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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 11h

#MolluscMonday Scratched by the feet of countless visitors unaware of its existence, a Carboniferous gastropod in a memorial stone in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.

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Lee Hsiang Liow （廖珕庠） @lhliow.bsky.social · 12h

On cheilostome cyclostome distribution through time with @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social and @jgsaulsbury.bsky.social thanks @andrejpaleo.bsky.social I didn’t even see it was online.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#FossilFriday It’s easy to see why Cotham Marble is often referred to as ‘landscape marble’. This Late Triassic limestone from the Bristol area is a microbialite. Detail from a specimen about 10 cm thick on display at the Natural History Museum, London.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#MolluscMonday Section of a fossil gastropod shell in a Bordeaux street paving stone. I believe this to be an acteonellid of Cretaceous age but would welcome feedback.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#FossilFriday Scanning electron micrograph of the cheilostome bryozoan Fenestrulina from the Miocene of North Canterbury, New Zealand. Visible at the centre is an ovicell in which larvae were once brooded, and to the right the coiled tube of a fouling spirorbid tubeworm.

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Mali Ramsfjell @malihr.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's Tubulipora Thursday, so here is some images of Tubulipora ventricosa from the early stage of the #NorDigBryo project! This is an Arctic species which can be found at depths between 12-250 meters. #Bryozoa

a black and white electron microscopy image of Tubulipora ventricosa

a black and white electron microscopy image of Tubulipora ventricosa showing the gonozooid and the ooeciostome

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The Palaeontographical Society @palaeontosoc.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Its #MonographMonday! This plate is from Volume 6, Issue 15 (1852), A Monograph of British Tertiary Brachiopoda. This issue is the first part of an enormous series of work published by Thomas Davidson in the Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society over 30 years.

A black and white plate depicting various Terebratula grandis specimens

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

#MolluscMonday Steinkerns of rudist bivalves are the most peculiar and perplexing fossils to be found in the Late Cretaceous rocks of SW France. The owners of the holiday home where this example was found assembled a collection of rudist steinkerns believing them to be dinosaur teeth.

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Nigel Monaghan @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Rev George Graydon was puzzled by Monte Bolca fossils and carried out experiments in Dublin in 1794. He observed fish as they rotted in water to leave skeletons. Graydon collection National Museum of Ireland @nmireland.bsky.social #fossils commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:On...

Fossil fish skeleton on cream coloured limestone

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#FossilFriday Photographed last Wednesday at the Centre Commercial Les Grands Hommes, Bordeaux, sectioned rhynchonellid brachiopod shells in polished cladding stones probably of Jurassic age. #PavementGeology

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Ghostly ammonite photographed this morning in a paving stone on the main shopping street of Bordeaux

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Natural History Museum opens gallery locked in 1943 There’s even a toy selected as a suitable home by an encrusting bryozoan on display.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#TrilobiteTuesday Enrolled individual of Phacops rana from the Moroccan Devonian.

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Jesse Locker @jessemlocker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

From the Museum Chartaceum ("Paper Museum") commissioned by 17th-century scholar and patron Cassiano dal Pozzo: a selection of Corals, Patterned Stones, Asbestos, Fossils, Ivory, Ammonite and Hard Stone, 1620s (Windsor Castle, Royal Library)

A sheet of drawings of Corals, Patterned Stones, Asbestos, Fossils, Ivory, Ammonite and Hard Stone,

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#MolluscMonday Chess board in which the white squares contain sectioned ammonites. Apologies for the poor resolution of this photo taken several years ago in the Whitby Museum.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Early this morning on La Dronne, with Charente Maritime on the left bank and Dordogne on the right.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

#FossilFriday Trace fossils on a bedding plane of Paleocene flysch at Zumaia, Spain. Photographed a couple of days ago when I visited as a tourist.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Eocene flysch at Zumaia in northern Spain

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Pioneering fossil hunter recognised with blue plaque

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#MolluscMonday The oldest antique I could find at the brocante in Bors, Charente, was this ammonite, probably Macrocephalites from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian), and hence more than 160 million years older than anything else in the store.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Pleasing to see cyclostome bryozoans making the news in this nice article from the Otago Daily Times.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#FossilFriday Multispecies fenestellid bryozoan hash from the Permian of Spitsbergen. Image taken for my forthcoming mass extinctions book.

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Nigel Monaghan @nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I’m glad I got to see this wonderful natural history #museum in #Philadelphia last year. It is now closing for the foreseeable at the end of this month. 19 million specimens will be safe, and research will continue, but funding of the large public building isn’t working ansp.org/learn/Journa...

ansp.org

changing-the-future-of-the-academy

The Academy of Natural Sciences will be closing its museum at the end of September, but preserving its research and collections mission.

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Cormac MacFhionnlaoich @cormacscoast.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A fossil Bryozoan sea mat with a few Crinoid segments scattered around. A structure, as fine as lacework, that has managed to remain intact for over 300 million years. County Donegal, Ireland. Cormacscoast.com walking tours

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Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

1/4 New paper! Our latest study explores how plastic debris can act as a vector for the dispersal of marine organisms. The work is part of Gabriel’s PhD thesis and builds on research developed during Mar’s undergraduate thesis. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

#MolluscMonday Fossils of the peculiar rudist bivalve Titanosarcolites from the Maastrichtian can measure up to 30 cm across. This image of an NHMUK specimen from Jamaica will feature in my forthcoming book on mass extinctions.

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James Witts @jdwitts.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Lots to agree with in this thread by @andyfarke.bsky.social - but this especially.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#FossilFriday Carved stone head from the cloister at the Cathédrale Saint-Front in Périgueux, France. The texture of the chin resembling a beard results from weathering of this Late Cretaceous limestone revealing bryozoan branches.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

First, very preliminary proofs have arrived for my new book on extinctions, which I hope will be published in Spring next year.

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Florida Museum of Natural History @floridamuseum.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Museum Collections 🦪 Invertebrate Paleontology Galleries From barnacles to shrimp, browse fossil specimens in our invertebrate paleontology collection—with photos: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/invertpaleo/... Featured Species: Radiolucina waccamawensis Specimen: # UF 105316 Collectors: Roger Portell

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

#MolluscMonday The coiled right valve of this rudist is capped by a smaller, thinner and almost flat left valve, illustrating nicely the contrast in valve size and shape in these peculiar Jurassic–Cretaceous bivalves. Paving stone at Fouras, Charente Maritime, France.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

#FossilFriday Echinoderms on the streets of Libourne in SW France: a couple of echinoid tests, probably Oligocene or Miocene, and two fragments of the Jurassic crinoid Apiocrinus, all showing the uniformly white calcite typical of fossil echinoderms in section.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

#MolluscMonday The ammonite Hildoceras sublevisoni outside and inside. A precursor of the better known Hildoceras bifrons. Early Jurassic of Whitby, Yorkshire

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Rod Page @rdmpage.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Tool to display the use of a taxonomic name over time based on @biodivlibrary.bsky.social data is online at iphylo.org/bhl-name-tim..., the screenshot shows results for Physeter catodon versus Physeter macrocephalus (names for the sperm whale). This will be part of @tdwg.org workshop on BHL in Oslo.

Occurrences of scientific names across the Biodiversity Heritage Library, over time for Physeter catodon and Physeter macrocephalus

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

#FossilFriday The archaeological museum and art gallery in Aurillac has a small display of Cenozoic fossil leaves from the Massif Central of France collected and described by the palaeobotanist Pierre Marty (1868-1940).

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Joe Keating @evopalaeo.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

⚠️Please repost!⚠️ Over 99% of species that ever lived are extinct. Without palaeontology, the new Natural History GCSE will only cover a snapshot of life's history. We're making the case for fossils in the new GCSE 🦴🐚🌿 teach.ocr.org.uk/palaeontolog... The consultation is open now! Have your say👇

teach.ocr.org.uk

GCSE Natural History - Palaeontology - Joseph Keating

Joseph Keating puts forward a case for including palaeontology in the new GCSE Natural History curriculum due to its unique deep-time perspective.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#MolluscMonday Sections of rudist bivalves in the polished slabs of Cretaceous limestone beneath the windows of the Bordeaux branch of Galeries Lafayette.

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Delighted to say that The Fossil Woman A Life of Mary Anning has been reprinted and is available once again. It can be ordered through your local bookshop, or uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-... If you’re lucky enough to visit Lyme Regis you’ll find it at the Lyme Regis Bookshop and Lyme Regis Museum.

Book cover in greens and yellows with a fossil skeleton and a silhouette of a woman, and the title The Fossil Woman A Life of Mary Anning by Tom Sharpe.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

#FoaailFriday Fossil face in a pavement at Bordeaux. A cross-section of the upper column of the Jurassic crinoid Apiocrinus, the peculiar appearance seemingly due to local recrystallisation.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

#MolluscMonday Specimen of the Late Triassic bivalve Rhaetavicula contorta mounted on the tablet used when this Triassic bivalve was displayed in the old British Museum (Natural History) invertebrate fossil gallery.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

#FossilFriday Sponge labelled Toulminia bullatus with stalk and roots in the NHMUK collections. Collected from the Late Cretaceous Chalk somewhere in southern England.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

#MolluscMonday Section of a high-spired gastropod fossil in a paving stone adjacent to the National Theatre, London. #PavementGeology

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Marc A. Milne @forthespiders.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

It may be surprising to some that there are thousands of undescribed species just sitting in museums awaiting description. One of the main reasons this problem exists is that taxonomy is undervalued and underfunded, a trend that coincides with the devaluing of studies on natural history.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

An ammonite enthusiast buying produce from the market in Coutras, France.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

#FossilFriday Another of Johann Beringer’s peculiar ‘fossils’ carved by an unknown hand in Triassic Muschelkalk limestone. Exhibited at the Marienberg castle in Würzburg, Germany.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

#TrilobiteTuesday Magnificent slab awash with trilobites from the Ordovician of Morocco. On display at the Palaeontological Museum in Oslo.

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Paul D. Taylor @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#MolluscMonday Small (<2 cm) glycymerid bivalve shell with characteristic taxodont dentition. Photographed on a building stone (almost certainly Oligocene Calcaire à astéries) in St Émilion, the famous centre for Bordeaux wine.

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Paleontological Society @paleosoc.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Happy #FossilFriday!! 🪸 📌This Carboniferous-aged (~325 mya) colonial coral Siphonodendron is from Barns Ness in Scotland! 📸Thanks to Craig Mellon for submitting this fossil! Want to see your fossil featured? Submit photos here: tinyurl.com/PSfossilfrid... #paleontology #fossil #Scotland

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