Bruce S. Lieberman
1K posts
@Trilolight
I am a paleontologist and professor at the University of Kansas studying macroevolution, paleobiology, trilobites, and more.
Let the data speak for themselves: stasis is data.
It's time for Trilobite Tuesday! Trilobites were among the first animals to develop the ability to enroll for protection. With their thick calcite shells, an enrolled trilobite could present quite the daunting challenge for any predator seeking an easy meal. Scientists think trilobites first started using this defensive position some 520 million years ago, during the Lower Cambrian. By the time Dipleura (pictured) inhabited the primal seas during the Devonian, trilobites had long-since mastered this art of rolling up into spherical “balls.” This specimen, found in Pennsylvania, is nearly 3 in (7.6 cm) in diameter.
So I can’t believe I’m saying this but for #trilobitetuesday I give you…Needmorella simoni! The new genus and species I discovered by complete luck in WV in 2020, named for my son Simon. doi.org/10.1017/jpa.20… 🧵
The @paleoinstitute has added another database to our website: #graptolithina genera in space and time, extracted from Part V, Hemichordata, 2nd Revision, 2023. biodiversity.ku.edu/paleo-institut… @kunhm #paleontology
It's Trilobite Tuesday! Some of the most fascinating Lower Cambrian trilobites have been found in Nevada’s Montezuma Mountain Range. Specimens like this half-billion-year-old, 2.4-in- (6-cm-) long Nevadella illustrate how advanced even the most ancient of these arthropods were.
#TBT! This image depicts paleoartist Charles Knight working on a model of the dinosaur Stegosaurus. When this massive herbivore was discovered, some scientists thought its brain was too small to support such a large animal & that it had a 2nd brain to control its back half.
It's Trilobite Tuesday! Many fossilized trilobites have well-preserved calcite shells. Others, like this 380-million-year-old Dechenella, lack a calcite shell & are distinguished by their internal molds, providing an exact replication of a trilobite’s dorsal side.
