Dr. Julien Divay teaching us how to identify different fish species from their microfossils. He's leaning on a desk, gesturing towards the audience. Behind him is a presentation about fish vertebral anatomy.

Microfossil sediment in the viewing area of a microscope. The sediment is in a rectangular cardboard tray and is illuminated by a yellowish microscope light. In the background can be seen a notebook and pen.

A view of some fish centra through the microscope. There are a few scattered around. Several interesting knobs and bumps can be seen, and the one in the centre has two large incisions in the bottom.

Dr. Divay looking up from a microscope. He's looking directly at the camera.

Our last workshop for the Paleo 2026 Symposium was a great one! Dr. Julien Divay showed us how to identify different fish species from their microfossils. What a great way to end off our symposium!

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #microfossils #fish

#foraminifera #microfossils #micropaleontology #fossils #paleontology

The blog also therefore discusses how #microfossils can be used to assist archaeologists learn about past landscapes and how this helps us appreciate how humans have interacted with the environment over thousands of years.

Enjoy!

percs.co.uk/micropalaeon...

An insectivore premolar, found by Georgia Hoffman. There are two thin roots coming out of the bottom of the tooth, and on the top are roughly six very clearly defined cusps. It's a somewhat scary looking tooth!

A picture of an insectivore premolar, found by Vaclav Marsovsky. There are two broad roots coming from the bottom, and on the top the tooth is roughly triangular with clearly-defined cusps.

A fish centrum (circular part of the vertebra), found by Rex. This one is seen face-on, but even so it's clear that the centre of the centrum is quite concave. Around the outside are several bumps which would probably mean a lot to someone better versed in fish anatomy, but are opaque to me!

A fish fin ray spine, found by Jess. The main part of the fossil is a shaft of bone sticking straight up; this is the spiny part of the spine. The base is a small flange of bone which would be anchored in the fish's body.

We had a great first fossil sorting session of 2026! Some really incredibly preserved teeth and fish bits this time.

albertapaleo.org/events/fossi...

#fossils #alberta #microfossils

4 more days to submit #abstracts at #EGU26!
If your research explores #ppaleoclimate and #paleoclimatology using #microfossils, submit an abstract to SSP4.5, co-organised by @egubg.bsky.social.
@auerg.bsky.social

Submit by January 15, 13:00CET.
#paleontology, #micropaleontology

Stel je voor dat je elke dag tussen tienduizenden fossielen werkt. 🔍🦴
Ik sprak met David Douw van @naturalis.bsky.social over zijn favoriete fossielen en waarom een goed beheerde collectie essentieel is voor paleontologisch onderzoek.

#paleontology #microfossils

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOvF...

Starting off the new year with a small but mighty #fossil - a #foraminiferan!

These #microfossils help us understand paleoclimates! In fact, it foram fossils that initially led scientists to figure out the cause of the #dinosaur extinction event 🦖☄️

3D model: bit.ly/cloud-foram

#FossilFriday

A fish barb found by Vaclav Marsovsky. The bone is elongate and whitish, the darker brown barbs (rounded) projecting off of it.

A multituberculate molar found by Eric Campbell. The roots are a whitish brown, and the dark enamel on top is divided into four prominent rows.

A (probably) amphibian vertebra found by Jolinda Botha. The bone is brown / black and it has a compressed hourglass shape.

A set of three fossils, all found by Matthew Rhodes. In the top right is a dark, roughly rectangular tooth with the dark enamel facing up; this is a rodent molar. In the bottom middle is a long, curved tooth with dark enamel on the front end and lighter brown dentine on the back; this is a rodent incisor. On the middle right is a set of roughly three whitish teeth embedded in another fragment of bone; this is a lizard jaw fragment.

On November 23rd we had our last fossil sorting session of 2025!

Our sessions are going to start up again in 2026 - check out albertapaleo.org/events/fossi... for more details!

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #microfossils #fish #multituberculate #teeth

#FossilFriday Microfosils sent as #Christmas cards by Arthur Earland (1866-1958) to his collaborator Edward Heron-Allen #foramfriday #microfossils #histsci wp.me/p3ihHu-cX

Four images of a microfossil are placed in a 2 by 2 grid. In each image is a long cylindrical object with tapered ends. This is a freshwater sponge spicule, made of silica. This one come from an archaeological site in Iraq and is about 4000yo. In the first block, the background is black with the sponge and a few other bits highlighted in white. In the second, everything is a tan colour, with the sponge highlighted in white. In the third block, the background is very white, the sponge has orange and yellow colouring. There are also other silica flecks in blues and purples. And finally the last block, the background is a garish pink. The sponge itself is bright green as are the other flecks of silica.

Freshwater sponge spicule - about 100micrometres or so. Photo taken down the scope, then I had some fun in photoshop :))

Light microscopy at 400x

#BlueSkyArtShow #Small #Microscopy #Microfossils #EastCoastKin

@romanpalace.bsky.social - this is what freshwater sponges look like, with pizazz!

Abstract submission is open for #EGU26 (3 - 8 May 2026) 🚨

Are you working with #microfossils and have a story to tell about the #paleoenvironment and/or #paleoclimate? Then join our session to put a focus lens on these amazing micropaleontological proxies!

A fish centrum through a microscope. There are many different pebbles in the field of view. The centrum (backbone) itself is in the centre of the field of view and is a light brown in colour. It looks almost like a brown satellite dish. The end of the vertebra is circular and concave inwards, with rings being clearly visible. Around the side of the vertebra are small protrusions sticking out.

A ray tooth plate, found by Gerhard Maier. It's an unusual structure. Roughly rectangular, there are six bands of harder enamel running parallel to the shorter side of the rectangle. When the ray was living these would have been packed together to provide a crushing surface.

A picture of an insectivore premolar, found by Labib Chowdhury. The tooth is on the white background of a slide and has a dark-brown enamel top and a lighter dentine root. There are two visible roots. The darker enamel portions are split into three high peaks.

An image of a lagomorph incisor found by Vaclav Marsovsky through a microscope. There are a few bits of sand in the view, but not too many. The incisors are quite distinctive, being curved with a black enamel surface. There is a trough in the middle that makes it look like this is really two teeth stuck together.

Another great fossil sorting session this Sunday! It was an unusually fishy afternoon with lots of centra, scales, teeth, and fin rays being found.

Next session: Nov. 23 at MRU in Calgary.

albertapaleo.org/events/fossi...

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #microfossils #eocene

An image of lots of people sorting fossils. They're looking at microscopes and arranged along a few laboratory benches.

An image with two jaws. In the top left is the jaw bone of a mammal. The bone is black with the alveoli (tooth sockets) clearly visible. In the bottom right is a fragment of reptile jaw. The teeth are still present and you can clearly see their attachment to the jaw.

A phalanx (finger / toe bone). This is a roughly cylindrical bone with one end flattened up-and-down and the other flattened side-to-side.

An image of a rodent molar through a microscope. The top part of the tooth, the enamel, is black and the root is a darker grey. The molar itself is roughly square with prominent knobs.

Another great Sunday sorting fossils! It was a spectacular haul with lots of jaw fragments.

Rodent molar: CS Ling
Reptile Jaw: Daegan Kovacs
Phalanx: Labib Chowdhury

Next session is Sunday! albertapaleo.org/events/fossi...

#paleontology #paleontology #fossils #microfossils #alberta #eocene

A poster describing the lecture by Dr. Caldwell. It's a large, well-lit photo of Dr. Caldwell, wearing glasses and with long white hair. Superimposed is text describing the time and place of the lecture.

A poster describing the microfossil sorting event. The background is an image of a tray of matrix in the viewing field of a microscope. In the top left corner is the Alberta Palaeontological Society logo and in the middle is text describing the time and place of the event.

Two events this week!

Oct 23, 5 - 7, Edmonton: Lecture by Dr. Caldwell. Hosted by the U of A Palaeo Society!

Oct 26, 1 - 3:30, Calgary: Microfossil Sorting with the APS!

albertapaleo.org/events/calen... for more information.

#palaeontology #paleontology #fossils #dinosaurs #microfossils #alberta

Interesting article on taro and yams using starch grain analysis. Made even better by reference to Hawai’i and poi (yum!) 🏺 #Microfossils #MicroRemains

Upper Cretaceous foraminifera from glacier-displaced strata near Rostock, Northeastern Germany. They were collected by Ralf-Rainer Schulz. We took the first images, which can be seen at foraminifera.eu/collection.p...
#foraminifera #microfossils #paleontology #Cretaceous

New #RSOS paper: Sustained shift in the morphology of organic-walled #microfossils over the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #palaeontology @kellyetingle.bsky.social‬ @rosspanderson.bsky.social @kelleypaleolab.bsky.social

I found this planktic foraminifera in a Turonian slab. It was sheared off by glaciers, transported + dumped north of Berlin. Is it Archaeoglobigerina cretacea ? Maybe a professional can tell. // See foraminifera.eu/collection.p...

#foraminifera #microfossils #fossils #paleontology #Cretaceous

#Microfossils #radioactive

I'm looking to buy.

I'm looking to get some microfossils, not normal sized ones.

I'm also looking to buy uranium ore/crystals, radium products, and uranium glass.

If you're an artist working with uranium glass I definitely want to see your shit!

John was an incredible scientist. Not only was he an expert in the application of #foraminifera and #ostracods in geological deposits, but he was also the leading #geoarchaeologist in his field, applying calcareous #microfossils to reconstructing environments to #archaeological contexts

Phytoliths, foraminifera and pollen!!!

#TeamPhytolith #Microfossils 😀😀😀

It’s a bit of a late post, but I’m very happy to say that I’ve submitted my PhD thesis! Thanks to everyone who has helped me throughout this journey- I really appreciate it! #environment #geochemistry #microfossils
#climate
#sealevel
#vegetation
#coastalhazards
#UniversityofCanterbury

Listen to my talk on our physical Foraminifera Collection on youtube at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX3K...
#foraminifera #microfossils #fossil #MarineLife #paleontology #MarineScience #palaeontology #shell #fossils

Realised I was heading for a meltdown of sorts. So I have cancelled my plans forThursday and Friday, and have gone searching for microfossils in the sun and listening to the waves rolling in. #fossilhunting #microfossils #mentalhealth #mentalfirstaid

Oh and last one for today! Prior to going freelance I worked @nhm-london.bsky.social for ten years! One particular highlight was meeting David #Attenborough and having a lovely conversation about #micropalaeontology and #microfossils. The man is a walking natural history encyclopaedia!

One of the great things about #microscopy is the variety of other micro-critters you encounter on your slides, which often are just as important in your #geoarchaeological story. One few favourite are #dinoflagellate cysts which are marine #microfossils most often associated with bedrock deposits

These days we have passed the 23,000 mark in our database. A big thank you to all contributors from all over the world for sending sediments, specimens, images and help with identifications. #foraminifera #microfossils #fossils #MarineLife #paleontology #MarineScience

Nicholas Shackleton, English geologist & paleoclimatologist, died #OTD 2006. He was a pioneer in the use of mass spectrometry to determine changes in climate as recorded in the oxygen isotope composition of calcareous #microfossils. 🧪⚒️🔬
wp.me/p3ihHu-su #Foramfriday

Foraminifera or just pseudofossil rock chips ???
I picked about 50 specimens from 10g of a disintegrate Jurassic shale. I think these are compressed agglutinated forams. Whats your opinion ? #foraminifera #microfossils #Jurassic #fossils #MarineLife #paleontology