Charles J. Salcido, PhD
Paleontologist with SWCA and independent researcher. Research is on functional morphology and evolution of extinct animals, especially mammals. Writer for PBS Eons. Worked with the NPS. Opinions are my own.
- This week, I was working in the rocks of the Green River Formation. So, for #FossilFriday, I wanted to highlight fossil fish from this formation like this gar on display at the Burpee Museum. These rocks formed from large lakes between 53.5 and 48.5 million years ago and had many species of fish.
- This #FossilFriday is also Halloween. And since everyone is talking about it, I give you... THE RETURN OF NANOTYRANNUS FROM THE BEYOND THE GRAVE!!! A recent paper brought back the validity of this taxon. So here's a photo of Jane, now referred to as Nanotyrannus in the paper.
- My master's work on Brasilodon has been published!
- Functional morphology & biomechanics of an ontogenetic series of the Triassic cynodont Brasilodon quadrangularis onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @cjsalcidopaleo.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social
- #FossilFriday My newest PBS Eons episode on the Golden Age of Sharks is out! Big shout-out to Indiana University Paleontology Collection, Mammoth Cave National Park's recent discoveries, and Dr. John Long's The Secret History of Sharks for inspiration and information youtu.be/4ihYiTOIBT0?...
- This #FossilFriday, one of the chapters from my PhD dissertation has been published! it is on the relationship of form and function in the Carnivora mandible using functional morphology, biomechanics, and geometric morphometrics on 3D data anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/YV5A83...
- This #FossilFriday, I'm showcasing the Ceratosaurus on display at the Dinosaur Journey Museum in Fruita, CO, that I saw 2 weeks ago. It was my first time back at this museum since I was 12 years old at their day-dig. It's funny to think about when I was a kid vs where I'm at now as a paleontologist
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- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhDA year ago today, we were treated to a total solar eclipse here in Bloomington. Photos from our big day, from graduate student @paleodanny.bsky.social (1), faculty member @codykirkp.bsky.social (2,3), and an instrumented tower set up by the Indiana Geological and Water Survey (4).
- The newest episode that I wrote for @pbseons.bsky.social just dropped! This one is about the Gray Fossil Site in Eastern Tennessee, home to Pristinailurus, a genus of red panda! youtu.be/knh8skpSQLs?...
- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhDHappy #FossilFriday! MOR 740 preserves the skull of a Champsosaur, the long snout was used to capture freshwater prey. This group of crocodile-like reptiles and survived the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, only to go extinct at the end of the Paleocene, ~55mya.
- This #FossilFriday, I present this skeleton of the bear-dog Amphicyon from @natural-history.bsky.social in celebration of news that one of my PhD dissertation chapters has been accepted for publication!
- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhDThe Society of Vertebrate Paleontology issues statement on the recent Executive Orders and their impact on the SVP community.
- A Cochliodont tooth (possibly Sandalodus?) from Indiana University's Paleo Collections. This was a shell-crushing Holocephali (a group of cartilaginous fish related to sharks) from the Mississippian of Indiana that is a part of a shark fossil inventory project with undergrad workers #FossilFriday
- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhDFor this #fossilfriday I’ve prepared a thread on some of the most famous fossils from the Italian region where I live (Piedmont, NW Italy). I’m talking about the Plio-Pleistocene land mammals of Villafranca d’Asti, locality that gives name to a widely used biochronological unit: the Villafranchian!
- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhD#FossilFriday Everyone's favorite tristichopterid sarcopterygian, Eusthenopteron! At the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
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- People who know me know that I'm more a vertebrate paleontologist, but recently, I've been looking at inverts. This #FossilFriday I was at Hanover College scanning conulariids. These are enigmatic mainly Paleozoic fossils possibly related to sea anemones. They look like 4-sided ice cream cones.
- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhD#FossilFriday A small herd of the oreodont Miniochoerus, nestling in death. At the Tate Geological Museum in Wyoming.
- For #FossilFriday I wanted to showcase this Edestus tooth whorl from the Pennsylvanian/Late Carboniferous of Indiana. Edestus was a holocephalin fish (a group of cartilaginous fish that includes the modern rat fish) that would have had a tuniform body similar to lamnid sharks
- Reposted by Charles J. Salcido, PhDFoth C, van de Kamp T, Tischlinger H, Kantelis T, Carney RM, Zuber M, Hamann E, Wallaard JJW, Lenz N, Rauhut OWM, Frey E (2025) A new Archaeopteryx from the lower Tithonian Mörnsheim Formation at Mühlheim (Late Jurassic). Fossil Record 28(1): 17-43. doi.org/10.3897/fr.2...
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- Another new Indiana University EAS paleo display case for #FossilFriday, but this time for our vertebrate collection! Big thanks again to undergraduate and graduate students. My favorite is the Paleozoic at the bottom, highlighting mostly fossils found in Indiana such as sharks and tetrapod tracks.
- For this #FossilFriday, I wanted to showcase Indiana University Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department's new paleo invert display on the 5th floor. Big thanks to the undergraduate and graduate students who helped make this possible!
