2020 is finally at an end, so it looks like it’s time once again to review the year in non-mammalian synapsid research!

You can tell 2020 was the worst because I didn’t describe a single new synapsid species this year. In part, that’s due to spending most of my energy on larger-scale synthetic projects, but I had a few new taxa that were supposed to come out and got delayed by #2020 stuff...
Thankfully my colleagues in the synapsid research community have not been so idle, naming 13 new species this year. The vast majority (9) were cynodonts, there were also 2 pelycosaurs, 1 dicynodont, and 1 therocephalian.
For new pelycosaurs the highlight was definitely the long-awaited description by Berman et al. of Martensius, the Bromacker caseid, a plesiomorphic early member of the group known from beautiful material: https://t.co/GUJRKvtNwc
No new biarmosuchians or dinocephalians (though watch out next year…), but there was one new dicynodont: a basal dicynodontoid, Taoheodon, part of an increasingly diverse upper Permian fauna from China: https://t.co/lpq2ElPADw
The new therocephalian, Caodeyao, is also from the late Permian of China, and is an unusual short-skulled form perhaps related to the enigmatic Russian Purlovia: https://t.co/DCc8lOUvqF
2020 was a very good year for African cynodont discoveries outside the Main Karoo Basin, with new taxa known from complete crania described from Namibia (Chiniquodon omaruruensis & Etjoia dentitransitus) and Zambia (Nshimbodon muchingaensis): https://t.co/7PjJFFLhBe
Other interesting new cynodonts were described from Brazil, India, and Poland, but the most surprising had to be the discovery of a cynodont (Kataigidodon) in the Chinle Fm. of Arizona, USA, an area where cynodont presence was long thought legendary: https://t.co/EsCNYFrdQQ
Moving beyond single specimens, the incredibly rich fossil record of Permo-Triassic synapsids has increasingly been leveraged for destructive sampling. Whitney & Sidor provided the first evidence for torpor in Antarctic Lystrosaurus based on tusk sections: https://t.co/1kmQDPf5Y3
Whitney et al. also demonstrated that gorgonopsians beat dinosaurs by tens of millions of years in originating one of the most specialized types of blade-like (ziphodont) teeth: https://t.co/zrDn19b9OI
Stable isotope analysis of dicynodont teeth by Rey et al. provided evidence for reliance on aquatic environments in the ecologically-enigmatic Endothiodon, with implications for its unusual distribution pattern: https://t.co/mXMPOKWpel
Macungo et al. also studied Endothiodon, describing extensive new material from what is proving to be an extremely interesting novel set of localities in Mozambique: https://t.co/HGYaKtHM2q
Jones et al. examined axial regionalization along the mammalian stem, the latest major output of from an extensive multi-year investigation into synapsid vertebral evolution: https://t.co/kE4K4qJyrn
Kümmel et al. reviewed synapsid wrist structure in exhaustive detail, rewriting the origin of the mammalian lunate bone: https://t.co/U1UqrGvl2k
With imaging labs largely shut down due to the pandemic, there was a distinct dip in CT-assisted detailed anatomical descriptions this year, but Pusch et al. did provide new info on the large predatory therocephalian Lycosuchus: https://t.co/5QH6ON3KCU
And Kerber et al. provided endocranial data from a new specimen of the extremely mammal-like Late Triassic Brazilian cynodont Prozostrodon: https://t.co/ntNtqfp26T
(There was also some biogeographic stuff published which we won’t discuss further and should probably be promptly forgotten.)
All in all, though, lots of solid, well-researched stuff, and particularly great to see so many papers coming from early-career researchers (indications that the future of synapsid research is bright…at least if we live in a society where these folks can get jobs…)
Hoping for tons more amazing discoveries in 2021, and to actually be able to hold a synapsid fossil in my hand once more! Lots of field/lab/collections time lost this past year, and though that’s all minor compared to human life, it sure would be nice to dig up some bones again…
Who knows, maybe I can make it back to the Karoo before next year is up, and get some good use out of the recent total overhaul of Permo-Triassic stratigraphy there (https://t.co/9eqbnkoaoR). Here's hoping!

More from Science

You May Also Like

Great article from @AsheSchow. I lived thru the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980's/early 1990's asking myself "Has eveyrbody lost their GODDAMN MINDS?!"


The 3 big things that made the 1980's/early 1990's surreal for me.

1) Satanic Panic - satanism in the day cares ahhhh!

2) "Repressed memory" syndrome

3) Facilitated Communication [FC]

All 3 led to massive abuse.

"Therapists" -and I use the term to describe these quacks loosely - would hypnotize people & convince they they were 'reliving' past memories of Mom & Dad killing babies in Satanic rituals in the basement while they were growing up.

Other 'therapists' would badger kids until they invented stories about watching alligators eat babies dropped into a lake from a hot air balloon. Kids would deny anything happened for hours until the therapist 'broke through' and 'found' the 'truth'.

FC was a movement that started with the claim severely handicapped individuals were able to 'type' legible sentences & communicate if a 'helper' guided their hands over a keyboard.
Tip from the Monkey
Pangolins, September 2019 and PLA are the key to this mystery
Stay Tuned!


1. Yang


2. A jacobin capuchin dangling a flagellin pangolin on a javelin while playing a mandolin and strangling a mannequin on a paladin's palanquin, said Saladin
More to come tomorrow!


3. Yigang Tong
https://t.co/CYtqYorhzH
Archived: https://t.co/ncz5ruwE2W


4. YT Interview
Some bats & pangolins carry viruses related with SARS-CoV-2, found in SE Asia and in Yunnan, & the pangolins carrying SARS-CoV-2 related viruses were smuggled from SE Asia, so there is a possibility that SARS-CoV-2 were coming from
1/ Some initial thoughts on personal moats:

Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.

Characteristics of a personal moat below:


2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.

As Andrew Chen noted:


3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized

Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than


4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.

After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.

5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.

In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.