James Lamsdell, PhD
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fossildetective.bsky.social
James Lamsdell, PhD
@fossildetective.bsky.social
1.4K followers 240 following 560 posts
Palaeobiologist, Associate Professor at West Virginia University • Arthropod paleobiology, phylogenetic paleoecology • An Englishman in America
Formerly: AMNH, Yale, U of Kansas, U of Bristol, U of Birmingham
Opinions my own (he/him)
jameslamsdell.com
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fossildetective.bsky.social
Always enjoy running into Kjellesvig-Waering's notes in collections. #FossilFriday
A tubular fossil with bumps on it next to a hand written note by Erik N. Kjellesvig-Waering, a prominent eurypterid researcher. The note reads "I give up - what is it?"
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Happy #FlatFuckFriday to all who celebrate.
A very long, very flat model of the eurypterid Acutiramus at the Cincinnati Museum. A front view of the eurypterid, equally flat.
October 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Happy #FlatFuckFriday to all who celebrate.
A very long, very flat model of the eurypterid Acutiramus at the Cincinnati Museum. A front view of the eurypterid, equally flat.
October 24, 2025 at 2:58 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
A view if Cladoselache, the first well-preserved shark from the Devonian, on display in the Cincinnatti Museum for #FossilFriday.

I love this specimen, look at how long the fins are!
A picture of a well lit fossil of a shark, with the outline of the body visible due to the difference in rock texture and colour. The nose is to the right, and a beautifully preserved triangular fin can be seen projecting toward the top of the slab.
October 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Museum collections are my happy place.
A photograph of several grey fossils in a draw.
October 23, 2025 at 6:58 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Amanda looked up this reconstruction of Exaeretodon while going through papers for the podcast yesterday and I can only see one thing.
A strange reconstruction of a creature with a horse-like mane running down its back, pained human eyes, a cat-like face with a goatee, emaciated ribs, and a stubby tail. It looks like a creature from Bloodborne. Nina Tucker in her second health bar form from Fullmetal Alchemist.
October 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Somehow ended up becoming American.
A photograph of a man in a shirt picking up a naturalization certificate and looking nonplussed, next to the famous meme from the office of a very shellshocked looking Steve Carrell with long hair shaking the hand of a smiling man.
October 1, 2025 at 1:35 AM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Shrimp update
A view of an aquarium with many blue shrimp moving around on the sand. A fossil brachiopod is partially buried, and multiple snails can be seen in the background alongside moss and wood.
September 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Having just finished reading Day of the Triffids I can recognize a potential society-ending event when I see it.
A screenshot from the news with the headline "Sheetz to offer free hot dogs for 'National Hot Dog Day' later this week.
July 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
*nirnroot noises*
A picture of a plant that is likely a dandelion relative that looks just like a nirnroot from Oblivion.
July 14, 2025 at 11:44 AM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Some neat fossils for mental health purposes on #FossilFriday⚒️🧪

Just a collection of some of my favourite eurypterid fossils I've encountered visiting museums across the US. Museums are critical sources of information and build important connections with our history and the natural world.
A photograph of a specimen of Eurypterus with its headshield popped up and the ventral plates open underneath. This specimen shows how the animals shed their exoskeleton. A photograph of a fossil of a young Eurypterus next to the spiny leg of a much larger individual, showing just how much these animals grew over the course of their lifespan. The specimen is held in the American Museum of Natural History. A wonderful side view of the back end of a Dolichopterus. This shows just how three-dimensional these animals, which are normally found as flattened specimens, truly were. The tail spine is also slightly curved. Specimen held in the Peabody Museum of Natural History. A photograph of a specimen of Strobilopterus showing the head shield with little pale spirals on it. These spirals are microconchids, small worm tubes that attached to the surface of the exoskeleton. It is unclear whether these grew on the animal in life or attached to the shed exoskeleton, although it is considered more likely that they attached directly to the eurypterids as the exoskeleton would have likely been buried relatively rapidly after moulting. I always find it exciting to find examples of encrusting organisms on eurypterid exoskeletons, as there is not much evidence of such relationships from the fossil record. Specimen held in the Field Museum of Natural History.
July 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Glad I'm forcing myself to go for morning runs even if I never want to do it at the time.
A view of chicory, the most beautiful shade of blue flower. A wonderful orange mushroom growing out of moss. It would probably liquids your liver or something so I am only 30% tempted to eat it. A view of a pathway through trees with dark trunks and vibrant green leaves. Some excellent mushrooms growing out of the side of a tree. These ones will probably kill you or something too. 50% desire to eat.
July 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Finished my first multi-session piece of art for @bigfacecats.bsky.social
An acrylic painting of a tuxedo cat under a blanket.
June 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
The Silurian horseshoe crab Ciurcalimulus for #FossilFriday and #InternationalHorseshoeCrabDay. Described this week in @royalsocietypublishing.org, the specimen's preservation making interpretation of the fossil challenging, although illuminating it with a blue laser reveals additional details. 🧪⚒️
A view of a horseshoe crab fossil in dark brown rock. The tail is clearly preserved but the body and head are less clear. The same fossil photographed under a blue laser. The tail is now a bright yellow, and the body and head stand out more clearly from the rock.
June 20, 2025 at 2:02 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Another new horseshoe crab, this time the first known Silurian species, filling a 63 million year gap in the horseshoe crab fossil record.

This specimen was actually found by Sam Ciurca 50 years ago - another example of the importance of museum collections! ⚒️🧪

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
An image of the fossil horseshoe crab under different lightings. The fossil is rounded but the most clearly visible part is the long tail. A phylogeny showing the position of Ciurcalimulus between Lunataspis and all other horseshoe crabs.
June 18, 2025 at 3:04 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Eurypterid book is here!
June 16, 2025 at 4:51 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
The eurypterid Carcinosoma newlini, from the cover of my recently published eurypterid book, for #FossilFriday. ⚒️🧪

The specimen is from Kokomo, Indiana, which I think preserves some of the most photogenic eurypterid fossils.

You can read the publication here: doi.org/10.1206/0003...
The head and body of a eurypterid preserved on yellowish rock. The animal has a broad, disc-shaped body and a narrow postabdomen behind. The head is roughly triangular and preserves large paddles extending behind and short, robust legs with many large, thick spines at the front.
June 13, 2025 at 3:24 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Finally, it is astounding how many species Adelophthalmus has.
The slaps top of car meme, with the car replaced by Adelophthalmus. The caption is "This bad boy can fit so many species in it".
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Hibbertopters and Dunsopterus are another matter, however. I don't think we can tell right now. I'm working on it.
Two buttons, one labeled Hibbertopterus and Dunsopterus are distinct, another Hibbertopterus and Dunsopterus are the same. A sweating man, unsure what button to press, is labeled "Everyone".
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
Mycteropids are another complicated group. Right now I think we can mostly agree that Cyrtoctenus is a junior synonym of Dunsopterus.
A eurypterid walks onto the screen, saying "Hey guys". Someone points, yelling "Cyrtoctenus". The eurypterid responds "NOT WHAT I'M CALLED".
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
A few taxa are subject to longstanding disagreements regarding their taxonomic placement, and I favour their position as indicated by phylogenetic analysis. While future analyses my suggest different hypotheses, these are at least testable.
The distracted boyfriend meme; the boyfriend is "Researchers that don't do phylogenetics", the appalled girlfriend is "Actual phylogenetic position of Megalograptus", and the distracting woman is "Deciding Megalograptus is a basal eurypterid".
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
It's also very fun seeing trends among different researchers, including some who would happily slap a name on the slightest cuticle fragment and others who appeared to completely lose the plot after several decades of solid work.
A cartoon of a man in glasses labeled Rudolph Ruedemann gesturing to a butterfly labeled "Random shape in a rock" with the caption "Is this a new species of eurypterid?".
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
One of the fun outcomes of this is we've been getting who named Eurypterida wrong almost from the moment it happened.
Two astronauts looking at a scan of an old publication. The one at the front is saying "Wait, the taxonomic authority of Eurypterida is Huxley, 1857?". The one behind, pointing a gun at the other astronaut, says "Always has been."
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
So, what are some of the things I uncovered? First, eurypterid research has developed its own little eccentricities over the centuries, which need to be straightened out. The biggest one is the wild misapplications of International Code of Zoological Nomenclature rules.
A picture of Barbosa from pirates of the caribbean labeled "Eurypterid researchers complying with ICZN regulations" with the caption "The code is more what you'd call guidelines, than actual rules."
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM
fossildetective.bsky.social
I indulged myself massively in writing about things that interest me. Getting to imprint a bit of your personality into words is an interesting experience, and it was possibly the only time I'm going to get to explore some of the more esoteric sides of the field.
The meme of the car (labeled me) wildly turning off the road labeled "simple systematics" into the turning "Let's talk about HISTORY".
June 11, 2025 at 4:16 PM