Richard J. Butler | Lightnews

stuartsumida.bsky.social @stuartsumida.bsky.social · 9h

SVP2025 begins in Birmingham, England in two days! The vertebrate paleontologists of the world are coming together at Birmingham's International Convention Centre. And the annual Christmas Market is going strong surrounding the Centre! #2025SVP #svppresident #svp #SVP2025

Mark Witton @markwitton.bsky.social · 9h

Sneaking glimpses at the set up of #SVP2025 #2025SVP, spotted some familiar logo artwork in the ICC.

Richard Dearden @euphanerops.bsky.social · 10h

Centre of Birmingham looking suitably sparkling and ready to welcome palaeontologists to #SVP2025 #2025SVP!

A Ferris wheel at night, lit up by illumination

The ICC convention centre lit up at night

Lapworth Museum of Geology @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social · 14h

Feeding Without Jaws opens this Wednesday!

Our temporary #exhibition tells the immersive story of our ancestors, jawless fish. Find out about why these ancient fish have fascinated palaeontologists, & what new discoveries have been made about them.

www.birmingham.ac.uk...

#LapworthRocks

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 23h

Travelling to #2025SVP? Weather looks like a mixed bag, typical for November in England. Unlikely to be particularly cold, but some rain guaranteed. Bring an umbrella 🙂.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

The #2025SVP #SVP2025 field trip to the Jurassic Coast is apparently going well despite some vintage British weather. Photos from @kirstymedgar.bsky.social

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

You’ve got me there.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

If you promise to dance to it then I’ll request it 😁

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

Falling into a canal, eating a vindaloo, getting referred to as “bab”… endless risks.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

Also, although the Charlatans might be generally associated with Cheshire & Manchester, they actually started out in Birmingham and the West Midlands 🙂

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

The first #SVP2025 #2025SVP field trip has left, with @kirstymedgar.bsky.social & @davfoff.bsky.social leading a group to the Jurassic Coast of Dorset! I guess it’s too late to have second thoughts about hosting this conference now…

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 1d

I’m sure some Charlatans can be requested. We won’t be having any Mancunians DJing though - Brummies only I’m afraid 😁

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social · 2d

Reminder for those attending the annual meeting: There’s an app for that!

Check your email for “There's an app for 2025 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting!” to find the access link and instructions. #2025SVP

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 2d

Yes - I have already very sheepishly explained to the DJ that he has to play this. Possibly more than once.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 2d

For those attending #2025SVP #SVP2025: if you have requests of tracks you would like to hear/dance to at the Saturday after party reply to this post & let me know & I will pass them on to the DJ.

🦕Journal of Systematic Palaeontology🦴 @journalsystpal.bsky.social · 2d

To mark the 85th Annual SVP Meeting 2025, we've assembled an open access collection of landmark JSP vertebrate palaeontology papers.

Next study to highlight is.. The phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs by Butler et al. (2008) buff.ly/O0hipyA
#2025SVP #PaleoSky @richardjbutler.bsky.social

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 3d

Opening in time for the Welcome Reception at #2025SVP #SVP2025!

Lapworth Museum of Geology @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social · 7d

Grab your snorkels and dive back in time with us - our new temporary #exhibition Feeding Without Jaws opens on Weds 12 Nov. The exhibition explores cutting-edge palaeontological research on the lives of unusual ancient fishes.

For more info: www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/feedi...

#LapworthRocks

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks to University of Birmingham students & volunteers we now have 1300 tote bags stuffed and ready for #2025SVP #SVP2025 next week.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 5d

The article features depressing images of illegally excavated Spicomellus material for sale on Facebook & making its way to the European market at the Munich Show. If anyone out there wants to do the right thing & return Spicomellus material very happy to put you in contact with Kawtar & Driss.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 5d

Good coverage of illegal export of Middle Jurassic & other fossils from Morocco, featuring our friends & collaborators Kawtar Ech-charay & Driss Ouarhache. Kudos to George Blasing for doing the right thing & returning fossils he had purchased outside of Morocco.

fr.le360.ma/culture/ce-q...

Ce que le trafic illicite de fossiles dit d’un marché parallèle bien installé au Maroc

Le Maroc voit chaque année partir des milliers de fossiles. Arrachés à la roche, revendus sur le marché international, ils rejoignent les vitrines de collectionneurs étrangers. La vente récente d’osse...

fr.le360.ma

Matthew Warke @matthewwarke.bsky.social · 5d

I'll be at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting in Birmingham (UK) next week. 🦖

We have an exciting itinerary planned including several Meet the Editor sessions. Come say hi and bring your questions to any of our editors at our booth! 🤝

#SVP2025 #2025SVP #paleontology

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 6d

Fully recommend listening, not least to hear Rob and Susie’s novel new ideas about pachycephalosaur ontogeny.

Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 7d

#Fossil Fans! A new #FossilFiles pod just dropped! It's on that super cool and exciting recent dinosaur paper in Nature!! .... Nooo... not that one... Zavacephale of course! Check out mine and @fossilrob.bsky.social's take wherever you get your podcasts: fossils.libsyn.com/a-new-head-b...

The Fossil Files: A new head banging dinosaur

A newly discovered fossil from the Cretaceous of Mongolia tells us an interesting story about the purported head butting behaviour of dinosaurs. Pachycephalosaurs are famous for their thick domed heads but it has been disputed how or when this evolved. The beautifully preserved Zavacephale rinpoche has a well preserved skull and dome but also loads of details of the body and tail as well. What is suprising is that this individual is much smaller, and occurs much earlier, than other pachycephalosaurs. We take a look at this new fossil and what this means for interpreting the evolution of dinosaur behaviour.  This week's paper is "A domed pachycephalosaur from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia" by Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig and colleagues from Mongolia and North Carolina, published in Nature in September 2025. Wide screen palaeoart by Masaya Hattori.

fossils.libsyn.com

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 6d

I thought HIGNFY was the pinnacle, but it looks like our ‘Jurassic Highway’ dinosaur tracks work at Dewars Farm made it into @privateeyenews.bsky.social this week!

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 6d

Dishoom is also a mere 5 minute walk from the conference venue (not including Christmas Market congestion time).

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 6d

I don’t understand this - we run an auction with no issues every year at the SVPCA meeting (the UK version of SVP). My understanding is that it was primarily about logistics.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 6d

It was an SVP decision about logistics - there’s no barrier to running an auction in the UK, we run one every year at the SVPCA auction.

Richard Butler @richardjbutler.bsky.social · 6d

Wrong Birmingham?

Prof Susie Maidment @tweetisaurus.bsky.social · 7d

#Fossil Fans! A new #FossilFiles pod just dropped! It's on that super cool and exciting recent dinosaur paper in Nature!! .... Nooo... not that one... Zavacephale of course! Check out mine and @fossilrob.bsky.social's take wherever you get your podcasts: fossils.libsyn.com/a-new-head-b...

The Fossil Files: A new head banging dinosaur

A newly discovered fossil from the Cretaceous of Mongolia tells us an interesting story about the purported head butting behaviour of dinosaurs. Pachycephalosaurs are famous for their thick domed heads but it has been disputed how or when this evolved. The beautifully preserved Zavacephale rinpoche has a well preserved skull and dome but also loads of details of the body and tail as well. What is suprising is that this individual is much smaller, and occurs much earlier, than other pachycephalosaurs. We take a look at this new fossil and what this means for interpreting the evolution of dinosaur behaviour.  This week's paper is "A domed pachycephalosaur from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia" by Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig and colleagues from Mongolia and North Carolina, published in Nature in September 2025. Wide screen palaeoart by Masaya Hattori.

fossils.libsyn.com

Lapworth Museum of Geology @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social · 7d

Grab your snorkels and dive back in time with us - our new temporary #exhibition Feeding Without Jaws opens on Weds 12 Nov. The exhibition explores cutting-edge palaeontological research on the lives of unusual ancient fishes.

For more info: www.birmingham.ac.uk/events/feedi...

#LapworthRocks

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