Dave Rodland
@daverodland.bsky.social
Geologist to the 3rd degree and (formerly) professional necromancer. Paleoecology, taphonomy, stratigraphy, marine biology ... all things Earth history. Living in the past and talking to dead things since the late Holocene.
#TrilobiteTuesday has crept up on us again in the dark, twilight waters of the Welsh Ordovician. This one is Trinucleus, a blind trilobite characterized by a pitted fringe along the anterior margin of the cephalon.
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
#TrilobiteTuesday has crept up on us again in the dark, twilight waters of the Welsh Ordovician. This one is Trinucleus, a blind trilobite characterized by a pitted fringe along the anterior margin of the cephalon.
In under the wire for #MolluskMonday with some turretellid gastropods. As always, some of these have predatory drill holes. ⚒️🧪🐌
November 25, 2025 at 3:15 AM
In under the wire for #MolluskMonday with some turretellid gastropods. As always, some of these have predatory drill holes. ⚒️🧪🐌
We can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back, Charlie Brown.
You can be my wingman any time, Charlie Brown.
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should, Charlie Brown
November 24, 2025 at 3:19 AM
We can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back, Charlie Brown.
Re-watching Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ... while I love the first, as any child of the 80s does, and I think Afterlife was a more-than-wortthy successor, I feel like this one didn't get a fair shake. It's better than its rep, and I identify harder with Phoebe's arc than I should.
November 24, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Re-watching Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ... while I love the first, as any child of the 80s does, and I think Afterlife was a more-than-wortthy successor, I feel like this one didn't get a fair shake. It's better than its rep, and I identify harder with Phoebe's arc than I should.
Nobody's murdered me yet.
Not that it would keep me down.
Not that it would keep me down.
November 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Nobody's murdered me yet.
Not that it would keep me down.
Not that it would keep me down.
Without downloading any new pics, what's it like dating you?
November 22, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Without downloading any new pics, what's it like dating you?
#FossilFriday isn't done yet! 🧪⚒️🦪 In today's installment, we have interior decor from a lovely little diner I had lunch in over 10 years ago, along the southern Oregon coast. Look, I have very specific professional interests. Some of them are boring.
November 21, 2025 at 10:23 PM
#FossilFriday isn't done yet! 🧪⚒️🦪 In today's installment, we have interior decor from a lovely little diner I had lunch in over 10 years ago, along the southern Oregon coast. Look, I have very specific professional interests. Some of them are boring.
Celebrating a year on Bluesky (+/-1 million, because my dates are so not calibrated), I figured I might bring back some old posts buried in the feed for #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪
There's still plenty of material from the old collection I haven't posted yet, but I have some old favorites worth revisiting!
There's still plenty of material from the old collection I haven't posted yet, but I have some old favorites worth revisiting!
Hi there, science feed! 🧪 For your consideration: phosphatic shell fragments from lingulid brachiopods in siltstone, from the lower Triassic Dinwoody Formation of SW Montana. Preservation is a little rough, but two valves are loosely connected at the pedicle end.
November 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Celebrating a year on Bluesky (+/-1 million, because my dates are so not calibrated), I figured I might bring back some old posts buried in the feed for #FossilFriday ⚒️🧪
There's still plenty of material from the old collection I haven't posted yet, but I have some old favorites worth revisiting!
There's still plenty of material from the old collection I haven't posted yet, but I have some old favorites worth revisiting!
You know, I'm not good about #TrilobiteTuesday. They weren't a strength of the collection, unless you count a stupid number of Silica shale phacopids that probably aren't Phacops rana as labeled, but ... I am not a trilobite guy.
These are a couple of olenellids, famous as tectonic shear indicators
These are a couple of olenellids, famous as tectonic shear indicators
November 19, 2025 at 2:10 AM
You know, I'm not good about #TrilobiteTuesday. They weren't a strength of the collection, unless you count a stupid number of Silica shale phacopids that probably aren't Phacops rana as labeled, but ... I am not a trilobite guy.
These are a couple of olenellids, famous as tectonic shear indicators
These are a couple of olenellids, famous as tectonic shear indicators
#MolluskMonday has fallen upon us like a 10km diameter carbonaceous chondrite. Boom! 🧪⚒️🦑
Today, your reminder that you don't need to keep everything neat and tidy. You can loosen up a little and unwind like a heteromorphic ammonite!
Today, your reminder that you don't need to keep everything neat and tidy. You can loosen up a little and unwind like a heteromorphic ammonite!
November 17, 2025 at 11:52 PM
#MolluskMonday has fallen upon us like a 10km diameter carbonaceous chondrite. Boom! 🧪⚒️🦑
Today, your reminder that you don't need to keep everything neat and tidy. You can loosen up a little and unwind like a heteromorphic ammonite!
Today, your reminder that you don't need to keep everything neat and tidy. You can loosen up a little and unwind like a heteromorphic ammonite!
Last saved meme is your moral philosophy.
November 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Last saved meme is your moral philosophy.
Quote with your art with horns, apparently?
November 15, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Quote with your art with horns, apparently?
We live near the northern edge of the range for black vultures, an unusually social variety of carrion bird. There were a lot of 'em circling my old campus today. A LOT.
The ancient Greeks would have been able to augur something from this, but I suspect the meaning isn't subtle.
The ancient Greeks would have been able to augur something from this, but I suspect the meaning isn't subtle.
November 15, 2025 at 10:11 PM
We live near the northern edge of the range for black vultures, an unusually social variety of carrion bird. There were a lot of 'em circling my old campus today. A LOT.
The ancient Greeks would have been able to augur something from this, but I suspect the meaning isn't subtle.
The ancient Greeks would have been able to augur something from this, but I suspect the meaning isn't subtle.
I was today years old when I realized that the nautiloids on my Cincinnatian seaway coffee mug were encrusted with epibionts!
Probably supposed to be microconchids, but I suppose they could include tiny edrioasteroids. 🦑🪸🦂🪼⭐️
Probably supposed to be microconchids, but I suppose they could include tiny edrioasteroids. 🦑🪸🦂🪼⭐️
November 15, 2025 at 2:29 PM
I was today years old when I realized that the nautiloids on my Cincinnatian seaway coffee mug were encrusted with epibionts!
Probably supposed to be microconchids, but I suppose they could include tiny edrioasteroids. 🦑🪸🦂🪼⭐️
Probably supposed to be microconchids, but I suppose they could include tiny edrioasteroids. 🦑🪸🦂🪼⭐️
I am not going up against all of SVP for #FossilFriday... so, enjoy the somewhat enigmatic (and in this case, woefully undocumented) graptolite bearing shale. ⚒️🧪
Graptolites were biostratigraphically useful colonial fossils of the lower Paleozoic, often found in organic rich mudstones like this.
Graptolites were biostratigraphically useful colonial fossils of the lower Paleozoic, often found in organic rich mudstones like this.
November 14, 2025 at 10:40 PM
I am not going up against all of SVP for #FossilFriday... so, enjoy the somewhat enigmatic (and in this case, woefully undocumented) graptolite bearing shale. ⚒️🧪
Graptolites were biostratigraphically useful colonial fossils of the lower Paleozoic, often found in organic rich mudstones like this.
Graptolites were biostratigraphically useful colonial fossils of the lower Paleozoic, often found in organic rich mudstones like this.
One of the underlying assumptions of democracy is human equality, predicated on mutual respect.
A lack of respect ... the desire to control, manipulate, abuse or take advantage of others ... should be all anyone ever needs to know about one's character.
How we react is a different problem.
A lack of respect ... the desire to control, manipulate, abuse or take advantage of others ... should be all anyone ever needs to know about one's character.
How we react is a different problem.
November 14, 2025 at 4:38 AM
One of the underlying assumptions of democracy is human equality, predicated on mutual respect.
A lack of respect ... the desire to control, manipulate, abuse or take advantage of others ... should be all anyone ever needs to know about one's character.
How we react is a different problem.
A lack of respect ... the desire to control, manipulate, abuse or take advantage of others ... should be all anyone ever needs to know about one's character.
How we react is a different problem.
I wish this was the stake-through-the-heart chop-off-the-head fill-the-mouth-with-garlic bury-them-separately end of the debate, but since when did evidence, logic or reason matter?
Ctenophores are awesome.
Ctenophores are awesome.
November 14, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I wish this was the stake-through-the-heart chop-off-the-head fill-the-mouth-with-garlic bury-them-separately end of the debate, but since when did evidence, logic or reason matter?
Ctenophores are awesome.
Ctenophores are awesome.
It's been increasingly obvious for years that marine tetrapods diversified rapidly in the early Triassic - in keeping with my argument (now a quarter century old) that the lag in invertebrate diversity masked an incredibly rapid recovery in abundance and biomass in hospitable settings. Still, damn.
Earliest oceanic tetrapod ecosystem reveals rapid complexification of Triassic marine communities | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Earliest oceanic tetrapod ecosystem reveals rapid complexification of Triassic marine communities
Tetrapods invaded oceanic environments after the cataclysmic end-Permian mass extinction (EPME), with temnospondyl amphibian to reptile-dominated assemblages succeeding across the Early Triassic [~251...
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 1:01 AM
It's been increasingly obvious for years that marine tetrapods diversified rapidly in the early Triassic - in keeping with my argument (now a quarter century old) that the lag in invertebrate diversity masked an incredibly rapid recovery in abundance and biomass in hospitable settings. Still, damn.
Marine biology link of the day: okay, that tag is a holdover from other social media efforts, and very decisively not applicable anymore. But this is a good 'un.
And I am grinding my teeth flat over lack of open access options for anything interesting today.
And I am grinding my teeth flat over lack of open access options for anything interesting today.
This isn’t the first time corals have faced the borderline of extinction over the last 460 million years, and they have always managed to bounce back and recolonize habitats lost during severe climate changes.
Corals survived past climate changes by retreating to the deeps
A recent die-off in Florida puts the spotlight on corals’ survival strategies.
arstechnica.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Marine biology link of the day: okay, that tag is a holdover from other social media efforts, and very decisively not applicable anymore. But this is a good 'un.
And I am grinding my teeth flat over lack of open access options for anything interesting today.
And I am grinding my teeth flat over lack of open access options for anything interesting today.
Reposted by Dave Rodland
Monday mayhem!
We've never seen a scallop crash into an anemone riding a snail through a seafloor field of brittle stars either — but hey, you explore to see something new, right?!
ROV footage from #Ecosde2Cañones expedition along the Patagonian shelf break.
We've never seen a scallop crash into an anemone riding a snail through a seafloor field of brittle stars either — but hey, you explore to see something new, right?!
ROV footage from #Ecosde2Cañones expedition along the Patagonian shelf break.
November 10, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Monday mayhem!
We've never seen a scallop crash into an anemone riding a snail through a seafloor field of brittle stars either — but hey, you explore to see something new, right?!
ROV footage from #Ecosde2Cañones expedition along the Patagonian shelf break.
We've never seen a scallop crash into an anemone riding a snail through a seafloor field of brittle stars either — but hey, you explore to see something new, right?!
ROV footage from #Ecosde2Cañones expedition along the Patagonian shelf break.
Reposted by Dave Rodland
November 12, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Dave Rodland
NEW – Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
November 11, 2025 at 12:01 AM
NEW – Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
Reposted by Dave Rodland
Did you know. That the meme-explosion that was the wooden model of Sacabambaspis (an Ordovician jawless fish) held at a Museum in Helsinki, was created by a pioneering Estonian fish paleontologist and palaeoartist, Elga Mark-Kurik. 🧵
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Did you know. That the meme-explosion that was the wooden model of Sacabambaspis (an Ordovician jawless fish) held at a Museum in Helsinki, was created by a pioneering Estonian fish paleontologist and palaeoartist, Elga Mark-Kurik. 🧵
🌕🐌 #MolluskMonday 🧪⚒️
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
November 11, 2025 at 12:46 AM
🌕🐌 #MolluskMonday 🧪⚒️
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
Reposted by Dave Rodland
Lophophorata is monophyletic!
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
November 10, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Lophophorata is monophyletic!
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...