Jo Wolfe, PhD
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jopabinia.bsky.social
Jo Wolfe, PhD
@jopabinia.bsky.social
16K followers 2.9K following 15K posts
Why things evolve into crabs. Evolutionary biologist (species alive today AND fossils, and how to study them together). Canadian at UCSB and Harvard (she/her)

My science: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CKqoVjEAAAAJ&hl=en
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jopabinia.bsky.social
Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Aug 1
Our paper on convergent evolution of land crabs is out in its final final form. The journal didn't pick my image as the cover, so I'm sharing it here because it must be seen!

academic.oup.com/sysbio/artic...

🦀🦑🧪
Circular timetree of crabs with pie slices colored by superfamily (Figure 2 in the paper). Simplified version with no text/labels. Line drawings of crabs arranged around the perimeter like a zodiac, with colors matching the superfamily pie slice. Figure by me, drawings by Harrison Mancke and Javi Luque
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas too
franzanth.bsky.social franz @franzanth.bsky.social · 13h
#ArtAdventCalendar is happening, go check out the hashtag to prettify your scrolling experience.
Calappa, a dome-shaped crab in dark color, seen from the front. Behind its body and in front, hiding its claws and most of its face, are phalaenopsis, moth orchids with roughly circular shape, in lighter colors. Black and white drawing.
December 7, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
jopabinia.bsky.social
I missed #Crustmas yesterday, so here is a double! Two entire subclasses, Mystacocarida and Cephalocarida, live only among sediment grains (intertidal and underwater, respectively), both discovered in New England in the 20th century. Makes you wonder what else is lurking where we haven't looked 👀
🧪🦑
Ctenocheilocaris galvarini, scale 250 microns A strange looking crustacean, with no head shield and instead robustly developed antennae and head appendages are visible. It is elongate, with 5 pairs of thoracic limbs and a limbless abdomen. No eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derocheilocarididae#/media/File:Mystacocarida-scale250um.jpg Hutchinsoniella macracantha, scale 0.5 mm A strange looking crustacean, elongate with a head shield, 9 pairs of thoracic limbs, and a limbless abdomen. No eyes. It is stained red (this is part of the preparation, it would be transparent in life) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalocarida#/media/Fichier:Hutchinsoniella_macracantha_(YPM_IZ_036350).jpeg
December 7, 2023 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
spidermax3000.bsky.social
Happy #crustmas Sunday
Freshwater scuds - Gammarus sp.
(Shot in my #animalroom 12-8-24) 🦐 #photography #macrophotography #animal #invertebrate #crustacean #amphipod
Some scuds (Gammarus sp.) gathered around various detritus and pebbles
December 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas
zeesm.bsky.social Zee 🏳️‍🌈🪲🐈🏳️‍⚧️🤿🛶 @zeesm.bsky.social · 2h
Giant anemone (Condylactis gigantea) with a Spotted cleaner shrimp (Periclimenes yucatanicus) peeking out. It's very cool to hover and watch the tentacles swaying gently in the surf while you wait to see if a fish will approach for some shrimp-powered cleaning action. 🦑 #scuba #diving #oceans
An anemone with speckled tentacles sits in a crevice in coral. Near the top center the striped antennae and splotched body of a little cleaner shrimp can be seen peeking out.
December 7, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
menestune.bsky.social
🎶 On the 7th day of #Crustmas my true love gave to me - a ghost crab on a sandy beach 🎶 🦑 🦀

#crustacean #crab #nature #maui #love #ocean #smallwonders
December 7, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
franzanth.bsky.social
On the seventh day of #Crustmas, my true love gave to me
Seven Cretapsara trapped inside Burmese ambers
crab illustration seen from above. it's a regular looking crab with pentagonal body, spindly legs, but humongous eyes. colored in mostly purple in the back with yellow in the front half.
December 9, 2024 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
franzanth.bsky.social
On the sixth day of #Crustmas, my true love gave to me
Six Eoprosopon, the oldest of all true crabs
crab illustration seen from above. it's lanky and unimpressive, with a body shaped like a bullet, longer from the front to the back than its wide.
December 7, 2024 at 9:11 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
franzanth.bsky.social
On the fifth day of #Crustmas, my true love gave to me
Five particularly stabby crabby Cenomanocarcinus
crab illustration seen from above. at first glance it's a bit like today's swimming crabs - wide carapace, normal proportions, but its slender claws are heavily serrated, some of the spikes are longer than the claw's thickness.
December 6, 2024 at 5:35 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
franzanth.bsky.social
On the fourth day of #Crustmas, my true love gave to me
Four big-eyed, baby-faced Callichimaera
crab illustration seen from above. its body is longer than it's wide, claws short but serrated. 2 pairs of the legs are big and paddle-like while the other 2 pairs are tiny. its butt is sticking out instead of folded under the carapace. humongous adorable eyes.
December 5, 2024 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
toughcitywriter.bsky.social
Thanks for boosting this! I loved working on these pieces.
jopabinia.bsky.social Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · Dec 7
@hakaimagazine.com did a series on what life is like for these guys (features a Mystacocarid - not in the preview pic! There are 4 articles, check them all out)

Here's how to keep the Hakai team going www.biographic.com/hakai-magazi...

#Crustmas 🧪
December 7, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
jopabinia.bsky.social
@hakaimagazine.com did a series on what life is like for these guys (features a Mystacocarid - not in the preview pic! There are 4 articles, check them all out)

Here's how to keep the Hakai team going www.biographic.com/hakai-magazi...

#Crustmas 🧪
December 7, 2024 at 6:37 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas glow upper right, good colors
invertebae.bsky.social Maryjanna Zosia 🦊⛰️ they/iad & she/i @invertebae.bsky.social · 13h
I will never tidepool at night without a uv light again

🌊🌿🦀🐙🦑
a fluorescing mossy chiton on a rock surrounded by aggregating anemones a fluorescing northern kelp crab in seagrass a mossy chiton fluorescing among some.red seaweed a starburst anemone fluorescing in a tidepool
December 7, 2025 at 1:07 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas at left
elizabethbeston.bsky.social Elizabeth Beston @elizabethbeston.bsky.social · 5h
Right. Back to it. 89 Acartia discaudata copepods and 115 colonies of Bacillaria paxillifera logged and in the NPIL database. 💪 #marineplankton 🦑
December 7, 2025 at 1:05 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas gathering
k-hermit.com でんか @k-hermit.com · 5h
Shrimps, crabs, and hermits everywhere.🦀
The biodiversity here is just outrageous.
December 7, 2025 at 1:04 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas 😱
k-hermit.com でんか @k-hermit.com · 7h
I went tide pooling with the staff from “The Shrimp and Crab Aquarium” and we observed more than fifty species of crustaceans. 🦀
December 7, 2025 at 1:03 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas glow lower right
invertebae.bsky.social Maryjanna Zosia 🦊⛰️ they/iad & she/i @invertebae.bsky.social · 14h
one more night in the tidepools tonight & I had a blast seeing who fluoresces! just about every crustacean I found fluoresced including eelgrass isopods (couldn't get a good pic unfortunately)

🌊🌿🦀🐙🦑
a small owl limpet fluorescing bright red and orange on a tidepool rock a starburst anemone fluorescing bright green with pink and purple in a tidepool a flame-lined chiton fluorescing in a tidepool a striped shore crab fluorescing bright blue in a tidepool
December 7, 2025 at 1:03 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas upper right again. Not the abalone, look closer, its the barnacles
invertebae.bsky.social Maryjanna Zosia 🦊⛰️ they/iad & she/i @invertebae.bsky.social · 14h
I love how abalone shells can become mini reefs

🌊🌿🐙🦑
a white-speckled dorid on red seaweed in a tidepool a black abalone shell covered in barnacles, colonial tunicates, bryozoan, and others encrusting the shell a less coated black abalone shell with bryozoans, colonial tunicates, and other tiny organisms encrusting the shell a mutated orange bat star with six rays instead of five in a tidepool
December 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#Crustmas upper right
December 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
xenomatt.bsky.social
#Crustmas
kk-maker.bsky.social KK @kk-maker.bsky.social · 16h
> Keeper Lydia spotted one of Audubon Aquarium's resident crawfish in the middle of a molt!

Video: brown crawfish wiggling out of its old carapace like they're shaking off a too-tight sleeping bag.

[via Audubon Zoo]
December 7, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
jopabinia.bsky.social
#CRUSTMAS 😍
ketrinadrawsalot.bsky.social KetrinaDrawsALot @ketrinadrawsalot.bsky.social · 18h
Deep-Sea-cember: The reason for the season is to be cozy at home 🦐🧽
#deepseadecember #deepseacember #deepsea #glasssponge #shrimp #venusflowerbasket #art #cozy
Two shrimp holding claws inside a Venus's flower basket (a white glass sponge)
December 7, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
shazzoir.bsky.social
♫ Shrimply...having... a wonderful fishmastime... ♫

#Crustmas #Shrimp
December 7, 2025 at 9:13 AM
jopabinia.bsky.social
#CRUSTMAS 😍
ketrinadrawsalot.bsky.social KetrinaDrawsALot @ketrinadrawsalot.bsky.social · 18h
Deep-Sea-cember: The reason for the season is to be cozy at home 🦐🧽
#deepseadecember #deepseacember #deepsea #glasssponge #shrimp #venusflowerbasket #art #cozy
Two shrimp holding claws inside a Venus's flower basket (a white glass sponge)
December 7, 2025 at 3:36 AM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
elizabethbeston.bsky.social
You beautiful, slinky worm, you! A Xenacoela - I don’t know much about these guys, but I think this one is gorgeous! Thanks @microbe_guru for the ID.
#marineplankton 🦑
December 6, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
physgal.bsky.social
36 years ago today, 14 women, most of whom were studying engineering, were killed by an anti-feminist gun man at École Polytechnique in Montreal. I was a young graduate student studying physics at the time and I will never forget. #MontrealMassacre #NeverForget 🧪 👩‍🔬 ⚛️ 🎢 #AcademicSky 🇨🇦
Photos of the 14 victims of the Montreal massacre: Geneviève Bergeron, Hélène Colgan, Nathalie Croteau, Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Haviernick, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay, Sonia Pelletier, Michèle Richard, Annie St-Arneault and Annie Turcotte and the rooms where they were killed.
December 6, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Jo Wolfe, PhD
julieslalonde.bsky.social
Today is Canada's National Day of Action & Remembrance on Violence against Women. It marks the day in 1989 when 14 women at Polytechnique in Montreal were murdered by an "incel" (Proving that shit has a new name but is an old problem.)

There are vigils across the country today. Please attend one.
December 6, 2025 at 2:52 PM