Matt Friedman
@friedmanlab.bsky.social
Vertebrate evolutionary biologist | Professor University of Michigan | Director & Curator UMMP | he/him/his
You can give the Kannemeyeria skull a spin here: umorf.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/wp/specimen-...
November 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM
You can give the Kannemeyeria skull a spin here: umorf.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/wp/specimen-...
Some AMNH display specimens with UMMP connections. Pretty sure this Kannemeyeria is a cast of UMMP VP 14530. The Dimetrodon skeleton was collected by E.C. Case in 1906, a year before he started at the University of Michigan. Case would later go on to be UMMP's first director. #FossilFriday
November 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Some AMNH display specimens with UMMP connections. Pretty sure this Kannemeyeria is a cast of UMMP VP 14530. The Dimetrodon skeleton was collected by E.C. Case in 1906, a year before he started at the University of Michigan. Case would later go on to be UMMP's first director. #FossilFriday
Wheels up! Congrats & thanks to the B'ham organizing committee for an outstanding meeting. Looking forward to seeing folks in my hometown next year when SVP meets in Cleveland. #2025SVP
November 16, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Wheels up! Congrats & thanks to the B'ham organizing committee for an outstanding meeting. Looking forward to seeing folks in my hometown next year when SVP meets in Cleveland. #2025SVP
Congrats to Michigan paleo awardees at #2025SVP: Evan Unruh-Friesen (Lindsay Award) and Zach Lyons-Weiler (Jackson School of Geosciences Travel Award).
November 15, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Congrats to Michigan paleo awardees at #2025SVP: Evan Unruh-Friesen (Lindsay Award) and Zach Lyons-Weiler (Jackson School of Geosciences Travel Award).
Some Met fishes.
November 10, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Some Met fishes.
Also struck by this on my visit yesterday.
November 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Also struck by this on my visit yesterday.
No secret that there's a lot of amazing stuff at AMNH. Some of my favorites are these massive chimneys recovered from hydrothermal vents of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, more than a mile beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
November 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
No secret that there's a lot of amazing stuff at AMNH. Some of my favorites are these massive chimneys recovered from hydrothermal vents of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, more than a mile beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
Most unexpected discovery at AMNH? My missing copy of "Gaining Ground" . . . in Roger Benson's office 😂
November 8, 2025 at 3:25 AM
Most unexpected discovery at AMNH? My missing copy of "Gaining Ground" . . . in Roger Benson's office 😂
Secret Smilodon at the Met. Make a point to find it whenever I go.
November 8, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Secret Smilodon at the Met. Make a point to find it whenever I go.
November 7, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Here's another one you won't have seen: a waiting-to-be-prepared specimen from the Green River Fm. Probably Cuneatus. Maybe they'll be ready for #GarWeek next year!
November 3, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Here's another one you won't have seen: a waiting-to-be-prepared specimen from the Green River Fm. Probably Cuneatus. Maybe they'll be ready for #GarWeek next year!
Spooky note left on my door yesterday.
November 1, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Spooky note left on my door yesterday.
Emily gave a great talk for this week's departmental seminar. Got a new lab photo to mark the occasion . . .
October 31, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Emily gave a great talk for this week's departmental seminar. Got a new lab photo to mark the occasion . . .
Neighborhood foliage is looking great this weekend.
October 26, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Neighborhood foliage is looking great this weekend.
Lazy Saturday navigating the Pennsylvanian stratigraphy of Staffordshire. Figure from: Rees, J G, and Wilson, A A. 1998. Geology of the country around Stoke-on-Trent. Memoir of the Geological Survey, Sheet 123 (England and Wales).
October 25, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Lazy Saturday navigating the Pennsylvanian stratigraphy of Staffordshire. Figure from: Rees, J G, and Wilson, A A. 1998. Geology of the country around Stoke-on-Trent. Memoir of the Geological Survey, Sheet 123 (England and Wales).
With opahs as the theme for this week's #Sundayfishsketch, maybe we'll see some cool art of fossil relatives. Here's the type specimen of the lampriform Turkmene from the earliest Eocene of Turkmenistan, ~56 Ma. Specimen at the Paleontological Institute, Moscow.
October 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
With opahs as the theme for this week's #Sundayfishsketch, maybe we'll see some cool art of fossil relatives. Here's the type specimen of the lampriform Turkmene from the earliest Eocene of Turkmenistan, ~56 Ma. Specimen at the Paleontological Institute, Moscow.
Now out in Tim Smithson's Festschrift: neurocranial anatomy (incl. endocast) of the Early Devonian Durialepis et al. OA for your porolepiform pondering pleasure. W/ @gilespalaeo.bsky.social @jorgemondejar.bsky.social @tom-challands.bsky.social & S. Henderson www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
October 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Now out in Tim Smithson's Festschrift: neurocranial anatomy (incl. endocast) of the Early Devonian Durialepis et al. OA for your porolepiform pondering pleasure. W/ @gilespalaeo.bsky.social @jorgemondejar.bsky.social @tom-challands.bsky.social & S. Henderson www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Congrats to Sanaa El-Sayed on her DEEP Award from the Paleontological Society!
October 20, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Congrats to Sanaa El-Sayed on her DEEP Award from the Paleontological Society!
This week's new (to me) dioramas: a sampler of Michigan plant associations at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.
October 19, 2025 at 10:53 PM
This week's new (to me) dioramas: a sampler of Michigan plant associations at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.
A big bowfin skull (presumably Amia pattersoni) on display at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Pretty rare Green River fish.
October 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
A big bowfin skull (presumably Amia pattersoni) on display at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Pretty rare Green River fish.
Great pair of articles in this morning's Ann Arbor News highlighting the outstanding new leadership of the U-M Museum of Zoology and U-M Herbarium: Alison Davis Rabosky (left) and Thais Vasconcelos (right). 🍄🌿🌺🐚🪲🐟🐸🐍🐦🐿️
October 18, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Great pair of articles in this morning's Ann Arbor News highlighting the outstanding new leadership of the U-M Museum of Zoology and U-M Herbarium: Alison Davis Rabosky (left) and Thais Vasconcelos (right). 🍄🌿🌺🐚🪲🐟🐸🐍🐦🐿️
Skeleton (cast) of the giant flightless bird Dromornis from the Miocene of Australia. Part of a traveling exhibit on tyrannosaurs currently at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. #FossilFriday
October 17, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Skeleton (cast) of the giant flightless bird Dromornis from the Miocene of Australia. Part of a traveling exhibit on tyrannosaurs currently at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. #FossilFriday
With Halloween fast approaching, I'm reminded of a time a few years ago the lab surprised me with costumes based on my past profile pics. Complete with actual elements of my wardrobe, supplied by my partner who was in on the act. (I'd spent the past week wondering where my clothes went.)
October 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
With Halloween fast approaching, I'm reminded of a time a few years ago the lab surprised me with costumes based on my past profile pics. Complete with actual elements of my wardrobe, supplied by my partner who was in on the act. (I'd spent the past week wondering where my clothes went.)
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's SUPERFISH!
Coming soon to a museum near you.
Coming soon to a museum near you.
October 13, 2025 at 5:41 PM
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's SUPERFISH!
Coming soon to a museum near you.
Coming soon to a museum near you.