@drscanley.bsky.social
Associate Scientist at the Florida Museum, PI on the NoCTURN research network. I use CT scanning and other imaging techniques to study the evolution, systematics and comparative morphology of reptiles, amphibians and all kinds of other critters.
Keeping it local for world lizard day- Rhineura floridana, also known as the Florida worm lizard or, brilliantly, the thunderworm, is a truly bizarre and wonderful creature. Eyeless, burrowing and restricted to the sandy soils of the sunshine state. What a fabulous weirdo!
14.08.2025 20:38 — 👍 20 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
Very excited to be part of the #ASIHin3D symposium! @hannahoish.bsky.social has put together an amazing lineup!
12.07.2025 13:43 — 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Feel free to use that anytime!
10.07.2025 15:14 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Thanks for the reply! My understanding is that ovoviviparity is a kind of viviparity, like placental viviparity. Dan Blackburn has written a lot on this topic- here is a nice paper about the confusing terminology www.thebhs.org/publications...
02.06.2025 13:34 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Hi, yes, Ouroborus and all non-platysaur cordylids give birth to live young. Like most live bearing lizards, they do this by keeping their eggs inside them until embryos are sufficiently developed, which is called ovovivipary. True placental vivipary occurs in mammals and a few lineages of skink.
02.06.2025 11:57 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0I’m delighted to see that altmetric is now incorporating Bluesky posts into their impact reporting.
30.04.2025 17:26 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Delighted to receive my bizarre beast spiny mouse pins. I really love the video they put together, and am tickled that the armored, Eocene hedgehog thing, Pholidocercus, gets a shout out too!
15.02.2024 16:39 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I’m excited for the upcoming publication of our paper summarizing the lessons learned from seven years of specimen digitization. The oVert project has produced tens of thousands of datasets and is changing the way people view and use collections.
04.02.2024 17:12 — 👍 36 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 3A tale of discovery about a tail of deglovery! The good folk over @BizarreBeasts have just released an excellent new video about spiny mice and their armored tails! I’ll wear my Acomys pin with pride! youtu.be/xKI9yIqyFWs?...
01.12.2023 23:07 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 1
Happy Halloween! No eye of newt or toe of frog, but here's a (sort of) blindworm's sting! Atractaspis, or stiletto snakes are so-named as they have a sharpened tail that they can poke attackers with, in addition to some pretty formidable fangs! UF:herp:68168 Atractaspis irregularis.
31.10.2023 21:43 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0🚨🍞 Fresh out of the oven! I am so happy yo share this new paper with @anura.bsky.social @drscanley.bsky.social and Jon Bloch! We found 28 Million years old fossils of the “Caribbean Amphinians 🎵🎶” Eleutherodactylus in Florida 🦴🐸 doi.org/10.1093/zool...
21.10.2023 16:21 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1Hot off the presses, a new paper that applies Geometric Morphometrics to CT scanned cacao flowers to identify potential pollinators. This was a really fun project led by Katie Wolcott, & one of the first studies to use of the new @UFRSC Versa 620 CT. bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
17.10.2023 19:29 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0The Florida Museum of Natural History Is looking to hire a new assistant curator of vertebrate paleontology! I’m really excited about the addition of another dynamic and innovative colleague, continuing our run of hiring amazing new curators in ornithology, mammalogy and AI! t.co/4bC6tZQnT3
28.08.2023 11:43 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
It’s wonderful to spend some time in Dorset during the summer. I’ve never appreciated how many lizards and snakes were within a few miles of my childhood home! Zootoca, Lacerta, Anguis and Natrix! 2/3rds of British reptile diversity in a few days! Will keep Vipera & Coronella for the next visit!
19.08.2023 16:36 — 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
