Paul D. Taylor

A new start after 60: I’d had several careers but no degree – then I became a palaeontologist at 62 In search of a new adventure, Craig Munns went back to school. Now, at 65, he spends his days examining long-vanished life forms

It's never too late to become a palaeontologist: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

#MolluscMonday Two sectioned nerineoid gastropods from the polished limestone floor of a staircase in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Spot the bivalve borings in the shells. ?French Cretaceous.

Yes, Mark Wilson and I hypothesized that they may have been phoronids. There is a living species of phoronid that forms colonies although no extant species have calcareous skeletons.

Jack, that's one of the hederelloids I mentioned in my email message

#FossilFriday Verbeekiella australis, among the last of the Palaeozoic ‘horn corals’ belonging to the class Rugosa, from the Permian of Timor. The function of the unusual axial structure is unclear according to my colleague Brian Rosen.

I wouldn’t go that far

#SpongeThursday Ventriculitid sponge from the Cretaceous Chalk of England showing disruption of the net-like structure resulting from radial regrowth into a puncture.

#MolluscMonday Cut and polished specimen of the ammonite Hildoceras sublevisoni from the Lower Jurassic of Whitby, Yorkshire, preserving the early shell chambers infilled by several generations of cement.

An historic black and white illustration of a paper nautilus floating on the ocean. There are boats, a city and hills in the background.

🎉 Huge news for BHL: The Field Museum is taking over the hosting of BHL’s website, servers & infrastructure, ensuring long-term stability and access for its 63+ million pages of open biodiversity literature. Learn more:
blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2026/02/tran...
#BHLTransition #ILoveBHL 🌍 📚 🧪

Compare and Contrast! The living species, Calliderma emma from deep-sea habitats throughout the Indo-Pacific! Are they the same genus? An interesting question! Could this genus been around since the Cretaceous? #echinoday

#FossilFriday A beautiful Cretaceous seastar. This fully articulated specimen of Calliderma was collected in the Chalk of England.

Very sad to hear about the passing of Dr. Hans Sues. His last work was the description of Tyrannoroter heberti. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Piltdown forgery extended to other fossils supposedly from the site (but probably planted) that Dawson stained brown. My personal favourites being 'The Piltdown Clams'! Two specimens of Upper Cretaceous inoceramid bivalve derived from the #Chalk.

#MolluscMonday Dating mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries, nautilus shell cups consist of metal-mounted shells sometimes capped by a small figure of Poseidon. This example on display at the British Museum shows remarkably intricate carving of the shell and septa.

Thanks Dave. I did wonder what it was.

Yes, it makes me grieve to think of the millions of fossils that end up as hardcore, almost certainly including rare species as well as the common ones.

#FossilFriday Presented to the British Museum in 1875 and now in the Natural History Museum, Ordovician brachiopods cover the surface of this small piece of Cincinnatian limestone from Waynesville, Ohio.

Flyer for the Show. Text reads ‘44th Annual Essex Gem & Mineral Show. Saturday 21st February 2026, 10 am to 4 pm. North Romford Community Centre, Clockhouse Lane, Collier Row, Romford RM5 3QJ. With the ULEZ. Two halls of minerals, fossils, gemstones, jewellery, books, rock & fossil ID. Free parking, refreshments available, Adults £2, accompanied children, free.’ I’ll post the link for more information in the comments to this post.

LGP will have a stand at the Essex Rock & Mineral Show this Saturday (21/02/26). We will have small display of London’s geology and building stones, will be doing rock and fossil IDs and will be selling @geolassoc.bsky.social guide books. Do come and say hello!

'Smiling' fossil discovered in Northumberland The unusual looking fossil is estimated to be a few hundred million years old dating to the Carboniferous period.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Not in this genus. In general soft tissue preservation is rare among ammonites.

Yes

Found on the Internet, here's a Cretaceous Rotularia from England for comparison with your specimens.

Definitely. Where did you find your fossils?

I think these may be serpulid worms of the Rotularia type rather than ammonites

the shell would have been rigid and without jointing

I suppose some kind of change in lifestyle but beyond that only an ammonite expert might know.

#MolluscMonday Uncoiled ammonites known as heteromorphs (‘other shapes’) are mostly Cretaceous in age. However, this example of Spiroceras is from the Middle Jurassic of Dorset.

Beach Finds
#Aldbrough

Could be a coral.

The first ‘Like’ should be ‘Looks’