Posts by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
(DIR) Post #ARVuyKJaUgUCavpQ4e by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-01-10T22:23:41Z
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@john @mike You simply can't know with any accuracy. It looks like an Owen figure of Varanus (=Megalania) priscus, so presumably the bone is still extant in the NHM. If so, your best bet would be to ask someone at the NHM if a measurement could be provided.
(DIR) Post #AWf9hYlVCLNefTlL3w by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-06-13T22:41:50Z
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@twizzt @nev I think the beetle is a tumbling flower beetle (Mordellidae). See https://elp.tamu.edu/ipm/bugs/order-coleoptera-beetles/coleoptera-mordellidae-tumbling-flower-beetles-a/
(DIR) Post #AXYB0XHWdHZNFdxCaW by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-07-10T11:44:38Z
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@john Got that Australian bush feel to it. Am I on track?
(DIR) Post #AY4CaQnAfxWPvrCWIK by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-07-25T22:34:02Z
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@markwitton @Akki Speculation that reason we haven't recognised postcrania of Giganto. is because they are consistently misidentified as large Pongo resonates with me.
(DIR) Post #AY51uqz669D8cWH6NU by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-07-26T04:55:25Z
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@CFoix @markwitton @Akki Just maybe the assumption that they were terrestrial is false.
(DIR) Post #AY51usNauYOswmkBCS by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-07-26T05:05:03Z
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@CFoix @markwitton @Akki I don't know that anyone knows for sure what the upper bound on the size of a climbing ape is. I am also championing the idea that maybe Giganto. wasn't very big at all, perhaps overlapping in size with large orangs, just with a truly massive set of jaws.
(DIR) Post #AbzsnLl69b2VKtq5WS by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-11-20T10:46:09Z
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@llewelly @gay_ornithischians I have trouble accepting that estimated numbers of such ill-defined and arbitrary constructs as genera have any meaning.
(DIR) Post #Ac0etDcY7QHjdNhkQ4 by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-11-20T21:00:35Z
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@john @llewelly @gay_ornithischians absolutely true, palaeodiversity should be trying to estimate things like cladogenic events and co-existing lineages (regardless of taxonomic rank).
(DIR) Post #Ac1wUQ9AP1WfZoFKD2 by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-11-20T22:34:50Z
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@gay_ornithischians @john @llewelly I'd say the biggest problem with defining palaeo species is that we don't really know (or agree) on what a species is. Add to that, that all fossils are dead, things such as potential to interbreed and gene flow between populations are nearly always beyond our ability to investigate.
(DIR) Post #Ac1wUSECfGk820cNKy by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2023-11-20T22:36:11Z
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@gay_ornithischians @john @llewelly Furthermore we now have the time dimension to contend with, instead of a nice convenient time-slice like the modern day where many (most?) lineages are neatly bundled up into separate recognisable parcels we call species. Once we look down the time dimension all the smeary, gradual changes that link lineages together open up.
(DIR) Post #AiL2Z6ahWVZuk8xFM8 by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-05-28T04:12:46Z
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@futurebird There is Irritator, a dinosaur. So named not because of a difficult taxonomy but because it was discovered the fossil had been artificially altered and it wasn't what it was initially thought to be.
(DIR) Post #Aipr67qalsWKfxCunI by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-06-12T01:00:18Z
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@futurebird @chaami I thin that neatly ansers why everyone isn't keeping these as pets: their stings really hurt !(regardless of allergies).
(DIR) Post #AlqHOA4X3YX6BCYPU8 by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-09-09T23:31:13Z
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@futurebird It may not be a troglobite, but Martialis heureka may well be a purely subterranean ant that is something like what you describe.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martialis_heureka
(DIR) Post #Am0Srx4J0gURc6SGkS by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-09-14T21:20:13Z
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I went birding yesterday to a new spot for me. I didn't see any new birds for this year's list. I did see this magnificent mulga ant nest.#AliceSprings #ant #AustralianWildlife
(DIR) Post #Am0UMCGRB3K9Nr7D9c by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-09-14T21:43:40Z
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Speculation is that the thatched walls act as levees to prevent flooding during intense desert rainstorms. @futurebird @MyrmecolNews @alexwild
(DIR) Post #Ao5Qj3s1eVAz0qwpMm by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-11-16T02:40:45Z
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@futurebird I had no idea this thing existed. It is magnificent
(DIR) Post #AoSFJq62O257TEqWhs by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-11-27T02:51:19Z
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@futurebird yeah, I played it straight and the book right next to me wasa dry scientific tome. So then I went for the next book and got this "Awerr atherr alherlaperretyam."(it is an Anmatyerr to English dictionary)😆
(DIR) Post #AoesnVzlwHpWSCpt8C by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-12-03T05:10:12Z
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@futurebird One reason I had always argued against therapsid pinnae, is that it looked like monotremes did not have pinnae. However I was wrong, echidnas do have short pinnae (somewhat hidden in life). Nonetheless I still think big, mobile pinnae are the preserve of therian mammals.
(DIR) Post #Aoet1vFaq05eps6dGq by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2024-12-03T05:12:50Z
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@futurebird When it comes to Lystrosaurus, its external ears are still very much part of the lower jaw. Large cat like pinnae poking out of the lower jaw just look silly.
(DIR) Post #AztUqahAZchc7VwJtY by alcootatooter@sauropods.win
2025-11-04T06:55:33Z
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@futurebird Also ants sometimes find little fossil mammal teeth and deposit them outside the nest. A major source of Cretaceous mammal fossils for paleontologists.