iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Marie Buhtz @mbuhtz.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Lingthusiasm absolutely deserves a spot in your podcast rotation! Or if you don't listen to podcasts, Lingthusiasm could be the first?

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It’s Spoopy Season, so here are some scaaaary things I found in the uninventoried part of the herpetology collection here at @nhmdk.bsky.social today! 🧪👻💀

A jar with a badly splintered lid. It should be full of ethanol. Instead, it is totally empty of ethanol. The material inside cannot be rescued. It will be thrown away.

A specimen with a tag attached on a long string. The string got caught in the lid when it was closed, and all the ethanol evaporated out along the string. The specimen may be partly salvageable. The skeleton is intact. But this is a cautionary tale; cut your tag strings!!

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Markus Eichhorn @markuseichhorn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's that time again.

Panel 1 title: grant proposal. A happy tetrapod pootles about in a wetland with trees in the background.
Panel 2 title: final report. The same tetrapod stares in dismay at the dead fish in the tainted water as forests burn in the background.
Original artwork: Victor Leshyk
Actual paper: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toxic-slime-contributed-to-earth-rsquo-s-worst-mass-extinction-mdash-and-it-rsquo-s-making-a-comeback/

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Ainsley S @americanbeetles.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Mommmmmm all the OTHER museums have life-sized model eurypterids, why can't WE install life-sized model eurypterids

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

🚨We're hiring a new Curator of Mammals!!🚨 🦍🐕🦝🐅🦓🦌🐃🐖🐏🐫🐘🦏🦛🐿️🦔🦇🦥🦦🦨🦘🦡🐋🦭🦒🧸 Come join the Vertebrate Unit at @nhmdk.bsky.social—a fantastic team in the heart of Denmark's beautiful capital! Amazing collections, incredible history. Please share widely! 🧪🏛️ candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

candidate.hr-manager.net

Tenure Track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor and Curator of Mammals

Tenure Track Assistant Professor / Associate Professor, and Curator of Mammals at Natural History Museum Denmark The Natural History Museum Denmark wishes to ap

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A friend for you from the walk to my office this morning

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

New paper in @bou.org.uk's Ibis: there is still no comprehensive database of bird type specimens. Many major collections have no published type catalogue at all. Where they exist, they're often print-only, partial, or decades out of date. 🧵

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The injustice of the lack of chipmunks in Northern Europe! I love them so much

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Good morning, team. We have 3.5 days until Drexel closes the Academy of Natural Sciences. It’s time for you- yeah YOU- to make some calls. Step 1: Tell the following people we need help pressuring Drexel to keep the museum open: Josh Shaprio 717-787-2500 Mayor Parker's 215-686-2181

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Michael Hiller @hillermich.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Happy to share results of the @bat1kgenomes.bsky.social phase 1, providing reference genomes covering 21 bat families. New insights into bat phylogeny, ancestral genome reconstruction, European origin & ancestral echolocation. Great work by a team of 100+ colleagues www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Reference genomes and fossils revise bat family phylogeny and biogeography - Nature

An updated phylogeny of bats is presented, based on new genome assemblies and many ancient fossils and including all known bat families.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

candidate.hr-manager.net

Tenure Track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor and Curator of Mammals

Tenure Track Assistant Professor / Associate Professor, and Curator of Mammals at Natural History Museum Denmark The Natural History Museum Denmark wishes to ap

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The fact that he retained a simplified picture of what these obscure little creatures look like, enough to draw one on the whiteboard, really left me dumbfounded.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

We recently watched Life on Earth episode 5, The Conquest of the Waters, which opens with Sir David sitting on a rock and talking about sea squirt anatomy and their connection to chordates.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Four-year-old asked me to guess what animal he was drawing on the whiteboard. The answer? A sea squirt.

An anatomically simplified illustration of a sea squirt. The oral siphon, above, represented by a kind of star on a stick; to the right, the atrial siphon is illustrated with the same kind of star on a stick.
Orange marker on whiteboard.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The office today, reading through some proofs. 🧪🦎

A sunny day at the botanical garden, legs up on a chair, holding a printed document with pictures of Geckolepis fish-scale geckos on it. A red pen in hand.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Unthinkable. It’s like burning a library, only every book is irreplaceable and unique 😭

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Please repost! Drexel announced that it will close the Academy of Natural Sciences public museum- the oldest nat history museum in the US. There are 2 petitions to support the academy. Please sign both & come to our rally Tues. actionnetwork.org/petitions/pe... www.change.org/p/the-academ...

A poster featuring the T-Rex at the cognitive natural sciences, which says save the Academy natural sciences, museum rally in front of the academy 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Tuesday, September 8 10 AM. The T-Rex is saying tell Drexel keep the museum open. There’s an RSVP QR code and then the logos of Philly Science Action Skype scientist In Philly on the bottom.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Hell yeah, this is awesome, congrats!

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Alexandra Weber @toedtoad.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

My first paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! We found that snake embryos coil due to a mismatch in growth rates between the gut and spine. This tight coil is one of the reasons why snakes are able to get so long. Read the paper here!

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Trying to piece together the steps I took to do a species delimitation analysis whilst sleep deprived in the rainforest six months ago is not going well. Which software did I run? Which version is the most recent? Why does my Mac think all files in the whole folder were created simultaneously?🧪🐸

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Reposted by Dr Mark D. Scherz

Kathryn R Elmer @profkathrynelmer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

We have a ca 1.5 yr postdoc available in our team, asking, 'what is the shape of the fitness landscape between oviparity and viviparity?' and 'what drives viviparity to evolve'? 🧬 using 🦎 as a model. closes 16 Sept. Details on EvolDir evoldir.net/brian/evoldi... @glasgow.ac.uk @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Can anyone help me track down a book by W. C.A. Bokermann? 'Lista anotada das localidades tipo de anfíbios brasileiros' published 1966 in São Paulo: Servicio de Documentacão, Universidade Rural São Paulo. Looks like no PDFs exist, but we need some of the data in there! #canhazpdf 🧪🐸🇧🇷

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Here are two of the four new species of moss-camouflaged frogs we just described in the journal Salamandra: Spinomantis fohitstilo and S. chlorostictus! The article is OA, available here: www.salamandra-journal.com/salamandra/6... 🧪🐸

Spinomantis fohistilo, a mossy-looking frog with big finger and toe pads, green and brown patterning above, and rather white flanks. The legs have a series of little white spines, which are the source of the name, which means white spines in Malagasy.

A brown frog with a two-toned eye, and little green splotches over its back. Those green splotches are the source of the name, which is of Greek derivation. This one is quite smooth without fringes or spines, but still has well expanded finger and toe tips.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I feel you totally. We had our son while I was in the throes of putting in early career grants. Got a lot of work done with a sleeping baby on my lap. Honestly, it was quality time for both of us. But I felt guilt too.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Reminder that what your child is interested in at the age of six could well foreshadow their entire career path. It did mine, at least. 🧪🦎

The childhood drawings of yours truly at the age of six featuring a badly drawn tree with fairly well drawn snake crawling up it, and two, one big and one small, looking at it. Above, childish handwriting reads 'Granddad and I go on safari int he back yard.'

The childish drawings of yours truly at the age of six. It features a relatively abstract tree with a person with an obnoxiously long nose drawn to the side of it, with what must be a lizard in hand, for above the caption reads 'We like catching lizzards.'

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Now meet the six other #NewSpecies we described alongside R. quentini!! 🧪🐸

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Say hello to Quentin’s Diamond Frog, Rhombophryne quentini. 🧪🐸 #NewSpecies

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

how does this HAPPEN‽ how can small yellow mean pink?? I don’t get it. Softened colours (-ish) are doubled: mavo = yellow, mavomavo = yellowish. Light colours are ‘young’; light blue = manga tanora, tanora meaning young. So why is pink SMALL YELLOW and not young red? So weird. I love language.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Still, I am very happy to have put out this new reference work on the genus to which I have devoted so much of my attention over the last twelve years. The work goes on. And I particularly look forward to watching this work become outdated as our knowledge grows in the years ahead. 🧪🐸

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

One of the key takeaways from our work though is that there is more work to be done! There are still undescribed species that we couldn't yet name. We regularly discover previously unknown species in this genus, and we lack basic biological knowledge on all known species 🧪🐸

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This little pebble is Rhombophryne kilonjy, a small, poorly known and obscure species related to R. ellae and R. quentini but found in lowland forest close to the coast in northwestern Madagascar. The name kilonjy means ‘pebble’ in Malagasy because, well, just look at it. 🧪🐸 📸 F. Andreone

A pebble of a frog. It is round. It is pale beige. It has a smoky grey chevron on the back and a distinct curved fold of skin over the ear. It rests on a pile of leaves. There is almost a feeling that, hefted in the right way, it would skip well across a calm little lake. Please do not skip the frog.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Rhombophryne quentini is an orange-thighed species from high-elevation in northern Madagascar. In 2020 I named the closely related R. ellae after my partner, Ella—so I took particularly great pleasure in naming this new species after our son, Quentin. A little family of frogs. 🧪🐸 📸 M. Vences

A rather chubby brown frog on a moss-covered log. It's not much to look at. But just wait.

Hidden on those thighs of that bland brown frog were spots of bright orange, perhaps even red, and large black spots on the hips outlined with cream. It gives a very different picture of the animal! Here seen from behind, the left leg stretched slightly down to reveal the full redness of the posterior thigh.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Rhombophryne kotrobaratra is a species from northeastern Madagascar with unusually long and strong hindlimbs. The name kotrobaratra means ‘thunder and lightning’ in Malagasy, and refers to the inclement weather that seems to bring these frogs out (true for all Rhombophryne, really). 🧪🐸 📸 F. Andreone

To the untrained eye, this might be called a 'toad'; its resemblance to a bufonid is striking, with rough skin with distinct warts and bumps. But this is not a bufonid. It lacks the parotid glands. It has strong hindlimbs. The back is brown splotched with dark umber, especially in a chevron over the shoulders. The eye is almost maroon as the frog looks to frame left. It rests on a large dead leaf on the forest floor.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Rhombophryne anatiala is a very poorly known species very closely related to R. sonaliae but found further north and differing subtly. The name anatiala means ‘in the forest’ in Malagasy, referring to the forest habitat of these frogs. 🧪🐸 📸 F. Andreone

Picture a slightly overdone American-style pancake. Add frog limbs along the edges. There you go.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Rhombophryne sonaliae is a rather well known species from eastern Madagascar that's previously been called R. alluaudi—until we showed in 2019 that the name belonged in fact to a species of Plethodontohyla from southern Madagascar! We dedicated this species to our esteemed colleague Sonali Garg. 🧪🐸

A very, very shiny frog, reflecting the diffuser used to take the picture. Its skin glistens, but below the shine is a fine grey-brown. In the hip and on the thigh are large, yellow spots reminiscent of the egg spots of cichlid fish. These are totally hidden when the frog is at rest; here it is just starting a step forward.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Rhombophryne mavokely is a wee species from the northeast. Mavokely is Malagasy for ‘pink’ but literally translates as ‘small yellow’ (mavo = yellow, kely = small). I LOVE this. As they're small, sometimes pink and sometimes yellowish, the name seemed apt. This one is for @gretchenmcculloch.com 🧪🐸

A pinkish, almost peach rotund frog on a green leaf. Its back has a few black spots with light centres. Above the ear is a dark blotch, behind the richly bronze eyes.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

But I want to introduce BlueSky to the seven new species in turn. Let's start with Rhombophryne maraorao. This is a burrowing species from the northeast of Madagascar. The name maraorao means ‘rough to the touch’ in Malagasy, referring to the rough skin of this species. 🧪🐸 📸 F. Andreone

Basically an animated pinecone on a log. This frog looks like a clump of mud, not a frog.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

This is the culmination of a project I started about twelve years ago. You can read a little about the journey here: www.markscherz.com/archives/6349 🧪🐸

markscherz.com

Unearthing seven new diamond frogs!

Seven charming new frogs in the genus Rhombophryne, also known as Diamond Frogs!

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I am thrilled to introduce seven new species of diamond frogs from Madagascar! A new monograph on the genus Rhombophryne published #OpenAccess in Vertebrate Zoology. 🧪🐸 doi.org/10.3897/vz.7...

A new species, Rhombophryne sonaliae, looking right at you. It looks a lot like Kaloula pulchra, aka chubby frogs, with its light flank stripes and dark brown top and sides, but is super shiny.

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

the smallest is around 20 mm, so pretty small!

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Not huge, but alas not mini ;) but you may enjoy some of the name etymologies, most of which are Malagasy!

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Dr Mark D. Scherz @markscherz.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I am very excited: a paper I have been working on for a very long time, including descriptions of seven new frog species, will be dropping tomorrow apparently! If you are a #SciComm journalist and interested in covering the story, hit me up! 🧪🐸

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