Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him) Profile Banner
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him) Profile
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)

@TomHoltzPaleo

Followers
30,797
Following
1,670
Media
5,818
Statuses
93,661

Tyrannocentric Dinosaur Paleobiologist; Univ. Maryland Principal Lecturer in Vertebrate Paleontology; Dir. Science & Global Change Program; Random House author

Joined June 2012
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 months
Tweet media one
13
163
1K
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#IfDinosaursStillExisted is trending. Folks, they do. They are called birds. Dinosaurs = the most recent common ancestor of Megalosaurus, Diplodocus & Iguanodon. All living birds are descendants of that ancestors. A chicken is just as much a dinosaur as is Triceratops.
47
325
1K
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
I'm not saying that dinosaur fandom is going to be out of control in the near future. I'm just not NOT saying that. You have been warned.
120
119
1K
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Happy 117th Nameday, Tyrannosaurus rex!!
Tweet media one
4
195
1K
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 months
Behold, Troodon formosus #DinosaursandMOR @MuseumRockies
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
34
182
1K
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
7 months
"Alamotyrannus" now has a name as a new (possibly) older (probably) species of Tyrannosaurus: T. mccraensis. Not all Tyrannosaurus papers are super controversial, folks...
Tweet media one
23
186
988
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
7 months
For all who celebrate the After Man holidays:
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
7
288
940
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
#FossilFriday The famous "Fighting Dinosaurs" specimen of Protoceratops & Velociraptor. (This is the real deal, not the artificial sculpture whose picture is often shared in social and in news articles)
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
12
206
884
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Since people have asked for it, a thread 🧵 on the new paper about Tyrannosaurus (and other) dinosaur intelligence. The source paper is 1/
18
228
893
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
A #PrehistoricPlanet Deinocheirus thread. For a lot of the viewers, this may have been your introduction to the duckbilled moose-camel ostrich dinosaur Deinocheirus. This guy: 1/
21
267
866
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Caption this:
Tweet media one
102
87
854
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
I know some people are lamenting an easy-to-find chart that shows birds within dinosaurs that doesn't make it look like they are the sister to Saurischia or the sister to all theropods or the like. I offer the following:
Tweet media one
26
210
861
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
6 years
Reminder: in 2018, Millennials at universities are postdocs and junior faculty. The students are the post-Millennial generation; the children of GenX, not of the Baby Boomers. Please update your rants accordingly, Boomers... :-)
21
198
834
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Everyone's talking about Spinosaurus, when the fact that Baryonyx has dense Spino-style bones and not normal Suchomimus-style bones (despite Bary and Sucho being morpholgically similar) is the real surprise here. Also, an awesome database of bone density.
20
158
822
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
Hey, paleoartists. Put your pens down and stop drawing Spinosaurus for (checks [non-existent] watch) about five hours. Trust me on this.
77
115
791
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Boom goes the dynamite They Want to Break T. Rex Into 3 Species. Other Paleontologists Aren’t Pleased.
51
162
766
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
#FossilFriday The beautifully-preserved holotype of the ankylosaur Borealopelta @RoyalTyrrell
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
16
148
706
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
There's a good chance for a big announcement relating to a well-known Mesozoic theropod. Or two.
47
63
694
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
#FossilFriday The lovely articulated juvenile Gorgosaurus libratus @RoyalTyrrell
Tweet media one
5
109
663
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
Our new paper, the short form:
Tweet media one
10
163
668
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
Something BIG is happening with ceratopsians tomorrow. @df9465 will tell all. (Art by @VilleSinkkonen ) Stay tuned.
Tweet media one
19
122
629
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
For those who still think that a billion is just "somewhat more than a million": 1 million hours ago there were already powered airplanes. 1 billion hours ago Neanderthals, woolly mammoths & sabretooth cats still roamed the Earth.
7
150
620
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
I want to see the movie "550", with Adam Driver scuba diving and seeing this:
Tweet media one
16
86
587
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
I think everyone could use a little Maiasaura parental love right now (painting by @EsthervanHulsen )
Tweet media one
7
106
580
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
#FossilFriday The gigantic Jurassic spider Mongolarachne (male and female) #SpiderMan
Tweet media one
4
83
568
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
The largest animal of all time might simultaneously be a whale AND a "-saurid"! Reconstruction by A. Gennari.
Tweet media one
3
63
566
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
#fossilfriday A young Gorgosaurus and I compare hands @RoyalTyrrell , plus additional shots of the same magnificent specimen
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
7
130
555
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
It's apparently #DinosaurDay . So here is Dinosauria:
Tweet media one
5
109
555
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#IfDinosaursStillExisted Here is a lovely Microraptor fossil. It is more closely related to a hummingbird than it is to Tyrannosaurus. Still a dinosaur.
Tweet media one
4
129
534
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
All of you out there in paleofandom: just stop, please. The Tyranno-brain paper might be published, but just sit back and listen to the critiques by animal behavior researchers and neurobiologists before you treat it like convincing science.
14
107
540
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
25 days
Holy crap! Despite it being popularly known, and the namesake of a major group of dinosaurs, Ankylosaurus itself is known from only limited material. This looks to be a spectacular specimen.
@NatSciChannel
EDGE Central
25 days
Clayton Phipps and co have discovered what is likely a nearly complete Ankylosaurus in Hell Creek sediments. This is ironically probably the rarest thing he has ever worked on - Ankylosaurus is known from like 1 good specimen and 3 or 4 total. Look at how pristine that skull is!
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
28
690
3K
3
98
541
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
7 months
Since apparently I will get no rest from colleagues and other online friends until I comment, a 🧵 about the newly published (but available as a preprint for months) paper on Nanotyrannus 1/
11
181
525
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Because someone has to post this today:
Tweet media one
8
90
514
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
The four main clades of Placentalia:
Tweet media one
3
110
518
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Next time before you wonder "how would non-human X wear human item Y?", do like the late great animator Chuck Jones would do, and map out the homologies:
Tweet media one
5
112
507
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
Just throwing this out there for those discussing Velociraptor/Deinonychus/Utahraptor in Jurassic Park: note designer Crash Mc Creery's 1991 production concept art (and especially the name in the lower left):
Tweet media one
3
68
498
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
#FossilFriday Edmontosaurus annectens with preserved keratin beak @NHMLA
Tweet media one
3
68
470
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Ontogeny in Gorgosaurus libratus (top) and Tyrannosaurus rex (bottom) from Voris et al. 2022. Excellent work!!
Tweet media one
6
108
475
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
When we say that it is possible that tyrannosaurids had some form of plumage, THIS is not what we are talking about!!!!!
@USCPSC
US Consumer Product Safety Commission
1 year
Respecting your rate limit by only sharing high quality posts.
Tweet media one
19
380
2K
24
40
473
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
8 months
Brief history of the original Tarbosaurus taxonomy, a 🧵: in a paper published in 30 April 1955, Maleev names Tyrannosaurus bataar, based on PIN 551-1, the largest skull of a tyrannosaurid found during the Soviet Mongolian Expeditions.
Tweet media one
4
87
472
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 months
#FossilFriday #FossilFridayAtoZ The eusauropod Jobaria of Middle Jurassic Niger
Tweet media one
5
70
469
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Cold sober take: if your excuse for all the gross inaccuracies of #JurassicWorldDominio dinos is "it's because the frog DNA", then you aren't allowed to call them by actual genus names.
31
67
445
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 months
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
9
79
465
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
6 years
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Tweet media one
8
81
449
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
#FossilFriday The original feather of Archaeopteryx lithographica, described OTD in 1861
Tweet media one
2
96
449
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Shoe number 1 has dropped:
22
91
431
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
World’s First Swimming Dinosaur Discovered in Mongolia
15
109
430
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Wonderful image from @JohnRHutchinson 's excellent new review paper on locomotion in giant terrestrial animals, past and present
Tweet media one
10
84
415
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
6 years
Hi. I'm a paleontologist. You may know me from such hits as "No, not every fossil creature is a dinosaur", "Just because it was in 'Jurassic Park' doesn't mean it's real", and "No, that find didn't overturn everything we knew: it just adds new information"
3
73
404
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Come on, folks: this isn't a joke slide. There is a reason I end most of my talks with this one these days...
Tweet media one
16
56
404
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Here is a nice figure: the stratigraphic succession of environments, sediments, sedimentary structures (incl. ichnofossils), and critters through the Middle Triassic Kupferzell deposits, from Schoch et al. 2022 (see my posts for paper link)
Tweet media one
2
87
391
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
It's #VelociraptorAwarenessDay again. This is the original (holotype) skull, @AMNH 6515
Tweet media one
3
78
391
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
7 years
The only tiny-handed big-mouthed tyrants worth respecting died out 66 million years ago
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
6
175
385
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
* #paleoart , not "pale art"!!! :-) In any case, here is Anton's Homotherium with concealed fangs:
Tweet media one
5
77
383
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
8-Year-Old Calls Out NPR For Lack Of Dinosaur Stories
2
69
383
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
A reminder...
Tweet media one
8
74
386
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Tweet media one
5
58
386
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Kurupi itaata, a new abelisaurid dinosaur named from a sex hotel, sort of. Art by Júlia D'Oliveira @tupandactylus
Tweet media one
4
81
379
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
New Dilophosaurus art by @BrianEngh_Art for @NotThatMarsh & Tim Rowe's new Dilophograph
Tweet media one
5
91
374
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
#FossilFriday Manus of ?Brachylophosaurus with soft tissue impressions @D_MuseumCenter
Tweet media one
5
55
375
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
5 years
Word is coming out that Canadian dinosaur paleontologist Dale Russell passed away on Dec. 21. Obituary is still forthcoming. He was a great scientist and a good friend. Here are three of the dinosaurs he described: Daspletosaurus, Sinornithoides, Alxasaurus
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
5
102
355
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#FossilADay The obscure Mongolian dromaeosaurid Velociraptor
Tweet media one
20
43
356
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Tweet media one
6
57
361
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
7 months
Dalman, S.G., Loewen, M.A., Pyron, R.A. et al. A giant tyrannosaur from the Campanian–Maastrichtian of southern North America and the evolution of tyrannosaurid gigantism. Sci Rep 13, 22124 (2023). (repost with a WORKING link)
3
110
356
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
7 months
First definitive record of Acrocanthosaurus (Theropoda: Carcharodontos...
9
91
347
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
I'm historical!
@Geology_History
History_of_Geology
4 years
September 13, 1965, birthday of American vertebrate paleontologist & author Thomas Richard Holtz Jr., formulated new theories and hypotheses about #dinosaurs ' classification, especially theropods 🦖🍰 Artwork by Luigi Gaskell
Tweet media one
3
35
156
23
36
327
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Happy Nameday, Tyrannosaurus rex!
Tweet media one
5
65
333
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
For this #FossilFriday , this lovely (if somewhat deformed post-depositionally) Albertosaurus sarcophagus skull from @RoyalTyrrell
Tweet media one
1
46
335
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Hey, #CampCretaceous production team; you actually have to do more in creating your dinosaur models than look at drawings of their outsides. Otherwise you get this atrocity:
Tweet media one
34
37
328
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
6 years
1. Birds are dinosaurs. ALL birds. 2. All living things are related. 3. We will only know a small fraction of the living things that ever existed.
@Mantia
Louie Mantia, Jr.
6 years
What‘s something that seems obvious within your profession, but the general public seems to misunderstand?
8K
1K
10K
6
96
325
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
8 months
"Juramaia is a stem-placental" "No, Juramaia is a stem-therian" My friends, Juramaia was a bullfrog. He was a good friend of mine.
Tweet media one
15
39
337
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#FossilFriday #FossilADay Skull of the real-life Triassic aquatic mini-dragon, the archosauromorph Vancleavea
Tweet media one
1
72
330
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
11 months
Hattori, S., Shibata, M., Kawabe, S. et al. New theropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan provides critical implications for the early evolution of ornithomimosaurs. Sci Rep 13, 13842 (2023).
4
125
336
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
While I've mostly been talking about the dinosaurs in #PrehistoricPlanet , I want to point out these are the best marine reptiles and (esp.) pterosaurs I have ever seen animated. And it really shows there is NOTHING alive today like a pterosaur!
6
36
322
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#FossilADay The "odd couple" Thrinaxodon (therapsid) and Broomistega (temnospondyl amphibian)
Tweet media one
4
79
317
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
So... I apparently gained around 500 followers yesterday, so I've passed the 20k mark. Yay me?!?! New folks: welcome to your one-stop shopping site for posts of recent paleontological papers. And occasionally other stuff.
10
9
325
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
People are complaining about how the Telegraph said paleontologists aren't sexy, but I personally think that saying that it "lacks expert insight" is even more insulting! (And this is a project I wasn't on; I'm insulted for my friends and colleagues):
Tweet media one
16
44
322
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 months
Happy #VelociraptorAwarenessDay . Be aware!
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
4
70
325
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
3 years
Here is @SerpenIllus 's reconstruction of Scutellosaurus from the new Breeden et al. 2021 paper
Tweet media one
4
49
316
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
1 year
#FossilFriday Today is apparently "Jura Independence Day" in Switzerland, so here are a batch of Jurassic dinosaurs @PrehistoricMus : clockwise from "noon" it is Stegosaurus, Camarasaurus, Camptosaurus, and Allosaurus
Tweet media one
4
75
319
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Could people please stop pretending that RPG taxonomy applies to legends and mythology?? Wyverns are a type of dragon, not a separate category. Here is a figure, captioned "The dragon is largest of all the serpents, or of all the animals on earth."
Tweet media one
16
48
311
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#FossilADay Daspletosaurus horneri
Tweet media one
1
47
313
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Grumpy Doc Holtz wants to preemptively state that if you are compelled to make April 1st fake posts about scientific topics, they should be absolutely absurd and clearly wrong. Because otherwise at least someone is going to take them seriously and repeat them.
16
62
313
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
2 years
Jiangzuo & Wang 2022 (posted right before this tweet) figure of Miocene Beringian migrations:
Tweet media one
2
44
313
@TomHoltzPaleo
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. 🦖💕 (he/him)
4 years
#FossilADay The eurypterid Mixopterus
Tweet media one
7
86
307