Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
@swarmofthoughts.bsky.social
Entomologist, Sevilla, Spain @ebdonana.bsky.social, Australian Fossils, climate change studies using Diptera fossils, insect decline and microplastic pollution - once @swarmofthoughts/ Investigador Ramon y Cajal en EBD-CSIC, Entomologo y Paleontologo
Pinned
Hi, I am Viktor! Pleased to meet you, I entomologist and paleontologist originally from Ukraine, now working in Spain, after a decade in German academia. I study amber fossils, Jurassic of Australia, Insect decline, climate change in the pas, and gleefully use Synchrotrons. Languages: EN, ES, DE, UA
A SEM scan of 3D preserved cuticle of a solider fly larva(Stratiomyidae) from Miocene of Slovenia. Beautifull pattern of Calcium Carbonate "scales" armoring the larva is well visible. #FossilFriday #Fossils🪰⚒️🦖
January 16, 2026 at 7:50 PM
A SEM scan of 3D preserved cuticle of a solider fly larva(Stratiomyidae) from Miocene of Slovenia. Beautifull pattern of Calcium Carbonate "scales" armoring the larva is well visible. #FossilFriday #Fossils🪰⚒️🦖
I just wanted to highlight amazing work of @trigonotarbida.bsky.social for a grant proposal I have submitted today. Thanks Gen, I think your work and attention to details while drawing fossil invertebrates, really elevates the proposal as a whole! #fossils 🦖🐙
January 13, 2026 at 8:35 AM
I just wanted to highlight amazing work of @trigonotarbida.bsky.social for a grant proposal I have submitted today. Thanks Gen, I think your work and attention to details while drawing fossil invertebrates, really elevates the proposal as a whole! #fossils 🦖🐙
Fresh of press, new sp aquatic midge from Dominican republic - Xestochironomus digitulus, beautifull & quite colourfull animal (by chironomid standards). Work led by Dr. Livia Fusari, and was possible due to fieldwork of Amelie Hoecherl and Ruth Bastardo zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1621... 🪰🐛🐙
January 12, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Fresh of press, new sp aquatic midge from Dominican republic - Xestochironomus digitulus, beautifull & quite colourfull animal (by chironomid standards). Work led by Dr. Livia Fusari, and was possible due to fieldwork of Amelie Hoecherl and Ruth Bastardo zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1621... 🪰🐛🐙
too late for #fossilfriday but oh well, Great visit to MARPA museum in Alcala, visiting great new exhibit "Dientes de sable" by inimitable Mauricio Anton, dealing with persistent re-emergence of saber-tooth morphotype in mammals. Also Miocene of Cerro de Batallones #fossils and some Xmas presents 🦖⚒️
December 27, 2025 at 9:09 AM
too late for #fossilfriday but oh well, Great visit to MARPA museum in Alcala, visiting great new exhibit "Dientes de sable" by inimitable Mauricio Anton, dealing with persistent re-emergence of saber-tooth morphotype in mammals. Also Miocene of Cerro de Batallones #fossils and some Xmas presents 🦖⚒️
So we went again to @mncn-csic.bsky.social today, to see "dinosaurs among us" exhibit, which really well drives a point that birds ARE 🦖. Highlights are #fossil of Iberomesornis, new Morrison from. Mural by Oscar Sanisidrio and you koolasuchus that I bought ⚒️
December 20, 2025 at 2:59 PM
So we went again to @mncn-csic.bsky.social today, to see "dinosaurs among us" exhibit, which really well drives a point that birds ARE 🦖. Highlights are #fossil of Iberomesornis, new Morrison from. Mural by Oscar Sanisidrio and you koolasuchus that I bought ⚒️
Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
December 12, 2025 at 8:29 AM
We met invasive Atlantoxerus at Fuertaventura, and I though, "given history of Rodents at Canaries, I wonder what can evolve of then in 1 MY?", speaking off - giant Murids - Canariomys, Gallotia goliath lizard - Canaries, here is a Pleistocene fauna for "Prehistoric Planet" @tetzoo.bsky.social
December 10, 2025 at 7:48 PM
We met invasive Atlantoxerus at Fuertaventura, and I though, "given history of Rodents at Canaries, I wonder what can evolve of then in 1 MY?", speaking off - giant Murids - Canariomys, Gallotia goliath lizard - Canaries, here is a Pleistocene fauna for "Prehistoric Planet" @tetzoo.bsky.social
Las últimas semanas estuve recibiendo noticias abrumadoramente buenas de @ageinves.bsky.social : primero me otorgaron mi certificado #R3 como parte de mi evaluación de la #RyC y luego recibí mi insignia conmemorativa por los 25 años del programa Ramón y Cajal
December 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Las últimas semanas estuve recibiendo noticias abrumadoramente buenas de @ageinves.bsky.social : primero me otorgaron mi certificado #R3 como parte de mi evaluación de la #RyC y luego recibí mi insignia conmemorativa por los 25 años del programa Ramón y Cajal
THIS , This!... is a peak palaeontology (experimental palaeontology at that), I got nothing to add to the field. Sorry guys, I am going home 😆
For #FossilFriday & in honor of @alinemghilardi.bsky.social & colleagues' fantastic discovery of a new Cretaceous pterosaur in Brazil in a dinosaur regurgitalite ("fossil vomit"), here's a diagram I made for my book 'Dinosaurs Without Bones' (2014) showing the physics of a puking brachiosaur. 🧪🦕🤮🪨
November 14, 2025 at 1:47 PM
THIS , This!... is a peak palaeontology (experimental palaeontology at that), I got nothing to add to the field. Sorry guys, I am going home 😆
Here is a #fossil giant longhorn beetle larvae from Rovno amber (Ukraine, 35 MYA) - based on the initial photo, yours truly thought it was an onychophora 😀, so I was very excited. #CTscan did tempered my enthusiasm a bit though #fossilfriday 🦖⚒️
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
November 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Here is a #fossil giant longhorn beetle larvae from Rovno amber (Ukraine, 35 MYA) - based on the initial photo, yours truly thought it was an onychophora 😀, so I was very excited. #CTscan did tempered my enthusiasm a bit though #fossilfriday 🦖⚒️
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Very cool to see our recent research on biogeography of Jurassic insects from Australia to be picked up by Smithsonian Magazine, with the focus on the Robert Beattie´s tireless quest to know more about Oz´s `past. #fossilfriday 🦖⚒️
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
This Amateur Fossil Hunter Discovered a 151-Million-Year-Old Insect—and It's a New Species
Retired teacher Robert Beattie, now 82, has been digging up remnants of the past ever since he was a child
www.smithsonianmag.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Very cool to see our recent research on biogeography of Jurassic insects from Australia to be picked up by Smithsonian Magazine, with the focus on the Robert Beattie´s tireless quest to know more about Oz´s `past. #fossilfriday 🦖⚒️
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/t...
Some cool marine critters from Puerto de la Cruz #Tenerife, Pachygraspus adsceoensis crab, Similiparma lurida, atlantic belnny (Ophioblennius atlanticus) and vieja (European parrotfish) Sparisoma cretense, some photos by Valentyna Inshyna 🦀🦑🐠🐙
November 13, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Some cool marine critters from Puerto de la Cruz #Tenerife, Pachygraspus adsceoensis crab, Similiparma lurida, atlantic belnny (Ophioblennius atlanticus) and vieja (European parrotfish) Sparisoma cretense, some photos by Valentyna Inshyna 🦀🦑🐠🐙
An old scan of #fossil Mycetobia sp. pupa (Window gnat) from 38 MYA Baltic amber. This little gnats turned out to be really abundant and potent decomposers of organic matter in Baltic amber forest. That prompted us to write this paper I quite like pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
November 9, 2025 at 8:19 AM
An old scan of #fossil Mycetobia sp. pupa (Window gnat) from 38 MYA Baltic amber. This little gnats turned out to be really abundant and potent decomposers of organic matter in Baltic amber forest. That prompted us to write this paper I quite like pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
very nice coverage of our Telmatomyia discovery and lovely background on Robert Beattie, who have found the #fossil, by @donnadlu.bsky.social for @theguardian.com
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www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
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www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Retired Australian teacher discovers the oldest fossil of its kind in southern hemisphere – and a new species
Robert Beattie, 82, has found specimens of a 151m-year-old midge that challenge what we know about how the insects evolved
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:40 AM
very nice coverage of our Telmatomyia discovery and lovely background on Robert Beattie, who have found the #fossil, by @donnadlu.bsky.social for @theguardian.com
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www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
🦖⚒️
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
For the #fossilfriday here is one of my favorite #fossil species I ever described - a 38 MYA mantid fly from Baltic amber. Enjoy my CT reconstruction of the specimen! fr.pensoft.net/article/8013... 🦖⚒️
November 7, 2025 at 8:48 PM
For the #fossilfriday here is one of my favorite #fossil species I ever described - a 38 MYA mantid fly from Baltic amber. Enjoy my CT reconstruction of the specimen! fr.pensoft.net/article/8013... 🦖⚒️
#fossilfriday find next to trash containers - someone´s #fossil (&neolithic tools!) collections thrown away. I rescued it, & will look for a museum home, bt without location labels - will be hard. Mstl branchiopods & crynoids. Labels really old, using "Primary" & Secondary for Palaeo- & Mesozoic 🦖
November 7, 2025 at 7:31 PM
#fossilfriday find next to trash containers - someone´s #fossil (&neolithic tools!) collections thrown away. I rescued it, & will look for a museum home, bt without location labels - will be hard. Mstl branchiopods & crynoids. Labels really old, using "Primary" & Secondary for Palaeo- & Mesozoic 🦖
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Well, not exactly #fossils for the #fossilfriday, but some cool stuff from doing work down in the @ebdonana.bsky.social research collection - amazing African otter shrew (Potamogale Velox) and giant black caiman skull. Potamogale is prob. Not to dissimilar from Jurassic Castrocauda
October 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
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
October 24, 2025 at 2:31 PM
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
Well, not exactly #fossils for the #fossilfriday, but some cool stuff from doing work down in the @ebdonana.bsky.social research collection - amazing African otter shrew (Potamogale Velox) and giant black caiman skull. Potamogale is prob. Not to dissimilar from Jurassic Castrocauda
October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Well, not exactly #fossils for the #fossilfriday, but some cool stuff from doing work down in the @ebdonana.bsky.social research collection - amazing African otter shrew (Potamogale Velox) and giant black caiman skull. Potamogale is prob. Not to dissimilar from Jurassic Castrocauda
Red rocks of McGrath´s flat contain countless #fossils of the 11 MYA wet Eucalypt forest, probably not unlike this Watagan Ranges forest, near Newcastle, AU. New paper by colleagues from AusMus in Sydney explain how this diversity of forest fossils was preserved tinyurl.com/5xzjrtnr 🦖
October 21, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Red rocks of McGrath´s flat contain countless #fossils of the 11 MYA wet Eucalypt forest, probably not unlike this Watagan Ranges forest, near Newcastle, AU. New paper by colleagues from AusMus in Sydney explain how this diversity of forest fossils was preserved tinyurl.com/5xzjrtnr 🦖
In 2020 we did a quick search for Pleistocene #fossils in the Pleistocene road-side sediment cutting on the road from Dubbo to Newcastle in New South Wales, and in 10 minutes we found quite a few marsupials, including probable short-faced kangaroos 🦖
October 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
In 2020 we did a quick search for Pleistocene #fossils in the Pleistocene road-side sediment cutting on the road from Dubbo to Newcastle in New South Wales, and in 10 minutes we found quite a few marsupials, including probable short-faced kangaroos 🦖
Ayer salió mi entrevista con @ib3oficial.bsky.social
, en la que hablé sobre moscas jurásicas australianas con ventosas y tectónica continental.
tinyurl.com/32hm2n3c @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social @cesar-morales.bsky.social
, en la que hablé sobre moscas jurásicas australianas con ventosas y tectónica continental.
tinyurl.com/32hm2n3c @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social @cesar-morales.bsky.social
IB3 a la carta | Nautilus | T2025 - Capítol 20251018210401
T2025 - Capítol 20251018210401 a la carta del programa Nautilus als servei de contingut a la carta d'IB3
tinyurl.com
October 19, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Ayer salió mi entrevista con @ib3oficial.bsky.social
, en la que hablé sobre moscas jurásicas australianas con ventosas y tectónica continental.
tinyurl.com/32hm2n3c @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social @cesar-morales.bsky.social
, en la que hablé sobre moscas jurásicas australianas con ventosas y tectónica continental.
tinyurl.com/32hm2n3c @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social @cesar-morales.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Viktor Baranov🧪🦟🐛🪲
I am really proud of this study! It was led by an amazing ECR, highlights the work of a wonderful team of co-authors, and has resulted in a database of mechanistic demographic models currently being expanded to include underrepresented taxa to do comparative forecasts: github.com/MariaPaniw/C...
A study of how 41 plant and animal species react to climate change highlights the complexity of density feedbacks, in which population reductions lead to an easing of competition for the remaining individuals. In PNAS Nexus: https://ow.ly/xQMz50X6h6s
October 14, 2025 at 12:28 PM
I am really proud of this study! It was led by an amazing ECR, highlights the work of a wonderful team of co-authors, and has resulted in a database of mechanistic demographic models currently being expanded to include underrepresented taxa to do comparative forecasts: github.com/MariaPaniw/C...
Our Australian fly is in BBC, which is remarkable, given how little attention #fossil insects normally getting 🦖
Nuestro publicaccion sobre mosca jurassica Australiana es en BBC, que es impressionante para insecto fossils @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/ar...
Nuestro publicaccion sobre mosca jurassica Australiana es en BBC, que es impressionante para insecto fossils @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/ar...
Ancient fly fossil in Australia reveals clues to Earth's past
This little midgey could stick to rocks under water, something scientists thought only sea creatures could do before now.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Our Australian fly is in BBC, which is remarkable, given how little attention #fossil insects normally getting 🦖
Nuestro publicaccion sobre mosca jurassica Australiana es en BBC, que es impressionante para insecto fossils @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/ar...
Nuestro publicaccion sobre mosca jurassica Australiana es en BBC, que es impressionante para insecto fossils @ebdonana.bsky.social @pakozoic.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/ar...
Its cool when botanical gardens have dedicated "Macaronesian house" - giving visibility to unique flora of the region. Normally those are Spanish institutions, like Jardin Botanico Real de Cordoba, but here are real props to Geneva Botanical Garden for having one! @victor-noguerales.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Its cool when botanical gardens have dedicated "Macaronesian house" - giving visibility to unique flora of the region. Normally those are Spanish institutions, like Jardin Botanico Real de Cordoba, but here are real props to Geneva Botanical Garden for having one! @victor-noguerales.bsky.social