The nineteen century was the “golden age” of Geology. The Industrial Revolution ushered a period of canal digging and major quarrying operations for building stone. These activities exposed sedimen…| Letters from Gondwana.
1 post published by ferwen during March 2024| Letters from Gondwana.
1 post published by ferwen during July 2025| Letters from Gondwana.
Dromaeosauridae is a clade of highly specialised small- to mid-sized theropod dinosaurs closely related to birds. Their fossils have been found in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, South America…| Letters from Gondwana.
2 posts published by ferwen during June 2025| Letters from Gondwana.
During the paleobiological revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, the status of paleontology as an evolutionary discipline was attempted to be established by a number of paleontologists. From 16th to 19th October 1980, the Field Museum of Natural History held the Macroevolution Conference, a historic event that challenged the four-decade-long dominance of the Modern Synthesis. […]| Letters from Gondwana.
Eutyrannosauria, the superfamily of carnivorous dinosaurs that includes the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex, dominated the Asian and North American terrestrial faunas during the latest Cretaceous. Through…| Letters from Gondwana.
The Triassic beds of Argentina and Brazil play a key role in understanding of the origin and early diversification of Dinosauria. The first recorded dinosaurs include some predatory forms, such as …| Letters from Gondwana.
Therizinosauria is a group of unusual theropod dinosaurs known from Cretaceous deposits in Asia and North America. The clade exhibits unique features, including lanceolate teeth, a rostral rhamphotheca, and a broad, opisthopubic pelvis. Some of those characteristics are associated with a shift in dietary preferences and an adaptation to herbivory. But the most striking feature, […]| Letters from Gondwana.
The evolution of the avian skull is marked by radical transformations of the braincase, palate, and snout. Brain size correlated with major evolutionary innovations like cognition, flight, environm…| Letters from Gondwana.
On 10 February 1825, Gideon Algernon Mantell’s paper “Notice on the Iguanodon, a newly discovered fossil reptile from the sandstone of Tilgate Forest” was read by Davies Gilbert MP at a meeting of the Royal Society of London. In the paper, Mantell gives a brief description of the characteristics of the sandstones of Tilgate […]| Letters from Gondwana.
In April 1842, Owen created the group “Dinosauria” using three taxa: Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, and Hylaeosaurus, based on three main characters: large size and terrestrial habits, uprigh…| Letters from Gondwana.
It was the worst of times. It was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of incredulity. 2024 was marked by the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the return of the totalitarisms, and extreme weather e…| Letters from Gondwana.
Dinosaurs likely originated in the Middle Triassic and the first unequivocal dinosaur fossils are known from the late Carnian. The main environmental changes that occurred at the very end of the Tr…| Letters from Gondwana.
Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus found by Mary Anning. From: W D Conybeare, 1824 Mary Anning was born in Lyme Regis on May 21, 1799. Her father was a carpenter and an amateur fossil collector who died wh…| Letters from Gondwana.
