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Tetrapod Zoology

phttp://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/about.phpublications

For as long as I've been able, I have been writing and publishing popular, semi-technical and technical articles on the animals that interest me. My technical research on the Lower Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs of southern England led to my first efforts in the peer-reviewed literature: namely, a series of papers on isolated limb bones and vertebrae, and on historical taxonomy. In 2001 Dave Martill and I produced Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight, a large, comprehensive overview to the dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous rocks of the Isle of Wight (and certainly not a field guide as suggested by the title of the series it belongs to). Though one reviewer described this work as over-indulgent and essentially over-detailed, it has generally been well received, and I know that I would be happy if other workers were to produce volumes like this on the dinosaurs (or other vertebrates) of their local geological units. Partly because it was produced in a tremendous rush (it had to be published prior to the 2001 opening of the dinosaur museum at Sandown on the Isle of Wight), Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight contains numerous errors and is also now out of date in many places. A second edition may be produced in the future: certainly the sections on iguanodonts and sauropods will be completely different. More to be added soon.

Note: this page is a work in progress and will be expanded over time.

Current research interests and future plans

The origin and evolution of tyrant dinosaurs;Yaverlandia; Becklespinax and Valdoraptor; Lower Cretaceous pliosaurs and ornithocheiroid pterosaurs; British dinosaur diversity (see Naish & Martill 2007 and this blog article); basal coelurosaur evolution; the palaeobiology of azhdarchoid pterosaurs (see Witton & Naish 2008 and this blog article) [adjacent Eotyrannus image provided by Luis Rey].

The history of Tetrapod Zoology

Tetrapod Zoology started its life on Saturday 21st January 2006 when, entirely on a whim, I decided to start blogging. For a review of TZ's first year in operation, go here. During December 2006 I was invited to join the scienceblogs network: this was finalized on 22nd January 2007, and I first posted on sb here. Unlike many bloggers, I sort of blog to a plan. Sure, I write about things that I bump into during the course of research, and I also write about brand-new discoveries that grab my interest. Anyway, the list of topics that I plan to cover is now horribly long and getting longer. Rest assured that, if something is promised it will appear one day.

The Tet Zoo guide to Gekkota, part I

The Tet Zoo guide to Gekkota, part I

This is a site dedicated to things that fascinate me :

A few other gekkotan groups have sometimes been recognised.Teratoscincus was considered worthy of its own 'subfamily', termed Teratoscincinae, by Kluge (1987) [T. keyserlingiishown here; from wikipedia]. The Cat geckoAeluroscalabotes felinus of south-eastern Asia has also been given its own 'subfamily' on occasion, dubbed Aeluroscalabotinae (modern classifications generally include A. felinus in Eublepharidae). The name Phyllodactylidae has sometimes been used for the American leaf-toed geckos (e.g., Blair et al. 2009) and a group of African gekkonines have sometimes been referred to as the Ptyodactylini.

We'll look at gekkotan phylogeny later on. Much more to come. Coming next: voices, eggshells and cervical sacs.

For previous Tet Zoo articles on neat squamates see...

• Mosasaurs might have used the same microscopic streamlining tricks as sharks and dolphins
• Tongues, venom glands, and the changing face of Goronyosaurus
• Dinosaurs come out to play (so do turtles, and crocodilians, and Komodo dragons)
• Tell me something new about basilisks, puh-lease
• 'Cryptic intermediates' and the evolution of chameleons
• The Great Goswell Copse Zootoca
• Of giant plated lizards and rough-necked monitors
• Ermentrude the liolaemine

• Evolutionary intermediates among the girdled lizards
• Hell yes: Komodo dragons!!!
• Amazing social life of the Green iguana
• Arboreal alligator lizards - yes, really
• Pompey and Steepo, the world-record-holding champion slow-worms

Refs - -

Darren Naish - me - is, or was, a vertebrate palaeontologist, formerly based at the University of Portsmouth, UK. They still host my homepage, but have usefully deleted all the links to the pdfs I so lovingly uploaded (if you want pdfs of any of the papers listed there don't hesitate to email me and ask: eotyrannus at gmail dot com). From 1997 to 2006 I worked on the predatory dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous of southern England, focusing for my phd on the basal tyrannosauroid Eotyrannus. A full monographic description of Eotyrannus will be published one day. Between April and August 2007 I worked for Impossible Pictures, the TV company that produced Walking With Dinosaurs and other such projects, and right now (July 2008) I work as a technical editor and freelance author.

I like dinosaurs very much, but they're far from the only animals that I find interesting. I'm fascinated by all tetrapods and have some practical and research experience with Mesozoic marin

Buddhist Chant - Heart Sutra (Sanskrit) by Imee Ooi

OM MANI PADME HUM

BUDDHIST MEDICINE MANTRA

OM MANI PADME HUM OVER 30 MINUTES

OM MANI PADME HUM

Spiritual Practice

Affirmations For Artists

"I will be organized. To that end, I will take stock and see what organization I really need. I will not stop at straoightening my desk, but will better organize my thoughts and more clearly envision the great work I intend to do. I will risk re-organizing the pieces that comrise the puzzle of my life."

Eric Maisel