Sign in

Thomas Hegna

@thomashegna.bsky.social
262 followers 138 following 100 posts

Arthropod paleontologist, father, science educator in western New York. Teaches paleontology, Earth history, stratigraphy, and more at SUNY Fredonia. University of Iowa and Yale G&G alum. WIU refugee.

PostsRepliesMedia
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In about two weeks, I'll be in Denver talking about fossilized muscles: gsameetings.secure-platform.com/connects26/s...
gsameetings.secure-platform.com
Geological Society of America - Abstract
010
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
New paper out with Sarah Losso and Javier Ortega Hernandez : "These legs were made for walking: 150 years of trilobite appendage morphology and evolution" authors.elsevier.com/c/1nN4m2weR2... #trilobite #paleontology #arthropod #palaeontology #fossils
authors.elsevier.com
Please wait whilst we redirect you
All content on this site: Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V., its licensors, and contributors. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
052
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
Marine Biological Laboratory @mblscience.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Happy #WorldHorseshoeCrabDay!
 These spinning #horseshoecrab (Limulus polyphemus) embryos are developing inside their eggs, just weeks away from hatching. Despite their name, horseshoe crabs are closer relatives of spiders and scorpions than crustaceans.
4346110
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
We've collaborated with the Patterson Library in Westfield to make some summer reading kits for local libraries to fit with this year's theme of "Unearth a Story." www.fredonia.edu/news/article...
011
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
School's out at SUNY Fredonia, but we're still doing stuff. www.fredonia.edu/news/article...
fredonia.edu
Faculty and students assist with community event | Fredonia.edu
The Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences assisted with an activity at the Chautauqua County 4H Conservation Field Days.
011
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
New video on the fossils of western New York: youtu.be/d-_6AiZANd0
youtu.be
Fossils of Western New York: The Fossils in Our Backyard
YouTube video by Thomas Hegna
061
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Come and see me talk about the geological history of western New York, Thursday, June 4th at 6:00pm, at the Patterson Library in Westfield, NY.
011
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Some students spend spring break on the beach. Ours explore the desert. www.instagram.com/p/DYSR3DbAHJ...
021
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
A great article was published in the Chautauqua Gazette last week detailing the environmentally-related research that our students are doing. Read the article here (pages 1 and 6): www.chqgazette.com/PDF/CG4-20-2...
021
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
Over spring break, I took a group of 17 students to Utah for an extended field trip. We spent most of our time in the House Range near Delta, UT, looking at Paleozoic rocks.
051
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Do you ever wonder about trilobite appendages? Literally everything ever known has now been reviewed by Sarah Losso @thomashegna.bsky.social @invertebratepal.bsky.social 🧪⚒️🦑 osf.io/preprints/pa...
Caption from Figure 9 in paper:
Appendages of Ordovician Phacopida. A, B Anacheirurus adserai from the Fezouata Shale (Pérez-Peris et al., 2021). A, Endopodite (YPM 226573). B, Exopodite in dorsal view (YPM 517074). C, Bavaillia zemmourensis with antennae (MCZ:IP:20105; Martin et al., 2016; Richards et al., 2024). D – F, Ceraurus pleurexanthemus from the Rust Formation (Losso and Ortega-Hernández, 2024). D, Biramous appendages (MCZ:IP:110933). E, Biramous appendage (MCZ:IP:112018). F, Exopodite (MCZ:IP:104973). G – I, Flexicalymene senaria from the Rust Formation (Losso and Ortega-Hernández, 2024). D, Protopodites in cross section (MCZ:IP:104956). E, Biramous appendages (USNM 68379). F, Endopodites (USNM 68381). J, Placoparia cambriensis from the Llanfallteg Formation (NMW 91.46G; Whittington, 1993). Abbreviations: ant, antennae; cla, claw; en, endopodite; end, endite; hyp, hypostome; lm, lamellae; pn, podomere number; pt, protopodite.
410938
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
For paleo folks, there is a kickstarter project out there to support a massive photorealistic extinct mammal book. If we can increase the support for the book, it will expand to 600 or even 800 pages! www.kickstarter.com/projects/152...
kickstarter.com
MegaloBook
3-in-1: Encyclopedia, Field Guide & Coffee Table Book. 1500+ handmade photobash restorations of all known Cenozoic mammals.
010
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
sunyfredonia.exposure.co/alumni-feel-...
sunyfredonia.exposure.co
Alumni ‘feel like biologists again’ by SUNY Fredonia
Don Zelazny, Jim Walsh, Renée Bush, Gary Koeppel - all 1974 graduates with degrees in Biology - along with Joe Falcone, who received a master's degree in Biology in 1974, are collaborating with Geolog...
010
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
SUNY Fredonia students doing stuff!
fredonia.edu
‘Taking a core’ along Lake Erie shore highlights extensive student geology field trip | Fredonia.edu
Students gained “first-hand experience” burrowing through layers of black shale, guided by a highly skilled geologist and SUNY Fredonia alumnus.
011
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
www.fredonia.edu/news/article...
fredonia.edu
Geology field trips spur student ‘ah hah!’ reactions | Fredonia.edu
“When we go on field trips, students really have an ‘ah hah!’ moment.”
010
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Tomorrow!
1102
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Little known fact about the glacial sediment near Lake Erie in our area. Sometimes, you can see a swath of this sediment in the swash zone of the beach—the waves sort them differently because they are denser than the other sediment. #sunyfredonia #geology #lakeerie #sedimentology #glacialsediment
131
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Our Dunk is nearing completion. It now has a stand! #paleontology #geology #Devonian #sunyfredonia #3dprinting
0181
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
The water level of lake Erie is at a point where we can reach parts of Point Gratiot that I have never been able to visit. So, I took some students on an impromptu field trip this afternoon to see the Kellwasser event exposed at the Lake Erie Beach. #sunyfredonia #geology #paleontology #devonian
020
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
More pictures from measuring stratigraphy with Dr. Hegna's class out at the Sheridan Bay Park. Included is some meta-photography with SUNY Fredonia's Roger Coda (marketing and communications). #geology #stratigraphy #fredonia #lakeerie #sunyfredonia
031
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Another 3d printed skull to guess. It is harder than it looks.
041
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Guess who!
021
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
A beautiful day to measure the Hanover Shale. Found a crinoid-filled lens amongst the layers. #Fredonia #geology #stratigraphy
061
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Another way we spent our summer vacation: www.fredonia.edu/news/article... #fredonia #geology
fredonia.edu
Area students check out geology, drone, video editing at campus camp | Fredonia.edu
Introductions to drones, movie editing, virtual reality and geology highlighted a Computer and Information Sciences tour taken by area students.
011
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
I don't think I am exaggerating when I say this is the fastest brachiopod ever. Introducing the Brachio-Bot. #fredonia #paleontology #3dprinting
092
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
The Trilo-bot is now fully operational!
2349
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Guess who? Printed at about 1/2 scale.
010
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
I bring you the latest advance in lophotrochozoan technology: The Brachio-bot®
381
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
New paper out describing the first fossil ovaries and unfertilized eggs in a primitive horseshoe crab. #paleontology #xiphosura #ordovician
183
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
So, Tom, how have you been procrastinating the arthropod cuticle preservation paper? Oh, you know . . . #Devonian #dunkleosteus #3dprinting
3174
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Proper signage is key in an academic building.
061
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
Jeremy C. Young @jeremycyoung.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
"A successful college education is measured not by what its graduates believe but by what they can conceive." Important piece by Lynn Pasquerella on @aacu.org's Call for Constructive Engagement statement and higher ed leaders' response to the present crisis. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
insidehighered.com
Our Debate Over Higher Ed Has Lost the Plot (opinion)
We need to reorient the national conversation, Lynn Pasquerella writes.
063
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
New paper out! Open Access! doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
1113
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Academic folks: Our departmental page has a 'links' page. Does anyone else get frequent emails from 'teachers' who have a student who has 'found our links useful' and wants us to add links that the student found? 1/2 . . . .
110
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
I don't even think a modern car would fit through the renovated doorway of Houghton.
010
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Associate professor Thomas Hegna gave a talk titled: "Teaching Critical Thinking on a Flat Earth." His presentation detailed his use of flat Earth myths, in a general education science class, to help students to think more critically.
031
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
At the recent NE-NC GSA conference, Syd Lamberton, a senior at SUNY Fredonia, displayed her poster, titled Looking for Critical Minerals in Carboniferous Clays Beneath Coal Deposits in Pennsylvania: A Multipronged Approach. 1/4 #SUNYFredonia #geology #undergraduateresearch #gsaconnects
111
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
www.observertoday.com/life/sunday-...
observertoday.com
Students shine in geological conference
State University of New York at Fredonia science students presented research at the spring regional Geological Society of America meeting. The seven students represent the largest cohort of SUNY Fredo...
032
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Hey it me! Thanks for being excellent hosts @weinersmith.bsky.social and @danielwhiteson.bsky.social! 🧪🦀🦑
5437
Thomas Hegna @thomashegna.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
The Australasian Palaeontological Memoirs has a new Cambro-Ordovician volume out. Has anyone seen a table of contents? Some pdfs are already on researchgate.net #cambrian #ordovician #trilobites #paleontology #palaeontology
researchgate.net
ResearchGate | Find and share research
Access 160+ million publication pages and connect with 25+ million researchers. Join for free and gain visibility by uploading your research.
010
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
This Friday, Dr. Sarah Sheffield from SUNY Binghamton will give a lecture at SUNY Fredonia, (3pm in room 105 in the Science Center). The title is “Untangling the evolutionary patterns of ancient animals" featuring a group of animals with unusual symmetry. 1/3 #echinoderms #paleontology #scicom
2103
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Rachel is grateful for Dr. Hegna’s guidance and is excited to present her findings at the conference. Even though this research may seem small, it has uncovered an entirely new world of discoveries. 4/4
011
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
This population of clam shrimp was also isolated from other known groups, suggesting the possibility of additional undiscovered sites containing these creatures. Through her research, Rachel has gained a deeper appreciation for how much there is still to learn from even the smallest organisms. 3/4
111
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
In collaboration with Dr. Hegna, Rachel's research uses SEM imaging to study developmental changes in the shrimp, particularly the differences in the labrum structure, which could impact the species' classification. 2/4 #crustacea #branchiopoda #spinicaudata #SUNYFredonia #newyork
111
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Rachel Echevarria, a senior double majoring in environmental science and earth science at SUNY Fredonia, presented a research poster at the GSA conference on a newly discovered population of Cyzicus gynecius (clam shrimp), from near Mud Lake in Cassadaga, NY. 1/4 #undergraduateresearch #fredonia
111
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Jacob Salisbury, a senior at Fredonia High School and future SUNY Fredonia student, is researching a newly identified clam shrimp species through an internship with Dr. Hegna. These fossils from the Jurassic Morrison Formation in Wyoming were found in an unusual green chert matrix. 1/6 #gsaconnects
121
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
This past weekend, SUNY Fredonia’s Geo. & Env. Sci. Dept had an amazing time at the Buffalo Geological Society’s 55th Annual Gem, Mineral, & Fossil Show! Multiple students and faculty members represented Fredonia—answering questions and teaching kids about erosion with our stream table. 1/4
111
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
She’s also gaining valuable fieldwork skills and hands-on lab experience, all of which will support her future career in environmental science. As for the conference, Bea says she is looking forward to sharing her findings and can’t wait to see what her peers from Fredonia will be presenting! 5/5
011
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
These included an amphipod used in water toxicity assessments, and a ctenopod (waterflea), which can indicate the pH level of the water. Bea’s work provides a crucial baseline for monitoring the health of the reservoir and will help ensure the community has access to safe water. 4/5 #cladocera
111
Reposted by Thomas Hegna
SUNY Fredonia Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences @sunyfredgeoesci.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
The SEM allowed Bea to see the intricate details of the zooplankton, including appendages and their segments, hair-like structures called setae, and spikes, which were critical for accurate species identification. Bea identified 9 species across seven crustacean families. 3/5 #biomonitoring
111