Steve Auscavitch from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History visited our Invertebrate Zoology collection to study deep-sea sponges and black corals collected by the E/V @nautiluslive.org from both the central and western Pacific Ocean.

Applications for the 2026 Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship are now open. Applications are due September 30 and are open to those pursing the discovery and formal taxonomic description of Earth's animal species and botanists working on plant-animal interactions. Apply at https://bit.ly/4fHkU2S

How a giant predator of prehistoric seas was discovered — twice current.fas.harvard.edu/stories/how-...

How a giant predator of prehistoric seas was discovered — twice

After 80 million years, a giant fossil jaw has quite a story to tell. Back in the age of the dinosaurs, Tylosaurus proriger was a fearsome predator — a bus-sized aquatic reptile with a crushing snout...

current.fas.harvard.edu

Save the date for Half-Earth Day at 10, held at Sanders Theatre on October 12! More information at https://bit.ly/4gLxujP

A new species of nurse frog from the Brazilian Amazon has just been described in the MCZ journal Breviora https://bit.ly/4yuXfeD. Allobates tanaru is the first known chlorotic species in the poison frog superfamily Dendrobatoidea, with striking greenish hatchlings.

The secret can be revealed…our Vertebrate Paleontology department is featured in the upcoming @pbs.org series EONS: LIFE AND DEATH ON PANGEA! The first two episodes premiere on July 29th. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this outstanding project and excited for you all to see it!

MCZ Malacology staff are rehousing wood from Ruth Turners research ~50 years ago. This piece was from research published in Science in 1973, "Wood-Boring Bivalves, Opportunistic Species in the Deep Sea," and is one of ~5,130 uncatalogued lots from Turner's research that we hope to database soon.

Ernst Mayr Grant recipient Ian Solon Ito visited MCZ ichthyology to study Hypomasticus, a poorly known South American fish genus in the family Anostomidae. Ian examined specimens collected more than a century ago during the Thayer and Hassler expeditions from habitats that have since deteriorated.

It was a beautiful day for MCZ staff to visit the @whoi.edu! They viewed three research vessels - a source of over 50,000 specimen lots cataloged in the MCZ over the years - and toured the @mblscience.bsky.social, visiting Carrie Albertin’s (@harvardoeb.bsky.social prof, Curator in Malacology) lab.

Harvard students traveled through diverse habitats in Arizona for the OEB course Biology and Diversity of Birds taught by Scott Edwards. The MCZ funds spring break trips for many OEB courses, providing field experience that compliments classroom and lab learning. photo by Asher Montgomery

Congratulations to @harvardoeb.bsky.social PhD graduates advised by MCZ Faculty-Curators! Top left to bottom right: Amber Rock (M Srivastava) Maya Woolfolk (H Hoekstra) Arianna Lord (G Giribet) Jared Richards (@invertebratepal.bsky.social) Juli Mayorga (G Giribet) Katherine Angier (G Giribet)

Did you know that Nantucket used to have a wild-living population of prairie dogs? A few black-tailed prairie dogs introduced in the 1890s quickly overwhelmed the locals, who raised funds to eradicate them in under 10 years. Caption and images of two MCZ specimens by M. Mullon #mczMammalogy

Our Herpetology department just finished rehousing their primary type specimens: 1,800+ jars (nearly 2,700 specimens) moved into a more space‑efficient and organized setup. The process took three months and provided the bonus benefit of rediscovering dozens of hidden types along the way.

Beyond the fossils and into the archives, intern Julia Weisz dove into the Vertebrate Paleontology department’s map collection to begin inventorying, rehousing, and digitizing this valuable set of documents.

New study by Postdoc Rodrigo & Prof. Stephanie Pierce reveals surprising secrets of fishes brains!

The ray-finned fish blackbox: unprecedented morphological diversity and the interplay between brain and endocast

Abstract. Vertebrates are unique among animals as they bear a neurocranium, which almost completely encapsulates the brain. Thus, within vertebrates, the e

royalsocietypublishing.org

🐍 New fossils and modern techniques are updating the story of how our favorite sssslithering reptiles came to be. ✍️ Amber Dance: knowmag.org/4cUX0Rl

Evolution of snakes: Scientists unravel the mysssteries

Huge snakes, tiny snakes, poisonous snakes and constrictor snakes, snakes that slither, burrow or swim: New fossils and modern technology are tracing serpent origins

knowmag.org

It's an exciting time when a specimen gets installed as an exhibit. Here are some sneak peeks of a Dimetrodon specimen that was returned to the MCZ after a 60-yr loan, given a visual refresh and stabilization, and installed in the Northwest Building on Harvard campus. Stay tuned for the full reveal!

Harvard students traveled to Utah over spring break last month for the @harvardoeb.bsky.social course The History and Evolution of Life on Earth, led by our Faculty-Curator in Invertebrate Paleontology Javier Ortega-Hernández and funded by the MCZ.

Check out this stunning fossil and life reconstruction of the chelicerate Megachelicerax, which lived 500 million years ago! @invertebratepal.bsky.social @harvardoeb.bsky.social Credit: @cambrianlife.bsky.social and Masato Hattori/Harvard University. Learn more at NYT https://nyti.ms/4tu8DnQ

Are you a biologist with a focus on malacology or invertebrate zoology? The MCZ is looking to hire a Curatorial Assistant in our malacology department! Apply at https://bit.ly/4sbHCnL

The 2026 spring deadline for Ernst Mayr Grants supporting research in animal systematics is tomorrow April 1! Aluska Santos from Brazil's Federal University of Paraná received funding to visit collections in Chile and Venezuela for her project on a small family of leaf beetles, Lamprosomatinae.

A peek into our mammalogy collection featuring marsupials, sloths, and the primates that manage the collection - Madeleine, Mark and Nina. photo by Juan Giribet

Harvard students traveled to the Florida Keys over spring break for the @harvardoeb.bsky.social course Biology and Evolution of Invertebrate Animals, looking for creatures like this sea slug. The MCZ funds spring break trips for many OEB courses, adding a meaningful field component to classwork.

Study from MCZ & @harvardoeb.bsky.social reveals surprising totipotency in early worm embryos, going against previous assumptions that because individual cells at this stage have different roles, removing or rearranging them would prevent growth of a complete organism. @currentbiology.bsky.social

MCZ staff have been assisting with cleaning and updating the New England Forest exhibit (featuring MCZ specimens) in the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Vitrines (glass display cases) are being added to protect some of the specimens on display that were previously exposed.

A peek into our collections showcasing a Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi) specimen. Kodiak bears are a subspecies of brown bear that exist only in the Alaskan Kodiak Archipelago. They are the largest brown bear and comparable in size to polar bears. photo by Juan Giribet

Thanks to the careful work of our curatorial assistants, a valuable holotype (a specimen used when describing a new species) was discovered after being lost for over 90 years! Rediscovery of the enigmatic holotype of Buthus barbouri Werner, 1932 ... Zootaxa at https://bit.ly/4rz3HfY

Meaghan Sorce, Curatorial Assistant in Ichthyology, recently returned from an expedition with the @schmidtocean.bsky.social R/V Falkor off the coast of South America to explore how gut microbiomes shape the fate of carbon. Meaghan collected mesopelagic fish and other specimens for the MCZ.

Applications for our summer GUR grants are due March 16! These grants support faculty-supervised research by Harvard College undergraduates https://bit.ly/4lIg1aO. Aditya Tummala received funding last year for his project Exploring Local Community Involvement in Kafue National Park, Zambia.

MCZ Faculty-Curator @invertebratepal.bsky.social, @cambrianlife.bsky.social and Walker Weyland explored the Red Wheeler Lagerstätte in Utah to better understand the diversity and ecological complexity of the earliest animal-dominated marine ecosystems, supported by MCZ Putnam Expedition Grants.