Flatcrank
@flatcrank3.bsky.social
Interested in the science of deep time and the dawn of life. Follow academia more generally, and research in geology, palaeontology, palaeobiology and evolutionary biology specifically. Also respect unusual interests and independent minded people.
Reposted by Flatcrank
Our palaeontology field team recently had the help of a helicopter to lift a huge block of ancient sea floor! These rock layers formed some 450 million years ago in a vast sea that covered Manitoba. With the block now at the Museum, it's ready for preparation for research and display. #FossilFriday
November 14, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Our palaeontology field team recently had the help of a helicopter to lift a huge block of ancient sea floor! These rock layers formed some 450 million years ago in a vast sea that covered Manitoba. With the block now at the Museum, it's ready for preparation for research and display. #FossilFriday
Reposted by Flatcrank
Presenting for #FossilFriday this bizarre 1.4 billion year old monstrosity. At first I thought the string of eggs was #Fungus contamination, but Raman data say no, it's kerogen with the correct thermal maturity*! Deets in alt text. Fossil is about 200 microns across. #Geology #Paleontology 1/2
November 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Presenting for #FossilFriday this bizarre 1.4 billion year old monstrosity. At first I thought the string of eggs was #Fungus contamination, but Raman data say no, it's kerogen with the correct thermal maturity*! Deets in alt text. Fossil is about 200 microns across. #Geology #Paleontology 1/2
Reposted by Flatcrank
Welcome back to #FossilFriday
Here is a piece of limestone with beautiful Rafinesquina trentonensis brachiopods I collected from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) in Jefferson County, Missouri. These rocks are age equivalent to the upper portion of the Cincinnatian Series. Anyone like seafood?
Here is a piece of limestone with beautiful Rafinesquina trentonensis brachiopods I collected from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) in Jefferson County, Missouri. These rocks are age equivalent to the upper portion of the Cincinnatian Series. Anyone like seafood?
November 28, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Welcome back to #FossilFriday
Here is a piece of limestone with beautiful Rafinesquina trentonensis brachiopods I collected from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) in Jefferson County, Missouri. These rocks are age equivalent to the upper portion of the Cincinnatian Series. Anyone like seafood?
Here is a piece of limestone with beautiful Rafinesquina trentonensis brachiopods I collected from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) in Jefferson County, Missouri. These rocks are age equivalent to the upper portion of the Cincinnatian Series. Anyone like seafood?
Reposted by Flatcrank
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...
Reposted by Flatcrank
Manitoba has over 1,700 species of wildflowers, ferns, shrubs and trees, but identifying them is not easy. For two decades, staff at the Museum, with a team of volunteer botanists, have been working on an updated edition of Manitoba Flora.
Pre-order today: www.manitobamuseumshop.ca/shop.html?lo...
Pre-order today: www.manitobamuseumshop.ca/shop.html?lo...
October 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Manitoba has over 1,700 species of wildflowers, ferns, shrubs and trees, but identifying them is not easy. For two decades, staff at the Museum, with a team of volunteer botanists, have been working on an updated edition of Manitoba Flora.
Pre-order today: www.manitobamuseumshop.ca/shop.html?lo...
Pre-order today: www.manitobamuseumshop.ca/shop.html?lo...
Reposted by Flatcrank
Museum colleagues discovered a completely white wood frog ("Boreorana sylvatica") in a pond just outside of Winnipeg! This is the first record of a white individual of this species anywhere in North America. The white wood frog was likely a female as it was found mating with a normal-coloured male.
October 31, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Museum colleagues discovered a completely white wood frog ("Boreorana sylvatica") in a pond just outside of Winnipeg! This is the first record of a white individual of this species anywhere in North America. The white wood frog was likely a female as it was found mating with a normal-coloured male.
Reposted by Flatcrank
The sidewalk in front of my house, I’ve lined with rocks from all over the world, from two billion years ago to the present, from all types of geologic environments. I wonder how many people pass by and never know they are walking back in time. LOL
October 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
The sidewalk in front of my house, I’ve lined with rocks from all over the world, from two billion years ago to the present, from all types of geologic environments. I wonder how many people pass by and never know they are walking back in time. LOL
Reposted by Flatcrank
Isotelus sp. from the #Ordovician Cat Head Member, Red River Formation.
#TrilobiteTuesday #Paleozoic #ManitobaFossils
#TrilobiteTuesday #Paleozoic #ManitobaFossils
August 20, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Isotelus sp. from the #Ordovician Cat Head Member, Red River Formation.
#TrilobiteTuesday #Paleozoic #ManitobaFossils
#TrilobiteTuesday #Paleozoic #ManitobaFossils
Reposted by Flatcrank
Last #FossilFriday I had the pleasure of visiting the @romtoronto.bsky.social and checking out the Dawn of Life gallery! I’ll dig into my favorite individual fossils soon, but the exhibit was a gorgeous mix of science, art and specimens and I loved that it featured specimens from across Canada! 🇨🇦
August 22, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Last #FossilFriday I had the pleasure of visiting the @romtoronto.bsky.social and checking out the Dawn of Life gallery! I’ll dig into my favorite individual fossils soon, but the exhibit was a gorgeous mix of science, art and specimens and I loved that it featured specimens from across Canada! 🇨🇦
Reposted by Flatcrank
Manitoba Museum Student Associate and Mitacs Fellow Urgon Snider’s Master’s thesis research is on microfossils. He’ll be working dissolving ancient rocks, extracting tiny fossils, and mounting them for our collections, expanding our understanding of 450-million-year-old ecosystems! #FossilFriday
October 24, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Manitoba Museum Student Associate and Mitacs Fellow Urgon Snider’s Master’s thesis research is on microfossils. He’ll be working dissolving ancient rocks, extracting tiny fossils, and mounting them for our collections, expanding our understanding of 450-million-year-old ecosystems! #FossilFriday
Reposted by Flatcrank
The team also guided a trip to the field site for members of Kinonjeoshtegon Jordan’s Principle Youth Camp, providing an opportunity for dialogue about the significance of this unique site and, hopefully, inspiring some future palaeontologists!
September 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The team also guided a trip to the field site for members of Kinonjeoshtegon Jordan’s Principle Youth Camp, providing an opportunity for dialogue about the significance of this unique site and, hopefully, inspiring some future palaeontologists!
Reposted by Flatcrank
Recently our palaeontology team took a collecting trip to the Cat Head site, in collaboration with Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation. This site is known globally for its preservation of Ordovician Period fossils, and new samples will support research on the conditions under which it formed. #FossilFriday
September 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Recently our palaeontology team took a collecting trip to the Cat Head site, in collaboration with Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation. This site is known globally for its preservation of Ordovician Period fossils, and new samples will support research on the conditions under which it formed. #FossilFriday
Reposted by Flatcrank
Fun day trip this week! On a warm, sunny July day, paleontologist Melina Jobbins and her team search an old rock quarry near Lundar, Man., for 390-million-year-old fossils of an extinct fish that swam in what was once a vast inland sea. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... @umanitoba.bsky.social
Move over, Jurassic Park. Manitoba was home to newly discovered 390-million-year-old extinct fish | CBC News
A research team from the University of Manitoba has discovered a new genus of placoderm fish, named Elmosteus lundarensis, one of the earliest fish to develop bones, a jaw and teeth.
www.cbc.ca
July 19, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Fun day trip this week! On a warm, sunny July day, paleontologist Melina Jobbins and her team search an old rock quarry near Lundar, Man., for 390-million-year-old fossils of an extinct fish that swam in what was once a vast inland sea. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... @umanitoba.bsky.social
Reposted by Flatcrank
New publication alert! Meet ‘Elmosteus lundarensis’, a large, armoured fish that lived in the Devonian Period. Dr. Joe Moysiuk (cambrojoe.bsky.social), worked with researchers from umanitoba.bsky.social on this study, which includes new fossils!
Read the publication here: doi.org/10.1080/1477...
Read the publication here: doi.org/10.1080/1477...
July 22, 2025 at 3:13 PM
New publication alert! Meet ‘Elmosteus lundarensis’, a large, armoured fish that lived in the Devonian Period. Dr. Joe Moysiuk (cambrojoe.bsky.social), worked with researchers from umanitoba.bsky.social on this study, which includes new fossils!
Read the publication here: doi.org/10.1080/1477...
Read the publication here: doi.org/10.1080/1477...
Reposted by Flatcrank
Best day in the field ever? Quite possibly. It’s not every day you find the oldest known muscular animal in the world. Mamsetia manunis - an #Ediacaran fossil at @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social - before and after cleaning on the day it was discovered. #FossilFriday
July 11, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Best day in the field ever? Quite possibly. It’s not every day you find the oldest known muscular animal in the world. Mamsetia manunis - an #Ediacaran fossil at @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social - before and after cleaning on the day it was discovered. #FossilFriday
Reposted by Flatcrank
Welcome back to another #fossilfriday
Here is the crinoid Onychocrinus distensus. This specimen comes from the Lower Carboniferous (Upper Carboniferous) Upper Monteagle Limestone Formation from one mile east of Huntsville, Alabama.
Here is the crinoid Onychocrinus distensus. This specimen comes from the Lower Carboniferous (Upper Carboniferous) Upper Monteagle Limestone Formation from one mile east of Huntsville, Alabama.
July 11, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Welcome back to another #fossilfriday
Here is the crinoid Onychocrinus distensus. This specimen comes from the Lower Carboniferous (Upper Carboniferous) Upper Monteagle Limestone Formation from one mile east of Huntsville, Alabama.
Here is the crinoid Onychocrinus distensus. This specimen comes from the Lower Carboniferous (Upper Carboniferous) Upper Monteagle Limestone Formation from one mile east of Huntsville, Alabama.
Reposted by Flatcrank
Edrioasteroids are a strange echinoderm. I always think of them as a starfish/barnacle combination. They tend to attach to hard ground or encrust on brachiopods.
This is Belochthus orthokolus from the Ordovician Verulam Fm. near Brechin, Ontario.
#FossilFriday
This is Belochthus orthokolus from the Ordovician Verulam Fm. near Brechin, Ontario.
#FossilFriday
July 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Edrioasteroids are a strange echinoderm. I always think of them as a starfish/barnacle combination. They tend to attach to hard ground or encrust on brachiopods.
This is Belochthus orthokolus from the Ordovician Verulam Fm. near Brechin, Ontario.
#FossilFriday
This is Belochthus orthokolus from the Ordovician Verulam Fm. near Brechin, Ontario.
#FossilFriday
Reposted by Flatcrank
Just signed off proofs of 'The Wonder of Life on Earth'. They're gorgeous! It's a shorter version of 'A (Very) Short Version of Life on Earth' re-written for pre-teens, illustrated by Raxenne Maniquiz. It's out in February but available for preorder www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr...
The Wonder of Life on Earth by Henry Gee
Find out more about The Wonder of Life on Earth by Henry Gee
www.panmacmillan.com
July 12, 2025 at 7:21 AM
Just signed off proofs of 'The Wonder of Life on Earth'. They're gorgeous! It's a shorter version of 'A (Very) Short Version of Life on Earth' re-written for pre-teens, illustrated by Raxenne Maniquiz. It's out in February but available for preorder www.panmacmillan.com/authors/henr...
Reposted by Flatcrank
In 1788, Hutton discovered almost vertical layers of sedimentary rock at Siccar Point. This allowed him to explain key geological processes like deposition, folding and erosion, which shape today's landscapes.
View more geological photos via our archive: bgs.assetbank.app
View more geological photos via our archive: bgs.assetbank.app
June 28, 2025 at 8:01 AM
In 1788, Hutton discovered almost vertical layers of sedimentary rock at Siccar Point. This allowed him to explain key geological processes like deposition, folding and erosion, which shape today's landscapes.
View more geological photos via our archive: bgs.assetbank.app
View more geological photos via our archive: bgs.assetbank.app
Reposted by Flatcrank
Richard Bambach will always be remembered as a champion of functional-ecological way of thinking in macroevolution. Way before the modern trend in analyzing functional diversity.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #Geology #EvoBio
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #Geology #EvoBio
June 24, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Richard Bambach will always be remembered as a champion of functional-ecological way of thinking in macroevolution. Way before the modern trend in analyzing functional diversity.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #Geology #EvoBio
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
🧪 ⚒️ #Paleobio #Geology #EvoBio