iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Reminder for palaeo collegaues , Russia is very willing to conduct genocide (including cultural) against Ukraine, killing scientists and artists, but my suggestions to maybe not allow publish fossils stolen from Crimea in western publishing houses, still seen as strange. #fossils #Ukraine 🦖⚒️

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

@mosasaurologist.bsky.social - I have found a replica of your nemesis - Xiphactinus, lurking in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria aquarium

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

For today's #fossilfriday post, not a #fossil but equipment, a sediment corer used to extract sediments with microfossils from the lakes. This corner is a workhorse for climate and environmental reconstruction for ice ages and beyond. @gilromera.bsky.social @cesar-morales.bsky.social 🦣🦖

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Kishenehn formation from Eocene of Montana, is famous for #fossil Culiseta mosquito with preserved haemoglobine, discovered by my friend Dale Greenwalt. Less famous are water skating midges - Hintelmaniella noncatafractata, we discovered with Dale doi.org/10.26879/1165 #fossilfriday 🦖🪰⚒️

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Minna Ålander 🌻 @alanderminna.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Made an attempt to throw some cold water on the fears that a Russian escalation is imminent. Not all war is hybrid, and escalation is almost always - and especially under the current circumstances - hard to control. That applies to Russia, too.

minnalander.substack.com

To Escalate Or Not To Escalate

Russia’s war is increasingly spilling over into Europe. But does it indicate an imminent willingness to escalate further?

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

It seems @joniaskola.bsky.social we might yet get our wish just in time, and see russian frozen assets to be used for defense of Ukraine and Europe

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Today is #Ukraine ´s 35th #independanceday (really a restoration of 1921 UNR statehood), and I remmbering and hoping to see all the places that war has stolen from Ukrainians and friends of our country, like steppes of Askania Nova where I photographed this Eucera longicornis 🐝in 2013

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Kurgan stellae (6ct. BC-11 ct AC) are pervasive part of Ukrainian steppe. Part history stretching back into the Pleistocene, that gathered land and people that make #Ukraine. Today is Ukraine´s 35th #independanceday. Thanks to all friends standing with Ukraine, in fight for this history to continue

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The fact that Trump has reduced the US-Canada relationship to a zero-sum competition in the eyes of his supporters is in itself a catastrophic development. The relationship always thrived because it was seen from a mutually beneficial point of view. That’s now over and it’s a tragedy.

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Fabian Hoffmann, PhD @frhoffmann.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

🚀 New Mildly Alarmed episode out. @alanderminna.bsky.social and I discuss one of the key topics of my recently defended PhD: How does the proliferation of long-range strike weapons to small and medium-sized states affect strategic stability? 1/3 www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRLD...

youtube.com

When small states get long range missiles | Mildly Alarmed

YouTube video by Mildly Alarmed

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Head of the #fossil Valeseguya, male from Dominican #amber - Valeseguyidae are weird flies, there are number of fossils, maybe several dozens, from ambers, but family was described based on a SINGLE extant fly from Victoria, Australia, making them rarest extant flies #fossilfriday

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

listening to @alanderminna.bsky.social and @frhoffmann.bsky.social, on "Mildly alarmed" on deterrence by punishment and missiles. Its a bummer, my phd was not on anything that impactful.. (does cat dads allowed dad jokes?)

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

37 MYA #fossil Culicidae mosquito female from Baltic #amber. True mosquitos are fairly rare in amber, unlike biting midges, because unlike latter, they have no strong association with tree bark, or tree-dwelling invertebrates. Btw mosquito in Jurassi Park was from... #fossilfriday #fossils🦖⚒️ 1/2

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Inspired by @nataliajagielska.bsky.social post on high density bone-beds of bats- I present you "bone breccia" of Noerdlingen Ries soda lake. Formed in the middle-Miocene asteroid impact crater in Bavaria, lake became a trap for thousands of small vertebrates, forming meters thick #fossil layer 🦖

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

94.6% #solareclipse in Mairena de Aljarafe, Seville, Spain. Lighting during the peak of the eclipse was quite special, although no darkness happened as during total eclipse, it was also cooler quite a bit, due to blockage of IR radiation

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Harriet E. Nuttall @whosyourmammal.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

#Yourpalaeolife The ECR survey is published @ecol-evol.bsky.social! Early career palaeontologists from all over the world have talked about their experience with fieldwork - how could you change your working practices to get more early career researchers into the field? doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

doi.org

#Yourpalaeolife: Interrogating the Status of Fieldwork Among Early Career Palaeontology Researchers

This global survey of early career palaeontologists provides the first quantitative data regarding the prevalence of field skills training and field work among junior researchers of the discipline. T....

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Juan Sebastián Elcano, lowborn navigator, who actually brought about Magellan's circumnavigation (due to M pathetic excuse of being dead), what interests me though is the role of this seagull in the circumnavigation, as it clearly was important, immortalized at Glorieta de Marineras, Sevilla. #birds

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

ominous #pyrocumulus clouds from Nieva #wildfire in Sierra de Huelva are reaching over #Sevilla now. Fire is so big at about 20.000 ha, that it formed its own weather. Just as I sit here watching it and writing about #ClimateCrisis @katharinehayhoe.com @stephenbheard.bsky.social

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Once I was looking at Baltic amber collection of CeNak Hamburg - and I found this donated piece of jewelery - a heart-shaped piece of amber, it was marked "diptera #fossil ?" - but it was almost opaque, amber polished long ago gets dar, we CT scanned it and behold - 56 tiny cyclorhapha larvae! 🦖⚒️

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Madeira wall lizard 🦎 (Teira dugesii) is an endemic of Madeira archipelago, who established several populations in mainland Portugal, like these guys we seen in Lisbon. Rare case of island endemic reptile being invasive on Mainland (Cuban Anole is the only other one I can recall) 🐸🐍

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

National Museum of Natural History Lisbon has a very nice exhibition "Among the dinosaurs", showing that Lusitinania Jurassic fauna was very close to say what you see in Morrison formation. Its centered around Allosaurus find in Andres quarry from Portugal #fossils 🦖 @extinctmonsters.bsky.social

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Very nice 🦀 prints from the 19th century in the National Museum of Natural History and Science, also a GINORMUS Cancer pagurus - its in round collection jar, but still has at least 600 mm in width of the carapce, I guess what I considered "big" crab was shifting baseline @jopabinia.bsky.social

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I have to say that PBS Eons "Life and death on Pangea" is really excellent, the best accessible look at P/T extinction since Michael Benton´s "When life nearly died". THAT how I want my palaeo documentaries #fossils 🦖 www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY8m...

youtube.com

How the Formation of Pangea Changed the World

YouTube video by PBS Eons

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

I am pleased to announce, I will be a plenary speaker at the upcoming International Congress of Dipterology (#ICD2027), Zagreb icd11.biol.pmf.hr/program, closing a line up of amazing speakers incl @asrivathsan.bsky.social and Art Borkent @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Natalia (娜塔莉) @wrycritic.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I did a thread on paleontologists contributing to eugenics & fascism. What about the opposite end of political spectrum?🧵 Ernst Untermann (1864–1956) palaeontologist by trade, painted murals for the Dinosaur National Monument. A prolific socialist, first in US to translate Das Kapital into English.

Stegosaurus landscape by Ernst Untermann

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Was an honor to work on this project with @parasitoidrex.bsky.social and all the other ECR´s of GBOLIII "-Dark taxa" who showed me that future of biodiversity research is indeed very bright

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

For the #fossilfriday today - Brachyphyllum cf. gracile - Araucaria like upper Jurassic #fossil #plant. This specimen we have found in Moernsheim quarry close to Solenhofen, same one where Alcmonavis poeschli was discovered

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Might be on interest for my ecology friends here 🧪, we shown how even 40 years of observations does not rarefy completely diversity of insect groups with prevalent dark taxa (looking at you, 🪰) @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @steveormerod.bsky.social @stephenbheard.bsky.social @cschaboo.bsky.social

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

our new 🧪 📄 on long-term Breitenbach site in DE, focusing on how much 🪰🪲🪳 diversity we missing even after 42 yrs of studying same spot, is out @royentsoc.bsky.social Thanks @nathanjaybaker.bsky.social @parasitoidrex.bsky.social @pilofr.bsky.social for all the hard work! @ebdonana.bsky.social

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

For this #Fossilfriday I have this chironomid pupa from Rovno amber (Ukraine), that we have described in this 2015 paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🦖⚒️

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Males of Afruca tangeri fiddler #crabs demonstrating to each other in a bit of stand-off in Rio Chara preserve at Tarifa, Southern Spain 🦀

Males of fiddler crabs waving enlarged claws at each other

Rio Chara estuary azure against blue sky, reaches the Straits of Gibraltar

Coastal marsh of Rio Chara, with cows grazing and cloud-covered los Alcornacales mountains at the background

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Paul Stewens @p-stewens.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social raises an important issue here. Many (int'l) journals have published on fossils from occupied Crimea, which the authors claim to come from Russia. The inconsistent adherence to ethical standards by the @jvertpaleo.bsky.social is, of course, extra disappointing. [1/3]

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Mantophasmatodea are curious insects, first discovered as #fossil in amber ln 2002, they were found still living in Namibia (and South Africa) years later. Thought to be a new order (major insect grp - thin Flies, beetles), now they are recognized as member of Notoptera or crawlers #fossilfriday 🦖

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Caddisflies have mostly aquatic larvae , so their #fossils in amber are rare. In our 2024 paper (in alt text) we have shown two mechanisms of how that happens - water dried out & larvae crawled away in search of water, or resin flowed from a tree into water and trapped larvae there #fossilfriday 🦖

Lepidostomatidae caddisfly larva in amber published in https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2023/3938-caddisfly-larvae-from-amber - head and legs, frontal view

CT scan of the Lepidostomatidae larva in amber from different prospectives (dorsal, ventral, laterlal, head only) fromelectronica.org/content/2023/3938-caddisfly-larvae-from-amber

. Amber piece PED 1383 with assemblage of different fossils. A, Overview. B-D. Caddisfly larva morphotype 1, Lepidostomatidae. B, Anterior region of specimen 1. C, Ventral view of specimen 2. D, Another specimen (Caddisfly larva morphotype 1, Lepidostomatidae; specimen 2 from amber piece PED 1383) not seen in overview from this direction. E, F, Non-biting midge larva (Diptera: Chironomidae) sitting on the case of a caddisfly specimen 3. E, Overview. F. Colour-marked version of F. Images obtained with digital microscopy, white transmitted light. From https://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2023/3938-caddisfly-larvae-from-amber

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Dear @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social I really respected your decision to implement ban of Burmese amber research publications in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social, but its quite unacceptable to publish #fossils illegally excavated in the occupied territories of #Ukraine

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

dear @jvertpaleo.bsky.social I think its of utmost importance that you check for consistency of your editorial policies - as you have banned publications on #fossils Burmese amber, but publishing fossils from occupied Crimea, #Ukraine, Russia extracts against Geneva conventions on duty of occupier

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Kenneth De Baets @djbirddanerd.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Automated recognition of Meso-Cenozoic #foraminifera from Senegalese sedimentary deposits using #convolutional #neural #networks => the study considers diagenetic alteration and biostratigraphy: peerj.com/articles/21437 #Ecology #MarineBiology #Paleontology #MachineLearning @peerj.bsky.social

Semi-automated workflow diagram for the acquisition and classification of foraminifera images. The 10-step process depicted includes: (1) acquisition of images covering all species of planktonic and benthic foraminifera and fragments; (2) compilation of a database containing 52,280 images; (3) random selection of images for high-level labeling into two classes (fragments and microfossils); (4) coarse labeling of selected images; (5) training of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) using coarse-labeled images; (6) application of the trained CNN to label and separate fragments from the full dataset; (7) random selection of images for fine labeling at genus and species level using Particule-Trieur software; (8) training of a CNN with fine-labeled images; (9) application of the trained CNN to label remaining microfossil images; and (10) generation of a confusion matrix to evaluate CNN efficacy in recognizing different foraminifera species and genera. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.21437/fig-3

Examples of images depicting planktonic and benthic foraminifera identified in the CM10 samples, which may be confused based on morphological similarities particularly in case of diagenetic alterations: (A) Muricohedbergella sp. (3,000 m, late Cenomanian-Turonian) with (B) Planohedbergella sp. (3,000 m, late Cenomanian-early Campanian); (C) Archaeoglobigerina spp. (1,500 m, late Cenomanian-Turonian) with (D) Subbotina spp. (1,100 m, late Maastrichtian-Paleocene); (E) Acarinina spp. (1,100 m, late Maastrichtian-Paleocene) with (F) Morozovella spp. (1,200 m, late Maastrichtian-Paleocene); (G) Heterohelix sp. (2,200 m, late Cenomanian-Paleocene) with (H) Planohedbergella sp. (3,000 m, late Cenomanian-early Campanian); (I) Gavelinella sp. (2,000 m, Maastrichtian) with (J) Lenticulina spp. (900 m, Paleocene); (K) Ammobaculites sp. (2,500 m, Turonian-Campanian) with (L) Budashevaella sp. (2,100 m, late Campanian-late Paleocene). https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.21437/fig-8

Biostratigraphic ranges chart of major foraminifera species identified in Meso-Cenozoic sediment samples from the CM10 core. The figure compares depth distributions of foraminifera species identified by a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) against expert-based biostratigraphic classifications. Dark purple circles mark CNN identifications, with circle sizes proportional to the normalized abundance of each taxon at each depth. Pink rectangles indicate the stratigraphic range of key species as determined by human experts using classical biostratigraphic frameworks (Ly & Kuhnt, 1994). CNN results span the full dataset, while expert ranges provide a visual benchmark for comparison. The plot has depth on the y-axis (in m) and taxa along the x-axis. 10.7717/peerj.21437/fig-7

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Today for the #FossilFriday I have some #Aotearoa #NewZealand fossils we worked on- country is home to Fantastic a fossil record of Insects, including exquisitely preserved Foulden Maar Fossils and Otago ambers. Oldest "bloodworms" (Chironomus) fossils come from NZ. Paper links in Alt text 🦖🛠️🦟

Fossil Foulden Maar Chironomus midge (pupa) https://peerj.com/articles/17014/

Fossil Foulden Maar Chironomus midge (larva) https://peerj.com/articles/17014/

Bryophaenocladius zelandiae, adult males from Otago amber https://peerj.com/articles/18893/

Bryophaenocladius zelandiae, reconstruction based on uCT scan https://peerj.com/articles/18893/

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Our 2020 paper on fantastic monitoring dataset of #insect in Breitenbach stream DE sadly showed 80% decline in 40 yrs l1nq.com/5h5wqu0. Happy to announce new paper on same stream accepted @royentsoc.bsky.social Ins. Cons & Div. , lead by @nathanjaybaker.bsky.social wt @parasitoidrex.bsky.social 🧪🌍

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

For my 🦖 themed birthday I got awesome Bryce and Viola "Princeton Encyclopedia of dinosaurs" from my wife, and later we going to the "Dinosaurs of Patagonia" expo . Even if you got boring job like invertebrate paleo , it's never to late to embrace your childhood dreams ⚒️

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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲

Stephen Heard @stephenbheard.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Copper Age (~7000-3000 BP) limestone artifacts, Carmo Archaeological Museum, Lisbon. Labeled as "cylindrical idols", but I prefer to interpret them as strong evidence that Copper Age geologists had mastered rock drilling and were aiming for the Mohorovičić discontinuity.🧪 #VeryNiceGeologyJoke

A museum display with about two dozen stone cylinders - from a centimeter to perhaps 8 cm diameter, and 2-20 cm long. They'll all grey limestone.

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

parents sent me an biodiversity part of grandfather's post stamps collection, with one cool stamp with Gasterophilid flies, from the Cuban "veterinary medicine" stamps set. Besides that, a lot of very pretty stamps especially with birds and fishes @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Hey @restingdinoface.bsky.social - so I have a book of yours "Dinosaurios: La nueva vision inedita" and I found it really cool (here it is with some of my Mauricio Anton´s copies) but somebody asked me about English version, and I don't seem to be able to find it. Is it ES only?

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Apropos of nothing, beautiful animals from my last (so far) field season of summer 2013 in the temporarily occupied #Crimea #Ukraine. All animals where photographed during fieldwork for my first phd, cut short by russian occupation in 2014. Species names in the alt text

Bolivaria brachyptera mantis on the ground

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Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲 @swarmofthoughts.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Auchenorrhyncha or cicades and relatives are among the most amazing #insects, here is a part of the colorful outreach collection in LA County Museum of Natural History, where I was working on the considerably less colorful flies...

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