Skye McDavid
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skyemcdavid.com
Skye McDavid
@skyemcdavid.com
2.9K followers 360 following 2.5K posts
scientific illustrator dabbling in paleontological research: pterosaurs, dinosaurs, other fossil reptiles, zoological nomenclature
Links: https://www.skyemcdavid.com/links
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Skye McDavid @skyemcdavid.com · Nov 13
Rhamphorhynchus muensteri - one of the best known Solnhofen pterosaurs. Most specimens are not fully grown. This specimen, previously named as a different species R. longiceps, is the largest and oldest.
skeletal diagram of Rhamphorhynchus muensteri
Reposted by Skye McDavid
albertonykus.bsky.social
#2025SVP @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social: Recent finds increasingly show that large carnivorous dinosaurs were present in the Late Triassic. Reports a new herrerasaurid from the Pebbly Arkose Formation in Zimbabwe.
November 14, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
montanoceratops.bsky.social
I can finally share this!!! a huge Thanks to both @skyemcdavid.com and @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social for allowing me to do a Nyctosaur for this poster!!!
A pterosaur flying through a cloudy sky with a saurodont fish lurking in the waters below. The nyctosaur will soon be a meal.
November 14, 2025 at 9:28 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Love seeing Nixon and Gorbachev as in the Oval Office as an example of diversity of amniote integument. #2025SVP
November 14, 2025 at 11:19 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Poster is now publicly available on ResearchGate
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
November 14, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
dragonsofwales.bsky.social
For a small country, Wales has a surprising number of very, very cool dinosaurs.

Pendraig milnerae (Pendraig = “chief dragon” in Welsh) was discovered in 1952, not far from where I live, but only named in 2021 after being re-discovered in storage by Angela Milner and Susannah Maidment.

#SciArt
A digital portrait of a dinosaur with long scaly snout and short, coarse fibres covering its head and neck. Its head is shown lowered close to the sandy ground, possibly looking for its next meal.
November 13, 2025 at 8:26 PM
skyemcdavid.com
Come see me today at B199
Skye next to a poster
November 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social
If you’re at #2025SVP, I’ll be available to chat about this work this afternoon! Our poster on it is at the very end of the balcony (left of the stage) in Hall 3.
Me (in jacket, beanie, and scarf) posing in front of a poster with a large phylogenetic tree on it
November 13, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
journalsystpal.bsky.social
New paper out in JSP!
𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬: the phylogeny of Azhdarchoidea (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) and the evolution of giant size in pterosaurs by Thomas & McDavid (2025) buff.ly/j9OujIm

#PaleoSky #Dragons #Pterosaurs #2025SVP buff.ly/3w48C05 @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social @skyemcdavid.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:52 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Why are people are still talking about “order” or “family” in a Linnaean taxonomic sense in the year of our lord 2025 #2025SVP
November 13, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
scottiecoati.bsky.social
I will die in the hill that apes ARE monkeys and that insisting on a distinction between them is founded in anthropocentrism.
November 12, 2025 at 11:05 PM
skyemcdavid.com
Tomorrow!
skyemcdavid.com Skye McDavid @skyemcdavid.com · 21d
SVPers, come see my work on pterosaurs from Appalachia: several new morphotypes of pteranodontians and azhdarchoids.
Thursday Poster Session B199 #2025SVP
Regular Poster Session II (Thursday, November 13, 2025, 4:30 - 6:30 PM) Flying reptiles of the forgotten paleocontinent: revision of the pterosaurs of Appalachia and Eastern North America McDavid, Skye N.1 , Thomas, Henry N.2 Pterosaurs are known from every continent, though in North America, enormous attention has been paid to the pterosaurs of the Western half of the continent, whereas the pterosaurs from the Eastern part of the continent (corresponding to the paleocontinent of Appalachia in the Late Cretaceous) have received comparatively little attention. Pterosaur body fossils are known from New Jersey (Navesink and New Egypt Formations), Delaware (Merchantville Formation), North Carolina (Peedee Formation), Georgia (Eutaw and Blufftown Formations), Alabama (Mooreville Chalk), Mississippi (Coffee Formation), and Tennessee (Ripley and Sardis Formations). A review of what fragmentary material is known from Appalachia in the context of modern knowledge of pterosaurs allows for a better understanding of these rare specimens. Much of the pterosaur record of Appalachia consists of poorly preserved fragments that are not phylogenetically informative, but the better preserved specimens can be assigned to either Azhdarchomorpha or Pteranodontia. The pterosaur taxon from the Merchantville Formation, which has been variously treated as Pteranodon, an ‘ornithocheirid’, or azhdarchid, represents a pteranodontid distinct from Pteranodon with a unique cervical morphotype, though the previously reported pterosaur humerus is actually non-pterosaurian. A cervical vertebra from the Ripley Formation has been likened to Arambourgiania from Jordan, though it is subtly different from the type species. It represents a unique morphotype belonging to the Arambourgiania-Infernodrakon clade. Additional azhdarchomorph material includes a Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni-like ulna (previously misidentified as a cervical) from the Navesink Formation, morphologically distinct azhdarchid femora from the Peedee and Coffee Formations, and a jaw fragment from the Sardis Formation. Skye, a woman with blue hair, holding an Azhdarchid ulna. She is carefully holding the fossil with both hands so that it is supported along its length. She is wearing a purple dress, and looks dead inside but is actually just exhausted from a long day of research
November 12, 2025 at 1:56 PM
skyemcdavid.com
I’m just going to say it straight away - the amount of stairs and small steps, and confusing layout makes the ICC an absolute disaster in terms of accessibility. Looking forward to muscle pain at the end of the conference #2025SVP !
November 12, 2025 at 7:56 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Hello and welcome to #2025SVP. Here I will be live-skeeting the non-embargoed talks I attend. I will try to minimize editorializing and present the results as the authors present them. Sharing info doesn’t imply endorsement. Keep in mind that SVP talks are mostly preliminary and subject to change!
November 12, 2025 at 7:43 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Sarcosaurus woodi, an early diverging averostran-line theropod from the Early Jurassic of Warwickshire, in the Warwickshire Museum offsite collections. #2025SVP
Sarcosaurus femora and tibiae in a foam cradle Assorted small pieces of Sarcosaurus Better view of the femur
November 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
skyemcdavid.com
Guy's Cliffe - Middle Triassic Helsby Sandstone Formation in Warwickshire. #2025SVP
Sandstone outcrop
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Wholesome Train Content™ from the West Midlands Metro #2025SVP
November 11, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
skyemcdavid.com
SVPers, come see my work on pterosaurs from Appalachia: several new morphotypes of pteranodontians and azhdarchoids.
Thursday Poster Session B199 #2025SVP
Regular Poster Session II (Thursday, November 13, 2025, 4:30 - 6:30 PM) Flying reptiles of the forgotten paleocontinent: revision of the pterosaurs of Appalachia and Eastern North America McDavid, Skye N.1 , Thomas, Henry N.2 Pterosaurs are known from every continent, though in North America, enormous attention has been paid to the pterosaurs of the Western half of the continent, whereas the pterosaurs from the Eastern part of the continent (corresponding to the paleocontinent of Appalachia in the Late Cretaceous) have received comparatively little attention. Pterosaur body fossils are known from New Jersey (Navesink and New Egypt Formations), Delaware (Merchantville Formation), North Carolina (Peedee Formation), Georgia (Eutaw and Blufftown Formations), Alabama (Mooreville Chalk), Mississippi (Coffee Formation), and Tennessee (Ripley and Sardis Formations). A review of what fragmentary material is known from Appalachia in the context of modern knowledge of pterosaurs allows for a better understanding of these rare specimens. Much of the pterosaur record of Appalachia consists of poorly preserved fragments that are not phylogenetically informative, but the better preserved specimens can be assigned to either Azhdarchomorpha or Pteranodontia. The pterosaur taxon from the Merchantville Formation, which has been variously treated as Pteranodon, an ‘ornithocheirid’, or azhdarchid, represents a pteranodontid distinct from Pteranodon with a unique cervical morphotype, though the previously reported pterosaur humerus is actually non-pterosaurian. A cervical vertebra from the Ripley Formation has been likened to Arambourgiania from Jordan, though it is subtly different from the type species. It represents a unique morphotype belonging to the Arambourgiania-Infernodrakon clade. Additional azhdarchomorph material includes a Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni-like ulna (previously misidentified as a cervical) from the Navesink Formation, morphologically distinct azhdarchid femora from the Peedee and Coffee Formations, and a jaw fragment from the Sardis Formation. Skye, a woman with blue hair, holding an Azhdarchid ulna. She is carefully holding the fossil with both hands so that it is supported along its length. She is wearing a purple dress, and looks dead inside but is actually just exhausted from a long day of research
October 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM
skyemcdavid.com
Hello from the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, UK where I have arrived for #2025SVP
Screen at the ICC welcoming attendees to SVP 2025
November 11, 2025 at 7:25 AM
skyemcdavid.com
OK i'll bite (stolen from @cascoclauda.bsky.social). If anyone says *that* Paw Patrol character I will be very disappointed.
post this on your profile and let your followers associate you with a fictional character that you remind them of
November 10, 2025 at 6:35 PM
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
skyemcdavid.com
Pterosaur in a regurgitalite was not something I expected to see but this is very exciting!
alinemghilardi.bsky.social Aline Ghilardi @alinemghilardi.bsky.social · 5d
🚨New paper alert!🚨🤩

🧪⚒️Welcome the first filter-feeding pterosaur from Brazil: Bakiribu waridza, from the Araripe Basin!! 🥳

The new species is AWESOME and was discoverd inside a regurgitalite 😱🤍

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
alinemghilardi.bsky.social
🚨New paper alert!🚨🤩

🧪⚒️Welcome the first filter-feeding pterosaur from Brazil: Bakiribu waridza, from the Araripe Basin!! 🥳

The new species is AWESOME and was discoverd inside a regurgitalite 😱🤍

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - A regurgitalite reveals a new filter-feeding pterosaur from the Santana Group
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Skye McDavid
zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social
JUST PUBLISHED!!!! A major azhdarchoid phylogeny paper coauthored with @skyemcdavid.com - the fruit of years of work - is now out in @journalsystpal.bsky.social! New clades, reconstruction of size evolution, and more. Full thread to come soon!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Enter the dragons: the phylogeny of Azhdarchoidea (Pterosauria: Pterodactyloidea) and the evolution of giant size in pterosaurs
Azhdarchidae is a clade of pterosaurs which includes the largest-ever flying animals. The evolutionary history of this clade and its closest relatives remains incompletely understood and highly deb...
www.tandfonline.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
skyemcdavid.com
Arriving in Birmingham, England, and the industrial areas on the outskirts of the city remind me of Birmingham, Alabama.
November 9, 2025 at 3:53 PM
skyemcdavid.com
So I suspect that a peer reviewer may have fed my manuscript into an LLM chatbot despite affirming yes to the journal's no-AI-reviews policy. The review states that my MS "addresses a long-standing and controversial issue" despite addressing a recent and minimally controversial issue.
November 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM