#FossilFriday Several comatulid crinoids are visible on this small slab from the Middle Jurassic of Wiltshire. An unused image taken for ‘Fossils. The essential guide’.

New publication on fossil bryozoans of Turkey. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Self repost because this is pretty cool imho

#MolluscMonday Photographed at Hampton Court Palace last week, orthocone nautiloids in paving slabs of Swedish Ordovician limestone. A microfault crosses the chambered phragmocone of one. The other fossil may represent a siphuncular structure but comments would be welcomed.

I just deleted my account. Not much use anyway and this is just too much... 🧪

#FossilFriday Choose your favourite fossil ‘lollipop’ from these specimens of the Cretaceous stalked sponge Siphonia tulipa. Another unused image taken for ‘Fossils. The Essential Guide’.

Another brief dive into the Cambrian: doi.org/10.1016/j.pa...

When a Tubulipora ooeciostome is easy to find 🙏🏻🥳

New publication on bryozoan growth rates, published in Marine Ecology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I found this cartoon in an old diary of mine from 1994. At the time, the NHM was close to allowing a branch of the well-known fast food chain to open in its basement. Homo researchus looks a bit different these days.

#MolluscMonday I wonder how many of those disembarking from their superyachts at the quayside in St Tropez will notice the rudist bivalves in the limestone blocks they are stepping onto?

#FossilFriday The ‘face’ of the brachiopod Ancistrocrania from the Late Cretaceous Chalk of Belgium. One of the unused images taken for ‘Fossils, The Essential Guide’ which I wish was available at all good booksellers.

In 2019 @durhamearthsci.bsky.social welcomed Holmes's granddaughter (Mary, in scarf) and great granddaughter (Tahareh, plaid skirt) to the Arthur Holmes Building. Picture includes me (tallest) and Prof Jon Gluyas holding his copy of "Holmes". ⚒️🧪🧵1/2

#bryozoa bryozoologists! It’s official!! We are hosting Larwood 2026 in Oslo!! 1-3 June: mark and save on your calendars and spread the news!! @nhmbryozoa.bsky.social

Things That Irritate Editors #14: papers that show that the author has no idea about the journal's scope. Remember, kids, always get the measure of your intended venue before you submit. Read the guidelines. Email the editors with an inquiry. Many editors are human and will be pleased to help.

#MolluscMonday Miocene (Burdigalian) oyster bed at Sainte-Croix-du-Mont in SW France. Remarkably, this site is a tourist attraction and even has its own bar.

For this #FossilFriday the beautiful Gigantoconia princeps (Stoppani, 1860) with color preservation, from the Ladinian Esino Formation in Italy. ⚒️

#FossilFriday The ‘blotches’ in the stonework of this building in Avignon, France are rhodoliths, ball-like calcareous algal fossils.

#MolluscMonday Pair of gastropod moulds in the stone of a gatehouse at Cadillac, SW France.

#FossilFriday. Silurian tabulate coral Heliolites. From the cutting room floor of 'Fossils. The Essential Guide’, which used a lower magnification image of the same fossil.

I do admire the way this old kaolin quarry near Montguyon in SW France has been transformed into an educational resource, freely open to the public and with a clear explanation of how the economically important deposit was formed during the Eocene.

The heraldic Iguanodon on Maidstone's coat of arms seems to be drawn a bit differently each time. The designer of this version went to quite a lot of effort to make the dinosaur look as early modern as possible, including giving it mammalian ears. Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/kapta....

Cheilostome #bryozoans highly evolvable, at least when it comes to their skeleton. Switched to araonite many times! Phylogeny and fossil record agree on that! Read it in Geology pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/... led by @jgsaulsbury.bsky.social

Spotted this morning in a brocante in Montguyon (SW France), this cheilostome bryozoan, possibly a bleached colony of Pentapora fascialis from the Mediterranean. Unpriced.

#MolluscMonday Sectioned nerineoidean gastropod from a limestone paving slab at the British Museum, London.

You don’t always need to travel to the coast or a museum to find fossils, sometimes the gravel on your driveway will do nicely! #FossilFriday

#FossilFriday Tooth of the Carboniferous tetrapodomorph Rhizodus. From the cutting room floor of 'Fossils. The Essential Guide’ which used a different image of the same fossil.

"One single fossil's price tag could fund years of groundbreaking discoveries, education and exhibitions." @jmtheodor.bsky.social Dr. Kenshu Shimada, Dr. Kristi Curry Rogers @stuartsumida.bsky.social & @magratnj.bsky.social ONE SINGLE FOSSIL'S PRICE TAG 🧪

#MolluscMonday Late Cretaceous scallop shell (?Neithea) from a wall overlooking the ornate entrance of the Eglise Saint-Jacques, Aubeterre-sur-Dronne in SW France. This church lies on a branch of the Camino Way for which, coincidentally, the emblem is a modern scallop shell.

I just had to buy this vintage brooch because it uses probably the most unexpected stone I have ever seen in jewellery - nummulitic limestone! It’s probably 1930s and the other stone used is marcasite #decorativestone

#FossilFriday The first of several images that missed the cut for inclusion in 'Fossils. The Essential Guide' www.nhmshop.co.uk/fossils-the-... Resembling a sinistral gastropod, this is an internal mould of the Late Cretaceous ammonite Turrilites.

Our study explores how #parasite traits, life #cycles, and #host relationships shape shifts between #marine and #freshwater habitats: doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Hi, does anyone have an idea what museum might have had labels like the one on this specimen. We're trying to return a bunch of old loans, and this specimen has no information. It's a receptaculite, maybe that helps.

#MolluscMonday Gastropod in a stone wall at Saint-Macaire, Gironde, France. Probably Oligocene or Miocene. About 3 cm across, to my untrained eyes it resembles a pleurotomariid but I would appreciate an expert opinion.

The brachiopod Nucleospira calypta lived on the sea floor around 436 million years ago in a checkerboard pattern determined by the length of its setae--bristle-like appendages likely used for feeding or defense. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The incredible Cockerell's dorid nudibranch (Limacia cockerelli). These get up to 25 mm long, feed on bryozoans, live from 0-35 meters, and range from Alaska to Baja. I never get tired of these! #tidepools #nudibranchs #seaslug 🦑🦀

#FontsOnFriday Baptismal font in the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Bazas, SW France. The pedestal is made of limestone packed with rudist bivalve shells.

#FossilFriday Stone floor slab containing the corroded test of a Cenozoic echinoid. Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Bazas, SW France.

Ever heard of bryozoans? These tiny reef builders filter water and store carbon but they’re under threat. New post from our upcoming animation 🎥. Full version coming soon! 👇

#MolluscMonday Section of a nerineid gastropod in a building stone at Millbank, London. Note the hollow columella and chamber plaits.

#FossilFriday The face of a witch in a split flint nodule. An unusual pseudofossil from the NHMUK collections.

We are really happy to have you on board 🙌😊

We are very excited our new paper is out today! Do you want to know more? Check this thread! 👇🪸🦠 #bryozoans #microbiome #oceanwarming #oceanalcidification www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Of course it doesn't matter WHO is critiquing, it is the criticism that actually matters. When someone goes after the former, you can be pretty sure it's because they can't answer the latter.

Links to a couple of my papers now freely downloadable from the NHM repository: hdl.handle.net/10141/623324 hdl.handle.net/10141/623325