I am pleased to announce, I will be a plenary speaker at the upcoming International Congress of Dipterology (#ICD2027), Zagreb icd11.biol.pmf.hr/program, closing a line up of amazing speakers incl @asrivathsan.bsky.social and Art Borkent @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

I am not sure if soviets counts, as they, at least officialy were on this end - But, Ivan Efremov, founder of taphonomy is noteworthy, because as fiction writer, he continiously argued in his books that communism is incompatable with opression. So he was Star trek communitst. His relativley

For the #fossilfriday today - Brachyphyllum cf. gracile - Araucaria like upper Jurassic #fossil #plant. This specimen we have found in Moernsheim quarry close to Solenhofen, same one where Alcmonavis poeschli was discovered

I am not sure I understand, they are correct coordinates

This is how the machine in LMNH London, on which this was imaged, looks

For this #Fossilfriday I have this chironomid pupa from Rovno amber (Ukraine), that we have described in this 2015 paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🦖⚒️

Males of Afruca tangeri fiddler #crabs demonstrating to each other in a bit of stand-off in Rio Chara preserve at Tarifa, Southern Spain 🦀

Mantophasmatodea are curious insects, first discovered as #fossil in amber ln 2002, they were found still living in Namibia (and South Africa) years later. Thought to be a new order (major insect grp - thin Flies, beetles), now they are recognized as member of Notoptera or crawlers #fossilfriday 🦖

Caddisflies have mostly aquatic larvae , so their #fossils in amber are rare. In our 2024 paper (in alt text) we have shown two mechanisms of how that happens - water dried out & larvae crawled away in search of water, or resin flowed from a tree into water and trapped larvae there #fossilfriday 🦖

Today for the #FossilFriday I have some #Aotearoa #NewZealand fossils we worked on- country is home to Fantastic a fossil record of Insects, including exquisitely preserved Foulden Maar Fossils and Otago ambers. Oldest "bloodworms" (Chironomus) fossils come from NZ. Paper links in Alt text 🦖🛠️🦟

Our 2020 paper on fantastic monitoring dataset of #insect in Breitenbach stream DE sadly showed 80% decline in 40 yrs l1nq.com/5h5wqu0. Happy to announce new paper on same stream accepted @royentsoc.bsky.social Ins. Cons & Div. , lead by @nathanjaybaker.bsky.social wt @parasitoidrex.bsky.social 🧪🌍

My lab manager just brought in Ankylosaurus and Parasuralophus - my lab knows what we OUGHT to be researching😀

For my 🦖 themed birthday I got awesome Bryce and Viola "Princeton Encyclopedia of dinosaurs" from my wife, and later we going to the "Dinosaurs of Patagonia" expo . Even if you got boring job like invertebrate paleo , it's never to late to embrace your childhood dreams ⚒️

Hey @restingdinoface.bsky.social - so I have a book of yours "Dinosaurios: La nueva vision inedita" and I found it really cool (here it is with some of my Mauricio Anton´s copies) but somebody asked me about English version, and I don't seem to be able to find it. Is it ES only?

Apropos of nothing, beautiful animals from my last (so far) field season of summer 2013 in the temporarily occupied #Crimea #Ukraine. All animals where photographed during fieldwork for my first phd, cut short by russian occupation in 2014. Species names in the alt text

Auchenorrhyncha or cicades and relatives are among the most amazing #insects, here is a part of the colorful outreach collection in LA County Museum of Natural History, where I was working on the considerably less colorful flies...

Fossil Symphyla myriapod from 38(ish) MYA Baltic Amber from the Krakow Museum Of Zoology (Poland) #Fossilfriday 🦖⚒️, photos by me, using VHX6000 digital microscope

Negative imprints of the Spiny lobsters from Miocene (Sarmatian) of Bagerovo, Kerch Peninsula (temporary occupied Crimea). Collected in 2011, still have not describe them, should do that eventually #fossils #Ukraine 🦀 🦖⚒️

I have these 2 stamps from Polish #fossil animals collection from 1966, with handsome Duncleosteus and Eusternopteron. My grandpa got quite a lot of second world countries stamps in USSR times, mostly Cuba, PL and DDR ,🦖⚒️ @nataliajagielska.bsky.social

There is a research paper by Molnar et al (2026) doi.org/10.1111/cogs... showing higher that part of the political spectrum in the USA finds Flat Earth Society more credible. As a paleontologist I see similar patterns with "young earth". BTW thanks for your work!

Blepharoceridae are amazing 🪰, their larvae have multiple suction cups on the ventral side of the abdomen, to cling to rocks in the strong currents of alpine streams, for the same reasons pupae of those flies are flat and thin. This is Liponeura breverostris. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social #insects

For #fossilfriday I present you with an ibis fly (Athericidae) larva and its syninclusions from Baltic amber - a worker and and a checkered beetle larva (Cleridae). Fly larva we have published (see alt text for the link). Preparation of the amber by inimitable Jonas Damzen of Vilnus 🦖⚒️🐝

Fossil site of McGraths Flat in NSW was covered by a megaphillous rainforest - just look at the size of this leaf #fossil, that we found in 2020! Now the site is withing mesic savannah, quite a lot of climate change since Miocene

Lots of Asilinae (probably Tolmerus, need to look at the key) hunting in the coastal forest in Rota (Andalucía) #bugs #insects ,🪰 #naturephotography

Nice dolichopodidae fly from Dominican amber #fossils #amber 🦖⚒️

said camera set up

Wasp and the spider for a #fossilfriday - I came across this nice syninclusion of Braconidae 🐝 and a 🕷️ in 13-ish Million years old Dominican amber, so I used my photo set-up to make this photo 🦖⚒️

4/3 Funds per year distribution, y-scale is log10. In 2022 I had got my current fellowship and we got funded for a MSCA-doctoral network funded, so good year, but on the bigger grant I am one of 11 PI´s. I guess lesson is, before you despair -look at the facts. Then despair

Since 2019 I have applied for 18 grants, mostly as sole PI or leading consortia, but also as a part of larger consortium. Of those 18 applications, one was a fellowship - which currently funds my TT position and the rest where "direct cost" applications. Of 18 applications, 8 were granted (44%)

1/3 #academia 🧪🧪🧪 cognitive-behavior therapy, recently I was hit by a wave io grant rejections, and felt like I always fail. But I am a scientist, so what the heck, I'll checked my success rate, and it told the story different from what I expected @stephenbheard.bsky.social - little thread