Baran Karapunar
@barankarapunar.bsky.social
Dr. rer. nat. in Palaeontology, research fellow at University of Leeds @envleeds.bsky.social, Marine food web dynamics across mass extinctions 🦈, Palaeozoic & Mesozoic gastropods 🐚, Jurassic bivalves 🦪, Permian-Triassic mass extinction 🌋
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Phylogeny of the longest existing gastropod clade (Pleurotomariida) reconstructed with Bayesian and parsimony methods and its implications on gastropod shell characters
Evolutionary relationships of fossil gastropods have largely been inferred using taxonomic systematics. Phylogenetic relationships between extinct gastropod groups and their relationship to extant ...
doi.org
Our article 🐌 "Phylogeny of the
longest existing gastropod clade (Pleurotomariida) reconstructed with Bayesian and parsimony methods and its implications on gastropod shell characters" 🐚 authored by me, S. Höhna & A. Nützel is published 🥳
A long #MolluscMonday 🧵😎
doi.org/10.1080/1477...
longest existing gastropod clade (Pleurotomariida) reconstructed with Bayesian and parsimony methods and its implications on gastropod shell characters" 🐚 authored by me, S. Höhna & A. Nützel is published 🥳
A long #MolluscMonday 🧵😎
doi.org/10.1080/1477...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
On Saturday November 15, 2025 we will open the call to submit proposals for the Analytical Paleobiology School 2026 for grad students in Erlangen for a training in analytical methods. Do you want to join or send someone? More info and details: www.paleosynthesis.nat.fau.de/science-scho...
November 11, 2025 at 7:03 AM
On Saturday November 15, 2025 we will open the call to submit proposals for the Analytical Paleobiology School 2026 for grad students in Erlangen for a training in analytical methods. Do you want to join or send someone? More info and details: www.paleosynthesis.nat.fau.de/science-scho...
Here are some fossil pleurotomariids, which have lived in Earth’s oceans for over 450 million years.This is a kind of snail you won’t find in your garden or on a seashore. You’d have to dive 400 meters to see a living one.If you could beachcomb in the Jurassic, you’d probably find one on the coast🐚
November 9, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Here are some fossil pleurotomariids, which have lived in Earth’s oceans for over 450 million years.This is a kind of snail you won’t find in your garden or on a seashore. You’d have to dive 400 meters to see a living one.If you could beachcomb in the Jurassic, you’d probably find one on the coast🐚
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Look I don’t have a 🐌 handy ok and it’s dark outside, but here’s some sand graffiti from my local created by, I dunno, a 🐌 I hope.
November 9, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Look I don’t have a 🐌 handy ok and it’s dark outside, but here’s some sand graffiti from my local created by, I dunno, a 🐌 I hope.
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Snails 🐌 ! a 🧵 of snail pics on my phone as a snail paleontologist.
Turritella cooperi
Excluded: videos, John Oliver save PRI posts, pics of snails with lots od not snails.
BTW, donating to PRI is definitely in the realm of "save the snails", lots of snail history there, 1 mil+ 🐌specimens
Turritella cooperi
Excluded: videos, John Oliver save PRI posts, pics of snails with lots od not snails.
BTW, donating to PRI is definitely in the realm of "save the snails", lots of snail history there, 1 mil+ 🐌specimens
November 9, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Snails 🐌 ! a 🧵 of snail pics on my phone as a snail paleontologist.
Turritella cooperi
Excluded: videos, John Oliver save PRI posts, pics of snails with lots od not snails.
BTW, donating to PRI is definitely in the realm of "save the snails", lots of snail history there, 1 mil+ 🐌specimens
Turritella cooperi
Excluded: videos, John Oliver save PRI posts, pics of snails with lots od not snails.
BTW, donating to PRI is definitely in the realm of "save the snails", lots of snail history there, 1 mil+ 🐌specimens
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Some snails from work: Cross-sectioned pleurotomarioid, cross-sectioned Campanile, truly behemoth cowry, and ( just casually) the type of Ecphora quadricostata (Say)
November 9, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Some snails from work: Cross-sectioned pleurotomarioid, cross-sectioned Campanile, truly behemoth cowry, and ( just casually) the type of Ecphora quadricostata (Say)
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
🦕 Thinking about a career in Palaeosciences? 🌍
Explore a list of Masters Courses and take the next step toward uncovering Earth's ancient secrets! 🔍✨
If you coordinate a Masters course that you’d like to see listed, need to update existing information,[1/2]
Explore a list of Masters Courses and take the next step toward uncovering Earth's ancient secrets! 🔍✨
If you coordinate a Masters course that you’d like to see listed, need to update existing information,[1/2]
November 6, 2025 at 1:06 PM
🦕 Thinking about a career in Palaeosciences? 🌍
Explore a list of Masters Courses and take the next step toward uncovering Earth's ancient secrets! 🔍✨
If you coordinate a Masters course that you’d like to see listed, need to update existing information,[1/2]
Explore a list of Masters Courses and take the next step toward uncovering Earth's ancient secrets! 🔍✨
If you coordinate a Masters course that you’d like to see listed, need to update existing information,[1/2]
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Fossilized masses of little tiny egg-shaped poops keep showing up in surprising places - inside fish braincases, inside pulp cavities of whale and dolphin teeth, and now, within the middle ear sinus of an extinct dolphin. Who, uh, dealt these? coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/11/acid...
November 5, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Fossilized masses of little tiny egg-shaped poops keep showing up in surprising places - inside fish braincases, inside pulp cavities of whale and dolphin teeth, and now, within the middle ear sinus of an extinct dolphin. Who, uh, dealt these? coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/11/acid...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Lingulids have seen perhaps the coldest, slowest taxonomic debates you can imagine over the past few decades. While there was a general sense that most Paleozoic and Mesozoic taxa weren't actually Lingula, early attempts at revision were ... problematic.
November 1, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Lingulids have seen perhaps the coldest, slowest taxonomic debates you can imagine over the past few decades. While there was a general sense that most Paleozoic and Mesozoic taxa weren't actually Lingula, early attempts at revision were ... problematic.
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
#MolluscMonday Flattened specimen of the Early Jurassic ammonite Harpoceras photographed on the North Yorkshire coast in 2011.
October 20, 2025 at 4:27 AM
#MolluscMonday Flattened specimen of the Early Jurassic ammonite Harpoceras photographed on the North Yorkshire coast in 2011.
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
🦖🐬🧪An incredible "fossil brain" of a fossil fur seal (Thalassoleon macnallyae) from the Pliocene Purisima Formation near Santa Cruz. This incredible specimen preserves a cranial endocast with exquisite detail. Read more about fossil fur seals on my blog: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
October 27, 2025 at 3:26 PM
🦖🐬🧪An incredible "fossil brain" of a fossil fur seal (Thalassoleon macnallyae) from the Pliocene Purisima Formation near Santa Cruz. This incredible specimen preserves a cranial endocast with exquisite detail. Read more about fossil fur seals on my blog: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
A PhD opportunity to work with me, @spissatella.bsky.social and our friends through CENTA - biogeography and vulnerability of exploited bivalves, with possible spin-offs about fishery sustainability and environmental economics: centa.ac.uk/studentship/...
2026-B19 Marine biodiversity and its future under environmental changes and exploitation – CENTA
centa.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 12:54 PM
A PhD opportunity to work with me, @spissatella.bsky.social and our friends through CENTA - biogeography and vulnerability of exploited bivalves, with possible spin-offs about fishery sustainability and environmental economics: centa.ac.uk/studentship/...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
A dumb question for taxonomic friends: who came up with the idea for type specimens? Everything I read defines things like holotypes, but doesn't explain where the bigger concept first came from. @americanbeetles.bsky.social @alexwild.bsky.social @morethanadodo.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
A dumb question for taxonomic friends: who came up with the idea for type specimens? Everything I read defines things like holotypes, but doesn't explain where the bigger concept first came from. @americanbeetles.bsky.social @alexwild.bsky.social @morethanadodo.bsky.social
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
This #fossilfriday, we move in time to the #Permian when the #amphibian Seymouria sanjuanensis lived in what is New Mexico today. Clusters of large animals like this one are rarely found in the #fossil record, especially this well preserved.
Photo: Amy Henrici
Photo: Amy Henrici
October 24, 2025 at 6:17 PM
This #fossilfriday, we move in time to the #Permian when the #amphibian Seymouria sanjuanensis lived in what is New Mexico today. Clusters of large animals like this one are rarely found in the #fossil record, especially this well preserved.
Photo: Amy Henrici
Photo: Amy Henrici
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
New species of #coelacanth from the Early Triassic of China just dropped. Say hello to Whiteia anniae.🐟🧪 #FossilFriday
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 24, 2025 at 5:42 PM
New species of #coelacanth from the Early Triassic of China just dropped. Say hello to Whiteia anniae.🐟🧪 #FossilFriday
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
An analysis of over 5,000 fossils found dung beetles developed a taste for fetid meat significantly earlier than previously believed.
The 37-million-year-old discovery suggests fierce fecal competition drove some species to start eating flesh.
#Paleontology #FossilFriday
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
The 37-million-year-old discovery suggests fierce fecal competition drove some species to start eating flesh.
#Paleontology #FossilFriday
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
How poop-eating beetles evolved to eat rotting flesh
Analysis of thousands of fossils pushes back change in beetles’ diets by more than 37 million years
www.science.org
October 17, 2025 at 10:28 PM
An analysis of over 5,000 fossils found dung beetles developed a taste for fetid meat significantly earlier than previously believed.
The 37-million-year-old discovery suggests fierce fecal competition drove some species to start eating flesh.
#Paleontology #FossilFriday
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
The 37-million-year-old discovery suggests fierce fecal competition drove some species to start eating flesh.
#Paleontology #FossilFriday
🧪🏺
New for @science.org
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
After two years of hard work, I’m proud to announce that our new special exhibition @smnstuttgart.bsky.social is now open for the public – Meet Triassic Life: Dawn of the world of reptiles (1/7).
October 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
After two years of hard work, I’m proud to announce that our new special exhibition @smnstuttgart.bsky.social is now open for the public – Meet Triassic Life: Dawn of the world of reptiles (1/7).
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
It was (and still is) an absolute pleasure to work with the brilliant Ana Lores Padin (UGent) to develop and calibrate this very cool "time of flight" laser ablation-application which allows us to map the chemistry of shell cross sections, such as the oyster shell below:
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
LA-ICP-TOF-MS for quantitative mapping of biogenic carbonate samples using matrix-matched nanoparticulate pressed powder pellets
This study evaluated the micro-homogeneity of seven different commercially available nanoparticulate pressed pellets based on a CaCO3 matrix and their utility for quantitative elemental mapping of bio...
pubs.rsc.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:11 AM
It was (and still is) an absolute pleasure to work with the brilliant Ana Lores Padin (UGent) to develop and calibrate this very cool "time of flight" laser ablation-application which allows us to map the chemistry of shell cross sections, such as the oyster shell below:
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
#FossilFriday This large slab in the NHMUK covered with screws of the Carboniferous bryozoan Archimedes was unknown to me until last week. For at least 46 years it has been lurking among large specimens in the coral collection.
October 17, 2025 at 6:51 AM
#FossilFriday This large slab in the NHMUK covered with screws of the Carboniferous bryozoan Archimedes was unknown to me until last week. For at least 46 years it has been lurking among large specimens in the coral collection.
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Out now in Biology Letters, my latest paper tackles an apparently simple question: how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny? TL;DR: in most cases between 100 and 500, more than a substantial portion of morphological datasets, but the story is more complex... doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
October 15, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Out now in Biology Letters, my latest paper tackles an apparently simple question: how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny? TL;DR: in most cases between 100 and 500, more than a substantial portion of morphological datasets, but the story is more complex... doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
These are just half of the amazing symposia that will be held at the upcoming IPC7!
If you’d like to participate, get in touch with the conveners of each symposium — more symposia will be announced soon!
Visit our website to explore all the details: ipc7.site
If you’d like to participate, get in touch with the conveners of each symposium — more symposia will be announced soon!
Visit our website to explore all the details: ipc7.site
October 13, 2025 at 9:30 AM
These are just half of the amazing symposia that will be held at the upcoming IPC7!
If you’d like to participate, get in touch with the conveners of each symposium — more symposia will be announced soon!
Visit our website to explore all the details: ipc7.site
If you’d like to participate, get in touch with the conveners of each symposium — more symposia will be announced soon!
Visit our website to explore all the details: ipc7.site
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
I'm hiring! 4 year post doc on my Wellcome Trust grant -- come be inventive about isotopes in teeth with me in PPN Turkiye :) www.lancashire.ac.uk/jobs/post-do...
please share!
please share!
Post Doctoral Research Assistant - 1160-25
Thinking of the next step in your career? Take a look at our exciting new role, Post Doctoral Research Assistant based at our Other. Find out more and apply he…
www.lancashire.ac.uk
October 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I'm hiring! 4 year post doc on my Wellcome Trust grant -- come be inventive about isotopes in teeth with me in PPN Turkiye :) www.lancashire.ac.uk/jobs/post-do...
please share!
please share!
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
Fall breaks for U-M and AAPS coincided, so I took the kids to West Michigan and stopped at the Grand Rapids Public Museum for the first time. Home to some beautifully done dioramas depicting Michigan ecosystems.
October 13, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Fall breaks for U-M and AAPS coincided, so I took the kids to West Michigan and stopped at the Grand Rapids Public Museum for the first time. Home to some beautifully done dioramas depicting Michigan ecosystems.
#MolluscMonday Amazing video by @kiabugboy.bsky.social bringing a parasitic relationship known from the fossil record to life: platyceratid snails feeding on crinoids gut content, a habit that became extinct with the extinction of the platyceratids at the end-Permian 252 million years ago 🐚
The Crinoid hat video is up on my channel!
youtu.be/ZdPTYamnqQA
youtu.be/ZdPTYamnqQA
October 12, 2025 at 6:21 PM
#MolluscMonday Amazing video by @kiabugboy.bsky.social bringing a parasitic relationship known from the fossil record to life: platyceratid snails feeding on crinoids gut content, a habit that became extinct with the extinction of the platyceratids at the end-Permian 252 million years ago 🐚
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
A 126,000-year-old butt-drag just made fossil history.
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.
Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.
Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4
The 126,000-Year-Old Butt-Drag That Rewrote What Counts as a Fossil
How a small animal’s odd habit turned into one of the most unexpected stories ever preserved in stone Some discoveries make headlines because they’re dramatic: new...
climateages.com
October 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
A 126,000-year-old butt-drag just made fossil history.
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.
Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.
Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4
Reposted by Baran Karapunar
We are opening the last call for workshop proposals in 2025! Deadline is December 15, 2025. Visit the website with the necessary information before preparing a proposal. Questions? Contact Danijela Dimitrijevic (science) or Barbara Seuß (logistics) Info: www.paleosynthesis.nat.fau.de/index.php/sc...
October 8, 2025 at 6:31 AM
We are opening the last call for workshop proposals in 2025! Deadline is December 15, 2025. Visit the website with the necessary information before preparing a proposal. Questions? Contact Danijela Dimitrijevic (science) or Barbara Seuß (logistics) Info: www.paleosynthesis.nat.fau.de/index.php/sc...