Richard Butler
@richardjbutler.bsky.social
Dinosaur researcher, Professor of Palaeobiology & Director of Research, University of Birmingham. Co-chair #2025SVP Host Committee. Mostly in meetings; would rather be on fieldwork. Current projects in 🏴 🏴 🇲🇦 🇷🇸 🇰🇬 🇺🇸 🇷🇴 🇭🇺
Travelling to #2025SVP? Weather looks like a mixed bag, typical for November in England. Unlikely to be particularly cold, but some rain guaranteed. Bring an umbrella 🙂.
November 10, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Travelling to #2025SVP? Weather looks like a mixed bag, typical for November in England. Unlikely to be particularly cold, but some rain guaranteed. Bring an umbrella 🙂.
The #2025SVP #SVP2025 field trip to the Jurassic Coast is apparently going well despite some vintage British weather. Photos from @kirstymedgar.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
The #2025SVP #SVP2025 field trip to the Jurassic Coast is apparently going well despite some vintage British weather. Photos from @kirstymedgar.bsky.social
I thought HIGNFY was the pinnacle, but it looks like our ‘Jurassic Highway’ dinosaur tracks work at Dewars Farm made it into @privateeyenews.bsky.social this week!
November 4, 2025 at 7:31 PM
I thought HIGNFY was the pinnacle, but it looks like our ‘Jurassic Highway’ dinosaur tracks work at Dewars Farm made it into @privateeyenews.bsky.social this week!
November 2, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Clint approves.
[Ringway Centre, 1960s]
[Ringway Centre, 1960s]
October 26, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Clint approves.
[Ringway Centre, 1960s]
[Ringway Centre, 1960s]
Slightly more exciting venue than normal for the second away day of the week..
October 23, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Slightly more exciting venue than normal for the second away day of the week..
So many options
October 16, 2025 at 7:09 AM
So many options
The release of the BBC story on this year’s dinosaur track excavation at Dewars Farm means I can finally post these team photos. Thanks so much to quarry manager Mark Stanway & all his team at Smiths Bletchington for being utterly amazing & supporting our work at the site.
October 14, 2025 at 6:28 AM
The release of the BBC story on this year’s dinosaur track excavation at Dewars Farm means I can finally post these team photos. Thanks so much to quarry manager Mark Stanway & all his team at Smiths Bletchington for being utterly amazing & supporting our work at the site.
In Fes, Morocco, today with @tweetisaurus.bsky.social for a conference at USMBA organised by our collaborator Abdessalam El Khanchoufi on the challenges of protecting palaeontological and archaeological heritage.
October 13, 2025 at 10:01 AM
In Fes, Morocco, today with @tweetisaurus.bsky.social for a conference at USMBA organised by our collaborator Abdessalam El Khanchoufi on the challenges of protecting palaeontological and archaeological heritage.
Coming to the end of another University of Birmingham Palaeontology undergraduate fieldtrip to Utah & Colorado. Thanks to the incredible @jlivelypaleo.bsky.social & @prehistoricmuseum.bsky.social team - we had an amazing time digging dinosaurs in the Cedar Mountain Formation.
September 27, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Coming to the end of another University of Birmingham Palaeontology undergraduate fieldtrip to Utah & Colorado. Thanks to the incredible @jlivelypaleo.bsky.social & @prehistoricmuseum.bsky.social team - we had an amazing time digging dinosaurs in the Cedar Mountain Formation.
Birmingham is built on the Triassic and our main logo for this year's conference features a Triassic reptile, a rhynchosaur, first described by Richard Owen in 1842 from Shropshire, just west of Birmingham.
We will be running two Triassic field trips this year, although both are now sold out
We will be running two Triassic field trips this year, although both are now sold out
September 17, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Birmingham is built on the Triassic and our main logo for this year's conference features a Triassic reptile, a rhynchosaur, first described by Richard Owen in 1842 from Shropshire, just west of Birmingham.
We will be running two Triassic field trips this year, although both are now sold out
We will be running two Triassic field trips this year, although both are now sold out
This is how much Spicomellus changed in the last four years: 2021 reconstruction by Joschua Knüppe on left based on single rib known then; 2025 reconstruction by Matt Dempsey based on new material on right.
My guess: when we get articulated material it's going to prove to be even weirder.
My guess: when we get articulated material it's going to prove to be even weirder.
August 31, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This is how much Spicomellus changed in the last four years: 2021 reconstruction by Joschua Knüppe on left based on single rib known then; 2025 reconstruction by Matt Dempsey based on new material on right.
My guess: when we get articulated material it's going to prove to be even weirder.
My guess: when we get articulated material it's going to prove to be even weirder.
Weekend reflection on Spicomellus & difficulty funding fieldwork. We were lucky to get some funds from NHM & UoB but major funders turned us down. Only generous support from BILNAS made this project possible.
Funding fieldwork is often considered ‘risky’ yet our results were published in Nature.
Funding fieldwork is often considered ‘risky’ yet our results were published in Nature.
August 30, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Weekend reflection on Spicomellus & difficulty funding fieldwork. We were lucky to get some funds from NHM & UoB but major funders turned us down. Only generous support from BILNAS made this project possible.
Funding fieldwork is often considered ‘risky’ yet our results were published in Nature.
Funding fieldwork is often considered ‘risky’ yet our results were published in Nature.
For #FossilFriday some more images from the discovery & study of the new Spicomellus skeleton. An amazingly fun project with great people.
August 29, 2025 at 6:26 AM
For #FossilFriday some more images from the discovery & study of the new Spicomellus skeleton. An amazingly fun project with great people.
A journalist asked me yesterday how we worked out where all the Spicomellus armour went & truth is it was a challenge & what we present is a hypothesis. We had fun laying out all the armour & trying to figure out what the hell was going on! Fortunately @tweetisaurus.bsky.social is a talented artist.
August 28, 2025 at 5:57 AM
A journalist asked me yesterday how we worked out where all the Spicomellus armour went & truth is it was a challenge & what we present is a hypothesis. We had fun laying out all the armour & trying to figure out what the hell was going on! Fortunately @tweetisaurus.bsky.social is a talented artist.
It also highlights the incredible significance of Moroccan palaeontology. A very sad part of this story is that Spicomellus fossils - very likely parts of exactly the same skeleton that we describe - are for sale having been illegally poached & smuggled. I hope these find their way back to Morocco.
August 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
It also highlights the incredible significance of Moroccan palaeontology. A very sad part of this story is that Spicomellus fossils - very likely parts of exactly the same skeleton that we describe - are for sale having been illegally poached & smuggled. I hope these find their way back to Morocco.
Spicomellus had those bizarre spines on every one of its known ribs and a sacral shield. But not only that, it had unprecedented METRE-LONG spikes projecting from a bony collar around its neck and some kind of weapon at the end of its tail. This is unlike any other ankylosaur we've ever seen.
August 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Spicomellus had those bizarre spines on every one of its known ribs and a sacral shield. But not only that, it had unprecedented METRE-LONG spikes projecting from a bony collar around its neck and some kind of weapon at the end of its tail. This is unlike any other ankylosaur we've ever seen.
Early this year we were able to obtain some funding to travel back to Morocco and establish a preparation facility at our collaborator institution in Fes. While there we worked on preparing & studying the specimen and it got even weirder!
August 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Early this year we were able to obtain some funding to travel back to Morocco and establish a preparation facility at our collaborator institution in Fes. While there we worked on preparing & studying the specimen and it got even weirder!
In 2023, we took a Moroccan-UK-US team to the Middle Atlas to find more. Substantial material had been excavated by a local farmer & we also were able to excavate more of the skeleton ourselves. What we found was truly spine-tingling - much of a skeleton & unbelievably weird.
August 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
In 2023, we took a Moroccan-UK-US team to the Middle Atlas to find more. Substantial material had been excavated by a local farmer & we also were able to excavate more of the skeleton ourselves. What we found was truly spine-tingling - much of a skeleton & unbelievably weird.
Spicomellus was named by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social & colleagues in 2021 named on a very strange & intriguing but extremely incomplete specimen - a single partial rib, but with huge weird spikes, something we don't see in any other animal alive or dead.
August 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Spicomellus was named by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social & colleagues in 2021 named on a very strange & intriguing but extremely incomplete specimen - a single partial rib, but with huge weird spikes, something we don't see in any other animal alive or dead.
Out today in Nature is the most exciting dinosaur paper I've ever been involved in - led by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social we describe a partial skeleton of the UTTERLY BIZARRE Spicomellus from the Middle Jurassic of Morocco, the oldest known ankylosaur. (1/x)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
August 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Out today in Nature is the most exciting dinosaur paper I've ever been involved in - led by @tweetisaurus.bsky.social we describe a partial skeleton of the UTTERLY BIZARRE Spicomellus from the Middle Jurassic of Morocco, the oldest known ankylosaur. (1/x)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Spent the last couple of weeks in a camper van in British Columbia & the Rockies, hiking, canoeing, horse riding & relaxing in hot springs. It’s pretty epic here.
August 23, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Spent the last couple of weeks in a camper van in British Columbia & the Rockies, hiking, canoeing, horse riding & relaxing in hot springs. It’s pretty epic here.
On the road for a bit.
August 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
On the road for a bit.