw bones have a weird toothless tip and featureless symphysis. Perhaps the halves of the jaw were connected flexibly to help jaw movements and aid close tooth-on-tooth contact during chewing or providing shock-absorption💀 3/4

Photo of holotype maxilla bone of Threordatoth chasmatos

This is based on tiny partial remains from Carnian-Norian age fissure fills from Cromhall Quarry, SW England. The upper jaw has a highly reduced tooth count of large 3-cusped teeth, distinct and more complex than many other procolophonids🦷 2/4

Life reconstruction of Threordatoth chasmatos

🦎Threordatoth chasmatos🦎 a new Late Triassic procolophonid in Papers in Palaeontology with @richardjbutler.bsky.social @marcehjones.bsky.social and Nick Fraser showing unique features of the jaw and teeth 🦷🦷https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1605 Reconstruction by @markwitton.bsky.social 1/4 #fossilfriday

Life reconstruction of the newly described procolophonid Threordatoth chasmatos among the fissures of Carnian–Norian southwest England, based in part upon aspects of the anatomy of the closely related Hwiccewyrm. Artwork by Mark Witton.

A new procolophonid with complex dentition from the Late Triassic of southwest England onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...