iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Kevin Healy @healyke.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Congrats to @amyduclaux.bsky.social on publishing her first paper. She shows that sexual dichromatism in birds is more pronounced in species with fast life history strategies, lower latitudes and with mating systems associated with higher sex ratio skews. 🌐 academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...

academic.oup.com

Higher levels of sexual dichromatism are associated with faster life history strategies and lower latitudes in passerine birds

Abstract. Sexual dichromatism has been widely investigated in passerine birds, with studies looking at its relationship with life history traits and latitu

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The origin of the wishbone in birds and other theropod dinosaurs is debated: did it evolve from the clavicles (collarbones) or a bone called the interclavicle? A new study on bird embryos suggests the answer is... both! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🪶🧪 (📷Jiménez-Villalón et al.)

Evolutionary relationships and embryonic pectoral girdle anatomy of several land vertebrates, including a platypus, a turtle, a caiman, a tinamou, and a chicken.

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Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦 @secondnaturemb.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

They won't be around much longer, but I'm enjoying the pelicans as long as I can before the head south. You really feel how big they are when they fly over your kayak. #birds

Three large American white pelicans with orange bills and black wingtips soar over the steel grey lake against the pinkish morning sky.

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April Neander 🏳️‍🌈 @aineander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Today our paper introducing Megacauda is published in Nature! Which means I can finally share my illustration! Meet this beautifully preserved Jurassic, semi-aquatic swimmer #sciart #paleontology

An illustration of a furry mammaliaform with a long, flattened, scaly tail floating in the greenish water. A salamander looks up from the bottom.

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Plumage of the long-snouted enantiornithean ("opposite bird") Longipteryx: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 🪶🧪 (📷Clark et al.)

Two fossilized specimens of a long-snouted, bird-like dinosaur. Preserved feather remains (including flight feathers on the wings) can be seen surrounding their skeletons.

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Dromaeosaurid dinosaur feeding traces on the lower jaw bones of an immature Albertosaurus: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... 🪶🧪 (📷Doyon et al.)

Fossilized jaw bone of a meat-eating dinosaur (similar to Tyrannosaurus rex), with close-ups of tooth marks on the bone likely made by a smaller, more bird-like dinosaur.

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franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hello, since Redbubble did me dirty (suspension without explanation while owing me money) let's experiment a little bit! If I've known you long enough not to abuse my work and you want a print/sticker/whatever from me, pay me what you want, I'll give you high resolution files. Try me! #Art #SciArt

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Fossil eggshells that apparently belong to large flightless birds are known from the Pliocene of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Could the birds have gotten there by rafting? A new study investigates: link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🪶🧪 (📷Lécuyer et al.)

Map showing the northwestern coast of Africa and the Canary Islands, along with the trajectories of the Canary Current and Lanzarote Passage.

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

If you are part of an academic society or a professor of any kind, public statements that you do not condone Drexel cutting off the academy of natural sciences from the public of Philadelphia is very important right now. We need your voices. Urgently.

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Rhonda Howard @1184outdoors.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Townsend’s Warbler ready to snatch a flying insect from the air. You might need to zoom to see the bug. #YellowElements #BirdOfTheDay 🪶 #ECK

Bird with yellow and black feathers, stretching upwards to the right of the frame with his bill open, to grab a tiny flying insect that is just above & to the right. The background is slightly blurry leaf canopy, as yet still mostly green in my area.

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Chris Rowan @allochthonous.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Perhaps we should leave the question of how the profound human-induced changes to the Earth system will appear in the rock record to the cockroach geologists of the far future, and instead focus on making it as much like an ‘event’ as we can.

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Gwen Pearson @bug-gwen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Massive new review paper out on the causes of insect population declines. It's not great news, BUT if we pay attention, we can still turn things around. 🧪🦋 academic.oup.com/aesa/advance...

academic.oup.com

Drivers of insect decline: direct, indirect, and combined pressures

Abstract. Reductions in insect biodiversity are widely documented and result from numerous pressures that operate from local to global scales. Identifying

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Mike Keesey @tmkeesey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

PhyloPic is having an October fundraiser. The goal is to raise enough money to cover web hosting for the past six months. Please share the link, and chip in a bit if you can! www.phylopic.org

phylopic.org

PhyloPic

PhyloPic is an open database of free silhouette images of animals, plants, and other life forms, available for reuse under Creative Commons licenses. Download silhouettes for use in educational materi...

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Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Why care about weird animal behaviors? Just out as an advanced publication, my contribution to the next Frans de Waal special issue in Behaviour @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Unusual behaviors are a recurring theme in my career, and I much enjoyed writing this perspective! doi.org/10.1163/1568...

doi.org

The science of the unusual: how rare observations reveal the diversity of animal behaviour

Abstract Behavioural biology often focuses on identifying general patterns, yet unusual or rare behaviours at both the population and individual level can provide insight into animal behaviour. Here, ...

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Reevaluation of the theropod dinosaur Geminiraptor: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... Once thought to be a troodontid, now reclassified as a second species of the therizinosaur Falcarius. (Skull of F. utahensis for comparison in [A].) 🪶🧪 (📷 @freewillie643.bsky.social et al.)

Digital models of the skull bones of two closely related omnivorous dinosaurs.

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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 30/09/2026

Insect declines threaten wildlife far beyond insect world. Apart from being food, insects provide other species with homes, protection, chemical defence and sanitation - to name a few things. Great review article by @r-cooke.bsky.social with BEAUTIFUL visuals. 🧪🪳 www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Visuals demonstrating the following:

Many freshwater fish eat insects
Parrots nest in termite mounds
Chimpanzees use insects on wounds
Poisonous frogs get toxins from ants and beetles.

73% of studied vertebrate species eat invertebrates

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Xavier A. Jenkins @semifossorial.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Out today: We show that Westlothiana lizziae or "Lizzie," described 35 years ago as the world's oldest reptile - is not a stem amniote at all, but a stem tetrapod. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The part and counterpart of the holotype specimen of Westlothiana.

Paleoartistic reconstruct of Westlothiana by Jacob Schick based on our new data

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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026

We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/

a cartoon of three fieldworkers. One has a small trans flag. The logos of the university of leeds, research england, and canopy robin are shown, as well as the URL: InclusiveFieldwork (dot) Leeds (dot) AC (dot) UK (slash) trans

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Inferring sex from patterns of bone growth in Eocene proto-penguins: www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/18... 🪶🧪 (📷Garat et al.)

Cross sections of fossilized bones of proto-penguins.

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Kieran @toadally.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

There’s always going to be someone better, faster, and more skilled than I. But no one is going to have the same artistic voice as mine. Creating isn’t a competition, it’s a form of communication and connection. It’s a vulnerable thing, but it’s beautiful that way.

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Emily Thomas 🦤🏳️‍🌈 @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Reminder that the beaked Camarasaurus paper is a preprint and yet to be peer reviewed

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Declan Troy @troydeclan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A feeding frenzy of kittiwakes is a dinner bell for jaegers. It took them a bit to arrive but before long 8 or so Pomarine Jaegers arrived to persuade the kitties to share some fish. Resurrection Bay #Alaska 🪶🦑

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Nambroth @nambroth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"Airy Reminiscence” American Crows 12”x16”, oil painting on panel I love crows

An oil painting of an American crow sitting on a lichen-encrusted dead tree limb in the foreground. Behind, warm sunset light touches a cloudy sky, with two more crows flying by above hilly terrain. The artist watermark reads: Copyright 2026 Jennifer Miller "Nambroth", featherdust dot com

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

New microraptorian dinosaur Norellraptor barsboldi, with evidence from phylogeny and bone growth that microraptorians evolved flight independently from the lineage leading to modern birds: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🪶🧪 (📷Wang et al.)

Fossilized skeleton of a bird-like dinosaur, with close-ups of select regions of its body.

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João Menezes @jocateme.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Our new paper on bird vocal amplitude is out in @sse-evolution.bsky.social ! Across 123 species, we found two new contenders for world’s loudest bird: bare-throated bellbird and seriema Along with the white bellbird, both can reach jackhammer-level amplitudes! doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpag153

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Robert Sansom @fossilrob.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Calling Fossil Fans - can you think of memorable occasions when palaeontology was reported in the news - when it went well, and perhaps more pertinently, when it didn't go well?

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Andrej Spiridonov @andrejpaleo.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If we call a modern species poor deeply diverging lineage or "depauperon" (as it is dubbed in the article) the "basal" lineage, then we should admit that the hominids including humans are the "basal" stock for Old World monkey. Right? 😉 academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan... 🧪 #Paleobio #EvoBio

From the Abstract: "Our results highlight the limits of using extant, species-depauperate lineages to infer deep ancestors and the importance of fossils and other evidence that more directly sample early evolutionary history."

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Thomas Cullen @thomascullen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

With all the news of museums being closed and/or defunded, I feel the message of our paper on the importance of natural history research (and the collections housing those specimens) is just as relevant (or more) today as it was when it was published. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

New enantiornithean ("opposite bird") from Australia, Tenuicruris piscanexum: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🪶🧪 (📷White et al.)

Photograph and digital models of the fossilized leg bone of a bird-like dinosaur.

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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

New in #BirdStudy DNA metabarcoding shows Tree Sparrows at 3 UK sites heavily relied on ground beetles to feed to chicks. Baseline spatiotemporal patterns in the invertebrate diet of Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus chicks revealed using DNA metabarcoding doi.org/10.1080/0006... #ornithology

Tree Sparrow feeding chicks, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spatz_HH02.jpg

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Pythox @culpeosfox.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"He was a very rare creature. He was so internal and quiet that his inner life must have been sparkling." - Frank Oz Remembering the late Idea Man who walked the world as Jim Henson. He would have turned 90 today.

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K.Kubo🔬🐣🦖🐊 @kkubo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#fossilfriday Our collaborative paper on a caudipterid oviraptorosaur's foot is now out! 🎉 You can read it here: doi.org/10.3897/sjp....

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Michael Hiller @hillermich.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Happy to share results of the @bat1kgenomes.bsky.social phase 1, providing reference genomes covering 21 bat families. New insights into bat phylogeny, ancestral genome reconstruction, European origin & ancestral echolocation. Great work by a team of 100+ colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography - Nature

An updated phylogeny of bats is presented, based on new genome assemblies and many ancient fossils and including all known bat families.

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

when i mention "claude" you can assume i'm talking about the albino alligator not the llm

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Kevin Sievers @diplotomodon.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

FUNDRAISING IS LIVE Donate at the link below to support the organizing efforts of the Save the Academy coalition Any and all extra money raised goes directly to the care of the Academy collections and exhibits opencollective.com/save-the-aca...

opencollective.com

Save the Academy Coalition - Open Collective

Help us amp up our efforts. We are raising funds to use toward saving the Academy of Natural Sciences.

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 22/09/2026

Tyrannosaurus xkcd.com/3300/

Comic. [Person with long hair pointing to diagram with Tyrannosaurus Rex standing next to a person.] PERSON: We now believe the primary prey of Tyrannosaurus Rex was these humans who kept standing next to it for scale.

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Leilani Münter @leilanimunter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I think New Zealand has the most beautiful money — both aesthetically & because each note honors a native bird: Hoiho/Yellow-eyed Penguin ($5) Whio/Blue Duck ($10) Kārearea/NZ Falcon ($20) Kōkako ($50) & Mohua/Yellowhead ($100). Are there any other beautiful currencies you think can compete with NZ?

Colorful $5 $10 $20 $50 and $100 notes with paintings of birds on them sit on a wooden table.

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Diego Ortega @diegooa.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

QRP your bird art 🪶🐡

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🦆 Alee Vestal-Laborde M.S. @thewaterbirds.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

QRP your bird art 🪶🐡

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

🚨 New bird paper! 🚨 Take a look at our review paper that Juan Benito and I put together about avian systematics and the bird fossil record along with what we think are important future directions in the field 🐦 🦴 🦜🦅🦤 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

A bird’s eye view of the fossil record: perspectives on avian systematics

Recent decades have witnessed an unprecedented rise in avian fossil discoveries that directly inform our understanding of bird origins and evolution, the stepwise assemblage of the avian body plan,...

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

New Eocene proto-trogon Daniatrogon kochi, known from a nearly complete skeleton: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Unlike in modern trogons, the second toe on each foot was not rotated to point backward. 🪶🧪 (📷Mayr)

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

New review of what we know and don't know about the evolutionary history of birds and their close fossil relatives! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 🪶🧪 (📷Benito & @lizzysteell.bsky.social)

Diagram showing the evolutionary relationships and geologic ages of birds and closely related bird-like dinosaurs.

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Jocelyn Anderson Photography @jocelynanderson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

A male Pileated Woodpecker on the hunt for ants.

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Fankled fibre @fankledfibre.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

'Where the wind led me' - wool swallow sculpture on driftwood. Winter in Scotland can at times feel overly long and dreary. For me the first sight of a swallow heralds the start of summer and is such a welcome sight. #BlueSkyArtShow #Summer #swallow #wildlifesculpture #needlefelted

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Evolutionary associations of bill morphology in tyrant flycatchers: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan... 🧪🪶 (📷Charles J. Sharp)

A bird with very long tail feathers, perched in a tree. The top half of its head is black, its back is light gray, its wing and tail feathers are dark gray, and its throat and underparts are white.

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Alberta Claw @albertonykus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Reevaluation of the taxonomy of Solnhofen avialans, this time supporting the distinction of Alcmonavis from Archaeopteryx: fr.pensoft.net/article/2002... 🪶🧪 (📷Foth & Rauhut)

Line drawings comparing the wing bones of several fossil bird-like dinosaurs, along with close-up photographs of two particular specimens.

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Rachel Hollis @rachelhollisart.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Rose-crowned Fruit Doves are native to rainforests in the north and eastern areas of Australia, they can often be spotted feeding high up on fruiting trees 🌸 rachelhollis.com/product/rose... #drawing #bird #wildlife #art

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Ben Sheldon @sheldonbirds.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Such an impressive compilation of data from tracked birds across (most of) the global range and diversity of Whimbrel in this new collaborative paper in Ibis: look at the map - so many major transoceanic movements onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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