Author | Lightnews

AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 14h

Ah sorry - I don't hit a paywall for some reason.
Short summary - no charges, accusations, stuff seized, went nowhere, Bobby has a blog with science on it.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 14h

That opinion has also been disappearing gradually.
But some good scientists were also working in that paradigm.

I venture it's more that the amount of data, new dating techniques, and the stats framework to better deal with boundaries have all improved dramatically since the mid-90s.

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 16h

Cool new paper by my department-mate Ross Secord, @stevebrusatte.bsky.social & others showing that many dinosaur groups were hanging in there up until the bitter end of the Maastrichtian. (Aka, sampling & re-analysis >> Signor-Lipps in the end...)

www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

www.science.org

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Stephanie Baumgart, PhD 🦖🦆 @stephanopteryx.bsky.social · 17h

Just in time for spooky season: DINOSAUR "MUMMIES!"

Unlike Egyptian mummies, these don't have squishy bits preserved, but the rock around these carcasses had clay capturing texture of scales, a midline crest w/ keratin spikes, &, brand new, feet w/ hooves! 🧪⚒️🦕🦖

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Illustration of Edmontosaurus walking through a muddy substrate, leaving footprints behind. A dead Edmontosaurus is in the background on its side.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 15h

About time.

www.postandcourier.com/news/crime/c...

Charges dropped against former College of Charleston paleontologist in case of missing fossils

Charleston prosecutors dismissed charges against Robert Boessenecker and Sarah Jo Michalies of stealing about $8,000 worth of fossils and models.

www.postandcourier.com

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 20h

Drought makes fossil-hunting harder.

New from @restingdinoface.bsky.social with nice comments from @drjmchugh.bsky.social and Tony Friscia.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 21h

www.sierraclub.org/sierra/decad...

Decades of Drought Are Changing How Paleontologists Search for Fossils

As the planet gets hotter, relics of history are receding from view

www.sierraclub.org

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

I highly encourage folks to apply! I received one in 2015 and it resulted in several publications, including a new species of pinniped (Allodesmus demerei) with Morgan Churchill and a paper on the youngest known "proto-seal" Enaliarctos from Oregon with @ashpoust.bsky.social.

Scientific illustration and photo of a skeleton of an extinct pinniped, with a life restoration below, looking like a cross between a sea lion and an elephant seal. Figure 2. Allodesmus demerei sp. nov.: skeleton of holotype UWBM 75640 (top), skeletal reconstruction (middle), and
life restoration (bottom). Artwork by ©Robert Boessenecker.

Figure from a paper of mine illustrating a partial skeleton of an early pinniped in a sandstone block. Fig. 6. Mandibles and vertebrae of pinniped mammal Enaliarctos sp. (UWBM 89114) from Moolack Beach, Lincoln County, Oregon, Astoria Formation,
late early Miocene. Two sides of the block (A, B). Photographs (A1, B1), explanatory drawings (A2, B2).

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 1d

In celebration of the 'Walrus' special on @pbs.org Nature tonight, here's a thread about the fossil record of walruses! Walruses have a surprisingly diverse fossil record, and until very recently, lived extensively on temperate and subtropical coastlines down to Florida and Baja. 1/ 🦖🐬🧪 #walrus

The skull of Valenictus sheperdi, a 5myo fossil walrus with tusks but no teeth. The skull is gray with a white background

$The skull of the gigantic fossil sea lion like walrus Osodobenus in side view. The skull is fractured and white with very large but short tusk-like canines$ An isolated, curved tusk of the Plio-Pleistocene walrus Ontocetus

An isolated, curved tusk of the Plio-Pleistocene walrus Ontocetus

The skull of the fur seal sized early walrus Neotherium; it has small teeth, and a long, narrow skull.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 2d

Definitely a Lewellen area kid, so Matt had that right (as I'd expect).

If Stout did have an early connection to the museum, I'd love to learn about it!

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 2d

#toothtuesday Fur seals and sea lions evolved from ancestors with double-rooted teeth - but evolved single rooted teeth over the past five million years. Shown here is the 'anagenetic' evolution of the northern fur seal, Callorhinus ursinus. Read more here: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Evolution of the northern fur seal (Callorhinus) lineage over the last five million years. On the left is a series of diagrams showing the gradual fusion of the postcanine tooth roots, and on the right are photos of the actual fossils - the possibly ancestral Thalassoleon mexicanus through Callorhinus gilmorei, the early Pleistocene unnamed Callorhinus sp., and the modern Callorhinus ursinus.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 2d

*(sp.) Eiseley, sorry

AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 2d

Eisley pre-dated the UNSM Lisco work slightly. He did work at the Scott's Bluff bison quarry among others.

As a boy, Mylan found a mylagaulid skull on Blue Creek- but sent it to the Field Museum instead of us! Before he came here as a student he likely didn't have any strong ties with Morrill Hall.

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Griffin Lab @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social · 3d

Opening a field jacket in the new prep lab! Preparator Jack Wilson will work his way through the matrix to the croc skull hiding inside

A man and a woman opening a plaster jacket containing rock

A man licking rock off of a fossil housed in a plaster jacket

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Eric Scott @captainfossil.bsky.social · 3d

Happy #InternationalSlothDay! To celebrate w/ a paleontology twist, here's a fossilized skull and lower jaw of the extinct Pleistocene (Ice Age) ground sloth Paramylodon harlani, discovered in 2018 during excavation for the LA subway's La Cienega Station. 🧪🦥 #WorldSlothDay #MylodontMonday

Toothless skull and jaw of the extinct ground sloth Paramylodon harlani, in articulation, seen from an oblique front angle, with a small scale bar in the lower left. The reddish-brown skull is set against a white background. Specimen number LACM 8110/164767.

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Ville Sinkkonen @villesinkkonen.bsky.social · Jun 26

Once more some mammoths

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 4d

I love all vertebrates, but seeing people working on smushed fossil fish like this is like watching Houdini get out of a sealed tank. Might as well be magic to me! A bow(fin) in your direction.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 5d

I love finding out about new stuff!
There were giant camels, and giraffe camels with long necks, and tiny llama camels...

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 5d

I think the current thinking is that it was a lakebed with periodic drought, but I can't find anything with a definitive answer about their deaths. I'll have a better look.

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Denver Fowler Ph.D @denverfowler.bsky.social · 6d

Hadrosaurine braincase. #fossilfriday. Collected by Badlands #Dinosaur Museum, Jul 2025 & cleaned by Deanna. Associated skeleton from BLM-administered US #publiclands. Dinosaur Park Formation, Montana.

You're looking up into the underside of the skull roof. The bottom of the photo is the frontals.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 6d

I love all of Elephant Hall, but this is my favorite niche - esp. Because it's so rarely appreciated! Love to see this.
@unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social

cenofreak88.bsky.social @cenofreak88.bsky.social · 6d

Third installment of #gomphtober2025 : lower jaw of the amebelodont Amebelodon fricki. The largest jaw of any land animal. On display at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln.

#fossilfriday #universityofnebraskastatemuseum #universityofnebraskalincoln #elephant #prehistoricnebraska

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California Geological Survey @cageosurvey.bsky.social · 6d

Happy Geologic Map Day! The @cageosurvey.bsky.social
produces geologic maps at various scales & derivative maps showing important aspects of geologic hazards or resources. #EarthScienceWeek

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 6d

Nebraska preserves the largest camels that ever lived! 🐪 These Gigantocamelus died in a massive herd 3.5 million years ago.

The Lisco Camel Quarry, late 1930's.
A glimpse of history for #FossilFriday.
@unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social 🦕⚒️🧪

Many large bones in place at a fossil discovery. Three men are scattered across the bonebed, crouching to excavate the fossils.

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Museum of the Rockies @museumoftherockies.bsky.social · 6d

Happy #FossilFriday! This is one of the first complete #dinosaur #eggs discovered in North America! It is one of many eggs found in the #Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of #Montana at #EggMountain, a site that preserves dinosaur eggs and bones, ancient lizards, mammals, & more.

A hand holds a fossilized dinosaur egg with a cracked, textured surface. The grayish-black egg shows detailed preservation of its shell pattern and is displayed against a blurred background of an exhibit.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 6d

Peak Tony.

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AshPoust @ashpoust.bsky.social · 6d

Nebraska preserves the largest camels that ever lived! 🐪 These Gigantocamelus died in a massive herd 3.5 million years ago.

The Lisco Camel Quarry, late 1930's.
A glimpse of history for #FossilFriday.
@unsmmorrillhall.bsky.social 🦕⚒️🧪

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