Second edition of A History of Life in #100Fossils is out in the UK. Among the edits and additions is Sergiu Loghin's rather striking, monolithic-like image of a Cyprideis #ostracod - a fossil that provided key evidence for revealing the #Mediterranean once dried up!

Spotted by @PyensonLab: A history of life in #100fossils is out and about for #NationalFossilDay with @BryozoanNhm

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Many spectacular fossils didn't make it into the #100Fossils book. This cephalopod with intact ink sack is one of them

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"Discovered" by europeans in 1768 on Bering Island, Steller's sea cow was hunted to extinction within 27 years. Yet, fossils show the small Bering Island population was itself a remnant of a much larger, North Pacific distribution. #100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

Fossils show us that staghorn corals were the most important builders of reefs in the Caribbean for the last 2 million years. After decades of bleaching and disease, this species is now listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. #100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

This skull of a Steppe Mammoth, Mammuthus trogontherii, was unearthed in a brick-pit in east London. The 3m long tusks are intact and it is only 200,000 years old - a time when house prices in east London were still reasonable.
#100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

The remarkable Laetoli fossil footprint trails discovered by Mary Leakey and her team showed us that early humans walked upright 3.6 Ma. Recent work now proposes not just one, but two species of hominin walked on these volcanic ashes. #100Fossils #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

Glyptodonts were large, heavily-armoured armadillos common across south America until around 10,000 years ago. #100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

The rhino-sized wombat Diprotodon was part of the unique Australian megafauna that went extinct when humans arrived. Overhunted, victims of habitat change or humans not guilty? The evidence leans heavily on us, but debate continues #100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

Spectacular fossils are great to look at but small and unremarkable fossils are often the most insightful. These tiny ostracod (seed shrimp) fossils provided the first definitive evidence that the Mediterranean had dried up 5.5 Ma #FossilFriday for #100Fossils with @BryozoanNhm

Coprolites, or fossil poo, can tell us what was eaten millions of years ago, but it's usually impossible to know who did the eating. In this case, however, the distinct spiral shape gives it away as a coming from a large shark. #100Fossils with @BryozoanNhm for #FossilFriday

Before the sabre toothed "cat" evolved in North America the sabre-toothed "marsupial" Thylacosmilus evolved in South America. A classic example of convergent evolution.
#100fossils with @BryozoanNhm for #FossilFriday

The extinct flightless Terror Birds from South America killed by repeated jabbing of their beaks. This skull of Patagornis marshi from Argentina is the size of a 3 month old baby (only to provide a sense of scale, of course). #100fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

These fossil bryozoans once stood as the best support for the theory of punctuated equilibrium: That species remain in evolutionary stasis for millions of years before rapid bursts of evolution produces distinct new species. Another #100Fossils on #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

Next up in the serialisation of our book "A History of Life in #100Fossils" is this 30 million year old fossil of Stylemys nebrascensis. One of the earliest completely dry-land turtles. With @BryozoanNhm for #FossilFriday

Escaping your parents (dispersal) is a feature of all life but in different ways: During adulthood, juvenile stages (like larvae), as gametes (like pollen), or as seeds like this exquisite, 13Ma winged maple seed or "samara". Up next on #100fossils with @BryozoanNhm #FossilFriday

The rapid diversification of flowering plants and the insects that pollinated them is now less the ‘abominable mystery’ that Darwin called it. But many conundrums remain unsolved and many fossils to discover, like this 20Ma flower. #100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

If you ever doubt the terrestrial origin of whales step into the Sant Hall at @smithsonian's @NMNH and gaze up at the massive skull and titchy vestigial hind limbs of the 17m long, 40Ma early whale Basilosaurus. #100fossils with @BryozoanNhm for #FossilFriday

This 3cm foraminifera from the Eocene of Egypt is called Nummulites gizehensis. Ancient Egyptians used them for coins and the rock the pyramids are built of is full of their chambered shells. This week's #100fossils covers both #FossilFriday and #ForamFriday. With @BryozoanNhm

The parasitoid fungus Ophiocordyceps infects ants, forces them to climb trees & clamp on a leaf. The fungus sprouts, sending spores to infect yet more ants. This 48Ma #fossilfriday Laurel leaf preserves the death grips of zombified ants #100fossils @BryozoanNhm. Photo: T. Wappler

Fossils have shed much light on the evolutionary origins of whales. This 47 Ma foot, from the early whale Rodhocetus, was probably webbed giving the stubby animal great propulsion in water. Credit: James Di Loreto and @PyensonLab. #100fossils for #fossilfriday with @BryozoanNhm

Next #100fossils is the 52Ma bat Onychonycteris. It retains the claws and tail of tree-climbing ancestors but has fully formed wings to fly. A small ear bone suggests bats evolved to fly before they gained sophisticated echolocation. @BryozoanNhm #fossilfriday. Credit: @Nancy_Bat

Moving up the geological column, #100Fossils has reached the Eocene with this cache of Otodus obliquus teeth

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Big, charismatic predators like T. rex are not just Hollywood fodder. With careful study, their fossils can bring remarkable insights into evolution and extinction, and the ecological roles predators play in structuring ecosystems. #100Fossils with @BryozoanNhm for #FossilFriday

The late Cretaceous was so hot that corals couldn't hack it in the tropics. Instead, thick reefs were built by an extinct group of heat-resistant bivalves called rudists. Forget cloning mammoths - Bring back the rudists to save coral reefs! @BryozoanNhm #100Fossils #FossilFriday

The first Mososaur discovered was dubiously procured by Bonaparte with several hundred cases of wine. When in Paris, Georges Cuvier proclaimed the fossil an extinct lizard that had been cataclysmically wiped out by the biblical flood. #100Fossils #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm

Microscopic glassy phytoliths preserve long after a plant has decayed. This one is a remarkable example of a grass phytolith extracted by @caestromberg from a 70Ma sauropod coprolite. Dinosaurs not only lived with grasses, they ate them! #fossilfriday #100fossils @BryozoanNhm

Up next on #100Fossils for #FossilFriday with @BryozoanNhm.
Edmontosaurus was a large duck-billed plant-grazing dinosaur. Specimens found inside the Arctic circle perplex paleontologists: Did it overwinter, hibernate, or migrate to warmer climates to survive the dark winters?

Coelacanths - like this late Cretaceous Macropoma - from England were believed to be long-extinct. Then, in 1938, naturalist and museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered one in the catch of a local South African fisherman. From #100Fossils. #FossilFriday @BryozoanNhm

This #100fossils for #FossilFriday is special. My first visit to the @NHM_London as a student I found myself alone in the fossil urchin aisle. I took a peak in a random drawer and found Tylocidaris, with its incredible club shaped spines. Amazing fossil! @BryozoanNhm