connoisseur of deep time

A mated pair of female kunpengopterus, nuzzling and preening on a warm summer evening

(based on the baby pelican thumbs down meme)

Rim to river

Bonus chuckwalla:

Result of the Wellington Formation #paleostream! People like to think of the Carboniferous as the time of the giant insects but they actually reached their peak in the early Permian. And here in Kansas we find the largest: Meganeuropsis, which in our case in going after a...

smaller griffonfly. Below it other insects scatter while amphibians lazily swim through the warm waters at the edge of the shallow lake, Edaphosaurus basking in the sun in the back. Without any flying vertebrates insects would remain the kings of the skies for a long time...

The Wellington Formation preserves a highly seasonal playa lake environment, with ephemeral bodies of water that would burst into life during rainy season. This formation is part of the Permian red beds which are usually known for their exceptional tetrapod fauna...