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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · 1d

My mini mate G and I checking out some crocodilian skulls 🐊 #TBT #ThrowbackThursday gharial on the left, freshwater croc on the right.

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Aug 26

Great evening out with local legend Dr. Mark Hutchinson speaking on two of the best subjects - herpetology and palaeontology 🦎🦴🐍 thanks heaps to the hosts Uni of Adelaide Palaeontologists

Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Aug 26

Stoked to spend some time with the 2nd year students in their Vertebrate Form and Function prac class on fish, amphibians and reptiles 🐟🦎

Fixed wet specimen of Lepidosiren paradoxa, the South American lungfish.

A partial barramundi skull, Lates calcarifer.

Saltwater crocodile skull, Crocodylus porosus.

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 22

Registration for @CAVEPS_Palaeo conference is now open, secure your place here: pay.flinders.edu.au/SAE039

Visit the website for more info: www.caveps.org

a cartoon of homer simpson and his family standing next to each other with the words tickets tickets who needs tickets below them

ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson and his family standing next to each other with the words tickets tickets who needs tickets below them

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Neil Shubin @neilshubin.bsky.social · Aug 22

Missing links in evolution explained

news.uchicago.edu/explainer/mi...

'Missing links' of evolution, explained

When we look at the world around us, we see a wondrous variety of living things. How do species evolve into all these different forms? UChicago scientists explain.

news.uchicago.edu

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 19

Flinders Uni “fishy crew” catch up, extra special with John and Heather in town!!! 🦈🐟

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Aug 15

I ❤️ visiting SA Museum’s Science Centre any chance I get, and today’s opportunity came via a tour for National Science Week.

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Aug 14

Big congrats to fellow palaeo student Cate Sexton on her very engaging 3MT presentation and progressing through to the Flinders Uni final. Cate spoke about the long history being uncovered at Warratyi rock shelter and partnering with the local Adnyamathanha community.

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 5

Want to present your work at the upcoming Conference of #Australasian #Vertebrate #Evolution, #Palaeontology and #Systematics (CAVEPS) 2025 in Adelaide (Australia) this November?

Make sure you submit your abstract by the end of this month! www.caveps.org

CAVEPS: Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics

CAVEPS 2025. You are invited to attend the 19th Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics (CAVEPS). It will be held from 24th - 30th of Nov 2025 on Kaurna Yarta at...

www.caveps.org

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Aug 1

Meanwhile in Australia... www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

'This takes the cake': Endangered handfish found in Hobart CBD street

The handfish looked as if it had just "flopped out of the water" when it was discovered by an office worker in central Hobart.

www.abc.net.au

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Jul 25

Nothing better than Friday knock offs at Science in the Pub while @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social regales us with tales of bird brains and lungs and predation and senses and courting and calling 🦜 🐦‍⬛🪿🦉🦅

Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Jul 18

For #FossilFriday here's a 3D object of the fossil fish slab containing tetrapodomorph fish #Canowindra #grossi, produced by the Australian Museum.
austmus.pedestal3d.com/r/ALTWfgsv01

Canowindra Fossil Fish Slab F47L53

<p>This is the original slab found in 1955, collected by a road worker who was working approximately 10 km west of Canowindra. During this process he unearthed a large rock slab with unusual “fo...

austmus.pedestal3d.com

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Paleo Nerds Podcast @paleonerdspod.bsky.social · Jun 27

🎉 Happy #FossilFriday! Episode #87 is here! 🎉

Explore fossil fish 🦈 and the deep origins of vertebrate life with Dr. Michael Coates, Vertebrate Paleontologist and Chair of Organismal Biology and Anatomy Professor at the University of Chicago.

🔊 Listen now!
www.paleonerds.com/podcast/mich...

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Nic Rawlence @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social · May 15

Listening to and participating in the worldwide critical media commentary about the dire wolf 'de-extinction', one thing struck me. Indigenous voices, which have a vital role in this debate, were largely silent, leading me to co-write this theconversation.com/return-of-th...

Return of the huia? Why Māori worldviews must be part of the ‘de-extinction’ debate

There is nothing to stop de-extinction companies using specimens from museum collections, despite little Māori support for reviving lost native species.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · May 14

Thrilled to announce our latest paper, published today in @nature.com on the oldest fossil amniote trackways, from the earliest Carboniferous of southeastern Australia.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Earliest amniote tracks recalibrate the timeline of tetrapod evolution - Nature

Analysis of a fossil trackway from the earliest Carboniferous of Australia shows prints of toes with claws, suggesting that the origin of amniotes was at least 35–40 million years earlier than pr...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Dr Stephan Lautenschlager @palaeostephan.bsky.social · Apr 28

An interesting change from reconstructing dinosaurs and other terrestrial animals... My digital restoration and reconstruction of the cyathaspid heterostracan Anglaspis heintzi from our new paper (see below). #FossilFish #DigitalReconstruction #Palaeontology

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Mar 18

Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are almost home 🚀 I’m looking forward to hearing their stories once they’re recovered and ready. Pic with Butch is from his lecture series a few years ago.

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

K.T. Elliott @ktelliottmicro.bsky.social · Mar 16

In biology, I keep thinking of the bacterial strains, yeast strains, plasmids, mouse lines, worm mutants etc etc etc that will be lost to science FOREVER because the freezers and animal facilities won't be maintained

Generations of work will be lost in essentially an instant

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Mar 16

People might think that whatever destruction is done to science in the US, we can undo in 4 years with a Democratic president and Congress.

The problem is that many areas require specialized knowledge and skills built up over years, and once that's lost, it's hard to get back.

Prof. Bob Howarth @profbobhowarth.bsky.social · Mar 14

The damage will be far worse than just a 4-yr gap. Both I and the individual who has managed this site for most of the past 50 yrs are retiring within the next 2 years. With this closure, we will not be able to plan a transition.

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Science Friday @scifri.bsky.social · Mar 16

What it's like to work a day in Antarctica?

Learn more: www.sciencefriday.com/icefossils

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Mar 12

Hello friends! CAVEPS (#Conference on #Australian #Vertebrate #Evolution #Palaeontology & #Systematics) to be held in Adelaide Nov 24-30th 2025 first circular is out!

If you haven't received it via email you may not be on our mailing list, but access it here: drive.google.com/file/d/1Xm1w...

CAVEPS 2025 1st Circular final.pdf

drive.google.com

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Mar 10

I’m back from holidays in Sri Lanka, highlights soon 🐆🐘🦚 but this water monitor in Kandy Lake couldn’t wait #Varanus #salvator

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Jamie Wood @larusnz.bsky.social · Feb 19

Vilma Perez kicks off the University of Adelaide presentations on day 1 of #sedna2025, showing some neat ancient lacustrine microbial communities and function from Kangaroo Island

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Reposted by Corinne Mensforth

Z. Jack Tseng @tsengzj.bsky.social · Feb 12

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology issues statement on the recent Executive Orders and their impact on the SVP community.

We are now facing unprecedented, systemic challenges to scientific enterprise, its infrastructure, and the diverse people and communities that make it possible. The recent executive orders issued by the Office of the President of the United States threaten to directly harm our discipline and the people in it.

As paleontologists, we know that in times of upheaval, ecological communities that fare the best tend to be the most diverse. Analogously, our varied backgrounds and perspectives and our willingness to listen to and learn from each other have enabled us to adapt to challenges facing our discipline and our Society in the past. We believe that the best approach to overcoming these new challenges is to turn to our fundamental values and our mission, which includes facilitating the cooperation of all persons concerned with the history, evolution, ecology, comparative anatomy, and taxonomy of vertebrate animals. We take this moment to specifically support and affirm the right of all of our members and our non-member colleagues to conduct science and live their lives in safety and harmony, no matter their gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, age, or citizenship status.

We encourage members in positions of safety and security to advocate for members who are not. Speak out in favor of research funding, evidence-based policies, and policies that ensure people of all identities receive equitable protections and opportunities. SVP leadership is actively working with other scientific organizations to respond to and mitigate the impact of these government actions on our members. We will continue to prioritize building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive vertebrate paleontology community where all feel welcome and are able to thrive.

The mission of our Society is primarily scientific in nature. We seek to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology throughout the world,

and foster the scientific, educational, and personal appreciation and understanding of vertebrate fossils and fossil sites. Several executive actions taken by the current presidential administration are antithetical to this mission, including the pause and audit of federal grant funding, the silencing of federal employees, the stripping of climate history data from government websites, the attempts to downsize the federal workforce, including departments charged with maintaining fossils and fossil sites, and attacks on academic freedom, climate change research, disabled people, transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people, immigrants, and endeavors for diversity, equity and inclusion. These actions, if successful, will impede our ability to carry out our mission and harm the broader practice of science.

The Society would like to gather additional information regarding the effects of recent federal action on paleontologists on the ground. To help us in this task, we ask that you share your experiences. We would like to know if you have been impacted or may be impacted by these executive actions. We recognize that at this point there is uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the federal funding audit, pending legal challenges, and other aspects of these executive actions, so you may not know the full impacts yet. This uncertainty itself is an impact. If you have been or might be impacted by these executive actions, please fill out this survey. Please also provide any ideas or suggestions, including areas of concern on which you believe the Society should focus.

Below we share some resources that you may find helpful when considering ways to support your colleagues and/or take action during these tumultuous times. We appreciate that this is a time full of uncertainty for many of you, especially those located in the United States, and we will do our best to keep you informed of Society actions.

In solidarity,
Stuart Sumida, SVP President, and the SVP Executive Comm.

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Corinne Mensforth @corinnemensforth.bsky.social · Feb 11

The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) publishes the 'Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research' and the 'Guide to Applying the AIATSIS Code of Ethics' here: aiatsis.gov.au/research/eth...

Ethical research

aiatsis.gov.au