Palaeo_Scene

My new paper is out today!
With @fossilrob.bsky.social looking at Silurian jawless fish (obvs)

With the SLAC synchrotron we find evidence for true bone in these squishy fish AND camera eyes - a nice kismet moment with that great recent Nature paper

Early vertebrate eyes are SO HOT right now!

Happy #fossilfriday !
This lovely specimen is the stem of a Lepidodendron. This fossil was found during coal mining at Florence Colliery (Longton, Stoke on Trent).
Lepidodendron sp.
Westphalian D, Middle Carboniferous
Photo taken at @potteriesmuseum

#paleobotany #fossil #plants #palaeontology

Sign the Petition Save Geology at the University of Leicester

Geology and palaeobiology at the University of Leicester are under threat, with at least 14 staff expected to be made redundant. Support them, their postdocs, and their students by signing this petition: c.org/SK8Xm8dhqK

Our new temporary exhibition Feeding Without Jaws is open TODAY!

Come and immerse yourself in the fascinating world of ancient fish.

We are open 10am-4pm Mon-Fri, 12pm-5pm Sat-Sun and are free to visit 🐟

#LapworthRocks #FeedingWithoutJaws #NewExhibition #SVP2025 #Palaeontology #Paleontology

Bats being linked to Halloween is likely from the Gaelic festival Samhain, marking harvest’s end. Bonfires were lit which drew in insects, which attracted bats. Their mating season also falls around this time, so they gather in large numbers to mate and feed before hibernating.

P. tupaiodon is the most frequently found mammal from the pit, as well as being one of the smallest Messel Bats (with a wingspan on 26-29cm). It is thought that the family is the sister taxon to modern-day echolocating bats (Habersetzer et al., 2016; Simmons and Geisler, 1998)

Happy #Halloween #batweek and #fossilfriday!
2 amazing specimens of Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon
Messel Pit, Eocene, Darmstadt, Germany
📸 Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt)
I posted these over on the other app (🕊️) back in 2021 but thought they should to be over here too!
#FossilFriday #Bats #Messel

Happy #fossilfriday everyone!
Platysomus parvulus
📸 - @PotteriesMuseum ‘John Ward’ collection
Knowles Ironstone Shale
Westphalian (315-307 Ma), Upper Carboniferous
Longton, Stoke on Trent
#fossils #palaeontology #fish #carboniferous

Happy #fossilfriday !
This gorgeous specimen is the leaf scarring of Sigillaria sp. (where the leaves used to attach).
Coal Measures (Upper Carboniferous) Found in Berry Hill Colliery, Stoke on Trent
Photo taken at @potteriesmuseum

Happy #fossilfriday everyone! I was inspired by the news today about the new species of #ichthyosaur Xiphodracon, I had to go and see what ichthyosaur specimens we have in the collections here at @Potteriesmuseum
ichthyosaur jaw fragment, Charmouth, Dorset Lower Jurassic
Photos @potteriesmuseum

So exciting! Can’t wait to hear more about your work! 🌿🎉🙌🌳🍁

Happy #fossilfriday !
This gorgeous specimen is Michelinia sp. (Look at that bituminous infilling 😍)
A favosites tabulate coral
Lower Carboniferous (Asbian substage, Visean ~330MYA),
Waterhouses, Staffordshire
Photo taken at Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent

Happy #fossilfriday !

Staffordshire is probably best known for its extensive carboniferous coal measures

This gorgeous specimen in a borehole was found at a depth of 452m.
Lepidodendron aff. ophiurus
Middle Carboniferous, Beech, Staffordshire
Photo taken @potteriesmuseum

#paleobotany #plants

Happy #fossilfriday (my third at @potteriesmuseum), Elonichthys egertoni (potentially renamed), a carnivorous bony fish from the Middle Carboniferous (~300MYA) found in Fenton, Stoke on Trent

Can you believe that this beautiful specimen was rescued from a skip?!
#fish #carboniferous #stokeontrent

#fossilfriday today is a little different!
This week, I officially started my new role as a curator of natural science at @potteriesmuseum

It’s been an amazing first week exploring the museum’s incredible collections — from palaeontology and geology to zoology!

I’m can’t wait to see what’s ahead!

Happy #fossilfriday everyone!
Here is one of my favourite fossils I’ve seen - the Berlin Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx
Discovered 1874/75 Eichstätt, Germany
Solenhofen Plattenkalk, Tithonian, Late Jurassic
Photos taken @mfnberlin.bsky.social

For #fossilfriday I’ve stitched together photos I’ve taken of a gorgeous Mixosaurus cornalianus specimen from the @nhm-london.bsky.social

Mixosaurus cornalianus
235-223 MYA Middle Triassic,
Tee Fontaine, Monte San Georgio area, Switzerland

#ichthyosaur #fossils #palaeontology

For #fossilfriday today here is a gorgeous close up of an ichthyosaur specimen collected by #maryanningrocks !
Ichthyosaurus communis
203-194 MYA, Lower Jurassic
Lyme Regis, Dorset
Photo taken at @natural_history_museum

For #fossilfriday today is this gorgeous Diplocaulus magnicornis
A lepospondyl #amphibian that is characterised by a boomerang shaped skull
Permian 299-252MYA
Texas USA
Photo taken at @natural_history_museum London

#FossilFriday today is this gorgeous mix of Brittlestars (Palaeocoma milleri) and Crinoids (Balanocrinus gracilis) from the Pliensbachian (Jurassic - 191-183MYA) of Dorset, England
Photo taken at The NHM in London

Palaeopropithecus maximus
Holocene - less than 10,000 years old
Ampasambazimba, Madagascar

Palaeopropithecus are a recently extinct genus of large sloth lemurs

Photo taken at @natural_history_museum
#fossilfriday #palaeontology #lemur

For #FossilFriday today here is one of my all time favourite fossils! Bats are the most frequently found mammal at Messel.
Archaeonycteris pollex
Messel Pit, Eocene, Darmstadt, Germany
Photo taken at Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt), 2019
#Bats #Messel

Hello everyone! My names Jenna - aka Palaeo_Scene and I’m a palaeontologist from the UK. I’m using this account to communicate with people, share fossil pictures that I’ve taken as well as my day to day life in the subject I love so much!

I also share stuff on Instagram/the bird app and on my blog