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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Dear members, 🦴 The PalAss is pleased to be supporting a three-day Morphological Phylogenetics Workshop with the Systematics Association and the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK. ⬇️ docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #workshop

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A new quasipetalichthyid placoderm from the Middle Devonian of China onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday @morphobank.bsky.social

Upper left: photograph of fossil specimen IVPP V26687, the placoderm Yipetalichthys maxiongensis, a natural mould of the dorsal part of the endocranium, preserving only a portion of the preorbital plate. Scale bar at lower right of photograph is 10 mm. Lower right, interpretive line drawing. Red rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The Duntulm sauropod tracksite & environmental partitioning in Middle Jurassic dinosaurs on the Isle of Skye, Scotland onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @datadryad.bsky.social

On the left: aerial photo of Section 2 of the Duntulm tracksite, with a line drawing below, highlighting Trackway 1 (line below, closer to vertical) and Trackway 2 (line above, closer to horizontal). Scale bar between the two images is 2 m.
Lower right: aerial photo and line drawing of Trackway 1 (scale bar at lower right is 1 m).
Upper right: photograph and line drawing of a manus-pes pair of footprints, illustrating the difference in size observed in all tracks. The manus at the top (DUNT_26) is smaller than the pes (DUNT_27). Scale bar to lower right of drawing is 5 cm.
Red rectangle at the bottom is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Re-interpretation of oral anatomy of Silurian heterostracan Athenaegis chattertoni from Northwest Territories, Canada onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #FossilFriday @agneselanzetti.bsky.social @palaeostephan.bsky.social @euphanerops.bsky.social @lisaschnetz.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

⚠️ Few PhD and project opportunities. More details below ⬇️ palass.org/phd-opportun... #PhD #opportunity #palaeontology #project

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Growth modelling of living Pinaceae unlocks the stature of ancient relatives onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #FossilFriday

Plot showing the height in metres (vertical axis) against trunk diameter (horizontal axis) for nine populations of Pinaceae trees from Denmark, China, Turkiye and Mexico. Coloured lines shown the ten different models that were fitted to this dataset.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Tetrapod cololite from a middle Permian lagoon community in European Russia & its implications for palaeoecological reconstruction onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Upper left: photograph of a yellow-brown rock sample containing a fragment of the postcranial skeleton of a reptiliomorph (?Nyctiboetus kassini) (darker brown) with cololite from the Shikhovo–Chirki locality (PIN 161/180). Scale underneath is 10 mm.
Lower left: interpretative sketch of the specimen showing tetrapod remains in brown, fields of scales (paler brown), the cololite in grey and undigested remains in red.
Upper right: tentative reconstruction of the fragmentary skeleton in dorsal view; the bones in red are preserved and the cololite is shown in blue.
Lower right: reconstruction of the postcranial skeleton with cololite, based on CT data. Scale bar in lower right corner is 5 mm.
Red rectangle on right side is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

‘The big chunky belemnite’: a new relict megateuthidid from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Wyoming, USA, and its place in the evolutionary history of the group onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

On the left: photographs of two views of the holotype specimen of megateuthidid Wyoteuthis linsterorum (WYDICE INV-001) from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Wyoming, USA, shown in dorsal (elongated view at the bottom) and circular cross section (upper image). Scale bar between the two images is 10 mm.
In the upper right corner is a map of the Late Jurassic Sundance Sea, with an asterisk showing the original location of the specimen. Inset in the upper right corner shows Laurasia and Gondwana (in yellow) with the Pacific Ocean on the left and the Tethys on the right, with the fossil locality indicated by the same asterisk.
Plots at lower right show the distribution of rostrum elongagation (horizontal axis) against alveolar angle (vertical axis) for different groups of belemnites. In each case, the position of the new genus Wyoteuthis, is indicated with a red star (on the left).
Small red rectangle in the centre at the top is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Exploring the intraspecific variation in trilobite segmentation: development of an articulated proasaphiscid onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @datadryad

Four photographs of trilobites, all Maotunia iddingsi from the Cambrian (Miaolingian, Drumian) Zhangxia Formation, Fei County, Shandong Province, North China. The images illustrate different stages of development within this species.
Top right (larger image): holaspid morph 1 with five pygidial segments (YSMT 343).
Three images in a row at the bottom, from left to right: meraspid degree 8, morph 2 with six pygidial segments (YSMT 245-2); meraspid degree 9, morph 1 with five pygidial segments (YSMT 165 and YSMT 251); meraspid degree 9, morph 3 with seven pygidial segments (YSMT 163).
Each photograph has a white scale bar in the lower left corner, all are 5 mm.
Red rectangle in upper right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Charnia & other late Ediacaran macrofossils preserved in turbiditic deposits of the Indreelva Member (Finnmark, Norway) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #FossilFriday

Top left: Map of study localities (red circles) on the Varanger Peninsula, in relation to northern Europe (inset).
Top right: black and white photograph of the Kommagnes Charnia (TSGF 18952): a high-relief specimen embedded within a clay-rich turbidite; scale bar in lower right corner is 1 cm.
Bottom: Stratigraphic long (on the left) and photograph (main image) of part of the cliff from which the Kommagnes specimen was recovered, showing many horizontal layers of sediments. Scale on the left shows that the height of the section between the yellow lines is approximately 10 metres.
Blue rectangle at top centre is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Redescription of Sorbitorhynchus deleaskitus (Sarcopterygii, Dipnoi) from the Lower Devonian of China onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday @morphobank.bsky.social

Three different images of a fossil lungfish skull. Top left: photograph of Sorbitorhynchus deleaskitus (GMC V2034.1) from the Lower Devonian of China in dorsal view. Top right: virtual rendering of the same specimen with various features including nerve canals marked in white. Bottom right: another virtual rendering of the same specimen, this time slightly enlarging rostral region, with partial transparency revealing internal canals and highlighting the path of various nerves, arteries and veins in different colours.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

📣 For PalAss members: 📅 Save the date! Our next ECR webinar, A Complete Conference Guide, will be full of advice on preparing and delivering your presentations 🎤✨ 📆 Coming up on the 9th November 2026. Would you like to become a PalAss member? Join us: palass.org #webinar #PalAss

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Late Cambrian linguliform brachiopods from the western margin of Gondwana, Cordillera Oriental, Argentina onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @paleodb.bsky.social

Three black and white SEM images of three new species of linguliform brachiopod valves from the Lampazar Formation, Furongian, Quebrada Entre Rios section, and a colour map of South America, highlighting Argentina in blue, with the study area marked as a pink dot in the north west, and shown on a satellite image (Google Earth © Airbus 2023) underneath.
Brachiopods: top left is Oaxaquiatreta argentina, fragment of a ventral valve showing the external pedicle tube (CEGH-UNC 28547) scale bar at lower right is 200 microns; top right is Dictyonina tetralobata, ventral valve exterior (holotype, CEGH-UNC 28145) scale bar at lower right is 200 microns; lower image is Eoscaphelasma santaolallai, ventral valve exterior (holotype, CEGH-UNC 28029) scale bar at lower right is 100 microns.
Red rectangle on right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The iconic Ediacaran fossil Dickinsonia from the Central Urals onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @datadryad.bsky.social

Main photograph is of fossil Dickinsonia densa from the Konovalovka Member of the Cherny Kamen Formation of the Sylvitsa Group, Central Urals (paratype, GEOCHRON 2057-296). An oval, striped organism, the same colours as the surrounding matrix. Long white scale bar at lower right is 10 mm.
On the right, a vertical set of diagrams showing a schematic model of Dickinsonia preservation in the Konovalovka Member. At the top, the specimen rests on a clay-rich substrate during life. Moving down, it is rapidly buried by an overlying sand layer and pyrite (Fe2S) forms around the decaying body due to microbial activity. Later partial erosion of the sand layer occurs, and finally, the organism is buried by alternating clay and sand layers.
Red rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Unaltered evidence: comparing oxygen isotopes in conodonts from deep-sea chert analysed in situ & extracted using NaOH onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Two images of Misikella posthernsteini specimens extracted using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on the left and hydrofluoric acid (HF) on the right.
Scale bar in lower right corner is 50 microns.
Blue rectangle in upper left corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Is Coccodontoidea valid? Systematic placement of the armoured Lebanese pycnodonts within Pycnodontiformes & utility of homoplasy in resolving relationships using cladistic principles onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #FossilFriday @datadryad.bsky.social @univie.ac.at

Diagrams highlighting (in red) new characters and character states used in the phylogenetic analysis of Lebanese pycnodonts. Red rectangle in upper left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Predatory behaviour on Ostracoda: spatial analysis of drill-hole distribution in relation to shell size and ornamentation onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #FossilFriday @mnritter.bsky.social @ufrgs.br

Top left: map showing Valparaiso and Santiago (red diamonds) in Chile (shaded grey) and the study region outlined in red. To the right are two black and white photographs of drilled left valves of ostracods from the Miocene Navidad Formation. Upper image is Cytherella with drill hole trace Oichnus simplex; lower image is Apatihowella with hole trace O. paraboloides. Each photograph has a scale bar in the lower left corner, which is 100 microns.
Lower right plot is a frequency distribution for outer drill hole diameter (vertical axis), with trace O. paraboloides on the left, in red, and O. simplex on the right in blue.
Blue rectangle at the top in the centre is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Two new species of Waiparaconus (Octocorallia) of the enigmatic Family Waiparaconidae onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

At the top are two photographs of fossil octocorals, both species of Waiparaconus. On the left, a reddish fossil, W. imbricatus (MN-12294-I) from Vega Island off the Antarctic Peninsula (Snow Hill Island Formation). On the right, the holotype of W. gravidus (WAM 77.3532a) from Western Australia (Gingin Chalk). Scale bar beneath each image is 1 cm.
At the bottom is an artist's reconstruction of both species.
Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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Reposted by The Palaeontological Association

Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 09/08/2025

A new theme issue of #PhilTransB focuses on the evolution of Earth’s biosphere: royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/202...

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Reposted by The Palaeontological Association

Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 27/01/2026

New in #PhilTransB - theme issue explores the #biosphere in the #Anthropocene. All #OA. Read: royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/3...

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

🎉 Registration for PalAss 2026 is officially OPEN! 🦖🦴 We are delighted to announce that registration for the 70th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association is now open! 🎓✨ 📍 University of Oxford, UK 📅 8–11 December 2026 ⬇️ palass.org/annual-meeti...

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

A new fossil from the Eocene of Iran provides new insights regarding the evolution of the morphologically bizarre tube-eye fish onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Main image is a photograph of an elongated fossil fish in a pale matrix, with the head in the lower right corner. This is the holotype of Parastylephorus anatoides (IUGM 100897) from the Eocene of Babaheydar (Iran). Scale bar at lower left is 10 mm.
Top right is a reconstruction of the head and anterior body of this tube-eye fish (green eye to the left). Artwork by Lucrezia Bonardo.
Red rectangle below the reconstruction is a cover image from the journal papers in palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

A remarkable radiolarian assemblage from the Csővár area (Hungary) improves biostratigraphical correlation of the Rhaetian onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Greyscale SEM images of Rhaetian radiolarians from Csovar (Hungary). Outer circle clockwise from top: Praecitriduma aff. mostleri Kozur (HCS0167); Orbiculiformella sp. A (HCS0209); Pentactinocarpus sevaticus Kozur & Mostler (HCS0035); Deflandrecyrtium breviora (Sugiyama) (HCS0086); Veghicyclia radiata Dumitricǎ & Tekin (HCS0158); Tipperella sp. C (HCSV54). Two images in the centre: upper left is Canoptum productum Tekin (HCS0031); lower right is Novamuria sp. A (HCS0084). There is a white scale bar under each image, all are 100 microns. Red rectangle in lower right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

🎓🔬 PhD Opportunity 🦴🌍 📢 Looking for more details? 👉 palass.org/phd-opportun... 🎓 Do you have a PhD position to advertise? 📬 You can submit your opportunity through the PalAss platform and share it with the palaeontology community! 🌍🦕🔬 #phd #position

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

The PalAss is proud to support the new Natural History GCSE 🌿🦋. As the public consultation on subject content is under way, we make the case that fossils should be at the heart of this new qualification. Read the full story here and have your say 📚👇 teach.ocr.org.uk/palaeontolog...

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Cambrian SSFs from North Greenland (eastern Laurentia) with regional & global correlations onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Grey scale photographs showing a selection of small shelly fossils from the Cambrian Series 2 of North Greenland. Clockwise from top left: possible arthropod cuticle (NHMD002048183 from GGU sample 255513, scale bar 100 microns); orthothecid hyolith conch (NHMD002048155 from GGU sample 255522, scale bar 100 microns); ecdysozoan Nikolarites spasskyi (NHMD002048184 from GGU sample 255502, scale bar 100 microns); Mellopegma simesi (NHMD002048149 from GGU sample 271470, scale bar 200 microns); calodiscid trilobite pygidium (NHMD002048181 from GGU sample 255507, scale bar 200 microns); Pelagiella (PMU 31480 from GGU sample 255513, scale bar 100 microns). In the centre: sponge spicule (NHMD002048198 from GGU sample 271717, scale bar 100 microns). Red rectangle near upper right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Bataspis crux, a galeaspid (jawless stem gnathostome) from the Lochkovian of Yunnan with a batwing-shaped head adapted for hydrodynamic efficiency onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @morphobank.bsky.social

Top left: a photograph of the holotype of Bataspis crux (IVPP V30969) the headshield of a Devonian fish, more complete on the right hand side, showing the extended, curved cornual process. Scale bar in lower right corner is 1 cm.
Bottom right: a life restoration of Bataspis crux rapidly moving away up and to the right from a eurypterid on the left of the scene. Artist: Dinghua Yang.
Blue rectangle at top right is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A giant plagiosaurid temnospondyl from Bjørnøya (Svalbard, Norway) & the origin of the plagiosaurid body plan onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @mfnberlin.bsky.social

Map, photographs and line drawings of a fossil tetrapod - the plagiosaur Arctobatrachus urdensis. Top left: map with a red star showing the position of Bjørnøya (Bear Island) in the Arctic region.
Beneath that is a black and white photograph taken at the excavation site in 1948. Skull is lying with snout towards the bottom, two large eyes above. Below to the right is the skull in its present state (PMO 201.958), it shows evidence of weathering as it was not recovered from the fossil site until 1985. Above that to the right is a reconstruction of the skull (scale bar beneath is 5 cm. On the right is a line diagram of the specimen as it was originally discovered, based on field photos taken in 1948 and collected material (scale bar at top right is 10 cm).
Red rectangle in the centre is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

When growth form fossilizes: a new liverwort species from the Cretaceous Las Hoyas site onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @davidhorcajada.bsky.social #FossilFriday

Collage of photographs and diagrams of fossil and living liverworts.
Top left: carbonized compression fossil from the Cretaceous Las Hoyas site (MUPA-LH31437). Darker branched fossil on a paler matrix. Scale bar on left is 1 cm. Overlapping this, in the middle of the image is a coloured branched scheme used to measure the fossils, showing different growth modules as different colours.
Top right: annotated photograph of another fossil liverwort: new species Metzgeriites gynothallicus (MUPA-LH 28894). Below that is a photograph of the extant taxon Metzgeria, showing similar features. Scale bars for both of these images are 250 microns.
Bottom right are two photographs of living liverworts with different growth modes: a dendroid form on the left and a 'thalloid mat' growing on a tree branch on the right.
Blue rectangle in bottom left corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

A thorny evolution: first Triassic ammonoid with a ventral apertural elongated rostrum onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

In the centre is a photograph of a fossil ammonoid (pale coloured in a dark matrix; aperture to top left). Specimen UBGD 301014.1, photograph by Arnaud Brayard, Biogeosciences lab, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Europe. Scale bar in top right corner is 10 mm.
Top right: line reconstruction of the conch, with a life restoration below (in a blue seascape); both by Emmanuel Fara.
Red rectangle at top left is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology, which features this research.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

🦴 Newsletter No. 122 is here! 📖 🦈 A 200-million-year-old fish 👩‍🔬 The remarkable "Steamboat ladies" 🦖 The reopening of Dinosaur Isle Museum 🎓 News about our 70th Annual Meeting at the University of Oxford. 🤝 Become a Member and join the PalAss. #newsletters #palaeontology

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🌟 Volunteer Opportunity! 🦖📚 Help shape the future of palaeontology! The Palaeontological Association is looking for volunteer reviewers from our Membership to assist with reviewing grant applications. 🔗 Complete the webform below ⬇️ palass.org/awards-grant... #palass #opportunity #posts

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

The genus Coryphodon in Europe: new exceptional material from Le Quesnoy (northern France, early Eocene, MP7) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @benjaminraynaud.bsky.social @cr2p.bsky.social @nilschabrol.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social @morphobank.bsky.social

Palaeogeographic map of Western Europe at the beginning of the Eocene, showing the location of Le Quesnoy, now in Oise, France. Darker shades indicate emergent land, white colour is open marine. Paler grey indicates a shallow marine or lagoonal environment.
On the right, examples of three Corophydon teeth from the site; from top to bottom: upper M3; lower p4; fragment of a premaxilla with an upper I3 (scale bar in the middle is 1 cm).
Red rectangle in upper right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Anatomical network analysis of sauropodomorph cranial topology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad

On the left, four line diagrams of sauropodomorph skulls; from top to bottom: Camarasaurus lentus, Giraffatitan brancai, Lufengosaurus huenei and Tapuiasaurus macedoi. Colours highlight topological modules detected in the cranial networks.
On the right are four plots illustrating methods used in the analaysis. From top to bottom: anatomical network model of the cranium of Shunosaurus lii, showing the 42 nodes and 105 edges; linear regression model of the relation between degree and betweenness in the cranial network of Shunosaurus lii; biplot of the PC1 loadings and jitter plot of the PC1 scores for each node of the cranial network of Shunosaurus lii.
Blue rectangle in the middle at the top is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Multielement apparatus architecture of the Early Triassic conodont Triassospathodus symmetricus: high-resolution x-ray microtomography onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Digital reconstructions from a micro-CT scan of fossil conodont elements forming a natural assemblage. Triassospathodus symmetricus. Top left, rendered image of the whole assemblage in ventral view (GMPKU-P-4309 from bed 617 of the upper Nanlinghu Formation, Chaohu of Anhui, China).
Top right, surface model of the specimen in the same view, with different elements coloured individually.
Scale bar for top two images is 500 microns.
The bottom half of the image shows the 15 individual elements of the assemblage spread out. Scale bar at lower right is also 500 microns.
Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Fossil freshwater fishes from the Pliocene of northern Colombia & the palaeogeography of northern South America onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @gaballench.bsky.social @sreinales.bsky.social @agenciafapesp.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday

Top left: Map centred on Colombia, showing Venezuela to the right and the Pacific Ocean to the left. The Guajira Peninsula is highlighted in a dotted box outline towards the top. To the right is a photograph of a fossil fish tooth (Serrasalmus; STRI 470060; scale bar 2 mm). Red rectangle in the top right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology. Bottom left is a palaeogeographic map of northern South America showing a possible palaeodrainage connection between east and west of the Andes. In the bottom left corner is a selection of fish photographs representing the taxa recovered from the site.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Quo vadis Plesiolacerta? Taxonomy, nomenclature & phylogenetic relationships of the large lacertid Plesiolacerta (Squamata) from the Palaeogene of Europe onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @morphobank.bsky.social #FossilFriday @ncn.gov.pl @palaeontosoc.bsky.social

At the top are two photographs of fossil specimens with teeth. Both are the newly named species, Timon planeutes. Upper left is the paratype left maxilla MNHN.F.QU17166 in labial view. Lower right is the holotype right dentary MNHN.F.QU17179 in labial view. Both are from the Phosphorites du Quercy collection, and both have a 5 mm scale bar on the right side of the image.
At the bottom is a simplified time-scaled phylogenetic tree of Lacertidae and Eolacertidae based on fossils.
Red rectangle in the upper right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Late Miocene Fagus (Fagaceae) foliage, cupules & nuts, from eastern Zhejiang, China onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Photographs of a fossil beech leaf, Fagus stuxbergi from eastern Zhejiang, China.
Left: leaf (Jhuw-19-046) white vertical scale bar at lower left is 1 cm.
Top right: nut (Jhuw-21-045) black scale bar at lower left is 2 mm.
Bottom right: cupule (Jhuw-21-045), black scale bar at lower left is 5 mm.
Red rectangle, centre bottom, is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Cranial anatomy of the early rhynchosaur Howesia browni: implications for rhynchosaur skull evolution onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @stephanspiekman.bsky.social @morphobank.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology

Top left: photograph of a fossil reptile skull: the rhyncosaur Howesia browni SAM-PK-K10180 in right lateral view. Below and to the right is a digitised reconstruction of the same skull, showing the individual bones in different colours. Scale bar between the two images is 20 mm.
Upper right: reduced strict consensus tree of rhynchosaur interrelationships.
Red rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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Reposted by The Palaeontological Association

Dr Darja Dankina 🐠 @darjadankina.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

⚠️ The 23rd EAVP Conference ended less than one week ago✨ 💚 Thank you as well to all our speakers, sponsors, and everyone who joined us—both in person and online. It was a pleasure to welcome more than 150 participants from nearly 25 countries 🌍🤝 #conference #eavp2026 @eavpalaeo.bsky.social

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Enigmatic Multiplicisphaeridium-type acritarch from the Pleistocene of Marmara Sea: morphological & spectroscopic evidence for a chytrid-like new taxon onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad.bsky.social

Top left: map of the Black and Caspian drainage basins and major river systems (coloured lines), with the Black Sea in the centre. The study area (the Marmara Sea) is outlined in red at the south east point of the Black Sea.
Top right: light microscope image of a Palaeoarkaya similis specimen showing a slightly triangular to oval central area with long processes extending. A black arrow near the top of the main body indicates an apical vesicle pore. Holotype, from core MAR02-89P, 490 cm. Scale bar in lower left corner is 20 microns.
Bottom right corner: SEM image of Palaeoarkaya similis. Paratype specimen from core MAR02-89P, 260–262 cm. Scale bar in centre of image is 10 microns.
Bottom left corner: Plot showing some of the results of the chemotaxonomic analysis of Palaeoarkaya similis and other palynomorphs (for comparison); processed ATR μ-FTIR spectra.
Blue rectangle in top right corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

No evidence for Bergmann's rule in Otodus megalodon onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @macrofun.bsky.social @ferronhg.bsky.social

Palaeoartist's reconstruction of Otodus megalodon. In the centre a huge shark breaches the surface of the water, with open mouth, surrounded by flying seabirds and smaller whales in the water. The cliffs of land can be seen in the background to the left. Artwork by Hugo Salais (https://metazoa.studio) reproduced here with kind permission.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

A new lace bug from Lower Cretaceous Spanish amber & the evolution of forewing venation in Tingidae (Hemiptera) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Top left: photograph of a fossil lace bug in amber: new species Paleoanomala decapita (the specimen is missing the head; holotype MCNA-9548; scale bar in bottom left corner is 100 microns). To the right of this is a line diagram of the specimen with various anatomical regions shaded in different colours. At the bottom right is an artist's reconstruction of the insect. The small red rectangle in the bottom left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Embryogenesis of the early Cambrian medusozoan (Cnidaria) Octapyrgites elongatus onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad.bsky.social

Circular schematic diagram illustrating the developmental cycle of early Cambrian medusozoan Octapyrigites elongatus. The cycle begins on the left, in the middle, with a fertilized egg (pink circle) which divides, and continues clockwise (from the top) through three substages of organogenesis (indicated with a red arrow) where the embryo appears as a spherical object (here shown in greyscale) developing increasing numbers of lobes (numbered) before moving into the post-embryonic stages (hatchling), linked with a blue arrow. Each of the three post-embryonic stages includes a blue portion at the bottom (the embryonic tissue) and a pink upper portion (post-embryonic tissue). There is a small horizontal scale bar in the lower right corner, which is 200 microns long. The blue rectangle in the upper right corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Ethmosphenoid endocasts elucidate evolutionary brain divergences & interrelationships of stem tetrapods onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @draliceclement.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday

Digital reconstructions of the skull of Gogonasus andrewsae shown in dorsal view (NMV P221807). Top left: 3D rendering of the whole skull. Middle: showing the cranial endocast within the skull in blue. Bottom right: showing the course of the sensory line canal in pink.
Red rectangle in bottom left corner is a cover image of the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Scale bar (on right) is 10 mm.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Happy #FossilFriday! A late-stem-group early hexactinellid from the lower Cambrian of the Siberian Platform onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology #FossilFriday

Photographs of hexactinellid sponge spicules. Top left, holotype of Botomospongia sphaeroides (PIN 5895/104-1), a flattened skeleton consisting of many spicules; scale bar 0.1 mm. On the right, enlargements of three spicules, from top to bottom: anchoring tip of anchor with one row of secondary rays (after acid etching, scanning electron micrograph; PIN 5895/112); second-order pentactine (after acid etching, back-scattered electron micrograph; PIN 5894/105-1); isolated first-order hexactine (after acid etching, scanning electron micrograph; PIN 5895/112).
Red rectangle at bottom left is a cover image for the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

🦖📺 Have you discovered the PalAss YouTube channel yet? The PalAss's channel is packed with fascinating talks, lectures, and ECR webinar series! 🌍🦴🔬 🎥 Visit: www.youtube.com/@ThePalaeont... ✨ Keep your finger on the pulse of palaeontology! 🦕💡 #youtube #video #palaeontology

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Beaks of the Permo-Triassic: a morpho-functional analysis at the dawn of a novel structure in tetrapod evolution onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Four photographs of the skulls of beaked Permian tetrapods (clockwise from top left: Stahleckeria, Diictodon, Proganochelys and Bentonyx). In the middle of the photographs are two sketches indicating the landmark points used to define the beak outlines and collect data from each specimen.
Lower right: a scatter plot showing the first two principal components of the clustering analysis; coloured data points relate to the functional groups illustrated underneath: snippers, shearers and slicers.
Silhouette credits: dicynodonts (Woznikella) DiBgd, CC BY-SA 4.0; trilophosaurs (Trilophosaurus) Jeff Martz, Public Domain; poposauroids (Sillosuchus), redrawn and modified from work by A.R. Mihaila, CC BY-SA 4.0, and PaleoNeolitic, Public Domain; aetosaurs (Stagonolepis) Jeff Martz, CC0 1.0; silesaurids (Kwanasaurus) Jeff Martz, CC BY 4.0. Others by an author of the paper.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

A deep dive into the fossil record of diving beetles (Dytiscidae): origins & pulsed diversification onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad.bsky.social @jules2701.bsky.social @cocomacro.bsky.social @davidperis.bsky.social @ibb-botanic.bsky.social @paleodb.bsky.social

Main photograph is of a large, round, diving beetle with stems of water plants in the background. This is the extant species Cybister lateralimarginalis.
There are smaller photographs of two fossil diving beetles overlapping this image: top right is Liadytiscus latus (in a brown matrix) and bottom left is Sinoporus lineatus (in a yellow matrix).
Each photograph has a 1 mm scale bar in the lower right corner.
Plot at bottom right shows the origination rate of new genera on the vertical axis and geological time on the horizontal axis.
Blue rectangle at top left is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

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