happy #FossilFriday! in the 1820’s a captive Beothuk woman Shanawdithit created a word list including jiggamint (spiky gooseberry). She was the last of her people & from what we know a truly amazing person. In the 1970’s punk icon John Lyndon (Johnny Rotten) inspired a generation with angst and..

Lydonia jiggamintia, a newly described #Ediacaran organism from #Newfoundland, on the matground-covered seafloor overgrowing a decaying Fractofusus andersoni. Palaeontology isn't just about describing new organisms, it's also about understanding how they lived. Paper available here: bit.ly/4gQ1xF7

New #Ediacaran paper alert! the sponge-like #Lydonia jiggamintia is named for the spiky-topped punk legend John Lydon [aka Johnny Rotten]. The species name is derived from the word for gooseberry in the language of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland. palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025...

A great post for #FossilFriday, describing our ongoing #Ediacaran palaeontological research here in #Newfoundland. These things are big, reaching more than 50cm in length!

This #FossilFriday, here's Franz Anthony's delightful #Ediacaran life artwork, featuring critters from all three Ediacaran assemblages - including our very own Haootia!

One of our temporary displays at the @johnsongeocentre.bsky.social features a group of Artemia, aka fairy shrimp or sea monkeys. These delicate little crustaceans have a fossil record extending back at least 115 million years! #FossilFriday See doi.org/10.1080/0311...

Science is (meant to be) about observing the available data and adapting our perception of 'the truth' to incorporate new information. Duncan's current #Ediacaran work is a stellar example of doing exactly this.

This #FossilFriday, a little foolishness courtesy of my brother Art. 😊🦖

Here's a nice little write-up by Memorial University on The Johnson Geo Centre's placement in the Top 10 per cent of “Things to Do” Worldwide, according to Tripadvisor’s 2025 Travelers’ Choice Awards. 😃 gazette.mun.ca/public-engag...

This #FossilFriday i wanted to share this tiny #Staurozoan fossil from the Ediacaran of Newfoundland. It was the paratype of #Haootia but now belongs to #Mamsetia . We consider that it might be the #Stauropolyp. See the coronal muscle of the calyx & 1 arm. compare the arm of a modern #Lucernaria

This #FossilFriday, here’s a fabulous #fossil poster made available (for free) by the government of #Canada back in the 1990s. I’ve had this on my wall far longer than I want to admit!! 😁

My babies are growing… 😃 #artemia #seamonkeys

This #fossilfriday is brought to you by the holotype of the oldest fossil cnidarian Mamsetia manunis from @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social . This summer we have worked with Champney’s West Mini aquarium on a new Geosite which includes a cast of this specimen. It was torn prior to fossilization

Best day in the field ever? Quite possibly. It’s not every day you find the oldest known muscular animal in the world. Mamsetia manunis - an #Ediacaran fossil at @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social - before and after cleaning on the day it was discovered. #FossilFriday

And speaking of Fractofusus...

I've not posted for #FossilFriday for a few weeks, so let's get back to it with #FractofususFriday! This #Ediacaran beastie from Mistaken Point, #Newfoundland, possessed some very complex branching, as highlighted in this close-up image (courtesy of CBC.ca).

This #FossilFriday, I give you Plumeropriscum. It’s a smallish frond with a short stem, and is a pretty common critter on the famous E surface at Mistaken Point. It lived 565 million years ago, but was first described in 2016.

Heading east to for #TrilobiteTuesday & this nice BIG Paradoxides davidis, from the famous Manuels River Fm nr Manuels, #Newfoundland 🇨🇦. The +ve part (L) & -ve counterpart (R) show a nr complete but partly disarticulated dorsal exoskeleton stained w limonite (scale bar=3 cm); #Cambrian (~503 MYA)

This #TrilobiteTuesday: Manuels River, a Middle Cambrian locality in #Newfoundland, features some of the best preserved trilobites you'll ever see. @triloben.bsky.social has donated some fantastic specimens to @johnsongeocentre.bsky.social, which are currently on display here in a temporary exhibit.

This #FossilFriday: here's Gigarimaneta samsoni, an #Ediacaran organism from #Newfoundland. It lived flat on the deep sea floor, growing outwards in a roughly circular fashion in a series of branching, multi-unit 'arms'. The bottom photo has been coloured to better show the individual arms.

The Johnson Geo Centre's 2023 palaeontology lecture series is now available to watch online! This series looks at the rich palaeontological history of Newfoundland & Labrador, given by the people conducting this research on the oldest known animals on the planet. mun.ca/geocentre/le...

Don't have an invertebrate artwork to post for #InverteFest? I got you covered. I teamed up with multiple experts to create guides to comprehend various invertebrate anatomy. Links to the full posts in the reply below.

A little ray of sunshine (well #Hiemalora stellaris) from the #Ediacaran of Port Union, Newfoundland where we are enjoying an early spring #FossilFriday in the field collecting data for a geoconservation project for @discoverygeoparknl.bsky.social

This #FossilFriday, something a little different that my usual #Ediacaran posts. These impressively large, 350 million year old (#Carboniferous) salamander footprints were discovered near Deer Lake, western #Newfoundland, in 2015. (photo: Ken Tuach)

This #TrilobiteTuesday: a remarkable collection of Middle Cambrian Kootenia #trilobite bodies - most likely a mass mortality assemblage - from Gallants, western #Newfoundland. Photo: Doug Boyce

This #TrilobiteTuesday, here's Gravicalymene bakeri: an Ordovician #trilobite from Tasmania, named after Tom Baker - AKA Doctor Who! It was named after #DoctorWho by the author, as the Doctor inspired him to study #science and time. Very cool. 😁 Image: tinyurl.com/4b8mnbkd

This #TrilobiteTuesday, one of my favourites: Paradoxides davidis, a #Cambrian #trilobite from Manuels River, Newfoundland, housed at @natural-history.bsky.social. The hypostome (mouthshield) has come off of the shell and is sitting near the tail of the animal. The preservation here is incredible!

Happy #FossilFriday brought to you with a hand painted cast (originally black Jesmonite) of fossils from the #Ediacaran of Newfoundland. This was a casting reject. Fossils under study by Heléna Muirhead-Hunt at Memorial

This #FossilFriday, let’s also celebrate #FractofususFriday! Here’s a cast of several #Fractofusus specimens growing around (and likely absorbing nutrients from) a large mass of decaying tissue on the #Ediacaran sea floor. From Mistaken Point, #Newfoundland.

“So Rod, what did you do at work today?” (an ongoing series) Ferrofluid is an oil that contains tiny magnetic particles (iron or magnetite) so it reacts to magnets, allowing us to see - at least in part - what magnetic fields look like. They’re normally invisible, so this is pretty cool stuff. 🤓

When the sunlight is at just the right angle the #Ediacaran fossils at Mistaken Point, #Newfoundland, almost seem to jump off of the surface. It’s a truly magnificent sight (and site!) to behold. #FossilFriday #FractofususFriday

Happy #FossilFriday from the #Ediacaran of #DiscoveryGeopark and a beautiful little #Charnia. The fossil is actually up above the bedding plane suggesting that it might be a cast of the inside of the upper surface of the frond. That might account for the “loose”branch architecture.

#Trilobites had the ability to recover from non-fatal predation attacks, and regenerate damaged shell with later moults. For #TrilobiteTuesday, this #Cambrian Gabriellus kierorum from BC, Canada had a large chunk bitten off - but appears to be recovering nicely! Image: AMNH

This #FossilFriday: a couple of specimens of Lecanospira, an #Ordovician gastropod from western #Newfoundland (a common genus around much of eastern North America at the time). I collected these back in the early ‘90s, while doing my MSc fieldwork.

This #TrilobiteTuesday, a nicely preserved Olenellus sp. from the Lower Cambrian of western Newfoundland; it's approx. 3 cm long. Image: ShaleAndStoneCo.

This #FossilFriday, the first fossil identified at the new #Ediacaran aged fossil locality in Upper Island Cove, #Newfoundland. This #Charnia is only the tip of a massive iceberg: we can't wait to start sharing the results from this remarkable site! Photo: R. Blenkinsopp

This is a remarkable piece of work, I can't wait to see it published. Most #Ediacaran workers shy away from considerations of 3D morphology, but @dmcediacaran.bsky.social has tackled it head-on - with spectacular results. #FossilFriday at its best!

This #TrilobiteTuesday, a fabulous plate of #Silurian #trilobites from Joachim Barrande's "Système silurien du centre de la Bohême" (published between 1852 and 1881).

Today Dani (Pérez Pinedo) is defending his thesis. He already has a great haul of PhD papers in print. Good luck Dani!! his open access papers are below if you are interested doi.org/10.3390/life... doi.org/10.1016/j.is... doi.org/10.1017/pab.... doi.org/10.3389/fear... doi.org/10.3389/fear...

The newly identified trilobite Protolenus is seen in a 3D model reconstruction by Arnaud Mazurier, a researcher at the University of Poitiers in France.  #FossilFriday

This #FossilFriday: a Jurassic(?) coquina (stone formed from fossil debris), sadly the collection locality/exact age are unknown. It has belemnite (cephalopod) and several bivalve (mollusc) shells on both sides and is a great teaching specimen, so is a regular addition to our touch fossil trolley.

we collaborated with @BobNichollsArt on @EdiacaraDani most recent paper doi.org/10.1016/j.is... by testing Bobs 3D sculpts in simulated flows with fabulous results. A reminder to consider including palaeo-artists as a co-authors. Bob was paid but also contributed intellectually, so he is an author

For the first #TrilobiteTuesday of 2025, here’s a model of Paradoxides elegans I just 3D printed. Probably not the most accurate biological model, but it’s great as an educational tool. And it’s fun. 😃 www.thingiverse.com/thing:6822312

A CLOSER LOOK AT EDIACARAN MISTAKEN POINT (565Ma), part 2 of 2. MUN Paleobiology (@dmcediacaran.bsky.social) are redescribing these wonderful creatures & some are now reclining! We've been working on this composition for 4 years. #FossilFriday #SciArt #PaleoArt #Ediacara #Charnia

A CLOSER LOOK AT EDIACARAN MISTAKEN POINT (565Ma), part 1 of 2. MUN Paleobiology (@dmcediacaran.bsky.social) are redescribing these wonderful creatures & some are now reclining! We've been working on this composition for 4 years. #FossilFriday #SciArt #PaleoArt #Ediacara #Charnia

This #FossilFriday, more material from my PhD - almost a fossil itself by now! 😉 This beautifully preserved crayfish (Palaeocambarus) and fish (Lycoptera) pair were collected from the Early #Cretaceous Jehol biota of Liaoning Province, northeast #China.

This #FossilFriday, let's go to the #Cambrian aged Burgess Shale in #Canada and one of my favorite #arthropods, #Waptia fieldensis. They're rarely longer than 6 cm long, but they show remarkable preservation: mouthparts, eyes, antennae, even - very occasionally - eggs! image: shorturl.at/HGk1e

This #TrilobiteTuesday, one of my favorite Middle Cambrian #trilobites from Manuels River, #Newfoundland: the very rare Anopolenus henrici. Almost complete, but the genal spines (projecting back from the sides of the head) have come off; one of them is lying across the thorax.

This #FossilFriday, one of the stranger #Ediacaran fossils from #Newfoundland: Hapsidophyllas flexibilis lived on the ancient seafloor and had multiple complex branches coming from a central basal rod. This lesser-known specimen is found on the D surface at Mistaken Point.

Put my back out this weekend. No work yesterday or today, I’m in bed waiting for torn muscles to heal and realign. 🛌 I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, if I had one. (If you ARE following me here in malicious hope of seeing my downfall/demise, this might not be the time to let me know… 😜)