☁️Nothing to see here, just a cluster of Honduran white bats (Ectophylla alba)!
🦇This critter hides from foes by roosting beneath self-made tree tents that it builds by cutting a leaf along the midrib so that the sides fold down to create cover. When sunlight hits the foliage, it casts a green tinge on the bat’s white fur, allowing it to better blend in with its surroundings. Leaves with a waxy surface are preferred because they provide an added layer of waterproof protection.
Photo: Kevin Schafer, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, iNaturalist
🛡️This #FossilFriday, get to know Scutosaurus karpinskii, or the “shield lizard!”
🦎It lived about 253 million years ago during the Late Permian. Scutosaurus is one of the pareiasaurs, a group of early sauropsids that were probably related to the smaller procolophonids. The pareiasaurs had spikes and thickened knobs around the skull. Their teeth were simple pegs, presumably adapted for eating plants. Pareiasaur fossils have been found in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Spot this one in the Museum’s Hall of Vertebrate Origins!
