Filippo M. Rotatori

I am ecstatic to share the first dinosaur species I describe so far: Hesperonyx martinhotomasorum (reconstruction by Victor Carvalho ). This guy is a new small sized iguanodontian from the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Here's the link: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

The cool animation made by @errequad for his master research !

@TomHoltzPaleo Thank you for sharing !

An exquisitely preserved young iguanodontian from the Upper Jurassic of Tanzania sheds light on skeletal fusion patterns within Archosauria - Rocchi - 2026 - Papers in Palaeontology - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sp…

This work resulted from the Erasmus+ and Master Thesis project of @errequad , carried out between Bologna University and University of Tübingen. It has been a pleasure to see this taking shape as a co-advisor :) Enjoy!

Another example of how museum collections + modern imaging techniques can reveal spectacular hidden fossils. 🦖

New paper out! 🦴We studied an exceptionally preserved juvenile of Dysalotosaurus lettowvorbecki from the Tendaguru Formation using micro-CT scans, reconstructing ~40 bones hidden inside a rock block. @ThePalAss onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sp… #Paleontology #Jurassic #Evolution

The surprise? Neck vertebrae were fusing earlier than those further back in the spine — challenging the traditional “tail-to-head” model of vertebral fusion in dinosaurs.

@Paleojim @ASWolniewicz @AAlechiarenza @PaleoSoc @Fossilcrates Hi Jim, when I saw collections in Yale and AMNH I also felt that Tenontosaurs look more 'derived' than expected. At this stage I did not tackle so much that part of the tree. I do agree with you that Aptian and possibly J/K extinctions has huge impacts on their evolution.

@PalaeoFil @ASWolniewicz @AAlechiarenza Still of the opinion that Aptian-Albian North American tennontosaurs are independently derived dryosaur grade beasts relative to late Cret European rhabdodonts following the basal Aptian extinction and isolation of North America from Europe. @PaleoSoc @Fossilcrates

🦖 Plot twist: iguanodonts didn’t start in the Cretaceous. Our study pushes their origin back to the Early–Middle Jurassic (~180 Ma) — revealing a long hidden history. 🔥 Plus: a new clade, Ouranosauria (incl. Ouranosaurus-like forms)🌍 Global by the Late Jurassic.@AAlechiarenza

The early origin of Iguanodontia: new insights into the macroevolution, diversity & biogeography of the clade onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pa… @PalaeoFil @AAlechiarenza @MorphoBank @d_bonadonna

INCREDIBLE WORK! Congratulations to the authors 👏🏽 Also some interesting implications for Iberian ornithopods... Cc: @PalaeoFil

New paper out today in @ThePalAss : onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pa… Co-led with @PalaeoFil (coauthors Federico Fanti & Miguel Moreno-Azanza). Using the largest data matrix yet, we name a new sail-backed clade (Ouranosauria) & reassess Iguanodon taxonomy. 🎨 Artwork by Davide Bonadonna

9/ 🦕 There’s still a lot to uncover… but the story of iguanodonts just got much deeper.

8/ And to the @MapasLab that welcomed me, plus all collaborators, institutions, and collections that made this work possible.