July 1, 1973, died #OTD, Australian paleobotanist & palynologist Isabel Clifton Cookson. The genus Cooksonia - one of the first land plants in the fossil record - is named after her 🌱

https://paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/isabel-clifton-cookson-the-first-australian-palynologist/?fbclid=IwAR3RP5-V5dARW2JN5YVJEsUB95OcS5kRAxQULxFescB9qQ8TFvRmynWFzjU

One thing I wish more people understood about natural history and taxonomy: this knowledge of what species are, how they are recognized, and where they are found, is expensive.

The knowledge comes from millions of collected specimens going back centuries, which are housed in buildings that have utilities and maintenance costs, and require salaried people to look after them and to gather and pass the data into public databases, which also require funding.

#Biology #Collections #Biodiversity

New Species of #Dinosaur-Era #Frog Identified in Brazil https://www.sci.news/paleontology/baurubatrachus-santosdoroi-11518.html

A New Species of #Baurubatrachus (Anura, Neobatrachia) from the Late #Cretaceous Adamantina Formation of #Brazil Furnishes Evidence on the Diversity of this Bizarre Genus: Paula Muzzopappa et al. https://bioone.org/journals/ameghiniana/volume-59/issue-5/AMGH.29.07.2022.3505/A-New-Species-of-Baurubatrachus-Anura-Neobatrachia-from-the-Late/10.5710/AMGH.29.07.2022.3505.short

Baurubatrachus is an extinct genus of #prehistoric #frogs in the superfamily Hyloidea. These #amphibians lived in what is now Brazil during the #Maastrichtian, (72-66 mya).

Help needed

A friend of mine and I have started a project on the eugenics behind "mestizaje" in academic literature in Mexico. I am tackling palaeontology and palaeogenomics but if you know of papers in archaeology, anthropology, epidemiology, etc. that use "mestizaje" as an explanation, justification, or that discuss its validity, please send it my way!

We're interested in literature written in English, as we have a wide survey of what has been published in Spanish.

There are still a few places available on the 2nd edition of the course Paleobiology in R with @emmadnn
& @macroecoevoale
Lectures on fossil record biases, diversity, biogeography & much more, and data analysis and visualization with #Rstats.

https://physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/paleobiology-in-r/

#RStats #Paleobiology

Our (w. @emmadnn) book chapter entitled "Fossil Trafficking, Fraud, and Fakery" edited by Naomi Oosterman and @Drdonnayates is out! We cover topics such as colonial looted fossils, smuggling, forgeries among other things 😉

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-14084-6_5

#fossil #smuggling #colonialism

It's #Introduction time.

I'm Thomas Halliday, palaeontologist and author of the best-selling book OTHERLANDS, an immersive travel-style book about the ecosystems that used to exist on our planet, and what that can teach us about our future.

My academic work is mostly to do with fossil mammals, but I'm concentrating on writing for now.

I am also a competitive croquet player, having played for Enfield at club level and Scotland internationally, and am trying to rise up the world rankings.

How does colonialism increase natural hazard risk?
- indigenous people forced to more dangerous areas.
- resource extraction etc. increase risks
- knowledge about hazards and adaptative behaviours suppressed and lost.

An important factor, oft ignored.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34792-7