I had great fun yesterday giving a talk to the Virtual Seminars in Precambrian Geology.
Thanks to Andrea Bekker for the invitation and James Gutoski. There are some awesome talks in the series you might like to check out.
Mine is posted here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNHq...
A bedding surface with lots of little holes (gas bubbles formed beneath a microbial mat) and a pointy ended frond of Arborea spinosa with a large disc (bottom) and a above us a bushy/tree-shaped frond of Primocandelabrum, also with basal holdfast disc
I’ve been a bit remiss with #FossilFriday (teaching palaeontology for the first time since 2005).
The ground is thawing here and we have had a couple of field days already so here is a newly uncovered A. spinosa and a Primocandelabrum sp. to enjoy from our #Ediacaran #InnerMeadow lagerstatte.
A silhouette of a capybara from PhyloPic is shown on a mobile. The same image is shown on a paper next to it. The text on the post reads: “New blog post. Using images and illustrations from the web responsibly”.
Ever been confused about what images you can use from the internet to illustrate your research? Read our latest blog post to find out about copyright licences, image use, and why you should avoid generative AI for scientific illustrations. 🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/yyOMFUp
A picture of a small concretion (rock) with a white blob in the middle. this blob was described as the worlds oldest octopus and called Pohlsepia. Our research shows that hidden under the rock are teeth that confirm it is a nautiloid (a relative of modern nautiluses).
An artistic rendering of the rotting Pohlsepia on the seafloor 310 million years ago. Sharks, fish and arthropods lurk in the background
I am so unbelievably proud to present 8 years of hard work: the worlds oldest octopus is not an octopus...
Pohlsepia is actually a really rotten Nautiloid (but oldest soft tissue nautiloid ever found!). 🐙❌
royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
you could also ask here if you have Researchgate www.researchgate.net/publication/...
detail of the InnerMeadow fossil surface with abundant negative hemispherical “bubbles” and a specimen of a vermiform (worm-like) fossil of #Uncus
and also other bubbly surfaces including the previously described “bubble trains” at “Spaniards Bay” and Crocker Cove.
Nagi concludes that they likely represent bubbles of gas trapped beneath matgrounds, possibly produced by methanogenic bacteria decomposing buried matgrounds.
negative bubbly textures with millimetric aggregations of bubbles either in strips or widespread on Ediacaran bedding planes. Some of which have exceptionally preserved fossils of soft-bodied organisms
In the latest of our string of papers on the new #Ediacaran Inner Meadow Lagerstätte here is an account of the distinctive bubble like textures (paywalled sorry but $$) doi.org/10.1111/sed.... or ask for a copy :-).
Recently graduated MSc student Nagi Chida worked on the textures at…, #InnerMeadow
This is really cool. Some unexpected things showing up. There is an interesting #Mamsetia like thing which to my eye might be a stauropolyp like the former paratype of #Haootia (now in Mamsetia).
#FossilFriday "...a biosphere where the giants were only a few centimeters long." @jtimmer.bsky.social
arstechnica.com/science/2026...
getting busy i imagine
Congratulations Tony! Very much deserved 👏
very cool
Something a bit different this #FossilFriday a fossil i’ve had on my desk for a while now.
This is a Cambrian member of the Coronatae, undescribed, from western Newfoundland that I found way back in 2017 (I think).
I totally agree. If that is part of your “voice” you also get to see through social media stats what demographic finds you funny.
I would also say that, with care, it can be very effective in applying for jobs too.
Imagine the majority of life on Earth vanishing... and no one notices for 550 million years. www.iflscience.com/the-forgotte...
Extraordinary new fossils from Newfoundland reveal an ancient mass extinction worse than the asteroid-driven calamity that killed the dinosaurs.
#Paleontology #KotlinCrisis #FossilFriday
🧪🧪
New for @science.org
'It guts us’: Curator fears for future of Joggins Fossil Institute after provincial funding cuts #NovaScotia #HoustonCuts
Province has reduced the institute's proposed allocation by $55K
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
another to keep the logic rigorous. In the end the call is the first author’s but here is how we have been tackling it.
doi.org/10.3389/fevo...
It matters because when we make assumptions about mode of life when doing ecology we can make big errors not easily undone.
reconstruction of the seafloor at Inner Meadow with matgrounds and leaf like fractal Charnia brasieri in inferred life position (c)duncan mcilroy
reconstruction of Avalofractus abacus in life position a fractal like upright frond (c)duncan mcilroy
Possible Avalofractus abacus from Mistaken Point an originally upright fractal like frond
Charnia brasieri with a Trepassia sp. at its top both are fractal like stemless forms trepassia is narrow, brasieri is broad and leaf like
Yet another new #FossilFriday paper! This time just me, but building on work from the MUN Paleobiology Crowd over a number of years.
This OA paper outlines the lines of evidence used to determine mode of life of the #Ediacaran #Rangeomorpha. Always careful and objective we work with one
what a beautiful colour 🤯
Interesting palaeopiscatorial thread here.
oh and i should say that the type material of A. elegans was a loose block which is now in The Rooms collected under permit from the Province.
Ediacaran fossils are protected by law can only be studied by permit and landowner permission. There are v. big fines for damaging or removing fossils.
subtriangular multi branched probably rangeomorph frond bradgatia-like foot for scale
poorly preserved Hapsidophyllas with 2 rows of radiating branches foot for scale
Pascal’s PhD involves describing this rich biota along with a new date hopefully coming at the same time later this year. The rest of the biota are mainly Mistaken Point type fossils but not quite as well preserved though much closer to St. John’s!
and free to read here: doi.org/10.1017/S001...
reconstruction of Arborea elegans as a long narrow upright frond on a microbially colonized seafloor (white rings)
Arborea elegans showing long narrow frond with short orthogonal brabches and a wide flat basal disc
Another #FossilFriday and another new Nfld. Ediacaran for you to enjoy hot off the press. Introducing Arborea elegans. This is the first fossil from a rich new site near #Torbay & #MiddleCove just north of St. John’s. An area always considered unfossiliferous, but discovered by Pascal Olschewski🧵
Introducing the soft-bodied fossil Paleocanna tentaculum n. gen. n. sp., a tube-dwelling medusozoan. The first 3 authors are students.👏
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
broad Charnia frond at the bottom with a narrow frond right at its tip lying in the same orientation
This #FossilFriday is brought to you from the #Ediacaran of #InnerMeadow with the observation that #Charnia brasieri sometimes have #Trepassia like little feathers on top of their fronds. Part of a review paper coming out next week on life attitude of rangeomorphs :-).
bedding surface with large hemispherical Nimbia and several varieties of the chambered Palaeopascichnus gracilis and narrow P. linearis
detail showing the narrow chambered palaeopascichnus linear is
large Aspidella terranovica (oval) much smaller three lobed triforillonia beneath and a variety of chambered protists Palaeopascichnus
It’s midterms here at MUN & with cleanup from a 75cm 2 day snowstorm too it’s been a disrupted week, so a quick #FossilFriday post- #KotlinCrisis bedding plane from Ferryland NL with #Palaeopascichnus, #Aspidella terranovica & #Triforillonia material of Dr Latha Menon (submitting next week!!)
Well said.
Good science stimulates more science :-)
