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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Had a great time talking about bony-toothed birds, brain evolution, and our current Bruce Museum exhibition Six Extinctions on the latest episode of the fun and informative I Know Dino podcast. Check it out here: podstatus.com/podcasts/i-k...

podstatus.com

I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast Podcast - Rankings, Reviews - Podstatus

I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast podcast by I KNOW DINO, LLC. Categories: Natural Sciences, Science, Earth Sciences. 771 episodes. Rankings, reviews, and more on Podstatus.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives has closed but my family is still all in on enjoying ants. My niece found this beautiful chestnut carpenter ant queen on the Bruce Museum Grounds this weekend. Thanks to @alexwild.bsky.social for identifying it for us!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Three more days until Six Extinctions opens at the Bruce Museum! Check out this amazing life reconstruction of Tiktaalik, the Devonian “fishapod” that Sean Murtha created as a special addition to the exhibition.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Six Extinctions opens at the Bruce Museum in 5 days. We will display a few of our own extinct birds, which perished in the ongoing extinction event caused by humans. These include our beautiful Passenger Pigeons. The last captive bird, Martham died in the Cincinnati Zoo 1914.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Imagine if you stepped on a carpet and it started wriggling away? Arthropleura was an 8 foot long millipede with a weird flattened shape that roamed Permian swamps over 250 million years ago. Encounter this delightful beast and many more at Six Extinctions, opening at the Bruce Museum in 9 days!

Model of the extinct giant millipede Arthropleura. Photo credit: Richard Harmey

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Happy to report that our 35x life size Dinoponera ant Buckley has been adopted by the Greenwich Audubon Center! We will miss her, but now that Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives has closed it is great to know she will still be educating people about the miraculous world of natures tiny architects.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Only 10 days until T. rex comes to the Bruce Museum! We are the first North American host of Gondwana Studios' traveling exhibition Six Extinctions, opening June 6. The dinos will be joined by giant millipedes, armored fish, saber-toothed tigers and more! Photo: Richard Harmey

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Sunday is the last day of our exhibition Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives. I’ll miss these little guys. One last weekend to see (and smell) the world of natures miniature architects.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

We've learned so much about penguins in the past few years! Read about warm-weather cousins of emperor penguins, 60 million year old "proto-penguins" and 300lb giants. My piece in American Scientist is live, with great art by @simone-giovanni.bsky.social www.americanscientist.org/article/dive...

americanscientist.org

Diversity from Isolation

Fossils of early penguin species reveal the myriad paths these birds took from the sky to the sea, and from temperate New Zealand to the frozen Antarctic.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Some little guys pack a BUG punch! Our exhibition Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives showcases weapons like stingers, venom, and formic acid that ants use to defend themselves and then see how species stack up on the STING METER. Bruce Museum: Ant Battle youtube.com/shorts/-p5C6...

youtube.com

Bruce Museum: Ant Battle #science #insects #ants #brucemuseum #museum

YouTube video by Bruce Museum

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

My life is greatly improved by finding out that you can turn off the horrible system in Word that forces you to activate every comment and go on the scavenger hunt when "Another comment is in progress". Preferences / General /uncheck Enable modern comments.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

BHL is such an amazing resource. And reading these papers can be so entertaining as well as informative. Perfect image for this post too!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Happy #InternationalPolarBearDay from my favorite bear, Charlie! He was the centerpiece of our exhibition On Thin Ice: Alaska's Warming Wilderness. Can't wait for the next time we can display this beautiful bear at the Bruce Museum.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Just in time for #FossilFriday, meet Rhynchaeites mcfaddeni, a little fossil ibis from the Green River Formation. The holotype looks delightfully like a hieroglyph! Published today in Journal of Paleontology shorturl.at/qTUVi

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Don't forgot your fossil friends on Penguin Awareness Day. Here's the skull of Eudyptes warhami, an extinct crested penguin from the Chatham Islands. Its such an interesting species that it's features on a NZ coin! Read more here: fossilpenguins.wordpress.com/2019/02/05/a...

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Happy Penguin Awareness Day! Here's a throwback to our 2023 exhibition Penguins, Past and Present. We are celebrating at the Bruce Museum today with a special 10 question Penguin Round at tonight's Bruce Museum Trivia. Meet us at 6pm for pizza, drinks, and prizes!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Our little buddy Eudyptula wilsonae made BBC's Wildlife Magazine's 10 Cutest Prehistoric Animals Ever list! shorturl.at/svdjo Reconstruction of this fossil fluffball by Simone Giovanardi. Here's the original paper by Daniel Thomas, @atennyson.bsky.social, Felix Marx & myself: shorturl.at/BSGYF

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

For #MineralMonday, take a peek at our lovely canvasite. This is one of my favorite pieces in our Tiny Treasures case. The blue coloring comes from vanadium, but what makes this mineral so special to me is have the clusters look soft like fluffy little cotton balls!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for Centuriavis lioae, a 10 million year old fossil relative of turkeys. It was a lot of fun describing this stunning specimen with Catherine Early, Kate Dzikiewicz, and Amy Balanoff. The fossil is named after our amazing museum colleague Suzanne Lio.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Come at me bro! Did you know ants can ward off elephants that attack their acacia tree homes? Learn how ants and plants work form mutualistic relationships in Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives at the Bruce Museum. On view through May 17th. @brucemuseum.bsky.social

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Our little birdy made the cover of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Amazing how a bird sank to the bottom of Fossil Lake 51 million years ago and ended up entombed in sediments that perfectly match the background color/texture of the journal. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is officially open at the Bruce Museum! Enter the tunnel and you will meet "Buckley", our five foot long scaled-up Dinoponera ant. Buckley is named after her creator, the great Dan Buckley. The smaller ant is my daughter, dressed as an alate queen for the opener.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Wonderful tribute to Mark Norell by Peter Makovicky, Jim Clark, and Steve Brusatte: Mark Norell (1957–2025): Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

cell.com

Mark Norell (1957–2025)

Pete Makovicky, Jim Clark and Steve Brusatte remember dinosaur paleontologist par excellence and all-around cool dude Mark Norell.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Get ready to enter the tunnel and explore the realm of natures tiny dynamos. Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives opens November 13th at the Bruce Museum!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

This weekend is the last chance to see Charlie the Polar Bear and all his Arctic pals in On Thin Ice: Alaska's Warming Wilderness at the Bruce Museum Saturday and Sunday we host our 43rd Annual Outdoor Arts Festival, so make it a double play Bruce weekend! @brucemuseum.bsky.social

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Proud to share a new piece in Scientific American co-authored with the brilliant @lnwilson.bsky.social , edited by @katewong.bsky.social, and featuring this spectacular depiction of the endless daylight of the Cretaceous summer in Alaska by Chase Stone! www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

scientificamerican.com

Bird Migration Is One of Nature’s Greatest Spectacles. Paleontologists Just Found Clues to Its Origin

Tiny fossils hint at when birds began making their mind-blowing journey to the Arctic to breed

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

October is here and nothing sets the Halloween mood like some spessartine on black quartz! On view in the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Often tempted to change the locality of this spectacular selenite specimen to Fortress of Solitude. On view in the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy belated #MineralMonday

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

On #FossilFriday I am proud to share a new discovery - a skull of a large extinct relative of king and emperor penguins. @atennyson.bsky.social, Daniel Thomas, Felix Marx, and I report this magnificent skull in Journal of Paleontology: https:// bit.ly/4ne3HQV

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

The Bruce Museum hosted the Federal Duck Stamp Contest last year and it was honestly one of the most enjoyable 48 hours of my tenure at the museum. Here’s my thoughts on why this program is so crucial and the energy of being in the room for the judging.

scientificamerican.com

How the Duck Stamp Became One of the Most Successful Conservation Tools in U.S. History

Inside the fiercely competitive Federal Duck Stamp Contest, part of the wildly successful conservation program that has preserved millions of acres of waterfowl habitat

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 19/09/2025

Thrilled to be at the Patuxent Research Refuge for the judging of the 2025 Federal Duck Stamp contest. This program conserves millions of acres of wetland habitat and brings out the best in wildlife art!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Preparations for Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives are kicking into high gear! You know we gotta have honeypot ants, and Sean Murtha is crafting some juicy ones. Meanwhile Dan Buckley is creating a super-sized 5 foot long Dinoponera. Opening in October at the Bruce Museum!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives is going to be epic! Here is a Dolichoderus ant tending hemipteran ants, combining 3D prints and the magic of Sean Murtha. Meet this ant and over 70 of her friends this November at the Bruce Museum!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Are you very different from your sibling? Gypsum comes in forms, all with same chemical structure. In the Bruce Museum’s Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery you can see ram’s horn gypsum side by side with a selenite crystal. Same mineral formed under different conditions! Happy #MineralMonday!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Who is this beautiful little bird? Consoravis turdirostris is a new species from the famous Fossil Lake deposits of Wyoming. The name Consoravis means "companion bird", forming a phonetic group with the closely related Morsoravis ("Mors bird") and Sororavis ("sister bird").

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

So happy to finally order my 2025-2026 Federal Duck Stamp (two actually) today! Duck Stamp image credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service @usfws

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

Green pyromorphite is perhaps more widely known but my favorite example of this mineral is this sparkling yellow beauty from the Bunker Hill Mine in Idaho. On view at the Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Ready for tiny birds from above the Arctic Circle? Our new paper on the Cretaceous origins of Arctic nesting drops today in Science. This project was led by @lnwilson.bsky.social‬ and features amazing fossils recovered by Pat Druckenmiller’s field program in the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Its CRETACEOUS ARCTIC BABY BIRD time!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

The 2023 SAPE volume is now published thanks to the legendary efforts of Kiko Serrano: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu... Feeling low key like I made it, this is my first appearance in an old school numbered conference photo.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Hanging with my buddy in the Bruce Museum natural history galleries!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Tiny kingdom in a geode. Quartz from Sidi Rahal, Morocco. On view in the Robert R Wiener Mineral Gallery at the Bruce Museum. Happy #MineralMonday

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

One of the most wonderful things about museum careers is that my kids throw themselves into learning about whatever the current and upcoming exhibitions will be about. As we prepare for Ants: Tiny Creatures, Big Lives Phoebe and I have been monitoring this nest on the sidewalk every day.

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Blast from the past - putting together our Postosuchus cast for Last Days of Pangea back in 2016. #FossilFriday

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Love the way the Yale Peabody Museum put this coelacanth in a little cave. There’s going to be a generation of kids with the memory of scrambling under there. Great design!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Counting grebe vertebrae in the Yale Peabody Museum collections and stumbled upon a Marsh specimen!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Love how this quartz from the Collier Creek Mine looks like it provides a strong power up in some video game. Happy #MineralMonday!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

It’s #FossilFriday so enjoy this fossil evidence of a failed game of Frogger!

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Ksepka Lab @ksepkalab.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Cremastocheilus beetles sneaks into ant nests to eat eggs and pupae. Despite looking nothing like its victims, the beetle can trick ants into accepting it by coating itself with pheromones. Model by Sean Murtha, photo by Paul Mutino

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