WitmerLab at Ohio University
@witmerlab.bsky.social
21st-century approaches to fleshing out the past! Mission: to use the structure of past & present animals to interpret evolutionary history...and to share it!
#HappyThanksgiving from WitmerLab! You have your holiday traditions, and we have ours! Yes, we CT scanned our turkey on our best turkey platter. Science has never been so delicious! And like any good dinosaur biologist, I prepared and accessioned the skeleton—OUVC 10789. 🦃🦖
November 27, 2025 at 5:31 PM
#HappyThanksgiving from WitmerLab! You have your holiday traditions, and we have ours! Yes, we CT scanned our turkey on our best turkey platter. Science has never been so delicious! And like any good dinosaur biologist, I prepared and accessioned the skeleton—OUVC 10789. 🦃🦖
Happy to be a part of this big project led by Mario Bronzati & Matteo Fabbri—out today #OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social
bit.ly/3M5weun —on the brain endocast of a close pterosaur cousin & what it means for pterosaur brain evolution...maybe different from bird brain evolution. 1/2
bit.ly/3M5weun —on the brain endocast of a close pterosaur cousin & what it means for pterosaur brain evolution...maybe different from bird brain evolution. 1/2
November 26, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Happy to be a part of this big project led by Mario Bronzati & Matteo Fabbri—out today #OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social
bit.ly/3M5weun —on the brain endocast of a close pterosaur cousin & what it means for pterosaur brain evolution...maybe different from bird brain evolution. 1/2
bit.ly/3M5weun —on the brain endocast of a close pterosaur cousin & what it means for pterosaur brain evolution...maybe different from bird brain evolution. 1/2
Highly recommended! I just finished a cover-to-cover read, and it's a great addition to the avian sensory ecology literature with excellent discussions of the links between brain & behavior. I prefer reading paper books (better retention) but the whole thing is freely downloadable! bit.ly/482xPZm 🦉🧠
November 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Highly recommended! I just finished a cover-to-cover read, and it's a great addition to the avian sensory ecology literature with excellent discussions of the links between brain & behavior. I prefer reading paper books (better retention) but the whole thing is freely downloadable! bit.ly/482xPZm 🦉🧠
The paleo community is mourning the passing of giant. Philippe Taquet passed away on Sunday at 85. I was honored to meet him in his Paris office in 2007. Later that year, we published on a sauropod from his beloved Gadoufaoua in Niger, Africa, & named for him—Sereno et al. 2007: bit.ly/3WZLKdF 🦕
November 18, 2025 at 5:41 PM
The paleo community is mourning the passing of giant. Philippe Taquet passed away on Sunday at 85. I was honored to meet him in his Paris office in 2007. Later that year, we published on a sauropod from his beloved Gadoufaoua in Niger, Africa, & named for him—Sereno et al. 2007: bit.ly/3WZLKdF 🦕
Former lab member Peter Rhynard did a great job presenting his undergrad honors thesis research on the skull of the Allosaurus specimen known as Big Al (MOR 693) at the #2025SVP meeting! Thanks to @seishirotada.bsky.social for the photos since I was unable to attend myself!
November 13, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Former lab member Peter Rhynard did a great job presenting his undergrad honors thesis research on the skull of the Allosaurus specimen known as Big Al (MOR 693) at the #2025SVP meeting! Thanks to @seishirotada.bsky.social for the photos since I was unable to attend myself!
We'll close out this #FossilFriday with the obvious choice of Nanotyrannus. I couldn't share this CT scanning session at the time (June 2023) but can now. @jgn-paleo.bsky.social brought the holotype Cleveland skull he had on loan, and CMNH VP curator Caitlin Colleary & I joined in the fun!
October 31, 2025 at 6:51 PM
We'll close out this #FossilFriday with the obvious choice of Nanotyrannus. I couldn't share this CT scanning session at the time (June 2023) but can now. @jgn-paleo.bsky.social brought the holotype Cleveland skull he had on loan, and CMNH VP curator Caitlin Colleary & I joined in the fun!
Shamini Bundell @shamini.bsky.social at @nature.com, knowing that I had written the N&V commentary (rdcu.be/eNv94) on the Zanno & Napoli article on Nanotyrannus, contacted me earlier this week to film a quick video that provides some background. Shamini did a great job with it! I need a haircut.
Decades of debate over the identity of a medium-sized Cretaceous predator may finally be over
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
October 31, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Shamini Bundell @shamini.bsky.social at @nature.com, knowing that I had written the N&V commentary (rdcu.be/eNv94) on the Zanno & Napoli article on Nanotyrannus, contacted me earlier this week to film a quick video that provides some background. Shamini did a great job with it! I need a haircut.
Reposted by WitmerLab at Ohio University
This @witmerlab.bsky.social piece about l'affair Nanotyrannus is extremely sharp and even-handed about some of the dynamics that made this particular argument so contentious and -- occasionally -- bitter
rdcu.be/eNv94
rdcu.be/eNv94
October 30, 2025 at 10:00 PM
This @witmerlab.bsky.social piece about l'affair Nanotyrannus is extremely sharp and even-handed about some of the dynamics that made this particular argument so contentious and -- occasionally -- bitter
rdcu.be/eNv94
rdcu.be/eNv94
Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖
October 30, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖
Reposted by WitmerLab at Ohio University
Interested in fossils? Brains? Reptiles?
Want to study how reptile (particularly squamate) brains and senses changed over time?
Want to be part of an international team studying the evolution of cognition?
Then apply for our Univ of Edinburgh PhD project!
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
Want to study how reptile (particularly squamate) brains and senses changed over time?
Want to be part of an international team studying the evolution of cognition?
Then apply for our Univ of Edinburgh PhD project!
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
Project | E5 Doctoral Training Partnership | E5 Doctoral Training Partnership
The project advertisement
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk
October 16, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Interested in fossils? Brains? Reptiles?
Want to study how reptile (particularly squamate) brains and senses changed over time?
Want to be part of an international team studying the evolution of cognition?
Then apply for our Univ of Edinburgh PhD project!
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
Want to study how reptile (particularly squamate) brains and senses changed over time?
Want to be part of an international team studying the evolution of cognition?
Then apply for our Univ of Edinburgh PhD project!
e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...
It's #NationalFossilDay here in the USA, so here's a photo of our T. rex brain endocast based on a US national fossil—AMNH 5117. The surprise was to see it on exhibit in Japan at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. Feel free to print one of your own: skfb.ly/Mqsq ! 🦖
October 15, 2025 at 8:20 PM
It's #NationalFossilDay here in the USA, so here's a photo of our T. rex brain endocast based on a US national fossil—AMNH 5117. The surprise was to see it on exhibit in Japan at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. Feel free to print one of your own: skfb.ly/Mqsq ! 🦖
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!). 🦖
October 12, 2025 at 9:14 PM
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... 🐢
October 7, 2025 at 7:27 PM
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... 🐢
Reposted by WitmerLab at Ohio University
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....
October 7, 2025 at 9:02 AM
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. 🦖
October 5, 2025 at 1:09 AM
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). 🦖
October 3, 2025 at 1:26 PM
#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.
September 29, 2025 at 11:06 PM
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! 🦖
September 25, 2025 at 11:40 PM
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.
September 23, 2025 at 11:08 PM
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!
September 22, 2025 at 11:53 PM
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!
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. 😥
September 9, 2025 at 4:47 PM
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. 😥
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
September 1, 2025 at 4:45 PM
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
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. 🦖
August 29, 2025 at 3:24 PM
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. 🦖
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!
August 20, 2025 at 7:09 PM
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! 🦖
August 12, 2025 at 5:43 PM
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! 🦖