iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Division Highlight: KU Archaeology🏺 The KU Archaeology Division cares for nearly 3 million artifacts, making it one of the largest collections of prehistoric and historic materials in Kansas. Through research and stewardship, the team preserves and shares the region's rich cultural heritage.

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A remarkable fossil discovery by a team of researchers, including @jgsaulsbury.bsky.social, postdoctoral researcher at the @universityofkansas.bsky.social Biodiversity Institute | Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, is reshaping what we know about flowering plants. 🌸

news.ku.edu

Dinosaurs probably dined upon a variety of fruits and seeds

Click for more on research appearing in the journal Science

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Celebrate the Fourth of July with a little discovery! 🇺🇸 The KU Natural History Museum will be open Saturday, July 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Stop by and spend part of your holiday exploring the wonders of the natural world. 🦖🦋🦬 Plus, try one of our Discovery Guides or our new Panorama Puzzle!

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Author and Kansas native Melanie Bonner Thomas recently visited the museum, where she once worked as a KU student. Her family has deep ties to KU paleontology, so the best part was seeing her books on the shelves of our gift shop. ❤️📚🦖

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

Annals of Botany @annbot.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

🌿🪨 #PaleoBotanyWeek Expanded character sampling inspired by a new Cretaceous conifer seed cone from California: importance of morphology in resolving relationships among the Cupressaceae by @kpfeiler.bsky.social et al. 👉 doi.org/q76b @kunhm.bsky.social @ku-eeb.bsky.social #PlantEvolution

An Early Cretaceous conifer cone reveals previously unknown morphological diversity within Cupressaceae. By combining fossil evidence with new analytical approaches, the study shows that extinct lineages had unique trait combinations, helping clarify the evolutionary history of modern conifers.

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

It’s official ✨ Panorama Puzzle: Amazing Adaptations ✨ is now available! Solve the mystery by searching for mustelids (members of the Weasel family) in this free museum activity. To check out the puzzle stop by the front desk during your next visit to the museum!

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

American Ornithological Society @amornith.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Fernando Machado-Stredel for winning the AOS 2026 Florence Merriam Bailey Award recognizing an outstanding article published in an AOS journal by an early-career AOS member. americanornithology.org/aos-announce... Paper: doi.org/10.1093/orni... #AOSAwards

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

We're only ONE WEEK away from KU's biggest annual day of giving, One Day One KU. This year, we're focusing on two important causes: 1. Supporting our Visitor Experience student hourly positions 2. Ensuring the care and maintenance of our live exhibits Donate or learn more here » rockcha.lk/sn5

Two visitor experience staff working in the museum's gift shop.

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Student Spotlight! 🌟 Check out the latest article featuing KU Ichthyology graduate student @anoplogaster.bsky.social's research on the evolution of anglerfishes' lures. His study, in collaboration with Matthew Davis revealed that these lures serve a dual purpose: attracting both food and mates.

news.ku.edu

Research traces evolution of anglerfishes’ famed fishing-rod lures

Variously horrific- or alien-looking, many female anglerfishes sport long, protruding lures used for enticing prey or signaling during mating. Now, research from the University of Kansas is giving new...

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

Alex Maile @anoplogaster.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

‼️NEW ANGLERFISH PAPER! 🐟🎣 So excited to share the final part of my Master’s research! We explore the bizarre tacklebox of anglerfish lures and show how these fishes evolved different ways to attract prey and maybe even mates in the deep sea. 🧪🦑🌊🦇🦀 Open access paper link: doi.org/10.1643/i202...

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

❄️ Closure Notice ❄️ Due to inclement weather, the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum will be closed on Saturday, January 24, and Sunday, January 25. Please check our website or social media channels for updates regarding reopening. Stay safe and warm!

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Hey, KU students — we’re hiring! 😎 We’re looking for a Visitor Experience Assistant to help create positive, memorable, and engaging experiences for visitors at the KU Natural History Museum. Ready to apply or learn more? ➡️ rockcha.lk/dy3a

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Welcome back, Jayhawks! Our team at the Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum is wishing you a fantastic start to the spring semester! #KUNHM #rockchalk ❤️💙

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Hey KU students — we’re hiring! 🐍 Join us as a Herpetology Curatorial Assistant and help organize, prepare, and catalog specimens in the KU Herpetology Collection. Must be able to work 4 hrs/week & be comfortable handling fluid-preserved amphibians and reptiles. Learn more & apply ➡️ rockcha.lk/nzq

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

It’s time for ✨Prepapalooza✨! Mammalogy vs. Ornithology (plus Entomology 🪲) in a 3-day race to prep specimens. These collections are our global record of life on Earth & are essential for discovery and understanding change over time. Vote your fave: 🐦 🐭 🪲

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

New fossils of Acrochordus (Serpentes, Caenophidia) from the Middle Miocene of Kutch, western India: quantitative taxonomic evaluation & palaeoclimatic insights onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Top left: Photograph of a mid-trunk vertebra from a Miocene fossil aquatic snake: Acrochordus sp. (BSIP 41786). Top right: a line diagram of a similar vertebra in the same, anterior, view showing the placement of numbered landmark points used in shape analysis in this study (type 1 landmarks in yellow; type 2 landmarks in red). At the bottom is a morphospace plot showing the first two principal component scores of acrochordid vertebrae, distinguishing the new fossil material in red on the right.

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Lock in our 2025 membership rates today! 🔒 Prices increase January 1, 2026—join now to save and enjoy: 🔹 Free admission to the KU Natural History Museum 🔹 Access to exclusive members-only events 🔹 ASTC Travel Passport 🔹 10% off at the museum gift shop 🔹 …and more! Join today! ➡️ rockcha.lk/1d1353

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Hey undergrads—want to go on a research adventure? Join KU Entomology’s @vhgonza.bsky.social on a NSF-funded project studying plant–pollinator interactions in Colombia! 🇨🇴🌿 🗓️ June 1–July 25, 2026 @kubiology.bsky.social Apply now ➡️ rockcha.lk/kwv

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

In the Panorama, fall foliage never goes out of season. 🍂 Missing our iconic exhibit? We are too. But its temporary closure will be worth the wait! In just a few more months, the gallery will reopen with a new climate-control system, upgraded lighting, and new glass panes.

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Once thought extinct, the black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) made an incredible comeback after being rediscovered in 1981. KU Mammalogy holds hundreds of specimens—some from the 1800s—that still drive conservation research. See their story on our 5th floor!

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

🐝 Love insects? Join our team! We're hiring 4 Student Research Assistants to work with the Snow Entomological Collection. ✅ Min. 10 hrs/week ✅ Detail-oriented ✅ Bio interest & Excel skills a plus! Apply now ⬇️ rockcha.lk/yiy

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Only a few spots left for our members-only tour at the McGregor Herbarium! 🌿 Explore how KU Botany staff and volunteers prepare plant, lichen & fungus specimens and learn about grassland biodiversity. Not a member yet? Click the link to join & get the event details ➡️ rockcha.lk/i11

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Rate your hometown dinosaur! 📝 Join the Lawrence Reviewed project on #NationalFossilDay and tell us what you think about Silvisaurus condrayi, Kansas’s official state land fossil! @kulibraries.bsky.social 📍Dyche Hall, 3rd Floor 🗓️ Oct 15 | ⏰ 10AM–12PM ➡️ rockcha.lk/pjs

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Thanks to the KU Office of Research for the spotlight! Happy to be part of the @kunhm.bsky.social and continue contributing to preserving and digitizing the collections 🩵. #KUEntomology #PostdocAppreciationWeek #KUSEMC ➡️ research.ku.edu/news/article...

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Staff Spotlight 🌟 Learn how Samanta Orellana, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the BI/NHM is expanding global access to insect biodiversity! Learn More ⬇️ research.ku.edu/news/article...

research.ku.edu

KU postdoc preserves history of the natural world before it disappears

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

We had the best time celebrating Kansas biodiversity this past weekend at the Kansas State Fair! 🌻🐸🐝🦅#KUForKansas

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

🎉 Join our team! 🎉 We are seeking applications for a Student Public Education Assistant. This student hourly position will help assist in education programs for school groups visiting the museum and provide support for program development. To apply or learn more, click the link ⬇️ rockcha.lk/avx

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Join us in welcoming our new cohort of grad students & BioGEM scholars to the KU Biodiversity Institute! 🎉 They’ll be diving into collection-based research across several of our divisions while exploring biodiversity science and gaining hands-on research experience. Welcome all!

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

We’re so honored to place in 3 of 6 categories at this year’s Best of Lawrence! 🏆 Huge thanks to everyone who voted—your support means everything! ❤️ 🥇 Community Landmark 🥈 Place to Take an Out-of-Towner 🥉 Best Gift Shop

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

Victor H. Gonzalez Betancourt @vhgonza.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Our new study on cellophane bees and their cold tolerance news.ku.edu/news/article...

news.ku.edu

Research shows cellophane bee is built for the chill

Click for a new study from University of Kansas researchers in the journal Ecology and Evolution

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Exciting news from KU Ichthyology! 📣🐟 Research Affiliate Gloria Arratia, a global catfish expert, edited & contributed to the recently published volume "Catfishes: A Highly Diversified Group". 📸: Hypancistrus zebra by Leandro Sousa @kunewsservice.bsky.social ➡️ 🔗 tr.ee/hdBog8tMGc

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

🦴 This #FossilFriday, we're celebrating our Vertebrate Paleontolgoy team’s 3-week dig in Turkey! From late Paleocene to middle Eocene sites, they uncovered fossils from a unique island ecosystem—including a rare embrithopod jaw fragment! Way to go KU crew + collaborators!

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

🎉 Record-Breaking Month! 🎉 A BIG thank you to the 4,245 visitors who explored the KU Natural History Museum in July — our highest monthly attendance ever! 🐝🦖🦅We’re thrilled to share Earth’s incredible biodiversity with so many curious minds!

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Summer just got a whole lot cooler. 🌻❄️ Sunflower Summer has been extended through August 8 — which means there’s still plenty of time for Kansas K–12 students to visit the KU Natural History Museum and 200+ other museums and attractions — for FREE! Sign up 👉 sunflowersummer.org

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

On Aug. 4–5, the KU Paleontological Institute will host top scientists from Yale, @harvard.edu, @floridamuseum.bsky.social & more during a workshop to rethink how fossil data is shared—making it more FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable & Reusable. 📄➡️📊 biodiversity.ku.edu/news/article...

rockcha.lk

Invertebrate paleontologists to improve how data is used in their discipline

Click for more on conclave of paleontologists, data scientists and publishers at KU

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Double the celebration! 🎉🐭🦇 Congrats to KU Mammalogy graduate students Alex Hey & Danny Ibanez on successfully defending their master’s theses! Alex studied hybrid woodrats (Neotoma) in the field using Nanopore tech; Danny explored Hipposideros bat genomics in the Solomons. PhDs up next at KU! 🎓

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

The future of semiconductors is in great hands! The FuSe² Team at @universityofkansas.bsky.social, including our very own outreach pros Teresa MacDonald & Eleanor Gardner, hosted high school students for a brain-inspired computing workshop! 🧠 💻 Thanks to @NSF for supporting this project.

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Reposted by KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum

Samanta Orellana @coleopterasam.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Leaving the beautiful #CostaRica 🇨🇷 after a few wonderful weeks! I deeply appreciate the hospitality of local researchers at Universidad de Costa Rica (in San José and Guanacaste 🥰), and the support given by @kunhm.bsky.social to make this trip possible! More soon! #Anthribidae #FranzLab #Collections

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Student Spotlight! 🌟 KU doctoral student Kristen Miller is turning heads with her discovery of Swaindelphys solastella, a 60-million-year-old marsupial from Texas’ Big Bend. Read more: rockcha.lk/4et 📸: KU Marketing | 🖼️: Kristen Tietjen

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Explore the wonders of our natural world this July at the KU Natural History Museum. Whether you love Kansas wildlife or are curious about how the brain works, there’s something for everyone to discover! Discover all the exciting details here: ✨https://rockcha.lk/5hc ✨

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Always learning so we can better serve you! ❤️ Our Visitor Services team explored labs, collection storage, the Panorama, & hidden corners of Dyche Hall to deepen their museum knowledge and share it with you! (Guess where they are in photo 2? 👀) Big thanks to Lori Schlenker for the tour! 👏

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Love our Madagascar hissing cockroaches as much as our Exhibits Manager & Lead Designer Laura Mohr does? 🪳 Stop by Bugtown before BIG renovations start July 7! A new Discovery Space is coming with some familiar insect friends. Stay tuned for more updates and information! 🤎

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Join us in celebrating Brian Atkinson on his tenure promotion! His dedication to fossil plant research and mentoring the next generation of paleobotanists makes him an invaluable part of our team at @kunhm.bsky.social & @kubiology.bsky.social! Congrats, Brian! 🎉

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

We're hiring! 🎉 The KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum is seeking applications for a full-time Museum Education Coordinator. Application reviews begin Monday, June 9, 2025. To apply or learn more about each job, click the link ➡️ rockcha.lk/xvx

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Happy #InternationalDayForBiodiversity! 🌍 Meet some of the incredible staff & students at KU’s Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum. Together, they’re advancing global research to understand past and present life on Earth—and shape a brighter future. 🧬🦎🔬🐝

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

That post-graduation R & R hits different. 🐍🛀 Come find your zen at the KU Natural History Museum! 📸: Laura Mohr

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Happy #WorldBeeDay2025! 🐝 Did you know that the KU Entomology collection of bees is one of the largest in the world? Thanks to the extensive fieldwork of late entomologist Charles D. Michener, our bee collection exceeds 500,000 and is continuously used by bee specialists in all parts of the world.

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KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum @kunhm.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

We're so proud to have James Saulsbury, Postdoctoral Researcher in Invertebrate Paleontology, as part of our team! He is using computational methods to understand how living things adapt to changes in their environments. Watch his interview below. ⬇️

youtu.be

James Saulsbury, Research Postdoctoral Achievement Award

YouTube video by The University of Kansas

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