iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

My first scientific illustration featured in a publication! Congrats to Jack on the new paper, it was a pleasure working with you to reconstruct this impressive fish.

Black and white illustration of a early ray-finned fish swimming in open water. The fish has a horizontal stripe down its side. Two round insets show zoomed in sections of scales. Top left shows diamond-shaped scales with ornamentation, bottom right shows wedge-shaped plain scales.

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Reposted by Liz Furman

Jack Stack @jackstack.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Hot off the presses! I reviewed the history of early ray-finned fishes, with a focus on their morphology, fossil record, and taxonomy. My principal goal is a guide for other workers to make the rich record of early actinopterygian evolution more broadly available. dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor...

dx.doi.org

The Evolutionary History of Early Ray‐Finned Fishes (Pan‐Actinopterygii)

Ray-finned fishes, the most diverse living vertebrate clade, include over 600 extinct early actinopterygian species whose evolution is an enigma.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Matt you're spoiling the lab!!

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Recently I found this dino postcard book from 1987 at a second hand book store! I absolutely love retro paleoart, and often take inspiration from compositions and stylistic choices of the time. Here's a couple of my favorites (artists in alr text):

Book cover showing a walking Daspletosaurus and a spooked Champsosaurus in a riparian landscape. The dinosaur is heavily shrink-wrapped but accurately postured. Eleanor M. Kish, 1977.

A black and white illustration, with silhouetted figured of an agitated Placerias herd facing an open-mouthed Lythrodynastes in a shallow river. Gingko trees and other vegetation in background. Doug Henderson, 1986.

A painting showing five dinosaurs with progressively more feathering and flight capabilities, demonstrating the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. The final stage is a blue jay. All are chasing a dragonfly. Plain sandy background. Mark Hallett, 1985.

A brightly colored orange Coelophysis with black stripes chases a lizard across a beach. Horsetails grow along the water's edge in the background. Mark Hallett, 1984.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Highly recommend this course for artists of any experience level!

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

A teeny baby I found at this year's Dino Shindig! Likely a scaphitid ammonite. Finding large vertebrate bones is cool and all, but stumbling on something this small and so well preserved is just as miraculous to me. Very glad I could go volunteer at the Shindig again, hope to me back next year!

Close-up of me holding the tiny ammonite. It's not even half the size of my fingernail.

Scale bar next to the ammonite shows it is about 6 mm in diameter at the widest point.

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Reposted by Liz Furman

Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Back from the field on this #FossilFriday to see the humbling news that a gorgeous little Carboniferous fish bears a new name: Unionichthys friedmani. Thanks to Struan Henderson and @gilespalaeo.bsky.social for this honor. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Four panel figure showing a fossil fish skull, a 3D model of the surface of the fossil, a rendering of the bones in many colors in a semitransparent matrix, and the bones in isolation.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Anyway meet my new son Smolder

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

When you become a paleontologist chances are you'll be assigned either a cat or a reptile (foreshadowing)

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Great summary by @friedmanlab.bsky.social of why this new study is so valuable!

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Big congrats to @sanaaelsayed.bsky.social on this incredible work! This study helps fill in a critical gap in fish evolution, and shows how quickly modern fish lineages diversified in the wake of the K-Pg extinction. Looking forward to reading through this! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Rise of modern marine fishes captured in an early Paleocene Lagerstätte

Remarkably modern marine fish assemblages were established in the tropics within 4 Myr of the K-Pg extinction.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

As someone with a bachelor's in earth science, I can confidently say this is one of the sexiest rocks I've ever seen

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Weekend trip down to NJ to check out the Edelman Fossil Museum, and wow I am blown away by the quality of their models! Here's some quick sketches I did of the Hadrosaurus and Priconodon. Absolutely stop by if you're in the area. #dinosaurs #paleontology #paleoart

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Arctodus simus, the Giant Short-faced Bear, dozes off in the southern Black Hills of late Pleistocene South Dakota. Illustration from 2024. Sorry for not posting for several months, I forgor #paleoart #bear #arctodus

Digital illustration of Arctodus sinus sleeping on a rock. Reddish hills with sparse tree cover in background

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

The paper that turned me into a macroevolution hater...

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Update: the Stoplight Loosejaw model is now functional! Later on I'll paint it and give it teeth and gills, but for now I'm setting it aside to focus on other projects. This fish is quite small, with known specimens usually not growing over a foot long, so my model is about 3-4x life size.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Please enjoy some forward-facing fish from the Biomes Marine Biology Center in RI. Species names in alt text. #fish #aquarium

Polypterus senegalus (gray bichir) - my favorite fish!

Rhinecanthus aculeatus (Picasso triggerfish)

Pristigenys alta (short bigeye), with a triggerfish behind it

A cowfish from the Ostraciidae family, not sure which species. It's missing its left horn.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Picked up these two from Barnes & Noble today! I've been meaning to read The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by @restingdinoface.bsky.social for a while now, so far it's captivating. I'm afraid I can't tag Darwin but rly looking forward to finally reading Origin too.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Working on a prototype for a Stoplight Loosejaw kinetic model! I wanted to test all the pivot points with paper before doing it with cardboard. This deep sea fish has one of the most unique and bizarre jaw arrangements, utilizing both the "true" jaw and the hyoid in its gape.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I like to pretend sturgeons don't exist sometimes

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Tried drawing a generic fish skull from memory. Who needs a suspensorium anyway.

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Reposted by Liz Furman

Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Out now in Contributions from me and @gilespalaeo.bsky.social, a deep dive into an early member of the sturgeon and paddlefish lineage. Bear with me, but there’s a long backstory highlighting uncertainty about the anatomy of living species and how well-studied fossils can still yield new insights.

Photograph of a fossil fish skull in right lateral view. The bone is dark brown/black against a gray matrix.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Beautiful sunrise Mola mola often lay on their side at the water surface to sun themselves and warm up their bodies, earning them the common name "sunfish". I was thinking about them a lot at 2 am the other night which spawned whatever this is. #molamola #sunfish #fish

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Reposted by Liz Furman

franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Look at my fesh #Art #SciArt

Dark, shallow underwater scene showing three Astraspis, yellow, finless, jawless fish with armored head swimming to the right, surrounded by some algae and rocks. 3D artwork.

Murky underwater scene with two Eriptychius, dark brownish, finless, jawless fish facing each other, half buried in the soft sediment, with rocks in the background. 3D artwork.

Top view of a shallow marine environment with Eriptychius and Astraspis, two different species of jawless fishes, loitering around the soft sediment and rocks. 3D artwork.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Another brilliant example that nature has never been limited by the strict human definitions of "male and female". Fish especially show a mind-blowing variety of reproductive strategies!

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Reposted by Liz Furman

Letters of Note @lettersofnote.com · 12/02/2026

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I'm making a fish-core playlist! What songs should I add? -looking for fish related lyrics or just vibes -no soundtracks please, unless you feel strongly about one particular song (I know subnautica exists, love it, not what I'm looking for here)

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Who up deciphering they taphonomic processes

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Reposted by Liz Furman

Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

I've seen fossils in some remarkable places, but this takes the prize: the benthic foram Nummulites in the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza. These massive blocks were quarried from the Eocene Mokkatam Formation when a relictual population of woolly mammoths still lived on Wrangel Island.

Disc-shaped fossils with concentric grooves scattered through a limestone block.

Image of the apex of the Great Pyramid, taken from the base of the southeast corner. The layers of massive blocks of limestone composing the pyramid are clearly visible. The pyramid is set against a sunny blue sky.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Thank you! Glad I got the expert approval.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Absolutely thrilled to have seen the new Chicago Archaeopteryx exhibit. This specimen never ceases to amaze me. Featuring my fanart of said dead bird. #chicagoarchaeopteryx #fieldmuseum

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

This is one of the most absurd things I've ever seen in a crystal shop. Top tier impulse purchase.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

I think they were more concerned with trying to suck on the tank wall lol

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Reptiles doing the reptile things (Burpee museum)

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Got to pet a sturgeon at the Burpee museum, my life has peaked

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

Mahjong in Chicago with friends and my Therizinosaurus son named Chad Kroger

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Reposted by Liz Furman

Emily Thomas 🦤🏳️‍🌈 @zhejiang0pterus.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Flags with extinct animals on them: - California (California grizzly bear) - Chernyshevsky District, Russia (Kulindadromeus) - Doronogovi, Mongolia (sauropod) - Srednekolymsk, Russia woolly (mammoth)

Flag of California. It features a grizzly bear walking atop a grassy field, a red star on the upper left, a red bar at the bottom, and the words "California Republic" all on a white background

Flag of Chernyshevsky District. It features blue and green regions on the background, white lines dividing them, and atop them, a golden flower(?) and an illustration of the dinosaur Kulindadromeus

Flag of Dornogovi. It features horizontal blue, yellow, and green stripes. On the top left is a blue-and-orange emblem with a white silhouette of a sauropod in it

Flag of Srednekolymsk. It features a red sun on the top right, a stylized river, and a red mammoth

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Hell nah no chondrichthyes in this house 😤

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Listening to Limp Bizkit while drawing fish skeletals. Not sure if this is making me feel more or less sane tbh

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Gaze upon this magnificent artifact I found at the local thrift store the other day

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I try to get a skeleton sketch or two done any time I go to the AMNH. It's a great opportunity to practice life drawings.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

The trike's head is also very triangular, narrow towards the front and rly thick at the back. Bit of a strange model for sure.

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Liz Furman @loamlizzard.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

I also checked out the new Impact exhibit at the AMNH yesterday. I didn't have too much time for an in depth look, but first impressions were good! Mixed reviews on the models and illustrations. Looking forward to more thoroughly reading through everything next time I'm there.

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