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

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.

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...

School's out at SUNY Fredonia, but we're still doing stuff. www.fredonia.edu/news/article...

New video on the fossils of western New York: youtu.be/d-_6AiZANd0

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.

Some students spend spring break on the beach. Ours explore the desert. www.instagram.com/p/DYSR3DbAHJ...

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...

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.

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...

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...

SUNY Fredonia students doing stuff!

Tomorrow!

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

Our Dunk is nearing completion. It now has a stand! #paleontology #geology #Devonian #sunyfredonia #3dprinting

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

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

Another 3d printed skull to guess. It is harder than it looks.

Guess who!

A beautiful day to measure the Hanover Shale. Found a crinoid-filled lens amongst the layers. #Fredonia #geology #stratigraphy

Another way we spent our summer vacation: www.fredonia.edu/news/article... #fredonia #geology

I don't think I am exaggerating when I say this is the fastest brachiopod ever. Introducing the Brachio-Bot. #fredonia #paleontology #3dprinting

The Trilo-bot is now fully operational!

Guess who? Printed at about 1/2 scale.

I bring you the latest advance in lophotrochozoan technology: The Brachio-bot®

New paper out describing the first fossil ovaries and unfertilized eggs in a primitive horseshoe crab. #paleontology #xiphosura #ordovician

So, Tom, how have you been procrastinating the arthropod cuticle preservation paper? Oh, you know . . . #Devonian #dunkleosteus #3dprinting

Proper signage is key in an academic building.

"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...

New paper out! Open Access! doi.org/10.1017/jpa....

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 . . . .

I don't even think a modern car would fit through the renovated doorway of Houghton.

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.

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

Hey it me! Thanks for being excellent hosts @weinersmith.bsky.social and @danielwhiteson.bsky.social! 🧪🦀🦑

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She carefully sorted through the samples under a light microscope, picking out & identifying each individual crustacean member of the zooplankton while removing debris & phytoplankton. Then, she used critical point drying to prepare them for Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) examination. 2/5