#fossilfriday New blog post in time for #SharkWeek - Charleston, SC, as a nursery area for the pups of the extinct giant shark Carcharocles angustidens. coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-nu...

A nursery for giant sharks in the Charleston Embayment: Carcharocles angustidens in the Oligocene Chandler Bridge Formation

Summer 2018 was spent visiting this locality after every rainstorm to collect as many fossils in situ from the Oligocene Ashley Formation an...

coastalpaleo.blogspot.com

I have to say that PBS Eons "Life and death on Pangea" is really excellent, the best accessible look at P/T extinction since Michael Benton´s "When life nearly died". THAT how I want my palaeo documentaries #fossils 🦖 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY8m...

How the Formation of Pangea Changed the World

YouTube video by PBS Eons

youtube.com

I am pleased to announce, I will be a plenary speaker at the upcoming International Congress of Dipterology (#ICD2027), Zagreb icd11.biol.pmf.hr/program, closing a line up of amazing speakers incl @asrivathsan.bsky.social and Art Borkent @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

I did a thread on paleontologists contributing to eugenics & fascism. What about the opposite end of political spectrum?🧵 Ernst Untermann (1864–1956) palaeontologist by trade, painted murals for the Dinosaur National Monument. A prolific socialist, first in US to translate Das Kapital into English.

@nathanjaybaker.bsky.social @parasitoidrex.bsky.social @pilofr.bsky.social

RES Publications@respublications.bsky.social · 2w ago

New #OpenAccess research by @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social et al. in #RESInsectConsDiv compared species accumulation within taxonomically well- and poorly resolved insect groups over 37 years. doi.org/10.1111/icad.70112 #AquaticInsects #Biodiversity @manusaunders.bsky.social @wileyecology.bsky.social

Was an honor to work on this project with @parasitoidrex.bsky.social and all the other ECR´s of GBOLIII "-Dark taxa" who showed me that future of biodiversity research is indeed very bright

Jess Awad@parasitoidrex.bsky.social · 2w ago

It was a pleasure to work with @nathanjaybaker.bsky.social and @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social on this long-term insect time-series. The megadiversity of #DarkTaxa is a serious blind spot for #biodiversity monitoring - by focusing on well-known groups, we neglect the vast majority of species. 🧪🦟🪰

For the #fossilfriday today - Brachyphyllum cf. gracile - Araucaria like upper Jurassic #fossil #plant. This specimen we have found in Moernsheim quarry close to Solenhofen, same one where Alcmonavis poeschli was discovered

Might be on interest for my ecology friends here 🧪, we shown how even 40 years of observations does not rarefy completely diversity of insect groups with prevalent dark taxa (looking at you, 🪰) @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @steveormerod.bsky.social @stephenbheard.bsky.social @cschaboo.bsky.social

Nathan Jay Baker@nathanjaybaker.bsky.social · 3w ago

Insect decline usually focuses on species we can name. But "dark taxa" like true flies kept revealing new species over 37-years of sampling a German stream, while well-studied mayflies/stoneflies/caddisflies plateaued with far fewer individuals. doi.org/10.1111/icad... @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social

our new 🧪 📄 on long-term Breitenbach site in DE, focusing on how much 🪰🪲🪳 diversity we missing even after 42 yrs of studying same spot, is out @royentsoc.bsky.social Thanks @nathanjaybaker.bsky.social @parasitoidrex.bsky.social @pilofr.bsky.social for all the hard work! @ebdonana.bsky.social

Nathan Jay Baker@nathanjaybaker.bsky.social · 3w ago

Insect decline usually focuses on species we can name. But "dark taxa" like true flies kept revealing new species over 37-years of sampling a German stream, while well-studied mayflies/stoneflies/caddisflies plateaued with far fewer individuals. doi.org/10.1111/icad... @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social

For this #Fossilfriday I have this chironomid pupa from Rovno amber (Ukraine), that we have described in this 2015 paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🦖⚒️

@jopabinia.bsky.social

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · last mo.

Males of Afruca tangeri fiddler #crabs demonstrating to each other in a bit of stand-off in Rio Chara preserve at Tarifa, Southern Spain 🦀

Males of Afruca tangeri fiddler #crabs demonstrating to each other in a bit of stand-off in Rio Chara preserve at Tarifa, Southern Spain 🦀

@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social raises an important issue here. Many (int'l) journals have published on fossils from occupied Crimea, which the authors claim to come from Russia. The inconsistent adherence to ethical standards by the @jvertpaleo.bsky.social is, of course, extra disappointing. [1/3]

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · last mo.

@jvertpaleo.bsky.social I remember you were an early adopter of the ban on Burmese amber #fossils, which was admirable, thus it supper disappointing to see you publish fossils from occupied parts of Ukraine @p-stewens.bsky.social @lmhaertel.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Mantophasmatodea are curious insects, first discovered as #fossil in amber ln 2002, they were found still living in Namibia (and South Africa) years later. Thought to be a new order (major insect grp - thin Flies, beetles), now they are recognized as member of Notoptera or crawlers #fossilfriday 🦖

Caddisflies have mostly aquatic larvae , so their #fossils in amber are rare. In our 2024 paper (in alt text) we have shown two mechanisms of how that happens - water dried out & larvae crawled away in search of water, or resin flowed from a tree into water and trapped larvae there #fossilfriday 🦖

Dear @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social I really respected your decision to implement ban of Burmese amber research publications in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social, but its quite unacceptable to publish #fossils illegally excavated in the occupied territories of #Ukraine

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · last mo.

@jvertpaleo.bsky.social I remember you were an early adopter of the ban on Burmese amber #fossils, which was admirable, thus it supper disappointing to see you publish fossils from occupied parts of Ukraine @p-stewens.bsky.social @lmhaertel.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

dear @jvertpaleo.bsky.social I think its of utmost importance that you check for consistency of your editorial policies - as you have banned publications on #fossils Burmese amber, but publishing fossils from occupied Crimea, #Ukraine, Russia extracts against Geneva conventions on duty of occupier

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology@jvertpaleo.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🚨New Pub!🚨Elasmotherium chaprovicum (Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae) from the Early Pleistocene Taurida Cave, Crimea🦏🇺🇦by Titov et al. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

@jvertpaleo.bsky.social I remember you were an early adopter of the ban on Burmese amber #fossils, which was admirable, thus it supper disappointing to see you publish fossils from occupied parts of Ukraine @p-stewens.bsky.social @lmhaertel.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Elasmotherium chaprovicum (Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotidae) from the Early Pleistocene Taurida Cave, Crimea

This paper describes a representative collection of deciduous and permanent teeth, as well as postcranial skeletal elements of Elasmotherium, from the abundant Early Pleistocene locality at Taurida...

tandfonline.com

Automated recognition of Meso-Cenozoic #foraminifera from Senegalese sedimentary deposits using #convolutional #neural #networks => the study considers diagenetic alteration and biostratigraphy: peerj.com/articles/21437 #Ecology #MarineBiology #Paleontology #MachineLearning @peerj.bsky.social

Today for the #FossilFriday I have some #Aotearoa #NewZealand fossils we worked on- country is home to Fantastic a fossil record of Insects, including exquisitely preserved Foulden Maar Fossils and Otago ambers. Oldest "bloodworms" (Chironomus) fossils come from NZ. Paper links in Alt text 🦖🛠️🦟

Our 2020 paper on fantastic monitoring dataset of #insect in Breitenbach stream DE sadly showed 80% decline in 40 yrs l1nq.com/5h5wqu0. Happy to announce new paper on same stream accepted @royentsoc.bsky.social Ins. Cons & Div. , lead by @nathanjaybaker.bsky.social wt @parasitoidrex.bsky.social 🧪🌍

For my 🦖 themed birthday I got awesome Bryce and Viola "Princeton Encyclopedia of dinosaurs" from my wife, and later we going to the "Dinosaurs of Patagonia" expo . Even if you got boring job like invertebrate paleo , it's never to late to embrace your childhood dreams ⚒️

Copper Age (~7000-3000 BP) limestone artifacts, Carmo Archaeological Museum, Lisbon. Labeled as "cylindrical idols", but I prefer to interpret them as strong evidence that Copper Age geologists had mastered rock drilling and were aiming for the Mohorovičić discontinuity.🧪 #VeryNiceGeologyJoke

parents sent me an biodiversity part of grandfather's post stamps collection, with one cool stamp with Gasterophilid flies, from the Cuban "veterinary medicine" stamps set. Besides that, a lot of very pretty stamps especially with birds and fishes @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

Hey @restingdinoface.bsky.social - so I have a book of yours "Dinosaurios: La nueva vision inedita" and I found it really cool (here it is with some of my Mauricio Anton´s copies) but somebody asked me about English version, and I don't seem to be able to find it. Is it ES only?

Apropos of nothing, beautiful animals from my last (so far) field season of summer 2013 in the temporarily occupied #Crimea #Ukraine. All animals where photographed during fieldwork for my first phd, cut short by russian occupation in 2014. Species names in the alt text

Auchenorrhyncha or cicades and relatives are among the most amazing #insects, here is a part of the colorful outreach collection in LA County Museum of Natural History, where I was working on the considerably less colorful flies...

will bump it up for #fossilfriday

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Negative imprints of the Spiny lobsters from Miocene (Sarmatian) of Bagerovo, Kerch Peninsula (temporary occupied Crimea). Collected in 2011, still have not describe them, should do that eventually #fossils #Ukraine 🦀 🦖⚒️

Fossil Symphyla myriapod from 38(ish) MYA Baltic Amber from the Krakow Museum Of Zoology (Poland) #Fossilfriday 🦖⚒️, photos by me, using VHX6000 digital microscope

Very excited to see treatment of the End-Permian extinction from PBS Eons - best palaeobiology show out there!

Darcy Shapiro@darcyshapiro.bsky.social · 2mo ago

So, some news: www.popsci.com/science/pbs-... We made a tv show! 🎉 #scicomm #paleontology