Robert Gay
@paleorob
Educator and paleontologist. Here for science communication. Personal account, all postings are my own and do not reflect the views of any employer. Most recent pub:
A very fun mount at the Western Wyoming Community College food court of everyone's least-favorite #dinosaur, #Tyrannosaurus rex. #trex #Wyoming
This is specimen IMNH 2596/51199 from one of the mines out here. Myself or @gondwannabe.bsky.social can put you in touch with our head of collections for more info. We also have a 3D scan of this specimen I believe.
Our Phosphoria actinop on display at @imnh208.bsky.social has some similar scales.
Another great #WAVP in the books! Thanks to the Alf Museum and the Webb Schools for hosting, and we'll see everyone at @imnh208.bsky.social for #WAVP2027
@garyonyx-mcgoy.bsky.social @tuttran.bsky.social and myself are here at the @nhmu.bsky.social DinoFest! Come by today and tomorrow to learn about the #Idaho fossils from @imnh208.bsky.social that come from our ancient fliers!
All three specimens are from the same site (the Simon Quarry in Wyoming) and the Swiss specimen has most an associated skeleton with it! It is in the process of being moved to a new institution, so once that is finished and the skull CT'ed we should be able to say much more about the animal.
We also talk a little about a skull in Switzerland; it has several differences compared to Camptosaurus. Unfortunately, it has been partially restored and has not yet been CT scanned so the conclusions we could draw are limited.
We initially assumed that this prong was unique, but a little more work found similar (but not identical) posterioventral prongs on skulls assigned to Camptosaurus at the Tate Museum, BYU, and a skull formerly housed at Thanksgiving Point. It doesn't appear on most Camptosaurus skulls though.
The braincase is even more interesting. Although incomplete, it closely resembles those of Dryosaurus and especially Camptosaurus. Interestingly though the braincase has a feature previously unreported in all of Ornithodira; a basal prong.
Our study focuses on two bones (a metatarsal and a partial braincase). Both of these differ from what we know from prior studies. The metatarsal is far more slender than other similar-sized animals (Camptosaurus, Stegosaurus).
First paper of 2026 is out for #FossilFriday, and the first of probably several ornithischian papers over the next interval. Here my coauthors and I describe some tantalizing bits that suggest that ornithischian diversity in the Morrison Formation is higher than previously recognized.
If you see this QRP with your animal painting. Not really a painting, but here's my most recent #dinosaur, something very much like Prenoceratops and based on photos of the mount of that animal. #IdahoPaleo
Made a pulp-art #Oryctodromeus last weekend but decided to share it here now. A #dinosaur that lived up in the foothills 100 million years ago of what is now #Idaho and #Montana. Based on the new scan data from the #IMNH.
Today's #FossilFriday is a #tyrannosaur femur from #Idaho! I'm holding a #3Dprint of the original in the case. I'm comparing the paint job one of my interns did to the actual fossil; getting pretty close!. This print, and others like it, will be used in education kits for kids across the state!
#Oryctodromeus, the official state #dinosaur of #Idaho hanging out outside of its burrow in the #Cretaceous forest. A belated #FossilFriday bit of art I've worked on over the last week. Done in @procreate.com
For this #FossilFriday I spent most of the afternoon with the museum team updating our exhibit at the airport. Our #Bison latifrons is getting a facelift!
Here is a large #dinosaur limb bone for #FossilFriday! This #Idaho #fossil is from a big meat-eating dinosaur that lived in the #Cretaceous Period. There are tantalizing pieces that are helping some of us (@ljkrum.bsky.social @slvrhwk.bsky.social & other) piece this #IdahoPaleo story together.
For a belated #FossilFriday, here's a cast of #Tinker the #Tyrannosaurus on display at the Discovery Center of #Idaho in #Boise. I was out there for a meeting on Friday so I couldn't resist taking a pic. This is the only mounted #Trex skeleton in the state. #IdahoPaleo #dinosaur #fossil
Happy #FossilFriday everyone! This is a #3Dprint of a bone from the #Triassic Thaynes Formation of #Idaho. Originally described as a skull bone from an #ichthyosaur, it turns out not to be. Come talk to @garyonyx-mcgoy.bsky.social and me at @nhmu.bsky.social #DinoFest this weekend! #IdahoPaleo
Happy #FossilFriday! This unassuming blob is actually the upper part of a leg bone called the femur of a #dinosaur from #Idaho! Ongoing fieldwork by @ljkrum.bsky.social and the IMNH reveals more fossils every year. This is one that LJ found in 2024 and probably belongs to #Oryctodromeus. #IdahoPaleo
Somehow even my damn call filter is trying to show me a Wrapped-style retrospective. Unreal.
For #FossilFriday, here's a 3d scan of the radius and ulna of the crocodile-mimic Pravusuchus from #Utah. Pravusuchus was a #phytosaur and not a #dinosaur, but it likely ate some of them! Phytosaurs like Pravusuchus were ubiquitous worldwide at the end of the #Triassic Period. Rendered in #Blender
For the last #FossilFriday of 2024, I'm highlighting something not from Idaho. This is a line drawing of (part of) the legs of the Early Jurassic #theropod #dinosaur #Segisaurus from the #Navajo Sandstone of the #NavajoNation. This fossil, found in the 1930s is the only example of this animal.
A belated #FossilFriday post featuring a #Cretaceous #turtle limb bone and a large gar scale here at the @imnh208.bsky.social. These critters inhabited streams in what is now #Idaho over 100 million years ago. While #dinosaurs "ruled" the Earth, parts of recognizably modern ecosystems were emerging.
Up to more #3dprinting shenanigans at the @imnh208.bsky.social using our #Soval dual material printer. What are we up to? Well, you'll just have to wait and see once it comes off the plate tomorrow...
Today's #FossilFriday is about the Phosphoria Formation, which provides millions of tons of phosphate ore and, as a consequence, provides an amazing snapshot into the #Permian ocean of #Idaho! Giant #Helicoprion "sharks" swam the seas. Here at @imnh208.bsky.social we have a new exhibit on this!
Happy #FossilFriday! Today it is something common from the #Cretaceous of #Idaho; a tail bone (caudal vertebra) from our state #dinosaur, #Oryctodromeus! It was collected under permit from the #CaribouTarghee #NationalForest, and comes from a site that has produced lots of different animals!