Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
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denoudenderek.bsky.social
Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
@denoudenderek.bsky.social
130 followers 160 following 33 posts
Evo Bio PhD student @ASU. Paleo MS @ETSU, Bio+Geo BS @IowaStateU. Trying to tame shrews, enjoyer of all Cenozoic oddballs. He/him, views mine.
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denoudenderek.bsky.social
Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist @denoudenderek.bsky.social · Dec 3
New profile, so here’s an intro post! I’m a paleontology student trying to figure out what fossil shrews were eating. It turns out the fossil record of shrews is full of oddballs, so I’m looking at their modern diversity to inform what fossil forms might have been doing. Shrew related antics ensue!
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
seismic-shrimp.bsky.social
Now that SVP is over, I can finally post the commission that I did for @mosasaurologist.bsky.social 's poster on a certain very cool taxon! #paleoart #sciart
November 16, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
lacerdajulio.bsky.social
Making some fresh models to sharpen my 3D skills, and what better subject to do that than our lovely brazilian Pleistocene megafauna?

#SciArt #artbyjulio
November 16, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
nataliajagielska.bsky.social
Mammoth spotted in South Poland!

Actually, a to-scale model by Studio Kamyk for the Jegiellonian University Nature Education Centre, Krakow. 😍
November 14, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
ichnologist.bsky.social
A little sad that I couldn't join my notochord-oriented paleontological colleagues in Birmingham U.K. this week at #2025SVP, but heartened to see so many people enjoying the meeting & exchanging the latest revealed knowledge about vertebrate fossils & evolution. 🧪🦴🪨⚒️
a man in a black jacket stands in front of a pink background with emile aleman written on it
Alt: Gif of a man in a black jacket standing in front of a pink background, gesturing to a rotating human spine (just the bones, no nerves or other soft tissues preserved).
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
triloboii.bsky.social
A pair of American Mastodon chow down on a (slightly fantastical) pumpkin patch 🍂✨️

#sciart #paleoart
Digital painting of two fuzzy, dark brown American Mastodon eating pumpkins in a small pumpkin patch. The style emulated watercolor and pencil paintings. In the foreground the larger mastodon is leaning over to crush a very large orange pumkin with its weight, while the mastodon behind it snacks on pumpkin chunks. The forest around them is mixed with tall conifers and deciduous trees in various shades of fall reds, oranges and yellows
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
skpevsner.bsky.social
Are you attending #2025SVP #SVP2025? Come see my talk on Thursday at 2pm in the Synapsida technical session on tail length evolution in across stem mammals, and find out why this long-neglected part of the skeleton has a much more complicated story to tell than we previously thought!
The title slide for my SVP talk entitled “Comparative Evidence for Independent Evolutionary Reductions of Tail Length Among Stem Mammals”. Authors for the talk are myself (Spencer K. Pevsner), Katrina E. Jones, and Roger B. J. Benson. The slide shows photos of skeletons of Sphenacodon, Diictodon, and Thrinaxodon, all with tails present.
November 11, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
skyemcdavid.com
While going through ptero collections with @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social we have rediscovered the missing holotype of Ornithocheirus huxleyi Seeley, 1870 in the collections of the British Geological Survey @bgs.ac.uk
Holotype of Ornithocheirus huxleyi with level Holotype of Ornithocheirus huxleyi in dorsal view Holotype of Ornithocheirus huxleyi in ventral view
November 10, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
lukemusher.bsky.social
Our paper on tinamou evolution is finally out in @systbiol.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
November 9, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
lacerdajulio.bsky.social
Foggy morning in Late Pleistocene Patagonia.

#Art #SciArt #artbyjulio
A scene depicting the Patagonian scrubland in the early morning, dotted with araucarias and framed by foggy mountains in the background. A pair of Macrauchenia, four guanacos and a patagonian mara are seen among the grass. A Megatherium walks by further away and a crested caracara flies over the scene.
November 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
albertonykus.bsky.social
Phylogeny of tinamous based on whole-genomes and fossils: academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... 🪶🧪 (📷Musher et al.)
Diagram showing the evolutionary relationships among tinamous, a group of superficially partridge-like birds more closely related to ostriches and emus.
November 7, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
markscherz.bsky.social
Today we described three new toad species that give birth to fully formed toadlets, from the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania! 🇹🇿🧪🐸

vertebrate-zoology.arphahub.com/article/1670...
A fine black toad with bright white fingers, toes, and lips, and brown pustular blobs along its legs, resting on a dark green leaf. A black and white toad on a green fern frond. The head and limbs are grey, and the body black. A toad looking at the camera over a brown leaf, its black body splotched with yellow and white. It is very Halloween-core. A black toad with huge yellow glands on its legs, head, arms, and parts of the back. Jack Skellington himself could hardly have painted a more Halloween-flavoured toad.
November 6, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
arctomet.bsky.social
Nice way to start the day:

www.italianjournalofgeosciences.it/297/article-...
Bringing up baby: preliminary exploration of the effect of ontogenetic niche partitioning in dinosaurs versus long-term maternal care in mammals in their respective ecosystems
Mesozoic dinosaurs and Cenozoic mammals are often regarded as broadly ecologically equivalent, as they included the majority of medium-to-large-bodied terrestrial vertebrates of their respective eras....
www.italianjournalofgeosciences.it
November 6, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🦣 The Mastodon giganteus of North America /.
Boston: J. Wilson, 1852..

[Source]
Illustration of the underside of a Mastodon giganteus skull, showing detailed molar teeth with complex ridged surfaces. The skull is depicted with large, rounded eye sockets and prominent nasal openings. The drawing emphasizes the structure and texture of the bone, highlighting the worn and fractured areas, particularly around the upper jaw. The image is labeled "Plate XVIII" at the top and "Mastodon Giganteus" at the bottom, reflecting an 1852 paleontological study of this extinct North American species.
October 29, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
anatrecord.bsky.social
🐭 The red-nosed mouse (Wiedomys pyrrhorhinos) has a tongue built for versatility—4 papilla types & strong musculature suit its omnivorous diet. Tongue morphology mirrors close relatives hinting at evolutionarily conserved design
Barros Torres et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
October 17, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
vertanatomist.bsky.social
😍
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i0R...
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age — Season 3 First Look | Apple TV+
YouTube video by Apple TV
www.youtube.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
jackdashby.bsky.social
As I argue in #PlatypusMatters, Australia has the world's best mammals, but is sadly the worst place on Earth to be a mammal, with the planet's worst #extinction rate.
The Christmas Island shrew is now the latest species to be officially declared extinct.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
And then there were none: Australia’s only shrew declared extinct
The tally of Australian mammals extinct since 1788 is now 39 species – far more than for any other country
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
Some photos from my last walk through the Field's Africa hall, which closed forever last week to make way for a new version. 🧵
Colorful, abstracted mural of a cityscape surrounds the exhibit entrance. A hanging sign says Welcome to Senegal and to Dakar...gateway to Africa (Ministry of Tourism) Large exhibit space with cutout camel resting alongside water jugs and a realistic date palm replica. Immediate area is tan, walls and ceiling are sky blue. Africa-shaped panel with header "Art and Society." Replica bellows in a corner with cases of metal artifacts. Suggestion of street scene with storefronts and life-sized cutouts of people. A realistic baobab tree behind them.
October 11, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
morphobank.bsky.social
MorphoBank is upgrading!
Logins will be disabled from Oct 17 (5 PM PDT) – Oct 20, 2025 while we migrate to new software.
Published projects will remain available.
Thanks for your patience as we make MorphoBank better for the research community. 💪
#MorphoBank #OpenScience #DataCuration #improvement
wrench and screwdriver
October 11, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
At long last, Beth Zaiken’s spectacular He’ll Creek mural is permanently installed in the Sue gallery!
Corner display with a verdant mural of dinosaurs and other creatures in a swamp, over four cases with small fossils. View of right side of mural, with resting T. rex in the center. View of left side of the mural, with Pachycephalosaurus among some cypress Big T. rex skeleton on platform, mural visible in the far distance
September 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
extinctmonsters.bsky.social
So this AMNH Andrewsarchus display from the 60s is sick as hell, allowing for the outdated reconstruction and all that.
Museum display with a long-snouted, toothy skull in front of a mural of an awkward, dog-like creature.
October 9, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
tetzoo.bsky.social
Sloth World, Part 1! There are a LOT of sloths, let's look at some recent developments... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/10... #mammals #fossils #xenarthrans
Sloth World, 2025 (Part 1) — Tetrapod Zoology
Like me, you are no doubt a big fan of sloths...
tetzoo.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
tessasaurus.bsky.social
Galeamopus 🦕
October 7, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
skeletoncrewpaleo.bsky.social
The Skeleton Crew is taking a break from their hiatus to STREAM TOMORROW, Tuesday, October 7th (9 pm to 12 am EDT) to raise awareness of two very important fundraisers in the world of paleontology!
Want more details? Check the latest post on our channel page on YouTube!
October 6, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
himarudolf.bsky.social
Manouria morla. A new tortoise from Early Miocene Czechia. Link to paper below
October 3, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Reposted by Derek den Ouden, Paleosoricidologist
liujuan.bsky.social
New in @science.org, meet Acronichthys maccagnoi, a new species from Late Creatacous Canada that changes what we know about the origins and evolution of one of the most successful fish groups on Earth.
October 2, 2025 at 6:18 PM