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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I had the honour to sit next to the author, Paul Taylor, a key influencer in my journey to becoming a paleontologist.
@nhmbryozoa.bsky.social #FossilFriday
@nhmbryozoa.bsky.social #FossilFriday
November 13, 2025 at 11:25 PM
I had the honour to sit next to the author, Paul Taylor, a key influencer in my journey to becoming a paleontologist.
@nhmbryozoa.bsky.social #FossilFriday
@nhmbryozoa.bsky.social #FossilFriday
For this #FossilFriday, something special for me: one of the few books on fossils in Turkish when I was a kid. 13 yo me was turning the pages, reading word by word to learn about fossils, dreaming about being a paleontologist. Many years later, at a Palaeontological Association conference dinner...
November 13, 2025 at 11:25 PM
For this #FossilFriday, something special for me: one of the few books on fossils in Turkish when I was a kid. 13 yo me was turning the pages, reading word by word to learn about fossils, dreaming about being a paleontologist. Many years later, at a Palaeontological Association conference dinner...
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🐚
For this #FossilFriday the beautiful Gigantoconia princeps (Stoppani, 1860) with color preservation, from the Ladinian Esino Formation in Italy. ⚒️
September 5, 2025 at 9:42 AM
For this #FossilFriday the beautiful Gigantoconia princeps (Stoppani, 1860) with color preservation, from the Ladinian Esino Formation in Italy. ⚒️
Here is a tiny pectinid bivalve Leptochondria from the Early Triassic of Pakistan. It is just 6 mm, but fully grown adults can reach 20 mm. #MolluscMonday
August 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Here is a tiny pectinid bivalve Leptochondria from the Early Triassic of Pakistan. It is just 6 mm, but fully grown adults can reach 20 mm. #MolluscMonday
For this #MolluscMonday here are the seashells of Wales: cockles (in Swansea), razor clams and mussels (in Rhossili).
August 18, 2025 at 10:19 AM
For this #MolluscMonday here are the seashells of Wales: cockles (in Swansea), razor clams and mussels (in Rhossili).
#CPEGCPB25 in Zurich was a well-organized conference full of inspiring talks and posters. It started with a workshop on biodiversity inference using AI and ended with a collection visit at the Palaeontological Institute. I met wonderful people, had great discussions and can't wait for the next one!
August 3, 2025 at 7:19 PM
#CPEGCPB25 in Zurich was a well-organized conference full of inspiring talks and posters. It started with a workshop on biodiversity inference using AI and ended with a collection visit at the Palaeontological Institute. I met wonderful people, had great discussions and can't wait for the next one!
Many know about the carrier shells, Xenophora, but did you know that an extinct gastropod group evolved the cementing habit in the Devonian, more then 358 million years ago... 🐚 Meet with the cementing Euomphalida
#MolluscMonday
@biodivlibrary.bsky.social
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/37510#p...
#MolluscMonday
@biodivlibrary.bsky.social
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/37510#p...
June 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Many know about the carrier shells, Xenophora, but did you know that an extinct gastropod group evolved the cementing habit in the Devonian, more then 358 million years ago... 🐚 Meet with the cementing Euomphalida
#MolluscMonday
@biodivlibrary.bsky.social
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/37510#p...
#MolluscMonday
@biodivlibrary.bsky.social
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/37510#p...
For the first #FossilFriday of the New Year, here is the late Jurassic (Tithonian) ammonite Titanites giganteus (J. Sowerby, 1818) from the Isle of Portland, which greets visitors at the entrance of the School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield.
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January 3, 2025 at 8:14 AM
For the first #FossilFriday of the New Year, here is the late Jurassic (Tithonian) ammonite Titanites giganteus (J. Sowerby, 1818) from the Isle of Portland, which greets visitors at the entrance of the School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield.
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#PalAss24 is over after interesting presentations, cool workshops & inspiring conversations. It was a special meeting for me, having given an invited talk at the first PalAss meeting in Germany, where my research journey began. Huge thanks to the organizers for an amazing event.
December 15, 2024 at 9:07 PM
#PalAss24 is over after interesting presentations, cool workshops & inspiring conversations. It was a special meeting for me, having given an invited talk at the first PalAss meeting in Germany, where my research journey began. Huge thanks to the organizers for an amazing event.
For this #FossilFriday, a snapshot of the sea floor in the Early Triassic, when life was recovering from the largest extinction in Earth’s history...
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October 18, 2024 at 6:53 PM
For this #FossilFriday, a snapshot of the sea floor in the Early Triassic, when life was recovering from the largest extinction in Earth’s history...
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📈 The data collection also revealed that there is a correlation between larval shell size (and early whorl size) with the adult shell size. This has wide implications, that we discussed in detail in the article... You may check it for more findings and discussions...
September 23, 2024 at 9:55 AM
📈 The data collection also revealed that there is a correlation between larval shell size (and early whorl size) with the adult shell size. This has wide implications, that we discussed in detail in the article... You may check it for more findings and discussions...
🐌 In previous articles authored by me and A. Nützel, we suggested that the early ontogenetic shell is more conservative than the late ontogenetic shell. Cl values of early vs. late ontogenetic shells are significantly different, corroborating our opinion.
September 23, 2024 at 9:54 AM
🐌 In previous articles authored by me and A. Nützel, we suggested that the early ontogenetic shell is more conservative than the late ontogenetic shell. Cl values of early vs. late ontogenetic shells are significantly different, corroborating our opinion.
🐚 The characters related to slit and selenizone (the shell region formed by the closure of the slit) have higher Cl values than other three shell regions but the difference among regions is not significant.
September 23, 2024 at 9:54 AM
🐚 The characters related to slit and selenizone (the shell region formed by the closure of the slit) have higher Cl values than other three shell regions but the difference among regions is not significant.
📊 If Cl is high, it indicates less changes, hence more conservatism. The test failed to confirm Vermeij's assumption. The paleontologists who worked on pleurotomariids, including me, observed that characters related to shell slit are more conservative than other shell regions.
September 23, 2024 at 9:53 AM
📊 If Cl is high, it indicates less changes, hence more conservatism. The test failed to confirm Vermeij's assumption. The paleontologists who worked on pleurotomariids, including me, observed that characters related to shell slit are more conservative than other shell regions.
🤔 Could it be due to decrease in character evolutionary rates or speciation rates? The Bayesian analysis indicates there were no differences in character evol. rates across time or between clades. Origination & extinction rates increased until Jurassic but dropped subsequently.
September 23, 2024 at 9:52 AM
🤔 Could it be due to decrease in character evolutionary rates or speciation rates? The Bayesian analysis indicates there were no differences in character evol. rates across time or between clades. Origination & extinction rates increased until Jurassic but dropped subsequently.
📉 An analysis of genus diversity of Pleurotomariida using an updated genus list, data from the @PaleoDB and shareholder quorum ubsampling shows that their diversity sharply declined after the end-Permian mass extinction, in contrast to expanding Gastropod diversity. But why?
September 23, 2024 at 9:52 AM
📉 An analysis of genus diversity of Pleurotomariida using an updated genus list, data from the @PaleoDB and shareholder quorum ubsampling shows that their diversity sharply declined after the end-Permian mass extinction, in contrast to expanding Gastropod diversity. But why?
🌳 Here is the Bayesian tree. FBD analysis incorporates fossil ages & reconstructs trees that better fit to the fossil record. According to the FBD tree, only two clades, Pleurotomariini & Worthenielini, survived into the Mesozoic, and only Pleurotomariini survived until now.
September 23, 2024 at 9:51 AM
🌳 Here is the Bayesian tree. FBD analysis incorporates fossil ages & reconstructs trees that better fit to the fossil record. According to the FBD tree, only two clades, Pleurotomariini & Worthenielini, survived into the Mesozoic, and only Pleurotomariini survived until now.
🌵 Here is the consensus tree of the most parsimonious trees. There are few issues, such as that the early Paleozoic taxa were reconstructed much away from the root, after Mesozoic taxa, so the tree is incongruent with the appearance date of taxa in the fossil record.
September 23, 2024 at 9:51 AM
🌵 Here is the consensus tree of the most parsimonious trees. There are few issues, such as that the early Paleozoic taxa were reconstructed much away from the root, after Mesozoic taxa, so the tree is incongruent with the appearance date of taxa in the fossil record.
🏛️ For the analyses, specimens housed in Bavarian State Collections, Natural History Museum Vienna, Natural History Museum London (NHMUK) were used. Here, I am holding the type specimen of Pleurotomaria in NHMUK just before COVID lockdown. This genus gives its name to the group.
September 23, 2024 at 9:50 AM
🏛️ For the analyses, specimens housed in Bavarian State Collections, Natural History Museum Vienna, Natural History Museum London (NHMUK) were used. Here, I am holding the type specimen of Pleurotomaria in NHMUK just before COVID lockdown. This genus gives its name to the group.
🐚 Pleurotomariida is an "ancient" group that were one of the most diverse and abundant gastropod groups in the Paleozoic shallow seas. Today they live in deep water and represented by 44 species that enjoy feeding on sponges like in this picture.
September 23, 2024 at 9:49 AM
🐚 Pleurotomariida is an "ancient" group that were one of the most diverse and abundant gastropod groups in the Paleozoic shallow seas. Today they live in deep water and represented by 44 species that enjoy feeding on sponges like in this picture.
The first workshop of the #PalGes2024: tour in the collection of the Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences with Jolanta Kobylinska. Look at this temnospondyl skull from the Triassic that hardly fits into a drawer 😄, and some Cretaceous dinosaurs from Mongolia 🦖 ⚒️
September 16, 2024 at 10:19 AM
The first workshop of the #PalGes2024: tour in the collection of the Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences with Jolanta Kobylinska. Look at this temnospondyl skull from the Triassic that hardly fits into a drawer 😄, and some Cretaceous dinosaurs from Mongolia 🦖 ⚒️
🐌 Pseudoscalites karapunari Dominici & Danise, 2024 🐚, a fossil snail species named after me 🙂, from the Ladinian (Middle Triassic) of Dolomites, Italy.
This new species is a small part of the important contribution of Dominici, Danise and Tintori, 2024.
#FossilFriday ⚒️🧪 1/2 🧵
This new species is a small part of the important contribution of Dominici, Danise and Tintori, 2024.
#FossilFriday ⚒️🧪 1/2 🧵
August 16, 2024 at 1:07 PM
🐌 Pseudoscalites karapunari Dominici & Danise, 2024 🐚, a fossil snail species named after me 🙂, from the Ladinian (Middle Triassic) of Dolomites, Italy.
This new species is a small part of the important contribution of Dominici, Danise and Tintori, 2024.
#FossilFriday ⚒️🧪 1/2 🧵
This new species is a small part of the important contribution of Dominici, Danise and Tintori, 2024.
#FossilFriday ⚒️🧪 1/2 🧵
🐚 One of the figures from our article was used as the cover photo of the Journal of Paleontology 🙂
Here is the link to reach our open access paper: doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
You may check my previous thread to read about our findings and see some tiny snails 🐚
#FossilFriday 🛠️🧪
Here is the link to reach our open access paper: doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
You may check my previous thread to read about our findings and see some tiny snails 🐚
#FossilFriday 🛠️🧪
June 7, 2024 at 7:22 PM
🐚 One of the figures from our article was used as the cover photo of the Journal of Paleontology 🙂
Here is the link to reach our open access paper: doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
You may check my previous thread to read about our findings and see some tiny snails 🐚
#FossilFriday 🛠️🧪
Here is the link to reach our open access paper: doi.org/10.1017/jpa....
You may check my previous thread to read about our findings and see some tiny snails 🐚
#FossilFriday 🛠️🧪
Save the date for #PalGes2024 95. Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Warsaw,16-21 September 2024
We invite abstracts for🦑🦪Advances in mollusc paleontology🐚🐙session convened by Alex Pohle,me, Thomas Neubauer & Aleksandra Skawina
www.palaeontologische-gesellschaft.de/en/conferenc...
We invite abstracts for🦑🦪Advances in mollusc paleontology🐚🐙session convened by Alex Pohle,me, Thomas Neubauer & Aleksandra Skawina
www.palaeontologische-gesellschaft.de/en/conferenc...
April 19, 2024 at 5:08 PM
Save the date for #PalGes2024 95. Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Warsaw,16-21 September 2024
We invite abstracts for🦑🦪Advances in mollusc paleontology🐚🐙session convened by Alex Pohle,me, Thomas Neubauer & Aleksandra Skawina
www.palaeontologische-gesellschaft.de/en/conferenc...
We invite abstracts for🦑🦪Advances in mollusc paleontology🐚🐙session convened by Alex Pohle,me, Thomas Neubauer & Aleksandra Skawina
www.palaeontologische-gesellschaft.de/en/conferenc...