CAM photosynthesis may have conferred an advantage during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event - Nature Ecology & Evolution Morphological and stable isotope analysis of Early Triassic lycophyte leaves suggest they were similar to extant Isoetales and thus may have made use of crassulacean acid metabolism photosynthesis—a trait that may have been advantageous during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction.

Insights into how ancient plants lived around 252 million years ago at the time of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction, the most severe loss of biodiversity in Earth’s history, are reported in @natecoevo.nature.com: spklr.io/63323EKEml

#Palaeontology #evosky

Results from the Flocking #paleostream!
Dynamognathus, Juxia, Presbyornis and Nimbacinus.

A black-and-white pencil sketch of the prehistoric salamander Dynamognathus robertsoni, depicted chomping down on the head of a shrew as it walks slightly downhill.

A sketch from tonight’s flocking-together #Paleostream, the Pliocene salamander Dynamognathus robertsoni! So happy that this little creature from Tennessee was finally chosen for a flocking, here depicted chomping on one of many contemporary shrew species. #paleoart #sciart #cenozoic #grayfossilsite

Image of Tiktaalik swimming towards the viewer in murky water. Its mouth is open, showing rows of tiny teeth. It appears to be smiling

Tiktaalik

Copic Markers and colored pencil on Schoellershammer paper
11.8″ x 8.3″ (30 x 21 cm)

www.esthervanhulsen.com

#paleoart #SciArt #paleoillustration
#animalart

Frontiers | New data on the sarcopterygian Koharalepis jarviki (Tetrapodomorpha; Canowindridae) from the Late Devonian of Antarctica, revealed via synchrotron and neutron tomography IntroductionThe ‘osteolepiforms’ are an extinct order of lobe-finned fishes that had a cosmopolitan distribution, which are often considered for their proxim...

Congratulations to Flinders PhD student Corinne @corinnemensforth.bsky.social and team on the latest paper describing new anatomical detail from the enigmatic #Devonian tetrapod-like fish, #Koharalepis from #Antarctica, revealed using #neutrons! Pew pew! www.frontiersin.org/journals/eco...

New large pterosaur tracks from Korea and their implications on terrestrial behavior
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Jinjuichnus procerus ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov.

Art: Jun Seung Yi

The axial skeleton of the tuatara (Rhynchocephalia: Sphenodon): insights on intraspecific variability, ontogeny, sexual dimorphism, and remarks on fossil taxa Abstract. As the sole living rhynchocephalian, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) provides important comparative information for fossil rhynchocephalians an

As the sole living genera of an ancient order of reptiles, tuataras are key for fossil comparisons of extinct species & modern lepidosaurs (lizards & snakes). Here, their axial skeleton is described in detail, offering new insights to this unique creature...Tuatar-ya interested? 🌍🧪👇

Here the result of the Escuminac Formation #paleostream!
These deposits from the Devonian of Canada offer a glimpse into a coastal fish community with some absolute bangers and historical favorites. But it doesn't come without it challenges.

Result from the Zechstein sea #paleostream! This famous deposit from the late Permian of Central Europe (mostly Germany) has a special place in paleontology history and incidentally has a locality not even a km from where I sit right now.

Slender fossil jaw bone in a foam lined box sitting on a wooden table.

Black slab of rock in a translucent box. An orange and black scalebar is to the side of the rock, which is covered with dark impressions of disarticulated bones.

Some UMMP embolomeres for #FossilFriday: Archeria jaw from the Permian of Archer Co., TX and archeriid bits from the Carboniferous of Linton, OH.

For #fossilfriday I have the holotype of Kalops monophrys, CM 27372. Kalops is a classic “palaeoniscoid” from Bear Gulch , a Mississippian lagerstätte in central Montana. While squished, it’s undeniably a gorgeous fossil.

Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years

New in @science.org ‼️ In the most comprehensive study to date, we show that wildlife trade is driving animal-to-human zoonotic spillover at a planetary scale, with +1 spillover per host every 10 years. Live animal markets and illegal trade pose even greater risks. 🔓 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Transverse section of fossil wood showing files of polygonal to rounded conducting cells and 5 rays (the brown vertical "lines")

#FossilFriday reminder that there are very old fossil #plants with very well preserved cellular detail!
This is a piece of wood from a tree that grew ~340 million years ago (early Carboniferous) in what is now France, prepared as thin-section & seen under the microscope 🔬 🌿⛏️ #paleobotany #botany

Oxygen supply through the tracheolar–muscle system does not constrain insect gigantism - Nature New evidence suggests that diffusive oxygen transport through the tracheolar–muscle system is not the limiting factor on insect body size.

Seems like a pretty important result; title says it all.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lystrosaurus embryo!

Benoit J, Fernandez V, Botha J (2026) The first non-mammalian synapsid embryo from the Triassic of South Africa. PLoS One 21(4): e0345016. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

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...

The dawn of the Phanerozoic: A transitional fauna from the late Ediacaran of Southwest China science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Art: Xiaodong Wang

Labyrinth morphology of Eunotosaurus africanus in the context of semicircular canal shape variation across amniotes
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
reconstruction by Andrey Atuchin

Cambrian on my mind #sciart

Gray and tan sandstone surface criss-crossed by abundant bilobed trilobite burrows, "popping out" as bas-relief natural casts on the bottom of the sandstone bed. These lengthy and commonly wide burrows have a "ropey" texture with "braiding" representing movement of the trilobite legs on a firm muddy bottom. My hand to the left provides a scale, showing some burrows greater than the width of my hand (about 15 cm).

For #FossilFriday, some spectacular trilobite burrows (ichnogenus Cruziana) from the Lower-Middle Ordovician (~465 mya) of southern Spain. Although not all trilobites burrowed, the ones that did left us such beautiful expressions of their seafloor behaviors. 🧪🪨⚒️🐾

It's not everyday you get to shake a dinosaur's hand

🚨NEW SCIENCE ALERT!🚨Read our new, open-access publication in Scientific Reports (@nature.com) describing #biofluorescence in #cassowary casques! Very excited to unveil this after keeping it secret for 5 years⬇️
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
NYITCOM @akiopteryx.bsky.social @jonathanberman.bsky.social

Dimetrodon, a grand sailbacked synapsid, crashes the party of some unfortunate Platyhystrix that swim away frantically. In the back, several Edaphosaurus watch.

Dimetrodon attacks a congregation of breeding Platyhystrix. Edaphosaurs watch. It's really intriguing to me how all of these Permian Southwestern animals convergently evolved sailbacks.

#paleoart #SciArt #art #artist #paleontology #artistonbluesky #originalart

This fossil may look small - that's because it's from a salamander, but what a salamander! It's actually very large and surprisingly complete for the late Cretaceous of North America. From US Public lands administered by the BLM.

#FossilFriday #fossils #scicomm #salamander #microfossil

🐸 Rare fossils from Tanzania have revealed the oldest known ancestors of modern frogs found in Africa, dating back to the Jurassic period.

🦴 These specimens were discovered in the Tendaguru Formation.

Read more here: doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.175525

@mfnberlin.bsky.social

Exceptional #fossils provide evidence for co-existence of epidermal and dermal scales in late Carboniferous stem #amniotes.

Marchetti et al 2026 @currentbiology.bsky.social The earliest #reptile body impressions with scaly #skin
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Do tadpoles have acoustic communication? Protázio et al. (2025) documented Ceratophrys joazeirensis (Caatinga Horned Frog) tadpoles producing a short, metallic click sound. See what their hypotheses are for this observation at AmphbiaWeb.org #AWNews

Evolutionary radiation of large‐bodied gorgonopsians from the lower Abrahamskraal formation of South Africa The middle Permian represents a critical interval in therapsid evolution, when gorgonopsians emerged as some of the first specialized apex predators within terrestrial ecosystems. Despite their signi...

Macungo et al. present a new middle #Permian gorgonopsian, Jirahgorgon ceto, from the Abrahamskraal Fm of South Africa 🇿🇦 - its large size suggests the emergence of large #gorgonopsians earlier than expected!

🔗 anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#Paleontology #Science #Synapsid

A blue pick axe next to a brown slab of rock with long ripples

A small footprint and handprint of a little reptile preserved in rock

The Chinle Formation - come for the climbing ripples, stay for the reptile footprints. #FossilFriday #triassicpark 🧪🦖

pantelosaurus takes a relaxing nap inside a log

a bone bed of pantelosaurus individuals preserved mostly in articulation

happy #fossilfriday! this is pantelosaurus, a synapsid from early permian germany. a relatively small predator, pantelosaurus is known from a bone bed that preserves at least 6 individuals, potentially suggesting gregarious habits
(art by joschua knuppe)