Kenneth De Baets
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djbirddanerd.bsky.social
Kenneth De Baets
@djbirddanerd.bsky.social
620 followers 930 following 140 posts
Paleobiologist @IBE_Warszawa into cephalopods, parasites, funny tees and movies; Paleontology/Evolution Section Editor @PeerJLife
; previously @palaeofau. Avatar after Jacek Yerka also on @djbirddanerd@ecoevo.social
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djbirddanerd.bsky.social
Kenneth De Baets @djbirddanerd.bsky.social · 25d
Who is and who is not a paleontologist? #Paleontology #Paleobiology #Fossils
I am paleontologist. Who is a paleontologist? Who is not a paleontologist?
YouTube video by djbirddanerd
youtu.be
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
nataliajagielska.bsky.social
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. 🧵
Valentina Karatajute-Talimaa and Elga Mark-Kurik on Kreuzritter lake (Kryzhiuochiu ezheras), under an umbrella, north of Vilnius,Lithuania, 1977 (photo H.-P. Schultze). Model of sacabambaspis helsinki
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
ferwen.bsky.social
Fossil evidence for trait diversification in an adaptive radiation

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fossil evidence for trait diversification in an adaptive radiation - Scientific Reports
Adaptive radiation is an important process for the origin of functional and ecological biodiversity. Understanding how, when, and why adaptive radiations occur is a long-standing interest in evolution...
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
waynemaddison.bsky.social
The end of an era: the Tree of Life Web Project is going dark after 3 decades. Anyone interested in communicating phylogeny online should read David's account of goals, history, and future. @bembidion.bsky.social
subulatepalpomere.com/2025/11/02/t...
The Passing of the Tree of Life Web Project
The Tree of Life Web Project began its journey almost 40 years ago, and was formally announced in early 1996. It has served thousands of pages of information about the evolutionary tree of life and…
subulatepalpomere.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
From trace to trace maker: #Oligocene–Miocene #coprolites of southern #Poland and their potential #producers

peerj.com/articles/202...

@peerj.bsky.social
Examples of coprolites collected in the Oligocene and Miocene marine sediments of Poland. Kąkolówka I: (A) GIUS 10–3796/O/2. Curved morphotype; (B) GIUS 10–3796/O/7. Curved morphotype; (C) GIUS 10–3796/O/23. Sinusoidal morphotype; Kąkolówka II: (D) GIUS 10–3796/O/154. Sinusoidal morphotype; (E) GIUS 10–3796/O/181. Sinusoidal morphotype; (F) Kąkolowka I, GIUS 10–3796/O/60. Curved morphotype; (G) Kąkolówka I, GIUS 10–3796/O/77. Curved morphotype; Wola Czudecka: (H) GIUS 10–3796/O/251. Elongated morphotype; (I) GIUS 10–3796/O/253. Elongated morphotype; (J) GIUS 10–3796/O/259. Elongated morphotype; (K) GIUS 10–3796/O/274. Elongated morphotype; (L) Futoma, GIUS 10–3796/O/279. Oval morphotype; (M) Futoma, GIUS 10–3796/O/282. Irregular morphotype; Kąkolówka I: (N) GIUS 10–3796/O/96. Irregular morphotype; (O) GIUS 10–3796/O/98. Irregular morphotype; (P) GIUS 10–3796/O/107. S-shaped morphotype; (R) GIUS 10–3796/O/111. S-shaped morphotype; (S) GIUS 10–3796/O/135. S-shaped morphotype; (T) Jamna Dolna, GIUS 10–3796/O/294. Elongated morphotype; (U) Kąkolówka I, GIUS 10–3796/O/139. Oval morphotype. Scale bars five mm. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.20242/fig-2 Recent faeces. (A) Brown hare (Lepus europeaus). (B) European mole (Talpa europaea). (C) Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). (D) Swinhoe’s striped squirrel (Tamiops swinhoei). (E) Seba’s short-tailed bat (Carollia perspicillata). (F) House sparrow (Passer domesticus). (G) Syngnathidae. (H) City pigeon (Columba livia forma urbana). (I) Great barracuda ( Sphyraena barracuda). (J) Hermit crab ( Coenobita brevimanus). (K) Flying crab (Liocarcincus holsatus). (L) Seacucumber (Holothuria sp.; redrawn from Knaust & Hoffmann, 2020). (M) Cephalopod (Nautilus pompilius; redrawn from Knaust & Hoffmann, 2020). (N) Perciformes. Scale bars one cm. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.20242/fig-6
November 3, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
evoldir.bsky.social
Join the live online course on Model-Based Statistical Inference in Evolutionary Biogeography by Nick Matze, Nov 10, 12, 14, 17 & 19, 2025. More info: https://www.transmittingscience.com/courses/evolution/model-based-statistical-inference-evolutionary-biogeography-2/ #course
Model-Based Statistical Inference in Evolutionary Biogeography
Join our live course on biogeography and learn cutting-edge methods for inferring historical patterns in biodiversity.
www.transmittingscience.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
imranrahman.bsky.social
Delighted to share our special ‪collection of 24 landmark papers in vertebrate palaeontology published in @journalsystpal.bsky.social in the last 15 years, assembled to coincide with #SVP2025 #2025SVP. All these papers are free to access now and through November: www.tandfonline.com/journals/tjs...
JSP Landmark Papers in Vertebrate Palaeontology
Explore the article collection: JSP Landmark Papers in Vertebrate Palaeontology. Published in Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
www.tandfonline.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:28 AM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
StratoBayes: a Bayesian method for automated stratigraphic correlation and age modelling: doi.org/10.5194/gchr...
StratoBayes: a Bayesian method for automated stratigraphic correlation and age modelling
Abstract. Stratigraphic correlation and age modelling are fundamental to reconstructing Earth's history, biological evolution, and palaeoclimate, and underpin the exploration for subsurface resources....
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 8:01 AM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
Biogeography after #Permian #Triassic boundary crisis resulted from a complex combination of functional and dispersal mechanisms doi.org/10.18261/let...

#Ammonoids limited by #dispersal in Griesbachian/Spathian, by niche in Smithian; #conodonts by #niche in Griesbachian, mixed in Dienerian–Spathian
Fig. 1. Palaeo-location of the 27 regions of A) conodont and B) ammonoid taxa taxa defined in this study, respectively. Each region is associated to its number of sampled localities encircled by five arcs, each arc corresponding to a time interval (Changhsingian, Griesbachian, Dienerian, Smithian, or Spathian). A coloured arc means that the region includes at least one locality dated from this time interval; an unfilled arc means that the region does not include any locality dated from this time interval. See the section Material and methods for details about the calculation of the palaeocoordinates. Silhouettes of conodont and ammonoid are public-domain images from the Phylopic website (compare https://doi.org/10.18261/let.58.3.2). Values of Dispersal-Niche Continuum Index (DNCI) show ammonoid biogeography was dispersal-constrained in Griensbachian and Spathian as opposed to niche constrained in the Smithian, while conodonts were more functionally (niche) constrained in Griesbachian as opposed to driven by both niche and dispersal constraints from the Dienerian to Spathian. Black dots and associated horizontal black lines represent mean value and ±2 standard error, respectively.
October 29, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
eliseswritings.bsky.social
Excellent resource tracing the arrival of Aboriginal people to Australia around 65,000 years ago, through mega fauna, the ice age & rising seas. It maps their archaeological, art & oral records and stories onto the geographical evolution of Australia, crediting all owners of traditional knowledge.
October 29, 2025 at 4:32 AM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
It was a pleasure to review this work. I highly recommend it for everyone interested in phylogenetic and macroevolutionary inferences from fossil data. It is available #OpenAccess:
doi.org/10.1111/pala...
Character evolution model configurations. Model configurations correspond to a range of simple to increasingly complex and parameter-rich models of morphological evolution. A, model S, strict morphological clock of discrete morphological data with equal rates of change among characters. B, model R, allows for rate variation among characters and across phylogeny. C, model R + E, builds on model R with traits identified as ecologic vs non-ecological characters assigned to different character partitions. D, model RE + C, builds on R + E but with continuous characters evolving according to a single-rate Brownian motion process. E, model mREC, modifies model RE + C such that continuous characters evolve according to a multi-rate Brownian motion process.
October 29, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
asherelbein.bsky.social
New, on Heat Death! While going through some Texan paleontology archives, I stumbled across a scrapbook. The result is a kind of time capsule of early 20th century paleontology pop culture in poems and (mostly) cartoons.
🧪🦖
The Paleontologist's Scrapbook
Cartoons and poems from the dawn of prehistory
heat-death.ghost.io
October 23, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
thepalass.bsky.social
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @lewisajones.bsky.social @es-ucl.bsky.social @paleodb.bsky.social #FossilFriday
Graphic summary of the proposed ten rules and steps to follow when cleaning occurrence data for palaeobiological analysis. The rules are grouped within their respective theme: project setup (Rules 1–3; blue); data exploration and cleaning (Rules 4–8; red); and reporting and archiving (Rules 9 and 10; green).
October 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
macroecoevoale.bsky.social
Happy #FossilFriday! Interested in fossil data handling & building analysis-ready databases? New paper out today in Palaeontology @thepalass.bsky.social with @palaeoverse.bsky.social team led by @lewisajones.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Hope it helps! 💻📊📈🦐🦪🦣🐚🪸🦕🦖🐋🐊🐟🦑🐢🐍🦎🐦‍⬛🦂
Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology
Large datasets of fossil occurrences, often downloaded from online community-maintained databases, are a vital resource for understanding broad-scale evolutionary patterns, such as how biodiversity h...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 24, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
paleosynth.bsky.social
👏 Congratulations 👏 to the Big Questions team lead by Jansen A. Smith! After such a hard work the paper "Identifying the Big Questions in paleontology: a
community-driven project"is published in Paleobiology (doi.org/10.1017/pab.2025.10042)
October 24, 2025 at 10:12 AM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
Easier said than done: unexpected hurdles to preparing ∼1,000 cranial CT scans for data collection from an online digital repository

peerj.com/articles/201...

#ComputedTomography #DigitalRepositories #Anthropology #Paleontology #Bioinformatics @peerj.bsky.social
Easier said than done: unexpected hurdles to preparing ∼1,000 cranial CT scans for data collection from an online digital repository
Background As science becomes more open and accessible, researchers are increasingly encouraged—and sometimes required—to share their digital data on public repositories. While this promotes transpare...
doi.org
October 20, 2025 at 8:38 AM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
#BlastFromThePast My 1st publication concerned my Msc
thesis research on #Ammonites from the latest Aalenian–earliest Bathonian of La Baume (Castellane area, SE France): #palaeontology and #biostratigraphy rdcu.be/eLKgt

It was a great pleasure to study the 68 m-thick La Baume section (SE #France).
Ammonites from the latest Aalenian–earliest Bathonian of La Baume (Castellane area, SE France): palaeontology and biostratigraphy - Swiss Journal of Geosciences
Middle Jurassic strata are naturally exposed around the village called La Baume, near Castellane (Alpes de Haute Provence, SE France). We have realized both a detailed log and a bed-by-bed sampling fo...
doi.org
October 19, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
rdmpage.bsky.social
The @biodivlibrary.bsky.social donate button is live, joining other key parts of our knowledge infrastructure @wikimediafoundation.org @archive.org @inaturalist.bsky.social that rely on donations as part of their funding.
biodivlibrary.bsky.social Biodiversity Heritage Library @biodivlibrary.bsky.social · 24d
🌱 Help secure the future of the Biodiversity Heritage Library! 🙏
Your donation will keep biodiversity knowledge open, connected, and growing, and fund the dedicated staff who make it all possible. 📖 👩‍💻 🌱 🌏 🧪
🔗 Donate: ancrywkv.donorsupport.co/page/BHLDona...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL
An historic illustration of of two brown stripy butterflies and a caterpillar on a plant with white flowers.
October 19, 2025 at 4:20 AM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
Lin & O’Dea show #Remarkable #dominance of #myctophid #otoliths in Upper #Miocene Chagres Formation, #Caribbean #Panama: doi.org/10.7717/peer...
#Biodiversity suggests pre-Isthmus #upwelling with efficient transfer from high #PrimaryProduction to predators shaping Ecosystem. #Paleontology #Taxonomy
Reconstruction of Late Miocene mesopelagic fish-dominated ecosystem in Caribbean Panama. The illustration highlights key taxa, including lanternfish, hatchetfish, billfish, Isistius sharks, Otodus megalodon, Isthminia panamensis, and Lepidochelys sea turtle. Artwork by Yun-Kae Kiang. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.20155/fig-18 Otoliths of Diaphus (Myctophidae) from the Upper Miocene Chagres Formation, Caribbean Panama. (A–C) Diaphus aequalis Schwarzhans & Aguliera, 2013, ASIZF 0100963–0965. (D–F) Diaphus apalus Schwarzhans & Aguliera, 2013, ASIZF 0100966–0968. (G–K) Diaphus barrigonensis Schwarzhans & Aguliera, 2013, ASIZF 0100969–0973. (L–O) Diaphus dumerilii (Bleeker, 1856), ASIZF 0100974–0977. Images are inner views. Scale bar = one mm.
October 17, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
nielsjdewinter.bsky.social
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...
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
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
acapomorphic.bsky.social
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
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
🪱🦪 New Fossil evidence from Morocco’s Fezouata Shale show spionid-like worms boring into Babinka bivalve shells — direct evidence of Early Ordovician parasitism, pushing back their origin by >60 million years!
#Paleozoic #Paleontology #FossilFriday

doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
A 480 million year old parasitic spionid annelid
The Paleozoic fossil record provides unique insights into the evolution of life history traits through the direct preservation of interspecific intera…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:12 PM
djbirddanerd.bsky.social
Who is and who is not a paleontologist? #Paleontology #Paleobiology #Fossils
I am paleontologist. Who is a paleontologist? Who is not a paleontologist?
YouTube video by djbirddanerd
youtu.be
October 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
friedmanlab.bsky.social
Spookiest decoration at the "Zoo Goes Boo" event at the John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids? Giant model of parasitoid wasps hatching from cocoons affixed to their caterpillar host.
Large model of a green caterpillar, the back of which is covered by dozens of white cocoons. Wasps can be seen emerging from some of the cocoons.
October 13, 2025 at 12:27 AM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
alinemghilardi.bsky.social
🚨New paper Alert! 🚨 (still in pre-proof!)

Gastropod predation and parasitism on echinoids from the Jandaíra Formation (Turonian–Maastrichtian), Potiguar Basin, Northeast Brazil

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
GASTROPOD PREDATION AND PARASITISM ON ECHINOIDS FROM JANDAÍRA FORMATION (TURONIAN-MAASTRICHTIAN), POTIGUAR BASIN, NORTHEAST BRAZIL
Fossil echinoids bearing boreholes offer valuable information about the paleoecology of both the echinoids and their tracemakers, assisting paleobiolo…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 11, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Kenneth De Baets
maijakarala.bsky.social
Sad news: the kakapo population is down to 237 after a female bird called Solstice died of an infection.

According to the Kakapo Recovery Facebook page, she had
• 8 clutches
• 24 eggs laid
• 13 fertile eggs
• 6 chicks hatched
• 4 living offspring
• 27 descendants
Illustration of a kakapo - a large, moss-green flightless parrot with an owl-like face - sitting on a person's arm with just the arm visible. It has a circular framing depicting little scribbles of ferns and conifer branches. Behind it is a light brown background with pale lineart of mossy tree trunks and branches of New Zealand's forests.
October 5, 2025 at 6:42 AM