WitmerLab at Ohio University

If you haven't read—or re-read in a while—Bakker's 1986 classic The Dinosaur Heresies, it's well worth doing. I read it in 1986 & again on my recent trip to Japan. Got a pb copy for $10 for the long trip (1st photo) rather than take my signed 1st ed (got John Gurche to sign his cover art, too!). 🦖

Excited to see this new #OA article out on turtle head vasculature, led by @seishirotada.bsky.social. It was part of Sei's PhD diss. So much fun injection, dissection, sawing, & µCT of turtles & lizards in the lab with Sei and DJ Morgan—leading to this really nice article! doi.org/10.1186/s133... 🐢

We have a new paper out! Turtle ancestors evolved a shell—but what else? We found that an unique rostral vasculature was also obtained gradually along the lineage, and that one of the earliest turtles Proganochelys likely retained a mostly ancestral state!🐢 sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10....

Happy Birthday, T. rex! 🎉🎂 120 years ago today (1905), fossils collected in Montana were given the name Tyrannosaurus rex. Here’s the "sitting" mount of the T. rex known as Bucky (TCM 2001.90.1) at the National Museum of Nature & Science, which I visited last week in Tokyo. 🦖

#FossilFriday Good times last week at the National Museum of Nature & Science in Tokyo with Seishiro Tada and Takanobu Tsuihiji and the "sitting" mount of the T. rex known as Bucky (TCM 2001.90.1). 🦖

After spending so much time with smallest/youngest specimen of Tarbosaurus, I'm thrilled finally to be face to face with among the largest known Tarbosaurus specimens (MPC-D 107/2) at the stunning Fukui Prefecture Dinosaur Museum in Japan.

Excited to be in Fukui, Japan, for the 6th International Symposium on Asian Dinosaurs #ISAD2025 which starts today. Fukui is a dinosaur town (my kind of town!), with life-size robotic dinosaurs around town! 🦖

Having a great time in the dinosaur collections of the National Museum of Nature & Science in Tsukuba, Japan, just outside Tokyo. Many wonderful fossils like this beautiful skull of Thescelosaurus NSM PV 24661.

Excited to be in Japan for the 6th International Symposium on Asian Dinosaurs #ISAD2025 in Fukui later this week. In Tokyo now for research. Was delighted last night for a surprise reunion with these folks who trained in WitmerLab: Seishiro Tada, Meg Wakui, Hirochika Ueda, & Takanobu Tsuihiji!

I know and feel your pain! So frustrating!

Shaken to hear Mark Norell passed—good friend, trusted colleague, giant in our field. Coincidentally, I got the news as I was working on my talk for the Intl. Symp. on Asian Dinosaurs in Fukui later this month. Here's my slide on Mark’s impact on Asian dinosaur science. It hurt to add 1957–2025. 😥

Another black-and-white photo of me (Witmer) with my personal T. rex skull (doesn't everyone have a personal T. rex skull?). The photo was used in a news article announcing my arrival at Ohio University. Since my research lab wasn't ready for me yet, the photoshoot was at my house. I wasn't too thrilled that the photo caption noted that the skull was "stored in his garage," which, yes, is kinda funny, but I didn't want bone thieves breaking into my house!

Here's the shot from that 1995 photoshoot they used in the article. My research lab wasn't ready yet, so the photog came to my house & I pulled my T. rex skull out of the garage & set it up on the lawn! 30 years later, I'm still teaching anatomy & doing paleo research! 💀🦖 2/2

Two photos of Witmer leaning on a T. rex skull. The top photo is a black & white photo from 1995 with Witmer sporting 1990's attire and moustache. The skull is unpainted and sitting on his lawn at home because his research lab wasn't ready. The bottom photo is a color photo from now with an older Witmer in his research lab surrounded by dinosaur skull casts, including his now-painted T. rex.

30 years ago today (Sept 1, 1995) I started my job at Ohio University & @ouhcom.bsky.social! I'm not done yet, but it's been a pretty fulfilling run, watching students succeed, the lab grow, & science happening! Minimally we moved from that cheesy clipart pick-&-scalpel logo to a snazzier logo! 1/1

Mongolia is still on my bucket list. Finally going to check off Japan in a few weeks. Heading to the International Symposium on Asian Dinosaurs.

Rinchen Barsbold with two Tarbosaurus skeletons. Photo from https://worldfossilsociety.org/2013/04/wfs-profile-dr-rinchen-barsbold/. (Not sure where they got it)

Title and Figures 2 & 3 from our 2011 article on a very young Tarbosaurus: https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2011.557116.

Title and Figure 1 from our 2017 article on the skull of Avimimus: https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2017.1347177.

A sad #FossilFriday with the news that legendary Mongolian dinosaur paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold passed away yesterday at the age of 90. I'm honored to have shaken his hand and more so to have coauthored with him twice, on Tarbosaurus and on Avimimus. R.I.P. Dr. Barsbold. 🦖

CT based volume renderings of some of the main study species of Cariamiformes, the clade including extant seriemas (Cariamidae) and extinct terror birds (Phorusrhacidae).

Figure 5 from the Degrange, Tambussi, and Witmer article showing the evolution of akinesis in phorusrhacids.

Dino Degrange in WitmerLab in December 2017.

Witmer and Dino Degrange in December 2015.

Excited to have this new #OA article out in Fossil Studies (doi.org/10.3390/foss...), documenting the loss of cranial kinesis in phorusrhacid terror birds in connection with their remarkable hatchet-like feeding style. Dino Degrange ably led the project & we've got more on the way!

35 years ago day SUE the T. rex (FMNH PR 2081) was discovered by Sue Hendrickson. Few dinosaur specimens are as impressive, and our team has had the privilege of studying the original fossils & CT scan data many times. As always, thanks go to the Field Museum for their support! 🦖

Photo of an 8-week-old kitten named Pinky on a shelf in WitmerLab among a number of skulls of thyreophoran dinosaurs. She is staring at Pinacosaurus. Tarchia is also pictured as are a couple stegosaurs. Her little body is blocking the skull of Gastonia.

Today is both #NationalKittenDay and #ThyreophoranThursday so here's another photo from when 8-week-old Pinky visited WitmerLab and shared a moment with Pinacosaurus. Also in attendance were Tarchia & a couple stegosaurs.
#PinkysDinosaurAdventure

Since some folks on social media seemed a little freaked about yesterday's vid ⬇️ of me rolling these skulls out of the lab so the floors could be cleaned & waxed, I'll use #NationalSelfieDay as an opportunity to show you that all is well! They're all back with no mishaps! 🦖

Here’s the “after” photo with the floors all nicely waxed and ready for us to mess them up again!

#FossilFriday Getting the floors cleaned & waxed in all the lab spaces is no small task, which is why it hardly ever happens. I had to move out everything I possibly could. Also forced some decisions on what got moved to the dumpster. Kinda fun to see freshly waxed floors again!

Images of the brain endocast of Pachyrhinosaurus lakustae in canonical views. From Witmer, L. M., and R. C. Ridgely. 2008. Structure of the brain cavity and inner ear of the centrosaurine ceratopsid Pachyrhinosaurus based on CT scanning and 3D visualization. Pp. 117–144 in P. J. Currie (ed.), A New Horned Dinosaur From an Upper Cretaceous Bone Bed in Alberta National Research Council of Canada Monograph Series, Ottawa. https://bit.ly/4jTiNJf

Stereoscopic images of the brain endocast of Pachyrhinosaurus lakustae shown within the transparent braincase (top) and at bottom, the braincase without the endocast to show the labeled foramina. From Witmer, L. M., and R. C. Ridgely. 2008. Structure of the brain cavity and inner ear of the centrosaurine ceratopsid Pachyrhinosaurus based on CT scanning and 3D visualization. Pp. 117–144 in P. J. Currie (ed.), A New Horned Dinosaur From an Upper Cretaceous Bone Bed in Alberta National Research Council of Canada Monograph Series, Ottawa. https://bit.ly/4jTiNJf

Hypothesis of facial integumentary (skin) structures in Pachyrhinosaurus showing various bones, histological slices, and restorations for a project led by Tobin Hieronymus as part of his PhD dissertation in our lab. From Hieronymus, T. L., L. M. Witmer, D. H. Tanke, and P. J. Currie. 2009. The facial integument of centrosaurine ceratopsids: morphological and histological correlates of novel skin structures. Anatomical Record 292:1370–1396. DOI:10.1002/ar.20985 https://bit.ly/447xCC1

Here are a couple more Pachyrhinosaurus images from our 2008 brain endocast article (bit.ly/4jTiNJf) as well as an image from the Hieronymus et al. 2009 facial integument article (bit.ly/447xCC1).

Loved the #WalkingWithDinosaurs ep on Pachyrhinosaurus. Didn't do anything for the show but provided brain endocast viz for the #WWD book from our 2008 pub—https://bit.ly/4jTiNJf. Here's also our Hieronymus et al. article on centrosaurine facial skin—https://bit.ly/447xCC1. More images in the reply⬇️

Digging the new #WalkingWithDinosaurs on PBS. Fun to see a 3D print of our T. rex brain endocast show up, plus a clip from a vid we did for a museum (youtube.com/watch?v=WcR2...). @kakapojay.bsky.social at the BBC contacted me in 2023 for permission. 3D print your own T. rex endocast: skfb.ly/Mqsq !

Happy #JurassicParkDay, marking the 32nd anniversary of the release of the original and arguably still the best film in the JP-JW series. It's a crazy world right now, so maybe it's healthy to take some time to celebrate the silly. And yes, my vintage JP puppet also has a vintage JP puppet! 🦖

Now here's a book to sink my teeth into! 🦖
#FossilFriday @markwitton.bsky.social

CT-based volume rendering of subadult Corythosaurus skull and neck with its brain endocast and expanding airway & sinuses within its narial crest. Research was published with David Evans and Ryan Ridgely in 2009 (https://bit.ly/3kh7fRG) but this is a new visualization.

Every day is #DinosaurDay for us, but here's an old friend, a young Corythosaurus, flirting with that difficult transition to adulthood, showing its brain endocast & expanding airway & sinuses within its narial crest. Published w/
@DavidEvans_ROM in 2009: bit.ly/3kh7fRG

A senior scientist (Witmer) stands in front of an old-fashioned radiographic light box holding a magnifying glass as he studies CT scan images on film of the holotype skull of the ankylosaur Edmontonia rugosidens (USNM 11868). On the surface in front of him is more x-ray film, three casts of other ankylosaur skulls, and a laptop displaying more modern CT scan data of a different specimen.

Color photographs of the holotype skull of the ankylosaur Edmontonia rugosidens (USNM 11868) in left lateral (top) and right lateral (bottom) views. Given the rudimentary nature of the digital cameras in 1998, these images were shot on color slide film and then scanned professionally.

Stereoscopic photographs of ventral views of the holotype skull of the ankylosaur Edmontonia rugosidens (USNM 11868). Given the rudimentary nature of the digital cameras in 1998, these images were shot on B&W film and then scanned professionally later. Stereopairs can be viewed with a special viewer or by kind of crossing your eyes (like with an old Magic Eye poster) to restore three dimensionality.

1998 was a still near enough to the dawn of the digital revolution that when I CT scanned this Edmontonia skull, I left with a big stack of film—no contrast adjustment, no 3D viz. But 27 years later, it's better than nothing when you gotta check out a feature or two. #FossilFriday

Really important review of dinosaur physiology out today led by @stephanopteryx.bsky.social & @paleofox.bsky.social w/
Jason Bourke & ‪‪@rockjock80.bsky.social‬‬: bit.ly/43I1gxJ. Cool to see this old ankylosaur friend as Figure 1, from a collab w/ former PhD students Jason Bourke & Ruger Porter.

Really important review of dinosaur physiology out today led by @stephanopteryx.bsky.social & @paleofox.bsky.social w/
Jason Bourke & ‪‪@rockjock80.bsky.social‬‬: bit.ly/43I1gxJ. Cool to see this old ankylosaur friend as Figure 1, from a collab w/ former PhD students Jason Bourke & Ruger Porter.