Robert Boessenecker, Doctor of Whaleontology™️さんのイラストまとめ

#ArtAdventCalendar day 2 - I saw someone post the 'heavy claw' of the spinosaurid dinosaur Baryonyx walkeri for #fossilfriday so here is my watercolor illustration of the same specimen - I love doing watercolor paintings of fossils.

A bunch of new papers this/last week #1: first, a new early Miocene sperm whale found in sawn slabs of rock from a quarry in southern Italy, Angelocetus cursiensis - prepared out, and reconstructed using CT scanning (online at RG: https://t.co/1gnJfOEgDQ)

New paper by @MaryViglino et al - many new specimens of the 'platanistoid' dolphin Notocetus vanbenedeni from the lower Miocene of Argentina. This species now known from sample of 26 specimens, revealing acoustic/hearing adaptations. https://t.co/VE1OMabXgL

Aetiocetids have palatal foramina (recently challenged) and unfused "chins" - each suggesting some degree of filter feeding. Critically, aetiocetids are sister to the toothless mysticetes (Chaeomysticeti), and new clade named: Kinetomenta, 'movable chin' for this grouping.

The baleen whale wars continue: excellent, comprehensive new review/meta-analysis of hypotheses and evidence for the tooth-baleen transition. This study examines hypotheses for origin of baleen/tooth loss, compares matrices, & reviews genetic data: https://t.co/iXRxfCOlQF

Another sneak peek of an in-prep manuscript figure that @tetrameryx was making fun of late last night

My first student-authored publication came out three years today - fantastic work by Bailey Fallon on the first fossil leatherback from the Purisima Formation of Northern California. Read the paper here: https://t.co/0BlrlcsCkx

#GetYourArtUnderwater is happening again! Here are a bunch of extinct marine mammal illustrations I've done over the past decade - Parapontoporia, Pithanotaria, Phiomicetus, and Olympicetus. Graphite + digital.

New paper from my @OtagoGeology labmate @josh_corrie and adviser Ewan Fordyce: redescription of the fragmentary whale Kekenodon onamata, a late surviving archaeocete from the Oligocene of New Zealand. https://t.co/rBPyO3DdUx