iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Prosanta Chakrabarty @prosanta.bsky.social · 1h

Exciting news! We here at the LSU Museum of Natural Science @lsumns.bsky.social and Dept. of Biological Sciences are looking for Curator and Assistant Professor of Vertebrate Paleobiology! Come work with us! We are fun, supportive and active! lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/LSU/jo...

lsu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Assistant Professor

All Job Postings will close at 12:01a.m. CST (1:01a.m. EST) on the specified Closing Date (if designated). If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application progre...

01020

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Great thread discussing museum funding from the inside. The reason some universities are trying to divest from their museums is because they are beginning to treat each unit as an independent revenue generating entity. Museums cost money and therefore they WANT to cut them.

03111

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I think it is very telling that we get news of two planned museum closures by university institutions with minimal notice. Clearly they know the moves will be publicly unpopular, and the apparent solution is to give people as little time to organize as possible and set it up as a fait accompli.

1247

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Finally getting around to studying some old specimens for the first time this #FossilFriday. These eurypterids were discovered in the 1960s and almost certainly represent new species. Discoveries such as this really highlight the importance of museum collections as records of life on our planet. 🧪⚒️

A photograph of a fossil eurypterid on a brown-grey rock. The fossil as a wide, round body with a long abdomen. The head is relatively small and and short legs that are very robust, the last pair of which are big, broad paddles.

A fossil of a eurypterid on a brown-grey rock. The eurypterid has a large head with long legs, all of which are for walking. The body is narrower than the head and looks overall a bit dumpy.

14714

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Improved selection of eurypterid fossils plus old models from Ruthven now on display now at UMMNH!

Photograph of table case containing fossils and models of eurypterids.

0363

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Harriet B. Drage @harriedrage.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Interested in fossil arthropods, palaeoecology, dispersal, and interesting methods? 🦀 🌎 I'm hiring a 4-year, fully funded PhD student at the University of Geneva as part of my European Research Council (ERC) grant. Deadline: 16th October. Reach out if any questions! www.unige.ch/sciences/ter...

24946

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

JH @jhemiptera.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#Sciart #Paleoart Pentecopterus for the upcoming book project

12811

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Exactly this. So much of the focus of science, education, etc. is now on output or product - when the PROCESS is what is truly important. If you insist on focusing on product, then you need to realise that cutting courses in the process is going to make a shitty product.

0194

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Got to find where my old thesaurus is seeing as the online ones are useless now thanks to them just replacing their workings with AI. At least I know enough about word nuance to realise that this is bad, I feel sorry for everyone who doesn't.

A screenshot from thesaurus.com for the word survivor, which suggests that it means "leavings" or "leftover", and suggests the alternative synonyms of "balance", "debris", "scraps", and "trash", among others.

231

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Saw a recipe for vegan Nanaimo bars and had to try it!

A chocolate, white and biscuit bar on a plate.

060

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Callan Bentley @callanbentley.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Belinurus horseshoe crab locked in stone during the Carboniferous, but back in the light of day again now, and on display in the Fundy Geoscience Museum in Parrsboro. #FossilFriday ⚒️

A small delicate horseshoe crab fossil in gray fine grained sedimentary rock

219425

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Matt (Tired) @mattfrith.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Thinking about turning this into a print somehow. Do you think people might be interested in stuff like this?

2427

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This is (in my obviously biased opinion) a great paper that I wish more people would read (not least because it took us several years to hone it down to its final form).

060

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Paul Harnik @paulharnik.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

We are pleased to announce that the Dept of Earth & Environmental Geosciences @colgate.edu is hiring a tenure-stream asst professor in paleoclimate! For additional info regarding the position & to apply: apply.interfolio.com/188708 . Please share broadly & contact us with your questions. Thank you!

apply.interfolio.com

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

02333

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Lich @lichpit.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Walkin’ legs #horseshoecrab #arthropod

312222

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Some of the bugs enjoying my chicory today.

A long yellowish beetle on a chicory flower.

030

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Amypteride🏳️‍⚧️🔻🕷🦂 @amypteride.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

What time is it? It’s #Cheliceratime! Finaly found the time to talk about Megachelicerax cousteaui with @penelopeclaisse.bsky.social for today's entry! All the basic infos are here but if you want to learn more, there’s more in the thread below!⬇️🧵 #cambrian #paleoart #arthropod #chelicerate 1/6

This recently described arthropod is the first cambrian chelicerate with a clearly preserved 3-segmented chelicera. This species’ large size indicates chelicerates already began to diversify ecologically in the Cambrian, overlapping with other large predators like radiodonts.

Size : 10-ish cm of body length
Time period : Late Cambrian
Paleoart speculativometer : Some Missing parts

The animal is drawn view from below, looking a bit like a horseshoe crab attached to a shrimp abdomen

14619

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Excited to see this restudy of the large Devonian scorpion Praearcturus out today - neatly falsifying some recent supposition that it was not a scorpion at all, and supporting a synonymy between three different species that I've suspected for quite some time! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

A revision of Praearcturus gigas: a giant scorpion from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of Britain

Praearcturus gigas Woodward is a large arthropod of disputed affinity from the fluvial St Maughans Formation (Lower Devonian, Lochkovian) of the Old Red Sandstone of England and Wales. Originally des...

061

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Amazing reconstruction of a famous eurypterid site! Here's one member of that fauna, Acutiramus macrophthalamus (UMMP IP 86635).

Fossil eurypterid preserved as black on gray matrix. Segments and a paddle-like tail are clearly visible, as is one of the large claws.

04512

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Joschua Knüppe @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

420 Million years before the reign of Mamdani, two Acutiramus wake up from their daylight slumber as thousands are Eurypterus begin to invade the shallow, warm waters of New York. This is the Fiddlers Green or Bertie Formation, a Silurian lagerstätte known for its eurypterids🧵

321163

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I still find strange things in the woods.

An old iron key with wire wrapped around it twisted into wings hanging from a tree.

160

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Cam Muskelly (Explorer of Deep Time ⏰ ⚒️) @cambriancam.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Welcome back to #Fossilfriday Here is a "sea scorpion" or the Eurypterid Eurypterus remipes. This specimen comes from the Upper Silurian Fiddler Green Formation in Herkimer Co, New York. This happen to be the state fossil of New York. Some such as the Pterygotids could reach enormous sizes!

27016

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 13/05/2026

#ProcB in @nytimes.com | A marine stem-myriapod from the Silurian Waukesha Lagerstätte, Wisconsin, USA: terrestrial traits pre-date the transition to land: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

nytimes.com

0124

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Nature @nature.com · 02/04/2026

Spiders and scorpions belong to a group called chelicerates, which are arthropods with pincers at the front of their head. Fossil evidence reveals how this group evolved go.nature.com/4meGcrp

go.nature.com

Pincer movement: fossil pushes origins of chelicerate arthropods back to the Cambrian period

Spiders and scorpions belong to a group called chelicerates, which are arthropods with pincers at the front of their head. Fossil evidence reveals how this group evolved.

0287

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

| H • A • P | @kodasea.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Limulidae signs

545398

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I have terrible friends who send me horrible things.

A framed print of a scary looking woman wearing victorian-type clothing weilding a fan. It is captioned "Beware!". I believe it is not just a warning, but also a threat.

130

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

TLDR; it is too early to stop doing taxonomic & natural history work and exclusively do meta-analysis; our existing datasets are highly structured & biology is weird. we shouldn't assume we already know enough to extrapolate a species' needs for conservation- we still need taxonomy & autecology

03614

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Brendan gives a great summary of our latest paper.

011

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Jesse Czekanski-Moir @jessecm.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

"Therefore, we caution against considering our present understanding of organismal natural history and taxonomic sampling sufficiently complete to focus research support *sole*ly on meta-analyses" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sole_(f...

en.wikipedia.org

Sole (fish) - Wikipedia

072

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Real sentence from a conversation with my 90 year old grandmother.

A screenshot from the Disco Elysium engine, with an elderly cleaning lady saying "The problem these days is no one wants to work harder to earn more, and they all want to live beyond their means. Everyone expects to own a fridge."

010

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Can now share thr latest bit of art I've been working on for my sister in law, one of their family cats.

An acrylic painting of a tabby cat sitting on a book.

A photograph of the same cat in the same position.

060

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

The Mesozoic mammal Sinodelphys, discovered in China and photographed at the Carnegie Museum, for #FossilFriday. Originally described as a marsupial but now thought to be an early placenta mammal, in my considered opinion this is clearly a creachure. 🧪⚒️

A photograph of a fossil mammal with spiky fur and a long face.

29928

James Lamsdell, PhD @fossildetective.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Just got notification that a video I was interviewed for on Paleozoic lagerstatten is out, also featuring numerous excellent people including Brenda Hunda, Nigel Hughes, and Derek Briggs. (I did not know about the unfortunate use of AI generated "animals", I'm sorry T_T) youtu.be/DJOm5PQnhN8?...

youtu.be

The Amazing World of Fossils: Decoding Early Life

YouTube video by Ambrose-Meyer Entertainment & Educational Channel

272

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Day 7 #artAdventCalendar my #linocut horseshoe crab (Tachypeus gigas) in grey, blue-bronze and dark brown on 8” x 8” cream-coloured Japanese paper with bark inclusions. 🧪🐡 They get their name from their horseshoe like shape but they are not crabs; they are chelicerates, more closely related to 🧵

My linocut horseshoe crab is hand printed on 8” x 8” cream coloured Japanese paper speckled with some tiny brown bark inclusions. The crab is viewed from above and its body is printed with a base of grey, with some darker gold-green especially around the edges to give the impression it is a bit domed and then texture, edges, hairs around the edge of the horseshoe shape and the tail are printed in dark brown.

731377

Reposted by James Lamsdell, PhD

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Happy #fossilfriday everyone, Enjoy a feel good story about one of the Museum of the Earth's high school supporters! Thanks to big giving Tuesday support, PRI is now within ~400,000 of its end of year goal of ~4 million for the mortgage+ops. We can #SavePRI !🧪⚒️🦣🐚 www.localsyr.com/news/local-n...

localsyr.com

2216