Birmingham Paleontological Society member Garrett Skurka found mosasaur remains at UA's Harrell Station in central Alabama. Mooreville Chalk, Late Cretaceous (~82 Ma). These two vertebrae were added to the one collected last year at the same spot. Will more show up in the future?

Birmingham Paleontological Society member Garrett Skurka found mosasaur remains at UA's Harrell Station in central Alabama. Mooreville Chalk, Late Cretaceous (~82 Ma). These two vertebrae were added to the one collected last year at the same spot. Will more show up in the future?

Birmingham Paleontological Society member Garrett Skurka found mosasaur remains at UA's Harrell Station in central Alabama. Mooreville Chalk, Late Cretaceous (~82 Ma). These two vertebrae were added to the one collected last year at the same spot. Will more show up in the future?

#FossilFriday‼️ Birmingham Paleontological Society member Garrett Skurka found mosasaur remains at UA's Harrell Station in central Alabama. Mooreville Chalk, Late Cretaceous (~82 Ma). These two vertebrae were added to the one collected last year at the same spot. Will more show up in the future?

#FossilFriday‼️🐳 Jaw with serrated teeth of the late Eocene (~35 Mya) whale Zygorhiza kochii from southern Alabama. This is a smaller whale species than the giant Alabama state fossil, the whale Basilosaurus cetoides. UA Museums Research & Collections paleontology collection. Collector: Mark Uhen

#FossilFriday‼️🐳 Jaw with serrated teeth of the late Eocene (~35 Mya) whale Zygorhiza kochii from southern Alabama. This is a smaller whale species than the giant Alabama state fossil, the whale Basilosaurus cetoides. UA Museums Research & Collections paleontology collection. Collector: Mark Uhen

Student discovery alert‼️Students in my Paleontology & Society class in the Blount Scholars Program found some neat Cretaceous fossils at Harrell Station. Abby found a rudist bivalve piece and Easten a large bony fish vertebra! 😀 #FossilFriday & celebrating Honors Day at The University of Alabama.

Curating and Digitizing the Paleontology Collections YouTube video by UA Museums

Paleo Video Alert ‼️Over the last years, I worked with Kayla Jordan and 7 other students on curating and digitizing an historic part of the fossil invertebrates at the U of Alabama collections. We photographed ~155,000 specimens in ~1500 records. 🐚  #FossilFriday www.youtube.com/watch?v=tScH...

Many congratulations and well deserved!

Taxonomist Appreciation Day post

I am in freakin' AWE of people doing primary taxonomic work.

To do it well, you need deep scholarship to track past naming (and misnaming) efforts.

You may need to hunt down specimens only to discover they are damaged, misindentified, or lost.

1/3

Bony fish discovery‼️ During my class field (Paleontology & Society) trip this Pachyrhizodus caninus jaw of 11" (28 cm) was found. Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian, ~82 Ma) Mooreville Chalk, central Alabama. Discovered by George Martin. #FossilFriday!!

Closeup Bony fish discovery‼️

Field photo

🐟 Bony fish discovery‼️ During my class field (Paleontology & Society) trip this Pachyrhizodus caninus jaw of 11" (28 cm) was found. Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian, ~82 Ma) Mooreville Chalk, central Alabama. Discovered by George Martin. University of Alabama Museums paleo coll. #FossilFriday!!

I’m looking for a post doc (up to five years) interested in phylogenetics and earth systems - please spread the word!

🦐 Research News‼️What is fossil crustacean cuticle composed of? Research led by my colleague Russell Bicknell shows that calcium and phosphorus are the dominant elements for most surveyed specimens, including this shrimp, but one had lots of carbon! Article: https://hdl.handle.net/2246/7530 #FossilFriday

🦐 Research News‼️What is fossil crustacean cuticle composed of? Research led by my colleague Russell Bicknell shows that calcium and phosphorus are the dominant elements for most surveyed specimens, including this shrimp, but one had lots of carbon! Article: hdl.handle.net/2246/7530 #FossilFriday

🦈 ‼️Very rare fossil shark tooth discovery last year in Alabama. A Late Cretaceous, in-situ tooth of Ptychodus rugosus in near perfect condition. We have less than 10 of this rare species in the University of Alabama Museums paleontology collection. #FossilFriday #shark #fossil #paleontology

🦈 ‼️Very rare fossil shark tooth discovery last year in Alabama. A Late Cretaceous, in-situ tooth of Ptychodus rugosus in near perfect condition. We have less than 10 teeth of this rare crushing shark species in the University of Alabama Museums paleontology collection. #FossilFriday #shark #fossil

🦀 Crabby #FossilFriday‼️ Remarkably well-preserved claw of a crab from the Paleocene of Alabama. This is a propodus and dactylus of the family Palaeoxanthopsidae. Members of this family lived during the latest Cretaceous - early Eocene. 🦀 University of Alabama Museums Paleontology collection.

Last semester, undergraduate student Idelle Burgess did a Blount Scholars museum internship in paleontology. She prepared a Late Cretaceous turtle from Alabama and other curation projects.

Last semester, undergraduate student Idelle Burgess did a Blount Scholars museum internship in paleontology. She prepared a Late Cretaceous turtle from Alabama and other curation projects.

#FossilFriday student highlight‼️Last semester, undergraduate student Idelle Burgess did a Blount Scholars museum internship in paleontology. She prepared a Late Cretaceous turtle from Alabama and did other curation projects. Idelle also did a research project that is continuing into this semester. 🙂

#FossilFriday at the University of Alabama Museums' Department of Museum Research & Collections‼️ This nice nautiloid, Cimomia haltomi, found in Paleocene rocks from Alabama shows the infilled air chambers. Found and donated by an avocational paleontologist!

#FossilFriday at the University of Alabama Museums' Department of Museum Research & Collections‼️ This nice nautiloid, Cimomia haltomi, found in Paleocene rocks from Alabama shows the infilled air chambers. Found and donated by an avocational paleontologist! 😀 #fossil #paleontology

We have hundreds of unstudied Cretaceous bony fish and shark coprolites in the University of Alabama Museums paleontology collection. Some have bone inclusions visible from the outside. 😲 Here's a ~82 million-year-old shark turd I found at Harrell Station, Alabama, in 2025.

#FossilFriday‼️ We have hundreds of unstudied Cretaceous bony fish and shark coprolites in the University of Alabama Museums paleontology collection. Some have bone inclusions visible from the outside. 😲 Here's a ~82 million-year-old shark turd I found at Harrell Station, Alabama, in 2025.

It has been a while since posting last about mosasaurs, but this one was my second best Alabama mosasaur find of 2025. There is more of the jaw and skull but these are the best teeth. Late Cretaceous (Campanian). Specimen: University of Alabama Museums paleontology coll.

😀 It has been a while since posting last about mosasaurs, but this one was my second best Alabama mosasaur find of 2025. There is more of the jaw and skull but these are the best teeth. Late Cretaceous (Campanian). Specimen: University of Alabama Museums paleontology coll. #FossilFriday‼️ #fossil

🦀 #FossilFriday ‼️Concretions sometimes contain exquisitely preserved crustaceans. Here are some Eocene (~45 million-year-old) crabs from Oregon, USA. Collected, prepared, and donated by Bob Manley. Specimens: University of Alabama Museums' paleontology collection. #paleontology #fossil 🦀

🦀 🦞 🦐 Research alert‼️A special issue about arthropod paleontology was recently published in the Journal of Paleontology, honoring the late Dr. Rodney Feldmann. Specimens from the UA Museums' paleontology collection were also used. Read the short news story here: https://tinyurl.com/bdwp3v2j #FossilFriday Specimen of Hyphalocarcinus americanus (Rathbun, 1935)

🦀 🦞 🦐 Research alert‼️A special issue about arthropod paleontology was recently published in the Journal of Paleontology, honoring the late Dr. Rodney Feldmann. Specimens from the UA Museums' paleontology collection were also used. Read the short news story here: tinyurl.com/bdwp3v2j #FossilFriday

😲 Pterosaur discovery Alert‼️David Braswell found pterosaur vertebrae in ~82 million-year-old (Cretaceous) marls of Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Alabama at a trip I organized for the Alabama Paleo Society! These are now the first pterosaur vertebrae in UA's fossil collection. #FossilFriday

😲 Pterosaur discovery Alert‼️David Braswell found pterosaur vertebrae in ~82 million-year-old (Cretaceous) marls of Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Alabama at a trip I organized for the Alabama Paleo Society! These are now the first pterosaur vertebrae in UA's fossil collection. #FossilFriday

Carol Smith found a jaw of a rare bony fish in the ~82 million-year-old (Cretaceous) marls of Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Alabama last month during a trip I organized for the Alabama Paleontological Society! 😄 Specimen: UA Museums paleo collection.

Carol Smith found a jaw of a rare bony fish in the ~82 million-year-old (Cretaceous) marls of Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Alabama last month during a trip I organized for the Alabama Paleontological Society! 😄 Specimen: UA Museums paleo collection.

🐟 Fossil Fish Alert‼️Carol Smith found a jaw of a rare bony fish in the ~82 million-year-old (Cretaceous) marls of Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Alabama last month during a trip I organized for the Alabama Paleontological Society! 😄 Specimen: UA Museums paleontology collection #FossilFriday

🦞 Fossil Lobster Alert‼️Alabama Paleontological Society president and Research Associate Jim Braswell found remains of a rare lobster in the ~82 million-year-old (Cretaceous) marls of Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Alabama last month! 😄 Specimen: UA Museums' paleo collection. #FossilFriday

‼️Special volume about arthropod paleontology was published today in the Journal of Paleontology, honoring the late Dr. Rodney Feldmann.🦀🦞🦐 Many of the 20 articles are open access. @paleosoc.bsky.social #paleontology #fossil #crab #lobster #shrimp
Full volume:
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Somewhat happy otoliths :).

Octopodoidea as predators near the end of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution Abstract. Octopodoidea are a highly versatile and diverse group of marine predators comprising > 200 species today; however, their diversity and ecology

#WorldOctopusDay! Octopuses including Octopodoidea don't preserved well in the fossil record, but their traces (predatory drill holes) can be found in some molluscan shells. Here's a Cretaceous example from a 2021 paper in collaboration with Neil Landman. #paleontology 🐙
doi.org/10.1093/biol...

‼️New paper on Paleocene (early Danian, ~65.3 mya) decapod crustaceans from Alabama. 🙂 Eight species (incl. 2 new) is more diverse than previously known for any early Danian site in North America. Thanks also to the @paleosoc.bsky.social for grant support. Paper:
sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiqu...

#FossilFriday! The Alabama Paleontological Society is the recipient of the 2025 Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Award. It will be awarded on Saturday September 20 at the University of Alabama campus as part of Alabama's National Fossil Day (Alabama Fossil Fest) event:

tiny.cc/d6hs001

📊 new paper! The natural phenomenon of upwelling, which normally occurs every year in the Gulf of Panama, failed for the first time on record in 2025...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
[most co-authors not on bluesky except @javsdiaz.bsky.social @jonscibulski.bsky.social]...

News PhD and MSc positions in Phylogenetic, Computational, and/or Evolutionary Paleobiology [Posted September 2025. Deadline is January 15, 2026. See below for information about the lab, student opportu…

I'm hoping to take 1 MSc & 1 PhD student next year in the areas of Phylogenetic, Computational, and/or Evolutionary Paleobiology. Please reach out if you are interested in joining the @oupaleobiology.bsky.social, especially if interested in working on fossil echinoderms. Link for more info below. 🧪

Just one more week (till 5 Sept) to apply for the postdoc position with me at UA Museums' Department of Museum Research and Collections. NSF-project together with Jill Leonard-Pingel, @odealab.bsky.social, and @sethf.bsky.social focused on marine ecosystems in Panama.

bsky.app/profile/pale...

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same ALMNH trip for the public a hadrosaur tooth was found!

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same ALMNH trip for the public a hadrosaur tooth was found!

Croc Discovery Alert‼️🐊 Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same @almnh.bsky.social trip for the public a hadrosaur tooth was found! 😀 #FossilFriday

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal.

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal.

Croc Discovery Alert‼️🐊 Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same @almnh.bsky.social trip for the public this hadrosaur tooth was found! 😀 #FossilFriday