Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 1d

Devastating news: the Slender-billed Curlew has just been declared extinct. This Slender-billed Curlew is from "A history of the birds of Europe, not observed in the British Isles" (1863). #SciArt by Benjamin Fawcett #ExtinctionIsForever www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42530095

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 2d

It's #NautilusNight!⁣ The common name "paper nautilus" for the genus Argonauta comes from the Greek ναυτίλος nautílos, meaning "sailor". People once believed these octopuses used two of their arms as sails, as seen in this #SciArt from "Zoography" (1807) www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54312693 🧪

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 3d

#WorldOctopusDay is celebrated annually on October 8th to highlight the beauty, intelligence, and conservation needs of these fascinating creatures. This octopus is from British Conchology v5: Marine shells and Naked Mollusca (1869) www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24429566 #SciArt #ILoveBHL

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 4d

BHL has retrospectively assigned DOIs to 50,000+ historic journal articles These articles, which include the first scientific description of the Platypus (1799), are now part of the great linked network of scholarly research: doi.org/10.5962/p.30... #ILoveBHL #RetroPIDs 🧪
@crossref.bsky.social

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 4d

It's #WorldSalmonDay, which is all about eating salmon (health benefits, #SustainableFishing, etc), so, we thought we'd recycle our #FatBearWeek posts. Bon appetite! 🐟 #NationalSalmonDay #ILoveBHL

Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 16d

It's #FatBearWeek! To celebrate, here's a nice #FatBear from BHL's image collection. For more historic #SciArt of bears (of all sizes) see our BHL Flickr collection: www.flickr.com/photos/biodi.... For this year's fattest bears, see www.explore.org/fat-bear-week 🐻

A fat brown bear standing in front of a river with its front paws on a rock. There are snow covered mountains in the distance.

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 4d

We're going a bit batty in celebration of #BatAppreciationMonth. Archibald Thorburn's "British Mammals" (1920-1921) contains some of our favorite bat #SciArt in #BHLib. Check it out thanks to #FieldMuseum
➡️ www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48418555 #BatMonth 🦇 🧪

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MBA Library @nmbluk.bsky.social · 4d

From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters

A colour illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis. The main body is painted black, with eyes painted to look bioluminescent

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 5d

Did you know that BHL has #FullTextSearch? You can search for scientific names, places, etc, but you can also find all the things that "Alfred Russell Wallace" found "delicious" in his travels (search for "delicious" and then narrow search results by author). #ILoveBHL www.biodiversitylibrary.org 🧪

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 5d

To all our UK colleagues, happy #NationalBadgerDay! These badgers are based on a painting by Henry Hamilton Johnston & published in his "British Mammals" (1903), freely available in #BHLib via @amnh.org: www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9409345 #WorldBadgerDay #MammalMonday #LoveBadgers #ILoveBHL

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Mara Thacker 🏳️‍🌈🦇 @maralina.bsky.social · 8d

It's Bat Appreciation Month! To celebrate, I'm gonna try to share a bat a day. I'm three days late, but better late than never. Plus, I appreciate bats 24/7, 365. First up, here's a great image of bats from the Biodiversity Heritage Library which is currently directed by @treiceratops.bsky.social!

Drawing of bats from 1870 from the Biodiversity Heritage Library collections. There are three large bats in the foreground, hanging upside down and then several smaller bats in background. Drawings are in black. Bat in the middle has wings cutely closely around his body, the top bat is sort of climging a branch, and bottom most bat looks like he's scratching an itch.

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 10d

BHL joins the world mourning Jane Goodall. In 1999 she was awarded the David S Ingalls Jr Award for Excellence for her extraordinary contribution to science & conservation: she was even then “the most widely known & respected woman scientist in the world” www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51810328 🧪

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 10d

Happy #RaccoonAppreciationDay! Raccoons are highly intelligent and play an important role in our #ecosystem. This raccoon #SciArt is from Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle (1847-1849) www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19537971 #ILoveBHL

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Siobhan Leachman @siobhanleachman.bsky.social · 11d

I've been testing my extremely rudimentary SPARQL skills and created this basic @wikicommons.bsky.social query w.wiki/FVMn It returns all those @biodivlibrary.bsky.social images with both a BHL page id and depicts statements in their structured data. #BHL #WikiCommons #PrettyPictures

Screenshot of query results with Biodiversity Heritage Library images of bird, fish, plants and flowers.

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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 12d

A fossil from about 66 million years ago reveals a species of dinosaur that is new to science, with claws that would have ripped through its prey's flesh

Dinosaur found with a crocodile in its jaws named as new species

A fossil from about 66 million years ago reveals a species of dinosaur that is new to science, with claws that would have ripped through its prey's flesh

www.newscientist.com

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Great Southern Bioblitz @gsbioblitz.bsky.social · 14d

🐜🔥 The Bull Ant is getting ready… are you?

Only 25 days to go until the Great Southern BioBlitz 2025! 🌍✨
From ants to whales, every observation counts. Grab your camera, phone, and join nature lovers across the Southern Hemisphere.

📅 24–27 October 2025
👉 buff.ly/nhAd2B1

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 15d

Happy Black-footed Ferret Day! The BFF was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered on September 26, 1981. This illustration is from the species' first published description in "The quadrupeds of North America" (1851) by #Audubon & Bachman. www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34896869 #BFFDay

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Jenn-O'Lantern Wong @jennwong.bsky.social · 16d

TIL: The @biodivlibrary.bsky.social has digitised, downloadable copies of every issue of #AfricanViolet magazine from vol. 1 in 1947-48 to vol. 74 in 2021, courtesy of the Chicago Botanical Garden Lenhardt Library.

www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...

Cover of the January-February 2021 issue (v.74) of African Violet Magazine, the journal of the African Violet Society of America (avsa.org).

Image is of profusely blooming lavender blue standard variety "Optimara Manitoba," exhibited by: Mary Corondan, hybridized by: Holtkamp. Photo Credit: Winston Goretsky

Streptocarpus sect. #Saintpaulia
Usambaraveilchen (Usambara violets)

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Rod Page @rdmpage.bsky.social · 16d

Each year more content moves into the #publicdoman and hence @biodivlibrary.bsky.social can make more articles freely available. Today I've added articles from the Annales of @socentomolfr.bsky.social 1923-1928 to BioStor biostor.org/issn/0037-9271 and these will appear in BHL shortly.

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 16d

It's #FatBearWeek! To celebrate, here's a nice #FatBear from BHL's image collection. For more historic #SciArt of bears (of all sizes) see our BHL Flickr collection: www.flickr.com/photos/biodi.... For this year's fattest bears, see www.explore.org/fat-bear-week 🐻

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Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand @wikimediaaotearoa.bsky.social · 17d

Manaaki Whenua have appointed Siobhan Leachman as their Wikimedian in Residence!

Supporting staff to share their expertise, @siobhanleachman.bsky.social will be assisting the group with contributing content from their nationally significant collections to openly accessible Wikimedia platforms.

From Collections to Commons: Announcing a Wikimedian in Residence at Manaaki Whenua

From Collections to Commons: Announcing a Wikimedian in Residence at Manaaki Whenua Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Group now have a Wikimedian in Residence on board, […]

www.wikimedia.nz

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 17d

The first scientific description of the gorilla was published in 1847 by American physician Thomas Staughton Savage & naturalist Jeffries Wyman in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. #WorldGorillaDay #sciart #apes #skull #illustrations www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32267712

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BHL Australia @bhl-au.bsky.social · 26d

New this week! We’ve recently uploaded the “Handbook of forest trees for Victorian foresters”. The work of botanist Alfred Ewart, this book had an intended audience of forest officers & students of botany and forestry.

Explore the volume here:

www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/65053311

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Laocoon @laocooncitheronia.bsky.social · Sep 11

No, you cant. The Biodiversity Heritage Library is like nothing else in the history of the world.

Grant Haines @gehaines.bsky.social · Sep 11

Can’t overstate how valuable a resource BHL is

Nicole Kearney @nicolekearney.bsky.social · Sep 11

I've been managing BHL's #Bluesky account for 4 months now. It's an honour to share such beautiful & significant content, particularly at this critical time. BHL's future is uncertain, but hopeful. Follow along @biodivlibrary.bsky.social & on the #BHLblog: blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/tag/transition

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Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 26d

Thank you for sharing @julietalbot.bsky.social !

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Julie Talbot @julietalbot.bsky.social · 26d

As I'm preparing new lecture material, I'm reminded again of what a wonderful ressource the @biodivlibrary.bsky.social is! It's the world’s largest open access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives and it is well worth a visit (the images and the thematic collections are amazing)💚

Drawings of an array of reptiles in black and white with a sepia background that screams "old scientific journal article".

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