Darren Naish Profile picture
Sep 13, 2020 7 tweets 9 min read Read on X
#Azhdarchid Revolution -- starting in 2008, @MarkWitton and I published a series of papers instigating a paradigm shift on the spectacular azhdarchid #pterosaurs. New data supports our model and it continues to evolve. Most of our papers on this are #OA. Thread... ImageImageImage
Our opening salvo was the 2008 @PLOSONE paper, which laid out the case for TERRESTRIAL STALKING as the primary way of life for these animals. At this point, our argument was that all #azhdarchids were - more or less! - alike in ecology and bauplan... journals.plos.org/plosone/articl… Image
Fieldwork in Romania (led by the late Matyas Vremir, who died earlier this year) led to the 2015 discovery that some #azhdarchids were proportionally 'thick-necked' and, furthermore, that niche partitioning was present in some faunas... darrennaish.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/vremir… Image
Our initial 2008 proposal was challenged, so we presented new data which further supported the terrestrial stalking model AND which contested a competing 'scoop-netting' proposal. The relevant #OA paper was published 2015 in Acta Pal Pol... app.pan.pl/article/item/a… #pterosaurs Image
By c 2015 it had become obvious that some giant #azhdarchids - like Hatzegopteryx from Romania - were also 'thick necked'. This has major implications for behaviour and feeding behaviour. Our 2017 paper on this appeared in @thePeerJ .... peerj.com/articles/2908/ ImageImageImage
Some extra stuff... The idea that 2-3 #azhdarchid taxa might share a region and carve up the respective ecological niches was developed in a 2013 @PLOSONE paper by Vremir et al. @MarkWitton didn't get in on the authorship for political reasons but did help journals.plos.org/plosone/articl… ImageImage
The giant size of (some!) #azhdarchids has inevitably led to suggestions that they were flightless. But this is not consistent with numerous flight adaptations seen across their skeletons. @MarkWitton & @aeroevo explained this in a 2010 @PLOSONE paper: journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

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Mar 30
Yes, it's time another #TetZoocryptomegathread. In previous megathreads, I've covered several #LochNessMonster photos, including Hugh Gray's from 1933, Peter O'Connor's of 1960, and the Shiels 'muppet' of 1977. Time for another one!

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Yes, you've heard of the #LochNessMonster, but maybe you don't know that a key piece of evidence long used to support its reality was a grainy bit of cine film, taken in 1960 by an aeronautical engineer from Reading in southern England…

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This thread might be the longest and most complex so far, so hold tight. As ever, remember that I cover both sceptical and 'pro-monster' takes on the case concerned. The case I'm referring to concerns Tim Dinsdale's Foyers Bay footage of April 1960... Image
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For no reason, a thread of things I have saved on my phone. 1. TREES
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In 1967, the #DSRV #Alvin was attached by a #swordfish at a depth of c 600m. The swordfish charged the vessel at speed and got virtually the whole of its rostrum embedded in Alvin's hull. The fish survived ascent to the surface but was killed and eaten. Cont...
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