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Reposted by Dave Rudkin

Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · Jun 26

One of the greatest stories every told (by the fossil record)

Very cool new paper reveals insight into how starfish & their kin evolved from their bilateral ancestors to the 5-fold symmetry we see today 🧪

A new Cambrian stem-group echinoderm reveals the evolution of the anteroposterior axis

Woodgate et al. describe a new bilaterally symmetrical echinoderm, Atlascystis acantha, from the Cambrian of Morocco. Comparisons of plate growth with other echinoderms reveal that Atlascystis possess...

www.cell.com

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Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · Jun 25

August 6th! It's coming up fast!

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 25

Really looking forward to the next in the series ... "The Burnt"!

Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · Jun 25

Happy Publiversary to HOODOO HOUSE, which came out one year ago today. This mystery has captured a strong following with readers who love the twisted mystery, the evolving relationship between Declan Hunt & Charlie Watts ... and a young character named Henry Quill who nearly steals the book.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 24

I've been avoiding bsky because of ... you know, too much angst & shit. But it's #TrilobiteTuesday, so if you're feeling #disarticulated, you're not alone. Scale puzzle of #Isotelusrex (72 cm long!) I cut from ethafoam showing how the calcified dorsal #exoskeleton separated into 12 bits on #death.

A large puzzle in the shape of the giant (72 cm in length) trilobite, Isotelus rex, cut from white 1/2" sheet ethafoam. The left image shows all the individual sclerites of the dorsal exoskeleton in juxtaposition, as in life. The ventral hypostome is not included in this version. The right image shows separation between the free cheeks (librigenae) and the cranidium, and between the tail shield (pygidium) and thorax.

In the left image, all the dorsal sclerites, including the 8 thoracic pleurae, are slightly separated, but remain in alignment. This configuration represents a more or less intact carcass, after decay of the arthrodial membranes. On the right, the exoskeletal elements are skewed, as might be seen in a carcass with minor post mortem disturbance. Moult remains -- in which the living trilobite actively shed the old exoskeleton -- typically show inversion and/or rotation of certain elements, often displaced some distance from each other.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 24

Foul-mouthed, foul-brained ... foul in every conceivable way.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 24

Nothing about pycnogonids ("sea spiders") surprises me!

Geology Johnson @geologyjohnson.bsky.social · Jun 24

I'm sorry excuse me what!?

Dr. Katy Croff Bell @katycroffbell.bsky.social · Jun 20

Feast on some recent deep sea news & discoveries, like a sea spider covered in methane-fueled bacteria.
🌊🦑🌏🧪

@nicoledubilier.bsky.social
www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/s...

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Mellow Lugosi’s Dead 🧛🏻‍♂️ @flyingtrilobite.com · Jun 24

SciArt Feed 🐡 Admin Reminder:

The SciArt Feed now has 3,500+ subscribers, and 1.5k+ approved contributors.

I will yeet any artist off of that approved list for being transphobic or hateful.

It remains a safe space for artists to share 2SLGBTQI+ themed science art.

Carry on.

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Jess Cost @crinoidsoup.bsky.social · Jun 19

This #FossilFriday- #Juneteenth I'm celebrating the life and work of Louis R. Purnell. Started out as a Tuskegee Airman. Taught himself geology and paleontology, found a passion for nautiloids and cephalopods. He wrote a catalog of invertebrates while working with the NMNH that is still the go-to.

Photo shows Mr. Louis R. Purnell in his role with the National Air and Space Museum where he became the premier expert on space flight artifacts, namely spacesuits. He was also a speech pathologist and later, the Smithsonian's first Black curator. A lifetime of excellence and perseverance.

Photo collage shows tidbits of my own meager collection of ammonite and cephalopod fossils.

I hear you, Mr. Purnell. I'm fascinated, too.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 19

Excellent!!

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · Jun 18

Another new horseshoe crab, this time the first known Silurian species, filling a 63 million year gap in the horseshoe crab fossil record.

This specimen was actually found by Sam Ciurca 50 years ago - another example of the importance of museum collections! ⚒️🧪

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

An image of the fossil horseshoe crab under different lightings. The fossil is rounded but the most clearly visible part is the long tail.

A phylogeny showing the position of Ciurcalimulus between Lunataspis and all other horseshoe crabs.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 19

It’s great to see another of Sam’s treasures in the limelight — a fitting tribute to his collecting prowess, knowledge, and generosity!
L

Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 18

I hope you get the opportunity -- both Mario and the MPE are true gems!!

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 18

This is absolutely amazing!! The MPE has some fabulous stuff .... hope we see more soon.

Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · Jun 18

Having a great time visiting the Musée de paléontologie et de l'évolution. The Neuville Formation (Ordovician) contains one the most spectacularly preserved echinoderm Lagerstätte I've ever seen. Very excited to be working on this! Here's a beautiful Ectenocrinus w/ rhombiferan blastozoans attached

Lightly pyritized disparid crinoid with long, slender arms and rambles. Multiple small specimens of complete rhombiferan blastozoans are attached to the base of the crinoid stem with their steles wrapping around the column

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · Jun 17

My latest for American Scientist Magazine helps give scientists the tools to fight back against politicized charges that our research is silly or pointless- tools that will work whether you’re asked “why are we funding this” from your asshole uncle at Thanksgiving or an asshole US Senator.
🧪🌎

“Why Are We Funding This?”

Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.

www.americanscientist.org

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Elwyn Rain @ewylana.bsky.social · Jun 17

Thank you so much for 4.9k ! Lets do a small #artshare to celebrate !
Introduce yourself and drop below some of your favorite art !

An artwork showing a strange aquatic humanoid creature, with blue skin in a chitonous armor having fun riding an armored anomalocaris in similar colors. But below her a giant creature is swimming, and the head of the monster is going in her direction...

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 17

Awesome!!

Dino Pulerà @dpulera.bsky.social · Jun 17

Today is World Crocodile Day! Bringing attention and awareness about these amazing reptiles and their relatives alligators, caiman, gharials. This skull of an American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) was created for my book, The Dissection of Vertebrates
#sciart, #WorldCrocodileDay #anatomy

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 17

Fantastic — save for the location. I won’t be crossing the border for quite some time …

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Rudy Lerosey-Aubril @cambrianlife.bsky.social · Jun 17

Another 🚨Paper alert🚨 Everything you ever wanted to know about colony development in graptolithine pterobranchs 🪸 Still much to uncover, but this sums up what we know so far. Enjoy, it is open access 😜
doi.org/10.1111/ede....

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 17

Enrolled Isotelus latus w dorsal pygidium broken away revealing classic isoteline "forked" #hypostome (ventral "mouth plate") disarticulated from cephalic doublure. Beautiful preservation of fingerprint-like #terrace ridges! #Ordovician (~450 MYA), Lindsay Fm, Colborne, #Ontario 🇨🇦 #TrilobiteTuesday

A black & white photo of an enrolled isoteline trilobite. The specimen is viewed from beneath, with the cephalon facing downward -- only a narrow band of the ventral cephalic doublure is exposed at the top of the image, with the median connective suture just visible. The dorsal pygidial shield is broken away, leaving an impression of the ventral doublure as a broad arcuate band with curving parallel terrace ridges. Overlapping thoracic pleurae can be seen on either side of the specimen. Underneath the missing pygidium, the hypostome -- detached from the cephalic doublure -- is revealed from the ventral side. It is of classic isoteline form, with a deep posterior embayment giving a broadly "forked" appearance. Anastomosing terrace ridges are well displayed, running more or less parallel to the lateral margins. The scale bar at the bottom of the image is 20 mm in length.

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Chris Mah @echinoblog.bsky.social · Jun 16

OH NEAT Methane eating sea spiders #pycnogonida #seaspiderSaturday How often do you see THOSE in the news? www.sfgate.com/la/article/m...

Methane-eating sea spiders discovered off Southern California coast

Over 1,300 different sea spiders are found deep underwater in the ocean.

www.sfgate.com

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Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · Jun 16

So @fossilrob.bsky.social & I have a new podcast: The Fossil Files. Each week, we discuss a recently published paper on fossils. It's kind of like journal club, but with only mine and Rob's opinions. You can listen on our website or on Spotify: fossils.libsyn.com or open.spotify.com/show/2jWWagt...

The Fossil Files

In “The Fossil Files”, a pair of palaeontologists delve into the latest discoveries from the world of palaeontology and seek to bring fossils to back to life. Each episode, Susie and Rob will discuss ...

fossils.libsyn.com

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · Jun 15

Nice small display on fossil folklore at the Dorchester Museum stand, Lyme Regis Fossil Festival.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · Jun 16

#MolluscMonday Non-marine bivalves pack a spectacular stone panel in a 16th century fireplace at Hardwick Hall (NT), Derbyshire. This ‘cockleshell marble’ is associated with the Tupton coal seam of Late Carboniferous age.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · Jun 16

On #MolluscMonday: a #fossil #shellbed of the iconic Late #Triassic (~210 MYA) #bivalve, Monotis (Pacimonotis) subcircularis, Pardonet Fm, NE #BritishColumbia 🇨🇦. This subgenus has an extensive circum-Pacific distribution in rocks of similar age.

Large, light grey, semicircular shells of a distinctive pterioid bivalve mollusc are strewn over the surface of a darker grey limestone slab. The thin valves carry well-developed radiating ribs, with sets of finer ribs between more prominent ones. Faint concentric growth lines are also visible. Some valves are more or less complete, while others are fragmentary; there is considerable overlap of individual shells.

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Mellow Lugosi’s Dead 🧛🏻‍♂️ @flyingtrilobite.com · Jun 15

If you enjoy my work and would like to send a few bucks my way, I have a Ko-fi:

ko-fi.com/flyingtrilob...

Support FlyingTrilobite

ko-fi.com

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Mellow Lugosi’s Dead 🧛🏻‍♂️ @flyingtrilobite.com · Jun 14

Sharing with the #SciArt Feed:
(And yes the SciArt Feed can be "political"—science and art both reflect political facets of society.)

Emma LeRae @emmalerae.bsky.social · Jun 14

Be safe out there today.

No kings!

Artwork depicting a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus battling with the T. rex being gored by the two long horns of the Triceratops. The image composed of oranges and blues with the blood being bright red. Underneath the image is the text "Death to the Tyrants".

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