Chris Widga
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widga.bsky.social
Chris Widga
@widga.bsky.social
2.9K followers 980 following 320 posts
Director of the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery at Penn State. Here for museums, fossils, not-fossils, and geo-nerdom. Sucker for good jazz. Personal account. #museums #paleontology #geology #scicomm #naturalhistory
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Reposted by Chris Widga
davidho.bsky.social
This is probably the coolest thing you'll see on the internet today.

itiner-e.org
November 9, 2025 at 10:19 AM
widga.bsky.social
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
A glimpse into a vanished ecosystem: reconstructing diet and palaeoenvironment of Palaeoloxodon from the Pleistocene of Taiwan | Royal Society Open Science
Palaeoloxodon is the largest known terrestrial mammal in the history of Taiwan. However, little is known about the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment of these extinct proboscideans. In this study, we investigate the stable carbon and oxygen isotopic ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 6, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
ellenjewett.bsky.social
the demon's parlor - 2020 #surrealism #popsurrealism #sculpture #handmade #mixedmedia #ooak #noai #airdryingclay #polymerclay #art #artwork #ellenjewett #botanical #slowart #maximalism #wabisabi #sculpture #crocodile
November 6, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by Chris Widga
stavrossk.bsky.social
An enthusiastic baby Deinotherium giganteum tries to keep up with its mother as they take a walk in #Greece six million years ago 🐘🐘🐘 #paleoart #sciart #proboscidea
An enthusiastic baby Deinotherium giganteum tries to keep up with its mother as they take a walk in Greece six million years ago
June 17, 2025 at 4:40 PM
widga.bsky.social
Isotopic evidence for elevated photorespiration during the last glacial period | Nature Geoscience share.google/IhjU7nkNEmgN...
Isotopic evidence for elevated photorespiration during the last glacial period - Nature Geoscience
Low carbon dioxide levels during the last glacial period enhanced photorespiration in trees across North America, indicating a decline in land plant productivity, according to measurements of clumped ...
share.google
November 6, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Reposted by Chris Widga
reallyoldfish.bsky.social
I dream of being a long snouted predator in the backwaters of Laurentian rivers, but for now I crush shells with my round teeth and am sad #garweek #scheenstiaposting #totalgroupginglymodi
A picture of the stem gar, Scheenstia.
November 5, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
prehistfaunamod.bsky.social
Meet Bashanosaurus, a small stegosaur that still has osteoderm armor! They will be found in lower Shaximiao Formation biomes. This screenshot is in the Shaximiao Gallery Forest!

#Minecraft #minecraftmodding #paleoart #dinosaur
A group of Bashanosaurus stand in a Shaximiao Gallery Forest
November 5, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
tetzoo.bsky.social
New at Tetrapod Zoology, a brief look at what's surely the world's best known extinct proboscidean: that Ice Age superstar the Woolly mammoth .... tetzoo.com/blog/2025/11... #mammoths #IceAge #Pleistocene #fossilmammals #elephants
A Woolly Mammoth Primer — Tetrapod Zoology
I’ve said before that proboscideans – the familiar group of placental mammals that includes living elephants and their many fossil relatives – have never been well served here at Tet Zoo…
tetzoo.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
yukonberingia.bsky.social
Only two days to go until our first Beringia Centre Science Talk of the season!

Meet this week's speaker, Dr. Emil Karpinski. Tune in live Thurs Nov 6 @ 11 am Yukon Time for his talk: Mastodons at all ends of the continents.

Learn more and pre-register on Zoom: bit.ly/4hzlm3u

#BCST
November 4, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
ashpoust.bsky.social
Happy last day of Gomphtober!
cenofreak88.bsky.social cenofreak88.bsky.social @cenofreak88.bsky.social · 10d
Everyone's talking about nanotyrannus. But we have to wrap up #gomphtober2025 . Finishing things off is Eubelodon. On display at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln.

#fossilfriday #universityofnebraskastatemuseum #universityofnebraskalincoln #prehistoricnebraska #fossil #elephant
October 31, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
mostlymammoths.bsky.social
SO EXCITING!! #FossilFriday #mastodons
yukonberingia.bsky.social Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre @yukonberingia.bsky.social · 12d
Mastodons are taking the spotlight for our first Beringia Centre Science Talk of the season!

📅 Thurs Nov 6 @ 11 AM (Yukon Time)

Join @emilkarpinski.bsky.social as he dives into the fascinating world of mastodons in North America. Learn more and pre-register for the talk on Zoom: bit.ly/4hzlm3u
October 30, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
fishfetisher.bsky.social
I love working at a museum because that means I get to create fantabulous SciComm activities 🐟🐡 Visitors will have the chance to match 3D printed living and extinct fish jaws to what they think the fish eats, based on jaw and tooth shape.
A science communication activity where visitors match fish jaws to what they eat.
October 30, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Reposted by Chris Widga
biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🦣 The Mastodon giganteus of North America /.
Boston: J. Wilson, 1852..

[Source]
Illustration of the underside of a Mastodon giganteus skull, showing detailed molar teeth with complex ridged surfaces. The skull is depicted with large, rounded eye sockets and prominent nasal openings. The drawing emphasizes the structure and texture of the bone, highlighting the worn and fractured areas, particularly around the upper jaw. The image is labeled "Plate XVIII" at the top and "Mastodon Giganteus" at the bottom, reflecting an 1852 paleontological study of this extinct North American species.
October 29, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
captainfossil.bsky.social
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social has just published their "Best Practice Guidelines for Mitigation of Adverse Impacts on Paleontological Resources" for paleontologists around the world who work to recover & conserve fossils threatened by human activities.
vertpaleo.org
October 29, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
coastalpaleo.bsky.social
Fossil fur seal bones with unusual circular punctures - not from sharks, but mammals. Is this a result of predation (or infanticide) by another pinniped? Or predation by a terrestrial carnivore? Read more about the fur seal fossil record here: coastalpaleo.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...
Two bones of fur seal pups (Thalassoleon macnallyae) with circular puncture marks. The bone surface has collapsed in, likely the result of a canine puncture.
October 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
phaneritic.bsky.social
I’m going to use lidar-derived San Joaquin Rvr (dry section) DEM data to 3D print 300cm x 200cm model. Then lab S’s can measure streambed x-section. If we place it in our small stream tables, run hose through the model then we can calculate velocity & discharge on the model. Bring SJ river to them.
A gray hill, shaded digital elevation model a small stretch of the San Joaquin River that Manders to the left goes north and then Mander’s at a 90° and go to the right which is east and then back up north. It’s over laying on a normal Google maps satellite image. I think this is about a 200 or 300 m run of stream. I will probably only use 20 or 30 m.
October 28, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
uomnch.bsky.social
Hey, Oregon K12 folks! We're partnering with Oregon Historical Society to host the Chinese Diaspora in Oregon Traveling Trunk. This trunk is packed full of hands-on activities & lessons and can be rented from us for up to two weeks by schools and other institutions. tinyurl.com/2pu6379w
The Chinese Disapora in Oregon traveling trunk, which is a medium sized black Pelican case, in front of the museum's front desk. The case is open and visible inside it are colorful objects.   A collection of objects from the Chinese Diaspora in Oregon traveling trunk. Visible are books with colorful covers, an abacus, a woven basket, and a can of salmon.
October 27, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
emdevenport.bsky.social
Mastodon fossils.
October 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Chris Widga
skyemcdavid.com
SVPers, come see my work on pterosaurs from Appalachia: several new morphotypes of pteranodontians and azhdarchoids.
Thursday Poster Session B199 #2025SVP
Regular Poster Session II (Thursday, November 13, 2025, 4:30 - 6:30 PM) Flying reptiles of the forgotten paleocontinent: revision of the pterosaurs of Appalachia and Eastern North America McDavid, Skye N.1 , Thomas, Henry N.2 Pterosaurs are known from every continent, though in North America, enormous attention has been paid to the pterosaurs of the Western half of the continent, whereas the pterosaurs from the Eastern part of the continent (corresponding to the paleocontinent of Appalachia in the Late Cretaceous) have received comparatively little attention. Pterosaur body fossils are known from New Jersey (Navesink and New Egypt Formations), Delaware (Merchantville Formation), North Carolina (Peedee Formation), Georgia (Eutaw and Blufftown Formations), Alabama (Mooreville Chalk), Mississippi (Coffee Formation), and Tennessee (Ripley and Sardis Formations). A review of what fragmentary material is known from Appalachia in the context of modern knowledge of pterosaurs allows for a better understanding of these rare specimens. Much of the pterosaur record of Appalachia consists of poorly preserved fragments that are not phylogenetically informative, but the better preserved specimens can be assigned to either Azhdarchomorpha or Pteranodontia. The pterosaur taxon from the Merchantville Formation, which has been variously treated as Pteranodon, an ‘ornithocheirid’, or azhdarchid, represents a pteranodontid distinct from Pteranodon with a unique cervical morphotype, though the previously reported pterosaur humerus is actually non-pterosaurian. A cervical vertebra from the Ripley Formation has been likened to Arambourgiania from Jordan, though it is subtly different from the type species. It represents a unique morphotype belonging to the Arambourgiania-Infernodrakon clade. Additional azhdarchomorph material includes a Quetzalcoatlus lawsoni-like ulna (previously misidentified as a cervical) from the Navesink Formation, morphologically distinct azhdarchid femora from the Peedee and Coffee Formations, and a jaw fragment from the Sardis Formation. Skye, a woman with blue hair, holding an Azhdarchid ulna. She is carefully holding the fossil with both hands so that it is supported along its length. She is wearing a purple dress, and looks dead inside but is actually just exhausted from a long day of research
October 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Chris Widga
cenofreak88.bsky.social
Fourth entry for #gomphtober2025 a lower jaw of the spiral tusked gomphothere Cuvieronius. On display at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville.

#fossilfriday #floridamuseumofnaturalhistory #universityofflorida #fossil #elephant #prehistoricflorida
October 24, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
reallyoldfish.bsky.social
This #fossilfriday , I wanted to post a very classic Pittsburgh fossil. This is Fedexia striegeli. It’s known from only one specimen (shown here) that was collected during a geology field trip to a roadcut near Pittsburgh in 2004. I credit it as the specimen that made me interested in local verts!
October 24, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
friel.bsky.social
New species of #coelacanth from the Early Triassic of China just dropped. Say hello to Whiteia anniae.🐟🧪 #FossilFriday

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Whiteia anniae sp. nov. in right lateral view, Holotype (CHU 2016). (a), Whole specimen. (b), closeup of the calcified lung (indicated by lower arrows) and lateral line (indicated by upper arrows). (c), a scale near the head. (d), anterior tips of jaws with arrows indicating the fangs in anterior coronoids. (e), denticles on the last ray of the anterior dorsal fin.
October 24, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
lewisajones.bsky.social
Just in time for #FossilFriday! Our paper is out today in Palaeontology @thepalass.bsky.social

Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology 🧹🦕

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Another great @palaeoverse.bsky.social team effort to offer a community resource!
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 11:15 AM
Reposted by Chris Widga
sepl.bsky.social
Please donate to UWY to help continue the excavation of a mammoth specimen at Natural Trap Cave, WY.

www.givecampus.com/schools/Univ...
Geological Museum
Join me and make a gift to Giving Day
www.givecampus.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Reposted by Chris Widga
villesinkkonen.bsky.social
Once more some mammoths
June 26, 2025 at 3:23 PM