Nesophontes, the Caribbean “shrews”! Fascinating little guys that were found on multiple islands and seem to have survived on some until very recently, possibly only going extinct around 1700! Also, likely venomous!

That’s about the extent of my photography knowledge as well, but I have a Canon Powershot Sx50 and it’s been fantastic for bird photography (recent greater roadrunner picture as proof)

They mention it somewhat offhand, but a keratinized pad (similar to the one seen in Notoryctes) would make much more sense for a fossorial animal. Similar bosses are also seen in lots of mylagaulids, and this is what has been suggested for those animals as well.

The structure the authors interpret as a horn base is labeled “nab, nasal boss” in this figure. Also included their discussion of the feature from the paper and supp. I don’t think a horn base is the most parsimonious interpretation for this structure.

Squamous citizens of the Sonoran

#ScienceDiagramsthatLookLikeShitposts

South Florida is quickly becoming a thunderdome of vaguely eel shaped aquatic critters, including both introduced species like swamp eels and rubber eels but also native taxa like amphiumas and sirens.

Very interested to see who the winners and losers are and what sort of partitioning happens!

Secret fifth option: the ~160 year old, 525 pound Aldabra giant tortoise at Zoo Knoxville

Gotta go fast

Philipp Franz von Siebold: hey can you paint this weird little dude, it’s like a normal squirrel but it can fly

Kawahara Keiga: Say no more

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Hello to all my new followers! 👋
I’m a master’s student working on fossil shrews, but I also look at lots of the modern ones too! Stick around for lots of shrewy antics!

Ever wonder what a shrew bouncing on a bongo sounds like? Wonder no more! Diplomesodon is a weird desert shrew from Central Asia which sometimes vibrate their whole bodies. This produces low frequency sound that they may use to determine substrate density!

Fun additional tidbit: in the original description, Kormos suggested Amblycoptus may have used its crushing and slicing dentition to chomp into a common animal in the local fauna: the massive Pseudopus pannonicus! Literally the T. rex vs grizzly scenario on a smaller scale.

Here's the close relative of Kordosia I mentioned last week for #FossilFriday! Much like Kordosia, Amblycoptus oligodon lacked third molars and had some serious slicing teeth. Both of these guys have a close modern relative, the semifossorial Asian mole-shrews (Anourosorex spp.)!

On the opposite side of the spectrum from Arctisorex, this #FossilFriday we have Kordosia topali. Along with its close relatives, this large shrew is unique for completely lacking third molars! Carnassial-like teeth suggest Kordosia may have been eating relatively large prey.

One of my all-time favorite fossil shrews on this chilly #Fossilfriday! Beyond being the northernmost shrew EVER, the teeth of Arctisorex polaris suggest it may have been frugivorous! While some modern shrews regularly eat fruits and seeds, none are specialized for it like Arctisorex seemingly was.

Mylagaulids are famous for being the only horned rodents, but less talked about is that they also had crazy specialized cheek teeth. Early taxa have typical rodent teeth, but later forms (including horned ones) greatly expand their P4. In Hesperogaulus wilsoni it crowds out ALL other cheek teeth! 🤯

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!