These are amazing!

After we published the new specimen of #Spicomellus a few weeks ago, we were contacted by George Blasing, who said he'd bought some on the commercial market, and wanted to return it to Morocco. It arrived last week. Thanks George for doing the right thing in the name of science!

AMAZING JOB ALERT!!! Dorset Council are recruiting a World Heritage Officer to support the management of the Jurassic Coast! Would suit an Earth Science graduate with an interest in digital comms and content: deets here: www.jobs.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/vacancies/32...

Early registration (and the best possible rates) still open for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting 2025 in Birmingham, but it closes on Thursday. Register now if you haven't already! #SVP2025 #2025SVP vertpaleo.org/2025-registr...

Well Fossil Files fans, this week you have a special bonus episode our new dinosaur #Spicomellus the spikey ankylosaur. In this episode, I tell Rob all about the back story: how we found it, excavated it and studied it. And I throw some shade on fossil smugglers. fossils.libsyn.com/the-spicomel...

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dis... Such a lovely piece about the the behind the scenes written by James Ashworth #spicomellus #fossil #fossilpreparation #dinosaur

More on Spicomellus, the weird wacky spiky punk-rock porcupine of a dinosaur, from the mad minds of @tweetisaurus.bsky.social & @richardjbutler.bsky.social Crazier than any of those hybrids we had in Jurassic World: Rebirth? My thoughts for @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...

A journalist asked me yesterday how we worked out where all the Spicomellus armour went & truth is it was a challenge & what we present is a hypothesis. We had fun laying out all the armour & trying to figure out what the hell was going on! Fortunately @tweetisaurus.bsky.social is a talented artist.

Have you ever heard of #Spicomellus? It’s one of the world’s strangest dinosaurs. Its rib bone has spikes fused to it - something unheard of in any other animal! But now, more of the skeleton has been uncovered - and it's even stranger than anyone imagined... (1/4) 🧵

It's finally here! Meet Spicomellus - one of the world's strangest dinosaurs! After being named in 2021, many questions remained about what this ankylosaur looked like. So, in 2023, I was part of an NHM content contingent who followed @tweetisaurus.bsky.social up into the Atlas Mountains...

When @profpaulbarrett.bsky.social came up with the name 'Spicomellus', meaning 'spikey collar' back in 2021 based on a single partial rib, we never could have guessed how accurate he was!

If you don't have access to Nature, but would like to read our paper on the new specimen of #Spicomellus, you can read it online at this link with no subscription: rdcu.be/eCJK3

My friend Susie, @tweetisaurus.bsky.social, who I have known since I was 13, discovered a new dinosaur. Pretty amazeballs if you ask me. news.sky.com/story/crazy-...

Introducing a crazy new look for Spicomellus, based on new osteoderms unlike anything we've ever seen before. I was brought in to produce a life reconstruction based on the new material, published today in Nature by Maidment et al:

And the artwork is by the fabulous @sketchy-raptor.bsky.social of course

So privileged to have worked with the team on this amazing dinosaur.

Welcome to a new member of the Isle of Wight iggy family! Congratulations @valdosaurus.bsky.social!

In fact the whole website is a hoot as are the candles… jdandkateindustries.com

For #InternationalCatDay and #FossilFriday here is an in-situ cave lion found today at the Hills Quary products, Mammoth Graveyard. #TuskForce #CaveLion #IceAge

Wow, the authors have complained that I posted a review of their manuscript, which they posted on Bioarxiv, online. I've been told to delete it by ZJLS. Nope. If you don't want people to review your work, don't put it on a preprint server.

Dino track way from #Namibia at #MtEtjo for this weeks #fossilfriday.

Ichthyosaur Prep vid! Narrated by @palaeo-olly.bsky.social #Ichthyosaur #notadinosaur #fossil #fossilpreparation #jurassiccoast

Yesterday's fish prep. #fossilfriday #fossil #fish #fossilprep #preparation

Sticker haul from this weekend. #LymeRegisFossilFestaval #paleostickers #dinosaur

🦓 Animal #677 🐕‍🦺 I figured it out in 2 guesses! 🟨🟩 🔥 72 | Avg. Guesses: 6.6 metazooa.com #metazooa

Just finished this lovely little fish. My client bought it at a fossil show in Munich, they were originally from Lebanon. But we don't have more information. #fossil #fossilfish #fishfossil #FossilPreparation #fish #fossilshow #Lebanon #guessthefossil #fossilfriday

🐅 Animal #667 🐮 I figured it out in 2 guesses! 🟨🟩 🔥 62 | Avg. Guesses: 6.5 metazooa.com #metazooa This was absolute LUCK, and it'll never happen again.

Super proud of @issywalker.bsky.social

Earth Heritage is now a research theme within our International Centre for Heritage & we have funding to develop it further. We’re keen to hear from people interested in research partnerships in heritage, geotourism, geoethics, geoconservation & related areas. www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...

I'm delighted to have just taken over as the co-Editor-in-Chief for @journalsystpal.bsky.social along with @imranrahman.bsky.social. Many thanks to Zerina Johanson, who is stepping down after many years of hard work. Do ask me questions! www.tandfonline.com/journals/tjs...

Very pleased to welcome @tweetisaurus.bsky.social, new co-Editor-in-Chief with @journalsystpal.bsky.social! bsky.app/profile/twee...

I don't often prepare ammonites, and this #Paranioceras is the largest one I've had the honour to prepare unfortunatelyit is missing its center. Found in Charmouth, UK. #ammonite #fossil #fossilpreparator

“Taxonomy and systematics underpin all aspects of palaeobiology, and it is vital that their importance is recognized by funders, institutions and publishers, and that we continue to train ECR in these disciplines to avoid an ‘extinction of experience’ in specimen- and field-based research.”

Unboxing jacket 1 of 4. The age and location of these jackets are known, unfortunately, which way round or what is in them is unknown. And the original plaster of this specific specimen started to fall apart, to the one is extra tricky to work with. #devonian #fish #fossil #fossilfriday #teeth

Also now available are the titles of the four (!) special symposia at #2025SVP: - Ancient Biomolecules - Synchrotron radiation micro-CT scanning in paleontology - Evolution of Triassic non-marine tetrapod communities - Multidisciplinary approaches to skull function and evolution

Well done @palaeo-olly.bsky.social !!!

🦉 Animal #603 🪲 I figured it out in 6 guesses! 🟨🟧🟨🟩🟩🟩 🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 6 metazooa.com #metazooa

When you OG prep box isn't big enough for your current project #Devonian #psammosteid so you hijack your partners desk. Thank you @palaeo-olly.bsky.social for your desk and help.

Preparation of a Devonian placoderm (Coccosteus cuspidatus) for #fossilfriday prepared by @afossilpreparator.bsky.social at Emanya Prep youtu.be/Zcohpy7u0cs?...

On 18th March I'm doing a free, hybrid, public lecture at the GeolSoc on stegosaurs. Come along or join online: www.geolsoc.org.uk/03-PL-stegos...

Finished this ichthyosaur paddle a little while back. Really enjoyed working on this. #ichthyosaur #fossil #fossilprep #notadinosaur #marinereptile

Always worth stressing that this is for *US* national parks. The rest of the world has national parks too but the rules on what you can do vary from place to place.

Lunch at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery with Mike Benton. Then new museum displays in Cirencester showcasing many of the finds from the Mammoth Graveyard site over the summer. A return dig has been confirmed for 2025. With @palaeo-olly.bsky.social @acsmillen.bsky.social #mammoth #tuskforce

Welcome Baminornis! Only the second undoubted bird from the Jurassic. Joining the iconic Archaeopteryx. But Baminornis could fly better! My thoughts in this commentary for @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Today is International Day of Women & Girls in Science. Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Her contributions have left an indelible mark on the world of science & health & continue to inspire generations of scientists & innovators. 🔬 #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM

This has been an amazing week working with a fantastic team.

Unwisely, @richardjbutler.bsky.social and I were allowed to do some prep today. Neither of us lists patience as a virtue bit we didn't break anything... thanks @afossilpreparator.bsky.social for showing us the ropes

Amazing successful day here in Morocco setting up a prep lab with our collaborators at USMBA. We even managed to start prepping some new Spicomellus material! Big, big thanks to @afossilpreparator.bsky.social and Kate @Zoic Palaeotech! Impossible without their hard work! @richardjbutler.bsky.social