Paul D. Taylor
@nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
540 followers 320 following 180 posts
Invertebrate palaeontologist and bryozoologist at the Natural History Museum, London.
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nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#FossilFriday Horizontal sections of concavo-convex brachiopods (probably productids) in gravestones of Carboniferous limestone in Winchester Cathedral. The outer rings are the convex ventral valves, the inner rings the concave dorsal valves.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#FontsOnFriday The magnificent 12th century Tournai Marble font in Winchester Cathedral depicting episodes from the life of St Nicholas.
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
thepalass.bsky.social
Zooid size reduction in cyclostome bryozoans from the Late Triassic to the present-day onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad.bsky.social
Photographs of two different bryozoans with very different zooid sizes. On the left, ?Hyporosopora sp. (NHMUK PI BZ8934) a species with small zooids, from the Cenomanian (Cretaceous) of Austin, Texas, USA. On the right, Reptomultisparsa harae, a species with large zooids (NHMUK D52832) from the Bajocian (Jurassic) of Shipton Gorge, Dorset, UK. Scale bar in the top right of each image is 200 microns.
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
lhliow.bsky.social
Always wonderful to do a bit of bryozoan work with @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social, led by Ma Junye from NIGPAS in Nanjing!
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
The Incredible Shrinking Bryozoans. Published today, our study of long-term zooid size decrease in the cyclostome form-genus 'Berenicea'. doi: 10.1111/pala.70027
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
Here are the details of the shrinking bryozoan paper, as the dot doesn't seem to work.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
The Incredible Shrinking Bryozoans. Published today, our study of long-term zooid size decrease in the cyclostome form-genus 'Berenicea'. doi: 10.1111/pala.70027
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
tomsharperocks.bsky.social
#MolluscMonday: James Sowerby's illustration of Ammonites bucklandi from the Lias of the Bath district, in vol.2 of Mineral Conchology (1818), the description brightened by the tale of William Buckland being proclaimed an 'Ammon Knight' by his friends for his mode of carrying a large specimen.
Illustration from Sowerby's Mineral Conchology of the large ammonite he named after William Buckland. It shows a large spiral shell with its inner whorls missing. Extract from Sowerby's published description: 'Found in the Blue Lias of Bath and the neighbourhood, measuring from a foot to 21 inches or more in diameter, and rather remarkable for having frequently lost the inner whorls; which circumstance, by a sort of friendly pun, has given rise to the name given it, in honour of a meritorious and enlightened Geologist, the Rev. W. Buckland, who having found a large specimen, was induced by his ardour to carry it himself, although of considerable weight, and being on horseback it was not the less inconvenient; but the inner whorls being gone so as to allow his head and shoulder to pass through, he placed it as a French horn is sometimes carried, above one shoulder and under the other, and thus rode with his friendly companions, who amused him by dubbing him an Ammon Knight; and thus the specimen was secured, by diverting the tedious toil otherwise hardly to be borne. May his zeal for information always be rewarded: may his abilities continue to meet that attention they have hitherto so deservedly gained: may his horn be exalted with honour.'
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#MolluscMonday Early Pleistocene Neptunea angulata from the Red Crag of East Anglia bearing a striking example of the shell repair trace fossil Caedichnus, normally representing failed attempts at predation by crabs. Would handling this sinistral snail have proved difficult for the crab?
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#FossilFriday An unused view of the bizarre tooth-whorl of the Permian cartilaginous fish Helicoprion taken for ‘Fossils. The Essential Guide’.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
The old Geological Museum Library at the NHM nowadays seems to be used mainly as a studio, frequently featuring in television programmes or news items. Long gone are the days when it was a place to locate and read books.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
This short article is worth viewing if only for the portrait of the artist outside the Natural History Museum in London. DOI: 10.2110/palo.2025.031
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#MolluscMonday The invasive freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea is becoming so abundant in the Dronne at Les Églisottes (Gironde, SW France) that it is beginning to form a shell beach.
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
bexhillmuseum.bsky.social
To the right of this picture are fossil iguanodon teeth found at Old Roar quarry by #Bexhill Museum curator Henry Sargent in around 1916.
There are seven pieces varying in size from penny coin size to Dracula fang size! On the left of them is a replica of the fossil iguanodon tooth found in 1822. They are all displayed on a glass shelf in a display cabinet.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#FossilFriday Several comatulid crinoids are visible on this small slab from the Middle Jurassic of Wiltshire. An unused image taken for ‘Fossils. The essential guide’.
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
malihr.bsky.social
Self repost because this is pretty cool imho
malihr.bsky.social
Today's cool museum collection discovery: Bryozoans growing on crustaceans!

I believe this ctenostome belongs to the genus Triticella, which is known to grow on specific groups of marine invertebrates 🦐

#bryozoa #nordigbryo #marineinvertebrates
A photo of a dead crustacean in ethanol. It is covered by small zooids A close up of Triticella zooids. Thei have a long "stalk" and then you have the autozooid.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#MolluscMonday Photographed at Hampton Court Palace last week, orthocone nautiloids in paving slabs of Swedish Ordovician limestone. A microfault crosses the chambered phragmocone of one. The other fossil may represent a siphuncular structure but comments would be welcomed.
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
snnielsen.bsky.social
I just deleted my account. Not much use anyway and this is just too much... 🧪
hystericalblkns.bsky.social
If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.
The new TOC from academia dot edu. 

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nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
#FossilFriday Choose your favourite fossil ‘lollipop’ from these specimens of the Cretaceous stalked sponge Siphonia tulipa. Another unused image taken for ‘Fossils. The Essential Guide’.
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
malihr.bsky.social
When a Tubulipora ooeciostome is easy to find 🙏🏻🥳
A photo of a bryozoan colony with long tubular zooids A photo of a small, hooded structure that is attached to regular zooids
Reposted by Paul D. Taylor
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
I found this cartoon in an old diary of mine from 1994. At the time, the NHM was close to allowing a branch of the well-known fast food chain to open in its basement. Homo researchus looks a bit different these days.
nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
Are you sure that’s not a scleractinian brain coral on the cover?