iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

August 6th! It's coming up fast!

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

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

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

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 · 24/06/2025

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

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Glendon Mellow @flyingtrilobite.com · 24/06/2025

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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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

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

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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

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. 🧪🌎

americanscientist.org

“Why Are We Funding This?”

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

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Elwyn Rain @elwynrain.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

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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Rudy Lerosey-Aubril @cambrianlife.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

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 · 17/06/2025

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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Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

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...

fossils.libsyn.com

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 ...

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

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 · 16/06/2025

#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 · 16/06/2025

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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Glendon Mellow @flyingtrilobite.com · 15/06/2025

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

ko-fi.com

Support FlyingTrilobite

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Glendon Mellow @flyingtrilobite.com · 14/06/2025

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

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Another archival entry for #Strataday: Coastal monoliths in the Middle #Ordovician (~460 MYA) Mingan Fm, #Mingan #Archipelago #National #Park #Reserve, #Quebec 🇨🇦. Differential erosion of Mingan Fm #limestones has sculpted these striking features. Scanned slide from a 1998 #GAC-MAC field excursion.

An offshore view, taken from a small boat in choppy seas, of deeply eroded coastal monoliths (or sea stacks) composed of distinctly layered Middle Ordovician carbonate rocks. The overall tone of the image is grey-blue, from the rough waters in the foreground, to the shoreline rock exposures in mid-right view, to the uniformly overcast skies in the background. Above the barren wave-swept shoreline, a forest of wind-blown spruce trees encroaches from the right.

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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is hiring a Collections Manager in Invertebrate Zoology. Come work with us!

ou.taleo.net

Collection Manager, Recent Invertebrates

Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

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Royal Ontario Museum @romtoronto.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

File this under, if he wanted to, he would (grow some iridescent feathers to impress you). 💅 Until then, appreciate the gorgeous iridescence of these "little flying jewels" from our ornithology collection with Oliver Haddrath (Collections Technician).

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Current events call for a "don't let the bastards grind you down" kind of post. These #Ordovician #bryozoans, #brachiopods & #gastropods entered the #fossilrecord ~450 MYA only to be scoured by a Pleistocene glacier. Be like these #fossils - endure! Verulam Fm, Ramara Tp, #Ontario 🇨🇦 #FossilFriday

A small, irregularly shaped slab of limestone is being held by hand in the raking sunlight. The flat surface, stained pale orange by iron minerals, shows a series of straight parallel grooves or scratches -- these are glacial striations cut by the passage of abrasive rock fragments and mineral grains embedded in the sole of the glacier. Numerous fossil fragments are seen on the slab surface. Some of these have been ground through at various angles and show as complete or partial cross sections. Other fragments (lower left and far right) have escaped glacial sectioning and still stand in relief.

Close up of the glacially polished slab surface showing several medium- and high-spired gastropods in section, as well as the outlines of rhynchonellid brachiopods.

More of the same surface with sections through trepostome bryozoans and a planispiral gastropod.

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Glendon Mellow @flyingtrilobite.com · 12/06/2025

For Toronto creatives, this Social Creator Jam for @gandersocial.bsky.social looks interesting, and I'll be attending thanks to receiving an invite from a former colleague. June 25th in the evening. And no, I don't love the use of AI imagery and won't be quiet about that. lu.ma/9ibyo92a?tk=...

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Something #fossiliferous for #ThinSectionThursday: traverse slice thru a #Devonian (~ 393 MYA) colonial rugosan #coral. Astreoid/thamnasteroid growth w individual corallites showing zigzag carinate septa. Billingsastraea sp. cf. B. verneuili, Kwataboahegan Fm, Mattagami River, #Ontario 🇨🇦 Scale=3 cm

A translucent cross-sectional slice through a fossil colonial rugosan coral, roughly triangular in outline, showing seven complete corallites along with three partials. The pale tan colour of the preserved structures contrasts sharply with the black background. Each corallite displays many radiating septa, with numerous short zigzag cross-arms (carinae). A white scale bar beneath the section is 3 cm long. One of many such thin sections in the Invertebrate Palaeontology collections of the Royal Ontario Museum. It was made during an extensive 1950's study of Devonian fossil corals of the Hudson Bay Lowlands in Ontario.

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ESCONI @esconi.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Mazon Monday #273: Neuropteris fimbriata #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #seedfern pennsylvanian #carboniferous www.esconi.org/esconi_earth...

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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Great recommendations for all biodiversity scientists

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Robert Boessenecker, Dr. of Whaleontology ™️ @coastalpaleo.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

#molluskmonday A large scallop in an early Pliocene (~4 myo) exposure of the Purisima Formation of Northern CA photographed during a field outing a few weeks ago. This is possibly Patinopecten healyi, though it could also be Lituyapecten purisimaensis. Scallop is ~15 cm diameter.

A pair of brownish tan shells from a single fossil scallop protrude from the bluish gray water-sculpted edge of a cliff; the scallop has many radiating ridges and small 'ears' (auricles). Each shell was preserved about 2 cm apart, indicating they slipped apart sometime around burial. The scallop is about 15 cm in diameter.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

A face from the deep past: #cephalon (head shield) of Hibbertia ottawaensis, a classic harpetid #trilobite. The exact function of the extraordinary pitted "brim" is unknown w hypotheses varying from sensory, to "snowshoe effect", to filter feeding. #Ordovician (~450 MYA) #Quebec 🇨🇦 #TrilobiteTuesday

A striking trilobite head shield is reminiscent of a face or mask. The arcuate outline is extended as a flattened "brim" bearing hundreds of tiny pits between an upturned rim and the elevated central region. A prominent nose-like glabella is flanked by a pair of raised, kidney-shaped "cheeks" on which are located the small prominent eye lobes. The brim extends back into genal prolongations, the right one of which has been broken away. The dark exoskeletal remains stand in contrast against the pale grey of the limestone matrix. Length as preserved = 6 cm. Specimen is in the Invertebrate Palaeontology collections of the Royal Ontario Museum.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

In the face of gut-churning events everywhere, I turn again to the pre-human #fossilrecord for a moment of peace. This is Cyrenopsis meeki, a #bivalve #mollusc showing precious opal replacement of original shell material. Early #Cretaceous (~118 MYA), Coober Pedy, #SouthAustralia #MolluscMonday

A small fossil bivalve mollusc, measuring about 2.5 cm in width, is seen from the left side. It has been slightly polished to reveal a fresh surface of precious opal, which replaced the original aragonitic shell material and internal cast subsequent to initial fossilization. The typical opal iridescent "play-of-colour" can be seen in small patches of blue, green, and orange. Specimen catalogued in the Invertebrate Palaeontology collections of the Royal Ontario Museum.

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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Devoted today to finding online reviews of my books for updating my author website, a task both persnickety and rewarding. An unexpected bonus? Rediscovering @mostlymammoths.bsky.social's 2-part review of 'The Evolution Underground' (2017). Part II here: mostlymammoths.wordpress.com/2017/03/05/t...

mostlymammoths.wordpress.com

The Evolution Underground – Part 2: Behind the Scenes

“I still don’t understand why they were looking for alligator dens.” My dad and I had been discussing the review I’d written about Dr. Anthony Martin’s latest book, “The Evolution Underground.” He…

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Anthony (Tony) J. Martin @ichnologist.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Preparing to update & otherwise revise my author website so works better for people visiting it. One task? Organizing & summarizing past book reviews. Best find this a.m.? Emily Keeble's 2020 Youtube review of 'Dinosaurs Without Bones' & 'The Evolution Underground.' youtu.be/S7lkJm7UjmI?... 🧪🦕🐾📚

youtu.be

Some of My Favourite Palaeontology Books

YouTube video by Another Emily

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Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

Happening TODAY! Join me on TIME WITH LOVE today at 2 PM Eastern. I'll be reading from my soon to be released novel THE BURNT and talking about writing gay characters that live unapologetically. To watch and listen go to youtube.com/watch/0Qi2Rg... #gayauthor, #mmromance, #mystery, #pride,

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

For the palaeontologically inclined, a Carboniferous crinoid stem in a building stone. United Reformed Church, Clitheroe, Lancashire.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Another 🇨🇦 #Strataday treasure: Late #Ordovician (~448 MYA) shales & carbonates of the upper Vauréal Fm at #VauréalFalls in #AnticostiNationalPark. Anticosti Island, #Quebec, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site 2023 for its exceptional #fossil record across the end-Ordovician #extinctions.

At Vauréal Falls, Vauréal River in full flow plunges 76 metres over a cliff of grey interbedded shales and carbonates of the Upper Vauréal Formation. The river continues to flow away from the viewer down Vauréal Canyon beneath near vertical cliffs on the right. A steep talus slope extends from the base of the cliffs to the river's edge. Above the canyon, dense mixed forest continues to the horizon under grey, overcast skies. Image scanned from a 35 mm slide taken in May 1998.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

#Smoke and #cloud tonight. Caught a quick break and managed a single shot. #Luna #Waxing #Gibbous #YorkRegion 🇨🇦

The waxing gibbous moon is partly obscured by cloud and haze from wildfire smoke. In the upper right, white spruce branches are silhouetted against the faintly illuminated sky.

The waxing gibbous moon (~84% illuminated) seen through thin wildfire generated haze in this handheld zoom shot.

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Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

This Pride month, share your pride with the teenagers in your life. Not Not Normal is a teen gay romance that is about finding someone who accepts your for who you are, who helps you to become the person you've always wanted to be. www.goodreads.com/book/show/21... #pride, #gayromance, #teens,

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Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Looking forward to taking part in this event as part of Pride Celebrations this month. #pride, #gayauthor, #love,

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Peter E. Fenton @peterefenton.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Excited to be celebrating Pride month with a book signing at Indigo at The Well in Toronto. Join me between noon and 4 PM on Saturday June 14th, and pick up a copy of Not Not Normal, a sweet gay teen romance. For details on all my upcoming appearances go to peterefenton.ca/upcoming-eve...

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Dr. Davey F. Wright ⛏️🦕🧬 @daveyfwright.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

"The fossil record effectively provides a set of natural experiments," Wright said. "By studying these historical events, we gain insights into how ecosystems respond when pushed past their breaking points, which has direct implications for understanding biodiversity loss today." 🧪 #FossilFriday

ou.edu

Recovering From Disaster: OU Professor Awarded Junior Faculty Fellowship to Study Life After Mass Extinctions

Understanding how life recovers in the aftermath of a mass extinction is critical to unraveling the broad patterns of evolutionary development that have shaped Earth’s history.. To further this unders...

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Mark Witton @markwitton.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Realising that #FossilFriday is sneaking away, so I'll quickly post some #paleoart of the giant #pterosaur Hatzegopteryx to avoid missing out. I painted this back in 2019 but gave it a 30-minute spruce up today to sort out some compositional and colour issues. #sciart #fossil

"It's... pink" says Guybrush Pthreepwood, a large pterosaur walking along a rocky trail overlooking a coastal plain and sea. The sky beyond is yellowish, but Guybrush is right: that's a super pink set of clouds. Undeterred, he walks on, continuing his quest for the Ultimate Insult. He hopes Murray the Skull is some sort of cool dinosaur skull in this universe.

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Waves back in greeting ... 👋

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Dave Rudkin @art-h-ropod.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

I think this counts as 2.5 units!

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Dan Bowden @danbowdenpalaeo.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Pseudagnostus cf. josepha is found at many of the late #Cambrian McKay Group #trilobite localities in the Bull River Valley (British Columbia) where agnostids are known to occur and is the most common #agnostid found at those sites. #trilobitetuesday #FossilFriday #PaleoSky #Palaeontology

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Dan Bowden @danbowdenpalaeo.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

For #trilobitetuesday two specimens of Ogygopsis klotzi from my collection. These Burgess Shale #fossils came from old collections made on Mt. Stephen in Yoho National Park. Prior to the 1970’s it was fashionable to collect fossils in the park. A practice that is now illegal. #FossilFriday #PaleoSky

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