Dave Rodland
@daverodland.bsky.social
Geologist to the 3rd degree and (formerly) professional necromancer. Paleoecology, taphonomy, stratigraphy, marine biology ... all things Earth history. Living in the past and talking to dead things since the late Holocene.
Reposted by Dave Rodland
NEW – Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
November 11, 2025 at 12:01 AM
NEW – Analysis: China’s CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months | @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
Read here: buff.ly/ONGzk3a
Reposted by Dave Rodland
Did you know. That the meme-explosion that was the wooden model of Sacabambaspis (an Ordovician jawless fish) held at a Museum in Helsinki, was created by a pioneering Estonian fish paleontologist and palaeoartist, Elga Mark-Kurik. 🧵
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Did you know. That the meme-explosion that was the wooden model of Sacabambaspis (an Ordovician jawless fish) held at a Museum in Helsinki, was created by a pioneering Estonian fish paleontologist and palaeoartist, Elga Mark-Kurik. 🧵
🌕🐌 #MolluskMonday 🧪⚒️
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
November 11, 2025 at 12:46 AM
🌕🐌 #MolluskMonday 🧪⚒️
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
We're still snailposting! Moon snails are voracious infaunal predators, with a mantle so large it can completely cover its own conch. (Square/cube laws apply: a shell 1x across can fit a snail 4x bigger, as long as it exudes 9x more snot!)
I might be exaggerating? Or not?
Reposted by Dave Rodland
Lophophorata is monophyletic!
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
November 10, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Lophophorata is monophyletic!
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
Super excited to see this work out in Current Biology - we sequenced a phoronid genome and used shared chromosome fusions to confirm the monophyly of Lophophorata.
A big team effort from the Luo Lab @yjluo.bsky.social!
More here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1m3mV3QW8S...
Apparently all the cool kids are snailposting. 🐚🐌
I am not one of the cool kids, but I do maintain an unusually large collection of invertebrate photos.
I am not one of the cool kids, but I do maintain an unusually large collection of invertebrate photos.
November 9, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Apparently all the cool kids are snailposting. 🐚🐌
I am not one of the cool kids, but I do maintain an unusually large collection of invertebrate photos.
I am not one of the cool kids, but I do maintain an unusually large collection of invertebrate photos.
I guess I'm stuck forever.
Send good Scotch.
Send good Scotch.
November 9, 2025 at 1:27 AM
I guess I'm stuck forever.
Send good Scotch.
Send good Scotch.
Douglas Adams, in his lifetime, received great acclaim for the humorous aspects of his works. I've long felt this masked his actual prescience in terms of science fiction and human nature. While the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy foreshadowed Wikipedia, he also foresaw the impact of social media:
November 9, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Douglas Adams, in his lifetime, received great acclaim for the humorous aspects of his works. I've long felt this masked his actual prescience in terms of science fiction and human nature. While the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy foreshadowed Wikipedia, he also foresaw the impact of social media:
Wondered what the cats were watching, startled this dude lying buck nekkid in my back yard. 🦌
Cats are getting more ambitious, I'll tell you what.
Cats are getting more ambitious, I'll tell you what.
November 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Wondered what the cats were watching, startled this dude lying buck nekkid in my back yard. 🦌
Cats are getting more ambitious, I'll tell you what.
Cats are getting more ambitious, I'll tell you what.
What's up, butterflies? Is it #FossilFriday yet? ⚒️🧪
Since there was a nice piece on brachiopod encrustation earlier today, I thought we'd revisit an old classic: the D shaped strophomenid Rafinesquina, a common element of late Ordovician assemblages. Its life orientation is somewhat controversial.
Since there was a nice piece on brachiopod encrustation earlier today, I thought we'd revisit an old classic: the D shaped strophomenid Rafinesquina, a common element of late Ordovician assemblages. Its life orientation is somewhat controversial.
November 7, 2025 at 9:51 PM
What's up, butterflies? Is it #FossilFriday yet? ⚒️🧪
Since there was a nice piece on brachiopod encrustation earlier today, I thought we'd revisit an old classic: the D shaped strophomenid Rafinesquina, a common element of late Ordovician assemblages. Its life orientation is somewhat controversial.
Since there was a nice piece on brachiopod encrustation earlier today, I thought we'd revisit an old classic: the D shaped strophomenid Rafinesquina, a common element of late Ordovician assemblages. Its life orientation is somewhat controversial.
Modern brachiopods get infested with kleptoparasitic polychaetes too! My colleague Marcello Simoes documented the boring spionid Polydora selectively colonizing the margin of the living species Bouchardia rosea, snatching food particles from the inhalant current. Endobiont, not epibiont, but still.
For #FossilFriday, please enjoy some very, VERY old evidence of parasitism, preserved in fossilized shells of brachiopods that lived ~500 million years ago in what's now southern China. These kleptoparasites—food stealers—built mineralized tubes on filter-feeding hosts & slurped up their food 🧪
Cambrian fossils show oldest example of parasites in action
Tubelike organisms clung to their hosts' shells
www.livescience.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Modern brachiopods get infested with kleptoparasitic polychaetes too! My colleague Marcello Simoes documented the boring spionid Polydora selectively colonizing the margin of the living species Bouchardia rosea, snatching food particles from the inhalant current. Endobiont, not epibiont, but still.
Guess we're doing bonus invertebrates today, since it's #MolluskMonday ⚒️🧪🦑
Of course, the best mollusks attract friends. Here we have a bryozoan-encrusted orthocone cephalopod from the Liberty Fm. Why settle for filter feeding on a hard substrate, when you can settle on a hard mobile substrate?
Of course, the best mollusks attract friends. Here we have a bryozoan-encrusted orthocone cephalopod from the Liberty Fm. Why settle for filter feeding on a hard substrate, when you can settle on a hard mobile substrate?
November 3, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Guess we're doing bonus invertebrates today, since it's #MolluskMonday ⚒️🧪🦑
Of course, the best mollusks attract friends. Here we have a bryozoan-encrusted orthocone cephalopod from the Liberty Fm. Why settle for filter feeding on a hard substrate, when you can settle on a hard mobile substrate?
Of course, the best mollusks attract friends. Here we have a bryozoan-encrusted orthocone cephalopod from the Liberty Fm. Why settle for filter feeding on a hard substrate, when you can settle on a hard mobile substrate?
It's #WorldJellyfishDay, if you get my drift ...
November 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
It's #WorldJellyfishDay, if you get my drift ...
A curated list of complementary climate science documentaries that might prove useful for anyone looking at the way we portray and discuss the science and of climate change and mitigation. Or anyone on furlough with more spare time than projects.
I've finally got around to curating a selection of films about the #climate crisis 🎥
There's lot of mediocre climate films out there, but for me these stand out head & shoulders above the rest 🎞️
They make excellent resources for classrooms, lecture halls, or community cinema's 🎬
Thread:🧵Plz RT
There's lot of mediocre climate films out there, but for me these stand out head & shoulders above the rest 🎞️
They make excellent resources for classrooms, lecture halls, or community cinema's 🎬
Thread:🧵Plz RT
November 3, 2025 at 11:37 AM
A curated list of complementary climate science documentaries that might prove useful for anyone looking at the way we portray and discuss the science and of climate change and mitigation. Or anyone on furlough with more spare time than projects.
"Eff this bullshit. I'm out."
Share an angry bird and the curse you think it embodies.
Share an angry bird and the curse you think it embodies.
November 2, 2025 at 1:52 PM
"Eff this bullshit. I'm out."
Share an angry bird and the curse you think it embodies.
Share an angry bird and the curse you think it embodies.
Reminds me of this piece by my postdoc officemate Samuli Helama on Hutton and Siccar Point ...
www.geologinenseura.fi/sites/geolog...
www.geologinenseura.fi/sites/geolog...
November 1, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reminds me of this piece by my postdoc officemate Samuli Helama on Hutton and Siccar Point ...
www.geologinenseura.fi/sites/geolog...
www.geologinenseura.fi/sites/geolog...
Like you can keep me away from the lingulids.
oh NEAT! LIVING lingulid aka stalked BRACHIOPOD from Japan! Via @Crinoidea_hk from the other place #fossilfriday #pedicle
November 1, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Like you can keep me away from the lingulids.
Happy Halloween and spooky Samhain, butterflies! We're back with #FossilFriday and it's another meme on deck.
🧪⚒️🦪🦪
Yo, dawg! I heard you like bivalves, so we put clams in your clam so you can bivalve while you bivalve!
Someone tag @dantheclamman.blog , I feel like he has relevant interests.
🧪⚒️🦪🦪
Yo, dawg! I heard you like bivalves, so we put clams in your clam so you can bivalve while you bivalve!
Someone tag @dantheclamman.blog , I feel like he has relevant interests.
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Happy Halloween and spooky Samhain, butterflies! We're back with #FossilFriday and it's another meme on deck.
🧪⚒️🦪🦪
Yo, dawg! I heard you like bivalves, so we put clams in your clam so you can bivalve while you bivalve!
Someone tag @dantheclamman.blog , I feel like he has relevant interests.
🧪⚒️🦪🦪
Yo, dawg! I heard you like bivalves, so we put clams in your clam so you can bivalve while you bivalve!
Someone tag @dantheclamman.blog , I feel like he has relevant interests.
Reposted by Dave Rodland
Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖
October 30, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖
T'is the season. 👻
Busting makes me feel good!
Busting makes me feel good!
October 30, 2025 at 4:24 PM
T'is the season. 👻
Busting makes me feel good!
Busting makes me feel good!
Do you think you can stop the inevitable #MolluskMonday?
Ah, balogna.
Yes, it's abalone again, but seriously ... with a pose like that, how could it not be? 🧪🐚
Ah, balogna.
Yes, it's abalone again, but seriously ... with a pose like that, how could it not be? 🧪🐚
October 27, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Do you think you can stop the inevitable #MolluskMonday?
Ah, balogna.
Yes, it's abalone again, but seriously ... with a pose like that, how could it not be? 🧪🐚
Ah, balogna.
Yes, it's abalone again, but seriously ... with a pose like that, how could it not be? 🧪🐚
"Initially too terrified to walk past."
Ya know, I feel like that one's just a little too on-the-nose.
Ya know, I feel like that one's just a little too on-the-nose.
Carved pumpkins tonight
October 27, 2025 at 1:39 PM
"Initially too terrified to walk past."
Ya know, I feel like that one's just a little too on-the-nose.
Ya know, I feel like that one's just a little too on-the-nose.
Small town life: hearing about the weekend fire that broke out in your former science building thru the village gossip network before any of the affected colleagues get around to mentioning it. 🔥
At least the layoffs mean not losing books and journals to smoke or water damage.
At least the layoffs mean not losing books and journals to smoke or water damage.
October 26, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Small town life: hearing about the weekend fire that broke out in your former science building thru the village gossip network before any of the affected colleagues get around to mentioning it. 🔥
At least the layoffs mean not losing books and journals to smoke or water damage.
At least the layoffs mean not losing books and journals to smoke or water damage.
Still down with the crud, but I'm trying to get back into reading fiction again. Having just finished @tkingfisher.com 's Hemlock and Silver (good, enjoyed) I went back to the old short story collection.
Jackelope Wives remains one of the best damn things I've ever read.
Jackelope Wives remains one of the best damn things I've ever read.
October 25, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Still down with the crud, but I'm trying to get back into reading fiction again. Having just finished @tkingfisher.com 's Hemlock and Silver (good, enjoyed) I went back to the old short story collection.
Jackelope Wives remains one of the best damn things I've ever read.
Jackelope Wives remains one of the best damn things I've ever read.
Reposted by Dave Rodland
These iconic #corals are nearly extinct due to heatwaves: can they be saved?
#marineecology
#research
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#marineecology
#research
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
These iconic corals are nearly extinct due to heatwaves: can they be saved?
Florida’s primary reef-building corals have been declared ‘functionally extinct’ — prompting a shift in conservation strategies.
www.nature.com
October 25, 2025 at 5:13 AM
These iconic #corals are nearly extinct due to heatwaves: can they be saved?
#marineecology
#research
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#marineecology
#research
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Social octopuses?
I'm pretty sure that one in the upper left just bought me a drink! 🐙🥃
I'm pretty sure that one in the upper left just bought me a drink! 🐙🥃
The larger Pacific striped octopus is an undescribed octopus species that is unusually gregarious. While most octopus are solitary, they are known to form groups of up to 40 individuals.
While other species have to worry about being eaten by a mate, they mate in a beak-to-beak position.
#OCTOtober
While other species have to worry about being eaten by a mate, they mate in a beak-to-beak position.
#OCTOtober
October 24, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Social octopuses?
I'm pretty sure that one in the upper left just bought me a drink! 🐙🥃
I'm pretty sure that one in the upper left just bought me a drink! 🐙🥃