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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 12d

❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 12d

It probably lived a lifestyle similar to some modern crustaceans, yeah.

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 12d

I like to think so. 🦐🍽️

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 12d

This #FossilFriday: a spectacular 3D reconstruction of Waptia fieldensis, an arthropod from the 500 million year old (Cambrian) Burgess Shale, produced by Lars Fields.

To learn more, visit doi.org/10.1098/rsos.... 😃

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Reposted by Dr. Rod Taylor

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · 12d

Happy #FossilFriday from the #Ediacaran of Inner Meadow in Newfoundland. The meadow is beautiful this time of year and it is great for the clearing work. Here is a newly exposed #Charnia masoni. The first masoni from this site, our faunal list is getting long!

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 15d

This #TrilobiteTuesday: A beautifully preserved Badulesia tenera, a Middle Cambrian #trilobite from the Middle Cambrian Manuels River Formation in #Newfoundland. It had a set of distinctive ridges on the cephalon (head), making it easy to recognize.

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Reposted by Dr. Rod Taylor

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · 19d

happy #FossilFriday! in the 1820’s a captive Beothuk woman Shanawdithit created a word list including jiggamint (spiky gooseberry). She was the last of her people & from what we know a truly amazing person.
In the 1970’s punk icon John Lyndon (Johnny Rotten) inspired a generation with angst and..

painting of the beothuk woman Shanawdithit. The beothuk were rendered culturally extinct by european settlers, what we know of that vanished culture comes from the art and stories of this amazing woman. Painting by Henry Gosse taken from Shanawdithit’s wikipedia page

John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) showing his iconic spiky hair that is compared to the short spiky papillae of Lydonia

My seafloor reconstruction of Lydonia jiggamintia showing a yellowish sponge with short spikes (papillae) overgrowing a dead Rangeomorph (pinkish) #Fractofusus. the seafloor and Fractofusus are covered in whitish microbes and microbial filaments representing the matgrounds typical of #Ediacaran seafloors

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 19d

Lydonia jiggamintia, a newly described #Ediacaran organism from #Newfoundland, on the matground-covered seafloor overgrowing a decaying Fractofusus andersoni. Palaeontology isn't just about describing new organisms, it's also about understanding how they lived.

Paper available here: bit.ly/4gQ1xF7

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · 22d

New #Ediacaran paper alert! the sponge-like #Lydonia jiggamintia is named for the spiky-topped punk legend John Lydon [aka Johnny Rotten]. The species name is derived from the word for gooseberry in the language of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland.

palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025...

Lydonia jiggamintia

The macrofossil Lydonia jiggamintia gen. et sp. nov. from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland (Canada): From pseudofossil to metazoan-grade organism

palaeo-electronica.org

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Sep 5

A great post for #FossilFriday, describing our ongoing #Ediacaran palaeontological research here in #Newfoundland.

These things are big, reaching more than 50cm in length!

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · Sep 5

Happy #FossilFriday from Johnson Discovery Surface in @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social, famous for its #Fractofusus andersoni, but which also has large enigmatic forms dubbed #Blackbrookia (now considered a pseudofossil). The JDS material is however covered in pimples or meshes not seen in the type.

$large obovate fossils from Discovery geopark covered in mesh like textures or pimples (previously called Blackbrookia and informally “pimply melons”) surrounded by many rounded fractal like Fractofusus andersoni$ detail of a “blackbrookia” showing the mesh like texture interpreted as the cross section through the base of spike like papillae

detail of a “blackbrookia” showing the mesh like texture interpreted as the cross section through the base of spike like papillae

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Aug 29

This #FossilFriday, here's Franz Anthony's delightful #Ediacaran life artwork, featuring critters from all three Ediacaran assemblages - including our very own Haootia!

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Aug 22

One of our temporary displays at the @johnsongeocentre.bsky.social features a group of Artemia, aka fairy shrimp or sea monkeys. These delicate little crustaceans have a fossil record extending back at least 115 million years! #FossilFriday

See doi.org/10.1080/0311...

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Aug 22

Science is (meant to be) about observing the available data and adapting our perception of 'the truth' to incorporate new information. Duncan's current #Ediacaran work is a stellar example of doing exactly this.

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · Aug 22

This #Fossilfriday i’m going to share a little #sciart adventure with #Charnia masoni which comes from the Charnwood Forest Geopark in the UK. The models are those i created using Martin Brasier’s rangeomorph architecture rules.

doi.org/10.1144/jgs2...

it has very low amounts of biomass

three leaf shaped charnia masoni nestled in a partly eroded deep marine microbial mat

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Aug 15

This #FossilFriday, a little foolishness courtesy of my brother Art. 😊🦖

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Aug 11

Here's a nice little write-up by Memorial University on The Johnson Geo Centre's placement in the Top 10 per cent of “Things to Do” Worldwide, according to Tripadvisor’s 2025 Travelers’ Choice Awards. 😃

gazette.mun.ca/public-engag...

Highly rated

From deep underground to the top of the world.

gazette.mun.ca

Reposted by Dr. Rod Taylor

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · Aug 1

This #FossilFriday i wanted to share this tiny #Staurozoan fossil from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland. It was the paratype of #Haootia but now belongs to #Mamsetia . We consider that it might be the #Stauropolyp. See the coronal muscle of the calyx & 1 arm. compare the arm of a modern #Lucernaria

one corner of the square calyx of Mamsetia manunis Thin lines of muscle fibres demarcate the coronal muscles of the calyx and longitudinal muscles of the arm

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Aug 1

This #FossilFriday, here’s a fabulous #fossil poster made available (for free) by the government of #Canada back in the 1990s. I’ve had this on my wall far longer than I want to admit!! 😁

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Jul 11

My babies are growing… 😃

#artemia #seamonkeys

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Reposted by Dr. Rod Taylor

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · Jul 11

This #fossilfriday is brought to you by the holotype of the oldest fossil cnidarian Mamsetia manunis from @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social . This summer we have worked with Champney’s West Mini aquarium on a new Geosite which includes a cast of this specimen. It was torn prior to fossilization

fossil with four arms preserving muscles and a ring of coronal muscle identifies this as a staurozoan much like #Haootia. image is a false coloured cast

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Jul 11

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

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Jun 27

There are other things to talk about?!?!

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Jun 27

And speaking of Fractofusus...

Duncan McIlroy @dmcediacaran.bsky.social · Jun 27

This #FossilFriday offering is a hand painted cast of the Ediacaran fractal-like #Fractofusus misrai from Mistaken Point, Newfoundland for an outreach project i’m doing. This is one of the abundant curvy specimens that Rod Taylor worked on for this cool paper www.researchgate.net/publication/...

$hand painted cast of a fractofusus with leaf like fractal branches arranged in 2 rows across a central curved axis$

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · Jun 27

I've not posted for #FossilFriday for a few weeks, so let's get back to it with #FractofususFriday! This #Ediacaran beastie from Mistaken Point, #Newfoundland, possessed some very complex branching, as highlighted in this close-up image (courtesy of CBC.ca).

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Dr. Rod Taylor @fossilrod.bsky.social · May 16

This #FossilFriday, I give you Plumeropriscum. It’s a smallish frond with a short stem, and is a pretty common critter on the famous E surface at Mistaken Point. It lived 565 million years ago, but was first described in 2016.

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Reposted by Dr. Rod Taylor

Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · May 13

Heading east to for #TrilobiteTuesday & this nice BIG Paradoxides davidis, from the famous Manuels River Fm nr Manuels, #Newfoundland 🇨🇦. The +ve part (L) & -ve counterpart (R) show a nr complete but partly disarticulated dorsal exoskeleton stained w limonite (scale bar=3 cm); #Cambrian (~503 MYA)

A roughly rectangular slab of dark brown shale has been split open along a bedding plane to expose the nearly complete exoskeleton of a large (~30 cm long) paradoxidid trilobite. On the left side is the positive "part" and on the right is the matching negative "counterpart". On both halves, the exoskeletal remains and impression are naturally coated with a thin orange layer of limonite (a hydrated iron oxide mineral). The thorax and pygidium of the trilobite are intact, although the lengthy pygidia spines are missing their tips. On the part, the cephalon is separated, slightly rotated to the right, and missing portions of the glabella and genal areas revealing the large hypostome and cephalic doublure beneath. A scale bar in the lower left is 3 cm long.

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