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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Thrilled to finally share our new paper on giant scorpions from the Early Devonian! Behold Praearcturus gigas! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/S54Y6Y...

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

First new paper in a little while 😊 More palaeoscolecid work with my frequent collaborator Xiaomei Shi, plus my former PhD supervisor Xiaoya Ma and also Guangxu Zhang who collected this material from a new locality. Open access - enjoy! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/D9CUYK...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Palaeoscolecids from the early Cambrian Guanshan biota, Yunnan Province, China

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I hear you complaining about winter - but have you considered lichens, mosses, ferns and Mistletoe?

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Luke Parry @cambriannelids.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

I finally have something worth posting here! A new paper on wormsI never expected to see fossilised! Juracanthocephalus is the first body fossil of Acanthocephala and remarkably provides links with rotifers and other gnathiferans. Published in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

A Jurassic acanthocephalan illuminates the origin of thorny-headed worms - Nature

An acanthocephalan body fossil, Juracanthocephalus daohugouensis, is described from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou biota of China, showing previously unrecognized diversity in ancient Acanthocephal...

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘪 (Schlotheim, 1823) (Ptychopariida: Conocoryphidae) Miaolingian Jince Formation Ginetz, Bohemia, Czechia 🇨🇿

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Vanna Bartlett @vannabartlett.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

A couple of Neobisium carcinoides pseudoscorpions sieved from Hornbeam leaf litter on a random road verge in Norfolk today while out cycling with @jeremybartlett.bsky.social #pseudoscorpions #invertebrates

A little pseudoscorpion with its impressive claws held out-stretched in a plastic tray.

A dark brown pseudoscorpion with its claws held out in a plastic tray with a few specks of soil and some plant debris.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

This is one of our coolest horseshoe crab fossils. Tachypleus syriacus- featuring a fishy friend! Cenomanian in age, from the Hjoula Lagerstätte of Lebanon 🇱🇧

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Vanna Bartlett @vannabartlett.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Shaky footage but here's a few seconds of a Bristly Millipede (Polyxenus lagurus) gliding across a lichen covered wall at Hethel church today.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

𝘉𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘰𝘮𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 (Brongniart, 1822) (Phacopida: Encrinuridae) Wenlock Series (upper Silurian) Coalbrookdale Formation Malvern Hills, Worcestershire, England

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Can never decide whether it’s cooler that fleas are parasitic scorpionflies or that termites are eusocial cockroaches.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Here is a Selenopeltis from the collection of Joachim Barrande.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Today I got FOUR lifers, which is the sort of numbers I normally only do on a holiday abroad! Dartford Warbler, Wood Lark, Meadow Pipit and Common Snipe.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

A cheirurid, a phacopid and a harpetid walk into a bar

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

More reasons to love the mild and damp British winter! Moss - 𝘓𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘬𝘺𝘢 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴 Beetle wood borings - 𝘏𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘴 sp. Golden Shield Lichen - 𝘟𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢 Tripe Fungus - 𝘈𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

On this #FossilFriday I am curating an enormous collection of harpetid trilobites from the Devonian of Morocco, as figured in the recent ZooTaxa monograph by Robert Johnson. Some absolutely gorgeous material we are very lucky to have acquired. www.mapress.com/zt/article/v...

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

The Jackdaws getting right in the feeder this morning. Move aside House Sparrows!

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Here’s a dragonfly wing from the Purbeck Group (Tithonian) collected in the 19th century that I curated today. Fantastic preservation of the venation!

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

We’ve just had our windows replaced and it disturbed this juvenile Noble False Widow (Steatoda nobilis) from hibernation in one of the cracks 😴 A lot of growing to do for her next year!

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Beetle remains from the Middle Jurassic Taynton Limestone of Oxfordshire - bugs from the world of Megalosaurus.

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Katie Collins @spissatella.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Hey folks I want to Post More ... I curate fossil (non-cephalopod) molluscs at NHM London - does anyone have any curation or mollusc related questions for me? Any kinds of critters you'd like to see more pics of? I can't guarantee I'll answer everything, but I'll try!

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Today’s the day! God that was hard work 😂

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Had a dream last night a small local museum had this insane stash of scorpion fossils for me. But I only had this middle of Lidl toy camera to image them and the building was flooding because they were tearing the place down to build a theme park. Going to characterise this as an anxiety dream.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

I feel like the Triassic and the Devonian (and also the Palaeogene but who cares about that) are the systems on the geological timescale where it is absolutely WIDE OPEN who has the main character energy.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Is there a recent general review of dinosaur systematics/stratigraphy/biogeography etc? Would like to catch up on what has happened since my 2015 undergrad dissertation 😅

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franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Have yourself a merry little Carboniferous. #Art #SciArt #PaleoArt #Inverts

a pine tree with bugs hanging all around it. at the very top is a dragonfly-like meganeura with open wings, circling the base is the giant millipede arthropleura. on the branches sit various insects and circular pine cones.

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Russell Garwood @russellgarwood.co.uk · 11/12/2024

Lovely talk at #PalAss24 from @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social and colleagues on Prearcturus - was this giant arthropod a scorpion with part aquatic mode of life?

Richie, a tall man with curly hair talking at a conference in a crowded room with a slide with an image of an arthropod on it

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

What’s the point being in a faraway university town if you don’t check out the botanic garden? ☺️🌿🌵🪴

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Dr. Bethany Allen @bethanyjallen.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Can't wait for #PalAss24 to kick off tomorrow! I'll be co-teaching the workshop on fossils and phylogenies in the morning, then speaking in the symposium on extinction in the afternoon 🌳🐚 Fellow attendees, feel free to catch me from the icebreaker onwards, when I will be decidedly more chill 😎😂

Title slide of a presentation on "Inferring extinction rates from phylogenies" by Bethany Allen, Tim Vaughan, Rachel Warnock, and Tanja Stadler. The slide also features logos for the Computational Evolution research group, alongside ETH Zürich and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. The right hand side is illustrated with a white phylogeny on a navy background.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

My tea at the Weihnachtsmarkt Starter: Chocolate macaroon Second starter: Bockwürst Main: Käsespätzle Afters: Chocolate macaroon Yes. #PalAss24

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Well Solnhofen was absolutely cracking - #PalAss24 off to an amazing start!

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Officially en route! #PalAss24 This will be a conference of firsts for me. First time in Germany, first time presenting not as a student, and strangest of all - I will be taking about a terrestrial animal from the Devonian 😮 Even I didn’t see that coming!

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Vanna Bartlett @vannabartlett.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

It's Mistletoe season but spare a thought for the insects that rely on it and are found on nothing else. Another insect confined to Mistletoe is Anthocoris visci. This one was found in July on our allotment site in Norwich by @norwichbirder.bsky.social when we met up to look for psyllids.

Close up of the translucent white berries of Mistletoe amongst the pale green stems and leaves of the plant.

Underside view of a bug in a specimen pot. It is quite long and thin, the abdomen dark brown and the legs orange-brown. The long thin rostrum that it uses to pierce its prey to feed is pointing forwards from the underside of its head. These insects are often known to pierce human skin when handled.

A rather blurred photo the bug in a specimen pot. Head pointing towards us with its rostrum obvious, pointing down. The bug is mostly orange brown with a darker area (the pronotum) behind the head. The tip of the abdomen is dark with three white spots across it.

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

One of my favourite tasks in my day to day work is tracking down a reference I can’t source a PDF of in our Earth Science library. It just OOZES 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺

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Russell Garwood @russellgarwood.co.uk · 06/12/2024

For #FossilFriday have you ever considered the scorpion fossil record? This is surprisingly rich, but how we categorize these animals transcends being a hot mess. It's a spicy disaster. My colleague Jason and I wrote a paper on it which came out today: peerj.com/articles/185... ⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky

An image showing a range of fossil scorpions, arranged by age. These are lovely fossils, ranging from scorpions in rocks, through ones dissolved out of rocks or resolved using CT scans, to photos of more recent scorpions in Amber. If you want the full details: (A) Palaeophonus caledonicus Hunter, 1886 (Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, UK) from the mid-Silurian (Llandovery to Wenlock) of Lesmahagow, Scotland, UK, image courtesy of Lyndsay C. Jess, and by permission of East Ayrshire Council/East Ayrshire Leisure Trust, and a reconstruction from Pocock (1901). (B) mid-Silurian Eramoscorpius brucensis Waddington, Rudkin & Dunlop, 2015 from Canada. (C) Proscorpius osborni Whitfield (1885b), Yale Peabody Museum (YPM IP 545850); photo by Jessica Utrup 2019. (D) Lower Devonian Waeringoscorpio hefteri Størmer (1970, image source Poschmann et al., 2008). (E) Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis from the Lower Carboniferous of the UK (courtesy of Andrew Jeram). (F) Compsoscorpius buthiformis from the Upper Carboniferous of the UK (left: courtesy of Lorenzo Prendini, AMNH; right: Legg et al., 2012). (G) Carboniferous taxon Cyclophthalmus senior from the Yale Peabody Museum collections (YPM IP 029827), photo by Jessica Utrup 2013. (H) Mesophonus perornatus from from the Triassic of the UK (courtesy of Lorenzo Prendini, AMNH). (I) Protoischnurus axelrodorum from the Cretaceous Crato Formation, Brazil (courtesy of Christian Neumann, Berlin). (J) Centruroides knodeli from Neogene Dominican amber (courtesy of Wilson Lourenço, Paris). (K) Tityus azari from Neogene Dominican Amber (courtesy of Wilson Lourenço, Paris).

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Here’s an undescribed Pleistocene isopod preserved in East African gum copal for #FossilFriday!

A wood louse preserved suspended in the golden sap of an ancient tree

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Luke Meade @lukeemeade.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

🦎Threordatoth chasmatos🦎 a new Late Triassic procolophonid in Papers in Palaeontology with @richardjbutler.bsky.social @marcehjones.bsky.social and Nick Fraser showing unique features of the jaw and teeth 🦷🦷https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1605 Reconstruction by @markwitton.bsky.social 1/4 #fossilfriday

Life reconstruction of Threordatoth chasmatos

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Dr Richie Howard @arthropoda-curator.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Here’s something neat I’ve pondering about recently. Our cast of the holotype of 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘢 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘪𝘪 (Salter, 1859) - a freshwater stylonurine eurypterid from the Early Devonian on Herefordshire. Can’t seem to find out where the original is though. No mention on the label or in Salter’s paper 🤔

Wax and plaster casts of the prosoma (anterior body part) of a stylonurine (walking) eurypterid around 5-6 cm across.

The illustration of the fossil from John W. Salter’s 1859 description.

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AJCann @ajcann.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

#NatureSpot Photo of the Month November 2024 Our photo of the Month for November is this image of a Symphylid, Scutigerella agg, taken by NatureSpot contributor Peter Smith. Learn more: www.naturespot.org/node/257431 #Myriapoda #Leicester #Leicestershire #Rutland #environment #nature #UKWildlife

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