Adiel Klompmaker

Octopodoidea as predators near the end of the Mesozoic Marine Revolution Abstract. Octopodoidea are a highly versatile and diverse group of marine predators comprising > 200 species today; however, their diversity and ecology

#WorldOctopusDay! Octopuses including Octopodoidea don't preserved well in the fossil record, but their traces (predatory drill holes) can be found in some molluscan shells. Here's a Cretaceous example from a 2021 paper in collaboration with Neil Landman. #paleontology 🐙
doi.org/10.1093/biol...

‼️New paper on Paleocene (early Danian, ~65.3 mya) decapod crustaceans from Alabama. 🙂 Eight species (incl. 2 new) is more diverse than previously known for any early Danian site in North America. Thanks also to the @paleosoc.bsky.social for grant support. Paper:
sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiqu...

#FossilFriday! The Alabama Paleontological Society is the recipient of the 2025 Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Award. It will be awarded on Saturday September 20 at the University of Alabama campus as part of Alabama's National Fossil Day (Alabama Fossil Fest) event:

tiny.cc/d6hs001

📊 new paper! The natural phenomenon of upwelling, which normally occurs every year in the Gulf of Panama, failed for the first time on record in 2025...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
[most co-authors not on bluesky except @javsdiaz.bsky.social @jonscibulski.bsky.social]...

News PhD and MSc positions in Phylogenetic, Computational, and/or Evolutionary Paleobiology [Posted September 2025. Deadline is January 15, 2026. See below for information about the lab, student opportu…

I'm hoping to take 1 MSc & 1 PhD student next year in the areas of Phylogenetic, Computational, and/or Evolutionary Paleobiology. Please reach out if you are interested in joining the @oupaleobiology.bsky.social, especially if interested in working on fossil echinoderms. Link for more info below. 🧪

Just one more week (till 5 Sept) to apply for the postdoc position with me at UA Museums' Department of Museum Research and Collections. NSF-project together with Jill Leonard-Pingel, @odealab.bsky.social, and @sethf.bsky.social focused on marine ecosystems in Panama.

bsky.app/profile/pale...

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same ALMNH trip for the public a hadrosaur tooth was found!

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same ALMNH trip for the public a hadrosaur tooth was found!

Croc Discovery Alert‼️🐊 Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same @almnh.bsky.social trip for the public a hadrosaur tooth was found! 😀 #FossilFriday

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal.

Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal.

Croc Discovery Alert‼️🐊 Last month, Kelly Griffiths found an ~84 million-year-old fossil of a crocodile. It's an osteoderm or scute, a bony plate sitting primarily on the back of the animal. Found during the same @almnh.bsky.social trip for the public this hadrosaur tooth was found! 😀 #FossilFriday

Mosasaur jaw found in an Alabama creek during an ALMNH trip for the general public. This Cretaceous (~84 million-year-old) specimen is now in the ALMNH paleontology collection.

In July, Kaylee Baize and Ava Broyles found a great piece of a mosasaur jaw in an Alabama creek during an ALMNH trip for the general public.

Discovery Alert‼️In July, Kaylee Baize and Ava Broyles found a great piece of a mosasaur jaw in an Alabama creek during an ALMNH trip for the general public. This Cretaceous (~84 million-year-old) specimen is now in the @almnh.bsky.social paleontology collection. #FossilFriday #paleontology #fossil

Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity. The NSF-funded project “Energetic Controls on Marine Benthic Community Structure in Space and Time” aims to (1) evaluate how productivity affects the energetic and trophic structure of marine benthic communities on either side of the modern Isthmus of Panama, where there is now a strong contrast between the high productivity, upwelling-dominated regime of the eastern Pacific and the low-productivity, low-seasonality regime of the Caribbean (2) use this knowledge to evaluate the fossil record of Caribbean benthic ecosystems before, during, and after the uplift of the isthmus during which planktonic productivity decreased in the Caribbean and (3) relate ecosystem changes driven by productivity shifts to the well documented Caribbean extinction event ~2 Ma. This is a project in collaboration with Ohio State U, UC Berkeley, and STRI. One key component of this project is to assess biotic interactions such as predation and possibly parasitism using fossil and modern molluscan assemblages from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. I am recruiting a Postdoctoral Fellow with a background in paleontology and/or biology/ecology with strong quantitative skills, attention to detail and organization, and someone who can effectively supervise students. Conference support is provided. The postdoc will work with Dr. Adiel Klompmaker (aaklompmaker@ua.edu) within the University of Alabama Museums’ Department of Museum Research and Collections (https://collections.museums.ua.edu/). Initial appointment will be for 1 year, with renewal contingent upon funding. The deadline to apply is 5 September 2025 at 22:55 US Central Day Time. The salary will be $56,000 per year. Please upload a cover letter expressing your interest and qualifications, a CV, and contact details of at least two references. To apply and for more information see: https://careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232bd-b82e-49d3-90ea-06601c242dab

Job Alert‼️ Postdoctoral Fellow opportunity in paleontology/biology at the University of Alabama Museums:
careers.ua.edu/jobs/688232b... Aim: assess biotic interactions using mollusks from both sides of the Isthmus of Panama. Please share widely! @paleosoc.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social

🦐 New article honoring my PhD advisor Dr. Rodney Feldmann, who passed away last year. Lobetelson feldmanni n. sp. is a ~305 million-year-old shrimp from New Mexico. Open access paper J Paleo: doi.org/10.1017/jpa.... @paleosoc.bsky.social Specimen @almnh.bsky.social collection. #FossilFriday #fossil

Discovery alert‼️A ~84 million-year-old hadrosaur dinosaur tooth was found by ALMNH director Dr. John Friel during a recent Alabama Museum of Natural History summer trip to shark tooth creek in western Alabama.
#FossilFriday! @friel.bsky.social @almnh.bsky.social #Cretaceous #paleontology #fossil 😀

Research Alert‼️ Why were ~50 enigmatic, small crustaceans from the Carboniferous Period found clustered together? Paper led by my good colleague Russell Bicknell. Here's a short news story: collections.museums.ua.edu/2025/07/03/o... Belated #FossilFriday #paleontology #fossil @almnh.bsky.social

#FossilFriday‼️🦀🦞🦐 Next week, together with Danish colleagues, I am organizing the 9th Symposium on Fossil Decapod Crustaceans in Faxe, Denmark. Abstract and program books are printed. We will welcome everyone starting on Monday! Website: tiny.cc/fx4m001 #fossil @almnh.bsky.social #paleontology

Lethal injuries on the scaphitid ammonoid Hoploscaphites nicolletii (Morton, 1842) in the Upper Cretaceous Fox Hills Formation, South Dakota, USA - Swiss Journal of Palaeontology Predator–prey relationships are considered a major driver for the evolution of organisms, and thus contributed to shaping morphology, ecology, and diversity. During the Late Cretaceous of North Americ...

The link above is a summary story, but here's a link to the original article led by Amane Tajika: doi.org/10.1186/s133...

‼️Research alert for #FossilFriday‼️ Well-preserved, ~69 million-year-old ammonites from South Dakota show two type of lethal injuries: lateral punch holes and ventral bite marks in 7.3% of the 1303 shells. Crustaceans and coleoids may be the predators. Read more: tiny.cc/wogl001 @almnh.bsky.social

#FossilFriday‼️ 😲 Remarkably large (~20" or 50 cm) ammonite from an Alabama creek exposing Upper Cretaceous sediments. The specimen is still underwater in this photo (see tadpoles 🐸). Specimen @almnh.bsky.social. Discovered by George Martin. #paleontology #fossil #Alabama

#FossilFriday‼️ Cephalopod time! 😀 Internal molds of nautiloid air chambers exposed in a limestone in central Alabama. Nautiloids can be abundant in some Paleocene rocks in the state. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social collection. Discovered by Research Associate Prescott Atkinson. #paleontology #fossil

#FossilFriday‼️ Cephalopod time! 😀 Internal molds of nautiloid air chambers exposed in a limestone in central Alabama. Nautiloids can be abundant in some Paleocene rocks in the state. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social collection. Discovered by Research Associate Prescott Atkinson. #paleontology #fossil

#FossilFriday‼️ Tiny specimens often get overlooked, but they are important parts of ecosystems. Here's a very rare, pyritized, ~82 million-year-old coral from Harrell Station in Alabama. 😲 Collected by Jan Novak during a trip organized for the Birmingham Paleo Society. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social.

😲 #FossilFriday‼️ Not one but two rare, pyritized ammonites were discovered at Harrell Station during a recent trip organized for the Birmingham Paleo Society. The only two non-jaw pieces in the last 5 years! Cretaceous (~82 Ma), Alabama. Collectors: Chase Egli & Adiel Klompmaker @almnh.bsky.social

‼️Student highlight for #FossilFriday‼️ UA Blount Scholars Museum Intern Lilly Roehrig curated a collection of >130 Mississippian-aged crinoids (sea lilies) from Alabama this semester, after a generous donation by Jessica Cost in February. Specimens @almnh.bsky.social collection. #fossil #paleontology

🦈 Exquisite Cretaceous shark coprolite (dung) from Harrell Station Paleo Site, Alabama. 😲 Mooreville Chalk, ~82 Ma. Coprolites can tell about the diet of ancient sharks. Specimen: ALMNH:Paleo:2389 @almnh.bsky.social Collector: Brown Hawkins, 1990. #FossilFriday‼️ #fossil #paleontology

‼️Research alert for #FossilFriday. Last week, my former intern Celie Cowart presented research at UA's undergraduate conference on "Dining on Oysters during the Cretaceous Period"! While the drilling gastropod culprits did not preserve, they left their traces behind on the shells. @almnh.bsky.social

#FossilFriday‼️ Two weeks ago, I went with my Paleontology & Society class (UA's Blount Scholars Program) to Harrell Station, a classic Cretaceous site in Alabama. Everyone found various fossils, even mosasaur teeth. 😀 Here are mosa teeth found by 3 students! @almnh.bsky.social #fossil #paleontology

#FossilFriday‼️ Marvelous example of a colonial coral from North Alabama. 😍 325 million years ago, the ocean was located to the north instead of the south and tropical waters hosted a range of organisms. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social paleo collection! Collector: Prescott Atkinson #fossil #paleontology

#FossilFriday‼️ Today is Harrell Station Paleontological Site day with my Paleontology & Society class. Here's a nice ~82 million-year-old sea urchin from this site in central Alabama found earlier. 😃 Usually, only loose plates are found. Specimen @almnh.bsky.social collection. #fossil #paleontology

‼️#FossilFriday‼️ A neat discovery by an undergraduate student in the lab this week! Grey Eaton found a part of a mosasaur jaw when sieving marls from UA's Harrell Station paleo site in Alabama. 😲 Remarkably, it fits to another jaw piece found earlier! @almnh.bsky.social #fossil #paleontology

‼️#FossilFriday‼️ Neat burrows in ~315 million-year-old lithified mud of northern Alabama. Nearly all of the >5000 slabs with fossils from this locality (see inset photo) were collected by avocational paleontologist Ron Buta. Many of them were donated to the @almnh.bsky.social fossil collection. 👍

‼️early #FossilFriday. Remarkable specimen of the rudist bivalve 𝐷𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑎, found in Pickens County, Alabama. Mooreville Chalk, Cretaceous (~ 82 Ma). 😍 Specimen used by Zimmerman et al. (2023: J Paleo @paleosoc.bsky.social). Specimen @almnh.bsky.social (ALMNH:Paleo:12696). #paleontology #fossil

Journal "Oikos" presents new article which shows crucial importance of the lost megafauna in ecosystem functioning.

The role of dissapeared megafauna in shaping ecology

Or:
"Ecologists discover palaeontology (and historicity of biology) 200 years after Cuvier"

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Remember my words: this is just a tip of the iceberg of rebuilding of the ecological theory through its integration with palaeontology
🧪 #Macroecology