Really sad to report that our friend and colleague Richard Fortey passed away this morning after a short battle with cancer. We’ll all miss his wit and wisdom. Here he is checking out a dino footprint we found while filming together on the Isle of Wight

On this #fossilfriday, take a moment to remember the great Richard Fortey, who passed last week. Scientist, naturalist, writer, and gentleman of the highest caliber. My thoughts in Stephen Moss obituary for The Guardian theguardian.com/science/2025/m…

Ahead of the anniversary of Anna Atkins birth, we wanted to share some of her groundbreaking cyanotype photographs. The Natural History Museum have digitised her books to share this remarkable legacy with the world. nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/coll…

Delve behind the scenes in NHMPalaeobotany and find out what it’s like to be the principle curator in charge in Science at the Natural History Museum latest blog post.

Indoplatessa gen. nov.—a new monoraphid diatom genus based on Platessa arborea (#Achnanthidiaceae, Bacillariophyceae) phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/vie… #Taxonomy

"Taxonomy is the science of identification. Perhaps the oldest of all sciences, as it was born with humankind, but certainly the most necessary. However, paradoxically, it is the least valued of all sciences. It is even said that it is somewhat out of fashion" 1/

"Imagine walking into a museum and realising that every specimen... is part of a vast, interconnected web of knowledge." Julia Sigwart (Julia Sigwart) introduces the concept of 'collectomics' in this guest post on the Pensoft blog. 🔗 blog.pensoft.net/2025/04/03/eve…

🐟 The ichthyological community mourns the loss of W.N. "Bill" Eschmeyer, the visionary behind Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes (ECoF). His dedication shaped modern fish taxonomy, leaving a legacy that must be preserved. 🔗 More: bit.ly/EschmeyerObitu… #Ichthyology #FishTaxonomy

Optimism, Obstinance and Opportunity, by Quentin Wheeler open.substack.com/pub/qwheeler/p…

Per Theodor Cleve (1840-1905): The Prolific Part-Time Protistologist and Oceanographer ejournals.eu/en/journal/act…

Species Identification, Character Illiteracy, and Romance Novels: I have never read a Karen Marie Moning book—assuming that I’m pronouncing her name correctly, it’s an amusing, and apt,...[Sent with Free Plan] qwheeler.substack.com/p/species-iden…

What is Fragilaria koensabbei and does it matter what it is called? (Meta)barcoding and the science of taxonomy - Williams - Journal of Phycology - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

DNA barcodes, morphology, and a damned dog: Making species identifiable is not making species known [Sent with Free Plan] qwheeler.substack.com/p/dna-barcodes…

Fragilariforma meireana, a new araphid diatom species (Bacillariophyta) producing internal valves from Flanders doi.org/10.3897/phytok… via @Phytokeys

A reinvestigation of Stephanodiscus triporus (#Stephanodiscaceae, #Mediophyceae) with the description of Stephanoarcus gen. nov. #taxonomy doi.org/10.11646/phyto…

Aulacoseira westfjordensis, a new centric diatom species from #Iceland (#Aulacoseiraceae, #Coscinodiscophyceae) #taxonomy doi.org/10.11646/phyto…

The naturalist Fritz Müller (1822–1897) in #Brazil: botanical contributions and tributes #taxonomy doi.org/10.11646/phyto…

New perspectives in phylogenetic support assessment: using the new Relative Contradiction Index to investigate the phylogenetic controversies in Crocodylia academic.oup.com/sysbio/article…

Morphology of alveolate species of the genus Cocconeis (#Cocconeidaceae, #Bacillariophyta) with the description of Monoalveoneis gen. nov. #taxonomy doi.org/10.11646/phyto…