New paper from our unit! 🎉 This one isn't focused specifically on Sacabambaspis (cover image), but there will be more Sacabambaspis work coming out in the future...

Saw this bottle covered with gooseneck barnacles on the beach. It’s a Chinese brand and I didn’t see any Japanese text on the label. Can’t help wondering if it drifted here from China…It’s the west coast of #Okinawa so it sounds plausible. (This post also makes up for my missed #Crustmas)

Find a local anti-ICE protest this weekend.

Their sign for the Chinese alligator, however, appeared to be using a photo of an American alligator…I guess it’s because there’re many more American alligator photos on the internet? #alligator #ShanghaiZoo

Five years ago, a violent mob incited by Donald Trump attacked our democratic process and endangered the Capitol Police and the workers who keep this institution running. That was not a protest. It was an assault on the Constitution. (1/2)

Now, threads about the Shanghai Zoo…I had been here before but this was the first time I visited as an adult. The experience felt quite different. Needless to say my favorite part is the herps, and this 🧵 is for them. I’m starting with Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)...

They're both azhdarchoids with the left looking Sinopterus-like. The right looks to have a fabricated skull, prohibiting quick-fire identification.

The left one looks like Sinopterus to me (among the limited number of pterosaurs I can recall, that’s the closest). No intuition for the other. Would love to hear from experts like @markwitton.bsky.social, @tetzoo.bsky.social and @davehone.bsky.social… #pterosaur #JeholBiota

After complementing the Shanghai Natural History Museum, now it’s time for some complaints. This one, as I remember, is a mistake that existed at least a decade ago when I first visited but it’s never corrected: silhouette for Lufengosaurus on this sign is wrong and is obviously a theropod.

Here comes my second post about my revisit to the Shanghai Natural History Museum (1st post: bsky.app/profile/rexj...). I’m starting from this mount of Ruyangosaurus giganteus, a huge #titanosauriform. A candidate for Asia’s largest dinosaur, it dwarfed everyone else in the space.

I went to the Shanghai Natural History Museum on the last day of 2025. This time there was a special exhibition about Chinese dinosaurs, which is what this thread is for. I’m starting with the holotype of Lufengosaurus huenei, the first non-avian dinosaur described by Chinese paleontologists.

Just back from my trip to China…Had a chance to revisit Shanghai’s zoo & natural history museum before flying back to Okinawa, and got to see some new stuff this time. My cellphone didn’t have a reliable VPN then, so I’m posting the threads these two days…

Next, @rexjiang.bsky.social et al modeling the evolution of gene regulatory networks by simulating selection, there is evidence of shallow constraint and deep homology (assuming complexity is a reasonable metric for these characters). I love the framework, very creative! 3/7

Happy to hare that the preprint I was advertising below has been published by the Journal of Evolutionary Biology: academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-... Thanks @jevbio.bsky.social for supporting responsible publishing!

This TA responded incredibly here…it’s ridiculous what this situation is turning into

Who’s keeping track of where all this ‘protection money’ Universities are paying is going? Who’s keeping track of where the money from the tariffs is going? Because services are gutted, Universities are squeezed like scrawny kids on the school yard, yet the deficit keeps growing. Who’s getting rich?

The 5 eps of #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge indeed cured my soul in this miserable November. With many animals never addressed by a genus or species-level name, I kept making (hopefully educated) guesses about their identities based on my limited paleo knowledge. A 🧵 ahead for my guesses...

My only complaint about #PrehistoricPlanetIceAge is the "minus 50 degrees" at the beginning. It's Fahrenheit but not explicitly said to be. Only later I realized they aren't using metric. Traditional CN & JP sub converted to roughly correct Celsius (-45), but simplified CN weirdly gave -10. 1/2

They genuinely absolutely definitely want to destroy me. How can I be willing to be there anymore?

The color scheme is based on its close relative Sinosauropteryx, I believe, which was inferred from preserved melanosomes. Sinocalliopteryx may also be called “raptor-swallowing” as dromaeosaurid leg bones were found in the holotype’s stomach.

An observation from almost a year ago. An #Okinawa sword-tailed #newt (Cynops ensicauda popei) was consuming a dead dragonfly. Several others approached during this but didn't get a bite. Associated iNat observation: www.inaturalist.org/observations... youtu.be/o9d-0hufDfI

Going to save my soul in a stressful November…

When people celebrate the individual genius of folks in science, they should also mourn the collective loss of genius of folks who were actively discouraged or disadvantaged from a career in science because of the same person(s)

Agreed! Though my backyard is on an arguably far-off land (which, nevertheless, does share some fauna/flora with less far-off lands).

Citizens of the US still have the right to vote (albeit suppressed in many places), which can still make a difference. Thanks to everyone who voted to defend your country and our world.

It’s once again time to re-share the most horrifying #Halloween setup I know, which I saw in 2020.

Here it comes: Chinese influencer bragging his "prediction" about #Nanotyrannus was right (translation of his statement in screenshot)... www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Hn1...

When I lived in LA, I visited @nhm.org quite regularly. There's a 'T. rex growth series' display including specimens representing juvenile, subadult, and adult T. rex 🦖. I wonder how this interpretation would be affected by recent 'revival' of Nanotyrannus... 🧵

Glad to see this fascinating specimen finally seeing sunlight again and get scientifically studied. But at the same time I can see how some netizen "paleontologists" (who never studied the specimens) would declare how correct their "predictions" turned out to be... #Tyrannosaurus #Nanotyrannus

In this #Croctober, I started another iNaturalist project on crocodilians 🐊, this time focusing on individuals living with injury/pathology...A little thread🧵 ahead 1/4 www.inaturalist.org/projects/cro...

I’ve never donated to Wikipedia before but I set up a small monthly donation as a fuck you to the world’s richest psychopath.

Soviet Jokes are precious cultural heritage of human civilization.

Driven by personal interest, I started this project on iNaturalist, documenting observations of crocodilians interacting with animals of either the same or different species. Far from comprehensive at the moment, but already got some amazing scenes... www.inaturalist.org/projects/cro...

Have been a bit silent recently as I've been working on this new version of our preprint! In this study, we present a generalizable evo-devo model to explore principles of evolutionary innovations. A thread 🧵 ahead about this, and what's new... 1/11 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Literally forgot it was Mid Autumn Festival (lunar calendar Aug 15) yesterday and did take a photo of the moon 🌕 But today’s moon is nice too.

So here’s my (1st) #arachtober post: a pair of oval St Andrew's cross spider (Argiope aemula), along with a prey.

Visited the Okinawa Zoo today and saw the two giant anteaters “kissing” each other like this. It’s the first time I saw such behavior… #anteater

Two bugs (probably of genus Cletus) are mating, while a third one is watching beside…I’ve never felt so sorry for a bug. (I’m assuming the third bug is the “loser”, but I’m unfamiliar with this group and don’t know what exactly is going on.)

Saw this caterpillar crawling on water surface today! Apparently it fell into water and was trying to find its way to survival. I suppose it isn't that common a scene to see, is it?

I’ve seen lots of Coenobita land hermit crabs here in #Okinawa, but this time it’s a different one! Saw this ribbed hermit crab (Clibanarius striolatus) in a little pool when tide was low. #HermitCrab #crustacean

There’s a classic Chinese idiom 求仁得仁 that describes someone who gets what they seek (usually something bad). Perfectly appropriate for #Kirk.

Encountered this Scylla serrata 🦀 today. Most of them promptly swam away as approached. This one apparently lost its way, allowing me to take the photos (before releasing it).

Some beautiful #arthropods 🦀🦋🕷️ seen today in #Okinawa

The "prior generations of women in science" were expected to silently tolerate all the toxicity and assaults. Sadly, such expectation persists today, and shark science is far from unique.

In hindsight, I kinda regretted not mentioning Gould & Lewontin’s spandrel paper 😂

Also quite close to the conference venue of #ESEB2025 is Parc de Diagonal Mar. There are a lot of birds (and bugs) here. Very enjoyable to walk around here.

With my #ESEB2025 tour concluded and myself on the way back, I’m arranging photos taken in #Barcelona. First of all, the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, which is sweetly located near the conference venue.

About to fly back to Okinawa now! #ESEB2025 is an amazing experience. Also hope I'm not being delayed by typhoon on my way back😂