Paco Cardenas
@paccardenas.bsky.social
Curator of zoology at Museum of Evolution (Uppsala University), in charge of the Linnaeus collection, marine biologist (sponges), naturalist and wannabe natural product researcher.
Welcome to our new bachelor student Agnes! who will barcode deep-sea #sponges from the Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland) collected by @mfri.bsky.social.
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
January 28, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Welcome to our new bachelor student Agnes! who will barcode deep-sea #sponges from the Denmark Strait (between Greenland and Iceland) collected by @mfri.bsky.social.
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
Understanding connectivity in the mesophotic🪸 is crucial for conservation, as it may determine whether these areas can serve as refuge. Check out this new sponge paper 👇
SponBIODIV @biodiversa.eu participates in a new population genomics study of the beautiful Mediterranean🧽 Axinella polypoides. Findings emphasize the importance of protecting mesophotic habitats!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 22, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Understanding connectivity in the mesophotic🪸 is crucial for conservation, as it may determine whether these areas can serve as refuge. Check out this new sponge paper 👇
Until June 2026, this drawer with shells from the Swedish Queen Lovisa Ulrica, named by #Linnaeus will be shown at the Gustavianum Museum in Uppsala @uu.se ! The first time in many, many years that part of the Uppsala Linnaeus shell collection is presented to the public. @linneansociety.bsky.social
January 19, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Until June 2026, this drawer with shells from the Swedish Queen Lovisa Ulrica, named by #Linnaeus will be shown at the Gustavianum Museum in Uppsala @uu.se ! The first time in many, many years that part of the Uppsala Linnaeus shell collection is presented to the public. @linneansociety.bsky.social
Is the lollipop #sponge the same in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic? To answer this: a combination of morphology, molecular phylogenetics and microbial fingerprinting! 🔬🧬🧫
Does an arctic circumpolar distribution exist for deep-sea #sponges? Unravelling the systematics of the lollipop sponge 🍭, led by our collaborators @ciimar.bsky.social @geomarkiel.bsky.social @biodiversa.eu
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
(photo: MAREANO / Havforskningsinstituttet)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
(photo: MAREANO / Havforskningsinstituttet)
January 16, 2026 at 8:12 AM
Is the lollipop #sponge the same in the North Pacific and the North Atlantic? To answer this: a combination of morphology, molecular phylogenetics and microbial fingerprinting! 🔬🧬🧫
A new exciting paper on #sponge #evolution! Our results suggest that early sponges did not have #spicules and that both biosilicification and biocalcification evolved independently multiple times 🤯
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history
Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.
www.science.org
January 16, 2026 at 7:51 AM
A new exciting paper on #sponge #evolution! Our results suggest that early sponges did not have #spicules and that both biosilicification and biocalcification evolved independently multiple times 🤯
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Sponge grounds are vulnerable marine ecosystems #VMEs and we need to find ways to protect them. Here is a first attempt to monitor an entire population! 🤩
#Photogrammetry works to monitor vulnerable marine ecosystems such as deepsea #spongegrounds! A population of the iconic 'Asconema setubalense' slightly increased reveal our partners from IEO-CSIC (Gijón, Spain), despite high fishing pressure. @biodiversa.eu
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 14, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Sponge grounds are vulnerable marine ecosystems #VMEs and we need to find ways to protect them. Here is a first attempt to monitor an entire population! 🤩
December 12, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Particularly proud of this paper: the discovery of an unknown historical #collection of #sponge fragments from the German Oscar Schmidt (1823–1886) bringing us back to the early days of spongiology. What a treasure! 🤩
doi.org/10.1093/jhc/...
doi.org/10.1093/jhc/...
The Schmidt collection of envelopes in the Musée Zoologique in Strasbourg
Abstract. A collection of 488 small envelopes, discovered in the Musée Zoologique in Strasbourg, France, has been shown to have belonged to one of the earl
doi.org
December 7, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Particularly proud of this paper: the discovery of an unknown historical #collection of #sponge fragments from the German Oscar Schmidt (1823–1886) bringing us back to the early days of spongiology. What a treasure! 🤩
doi.org/10.1093/jhc/...
doi.org/10.1093/jhc/...
Uppsala University was curious to see for themselves the new order of #sponges we discovered 😅
Uppsala universitet on Instagram: "(English below) Paco Cárdenas och Julio A. Díaz har hittat helt nya svampdjur, som bland annat lever utanför Spaniens kuster. Vid närmare analys upptäckte forskarna ...
112 likes, 3 comments - uppsalauniversity on December 2, 2025: "(English below) Paco Cárdenas och Julio A. Díaz har hittat helt nya svampdjur, som bland annat lever utanför Spaniens kuster. Vid närmar...
www.instagram.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Uppsala University was curious to see for themselves the new order of #sponges we discovered 😅
The Uppsala University News today talk about our new order of sponges! 🪸If you want to know more 👇
New marine sponges provide clues about animal evolution
- Uppsala University
www.uu.se
December 2, 2025 at 5:17 PM
The Uppsala University News today talk about our new order of sponges! 🪸If you want to know more 👇
Reposted by Paco Cardenas
Three sharks are killed every second - Europe’s trade in shark meat is driving them toward extinction. Let’s ban shark products once and for all. Sign now! action.wemove.eu/sign/2025-11...
Healthy oceans, safe future: stop the toxic shark trade
Three sharks are killed every second - Europe’s trade in shark meat is driving them toward extinction. Let’s ban shark products once and for all. Sign now!
action.wemove.eu
November 29, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Three sharks are killed every second - Europe’s trade in shark meat is driving them toward extinction. Let’s ban shark products once and for all. Sign now! action.wemove.eu/sign/2025-11...
🧵We just described Vilesida @uu.se, a new ORDER of #sponges potentially linked to the earliest known animal biomarker! 🔬🪸🪼 #MueumofEvolution
doi.org/10.1093/zool...
@zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social
@ieo.es
@ucriverside.bsky.social
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
doi.org/10.1093/zool...
@zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social
@ieo.es
@ucriverside.bsky.social
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
November 29, 2025 at 3:50 PM
🧵We just described Vilesida @uu.se, a new ORDER of #sponges potentially linked to the earliest known animal biomarker! 🔬🪸🪼 #MueumofEvolution
doi.org/10.1093/zool...
@zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social
@ieo.es
@ucriverside.bsky.social
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
doi.org/10.1093/zool...
@zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social
@ieo.es
@ucriverside.bsky.social
@sponbiodiv.bsky.social
@biodiversa.eu
Coalescent analyses inferred the split of 2 depth-related populations of Geodia to ∼10 000 years, coincident with the last postglacial maximum! Wait, what? 🤯
#SpongeThursday
#SpongeThursday
#Connectivity in the #deepsea! EXCELLENT study on the key sponge ground species ‘Geodia hentscheli’, shows strong genetic and microbiome structures segregated by depth. 👇
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
November 27, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Coalescent analyses inferred the split of 2 depth-related populations of Geodia to ∼10 000 years, coincident with the last postglacial maximum! Wait, what? 🤯
#SpongeThursday
#SpongeThursday
Interesting study from Turon et al. showing for the first time the role of #microsymbionts in #sponge #reproduction! And the sponge ground species 'Geodia macandrewii' is included in the sampling 🙂
Do microbes contribute to #sponge sexual reproduction❤️ ? A team from SponBIODIV finds significant microbial composition changes in two species between reproductive and non-reproductive sponges! Spoiler: #Archaea are important!
@mncn-csic.bsky.social @biodiversa.eu
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
@mncn-csic.bsky.social @biodiversa.eu
journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....
November 26, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Interesting study from Turon et al. showing for the first time the role of #microsymbionts in #sponge #reproduction! And the sponge ground species 'Geodia macandrewii' is included in the sampling 🙂
New sponge eDNA study from @sponbiodiv.bsky.social proving again the advantages of using marine sponges 🪸 for eDNA: they filter the water💧 for us!
Can #sponges help protect the threatened coastal lagoon of the Mar Menor (SE of Spain)? 🧽 #eDNA 🧬 to monitor biological communities in shallow coastal ecosystems. 76 taxa, 9 phyla identified by Corral-Lou et al! @mncn-csic.bsky.social @biodiversa.eu
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
November 25, 2025 at 1:17 PM
New sponge eDNA study from @sponbiodiv.bsky.social proving again the advantages of using marine sponges 🪸 for eDNA: they filter the water💧 for us!
With 29 sponge genomes included in this integrative phylogenomic study, sponges are once more shown to be sister-species to the rest of the animals...
NEW pub in @science.org 🥳
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life?
For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided.
We provide new evidence suggesting that...
🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
November 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM
With 29 sponge genomes included in this integrative phylogenomic study, sponges are once more shown to be sister-species to the rest of the animals...
Every year, we celebrate at the #MuseumofEvolution the #birthday of 'Carl Peter #Thunberg', disciple of Linnaeus, born the 11th of Nov. 1743 in Jönköping, Sweden. He's such an important scientist, taking care of the Linnaeus collection, and donating his own rich collections. Grattis Carl Peter ! 🎂
November 11, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Every year, we celebrate at the #MuseumofEvolution the #birthday of 'Carl Peter #Thunberg', disciple of Linnaeus, born the 11th of Nov. 1743 in Jönköping, Sweden. He's such an important scientist, taking care of the Linnaeus collection, and donating his own rich collections. Grattis Carl Peter ! 🎂
Happy to share our last paper in PNAS! Woo-hoo! 🥳
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
Chemical characterization of C31 sterols from sponges and Neoproterozoic fossil sterane counterparts | PNAS
Putative metazoan body fossils from the Precambrian are curiously lacking morphological
characteristics that link them unambiguously to extant anim...
www.pnas.org
November 9, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Happy to share our last paper in PNAS! Woo-hoo! 🥳
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
This article supports once more the hypothesis that sponges (and therefore animals) emerged about 100 million years before the Cambrian, and before we find any animal fossils.
www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10...
I had the immense privilege today of looking through the correspondence of Carl Peter #Thunberg, disciple of Linnaeus, who took over Linnaeus' professorship @uu.se. Hundreds and hundreds of letters + a handful of letters sent by Linnaeus to Thunberg!!! 🤩 @linneansociety.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 12:34 PM
I had the immense privilege today of looking through the correspondence of Carl Peter #Thunberg, disciple of Linnaeus, who took over Linnaeus' professorship @uu.se. Hundreds and hundreds of letters + a handful of letters sent by Linnaeus to Thunberg!!! 🤩 @linneansociety.bsky.social
One species of vampire moth, Calyptra thalictri has been regularly found in southern Finland, and even north of Stockholm... 😅
Vampire moths might sound more horror film than natural world, but they’re 100% real! 😱
See why some moths pick human blood over fruit juice in this week’s Surprising Science. 🩸🦇
See why some moths pick human blood over fruit juice in this week’s Surprising Science. 🩸🦇
October 26, 2025 at 12:56 PM
One species of vampire moth, Calyptra thalictri has been regularly found in southern Finland, and even north of Stockholm... 😅
These aquatic insect larvae appeared in my freshwater aquarium left outside in Uppsala, Sweden. I suspect they are #Chironomidae #larvae, anyone can confirm?
October 26, 2025 at 12:49 PM
These aquatic insect larvae appeared in my freshwater aquarium left outside in Uppsala, Sweden. I suspect they are #Chironomidae #larvae, anyone can confirm?
Entomologist Fevziye Hasan from #MuseumofEvolution in Uppsala will give a presentation at the "Living Data" conference!
I’ll be presenting “The business case for investing in biodiversity data” in the symposium: “Business sector & biodiversity data: towards a nature-positive future.” Thanks to Planetary Biology at SciLifeLab for their generous sponsorship! #livingdata2025 More info: livingdata2025.com/sessions.htm...
October 20, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Entomologist Fevziye Hasan from #MuseumofEvolution in Uppsala will give a presentation at the "Living Data" conference!
Some baby sponges grow inside their mothers, and little baby sponges are later released. This is the case in deep-sea golf ball sponges (genus Craniella). Want to know more? Read our new article 🙂
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
October 11, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Some baby sponges grow inside their mothers, and little baby sponges are later released. This is the case in deep-sea golf ball sponges (genus Craniella). Want to know more? Read our new article 🙂
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A bit of chemistry to start your day! Sharing our latest review on sponge peptides 🧪 Surprisingly, we know so little about them...
www.publish.csiro.au/CH/CH25100
www.publish.csiro.au/CH/CH25100
Ribosomally synthesised and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) from marine demosponges and their microsymbionts
Marine sponges are among the oldest animals to have emerged on Earth. They are metazoan holobionts that host diverse microbial symbionts, which constitute more than 40% of their biomass. Despite their...
www.publish.csiro.au
October 8, 2025 at 6:18 AM
A bit of chemistry to start your day! Sharing our latest review on sponge peptides 🧪 Surprisingly, we know so little about them...
www.publish.csiro.au/CH/CH25100
www.publish.csiro.au/CH/CH25100
Congratulations to my student Ivan who's been carefully registering and labeling all of our #reindeer and #moose specimens in the #MuseumofEvolution collections! (and we have a lot in Uppsala so this was not easy). #Evolutionsmuseet
October 1, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Congratulations to my student Ivan who's been carefully registering and labeling all of our #reindeer and #moose specimens in the #MuseumofEvolution collections! (and we have a lot in Uppsala so this was not easy). #Evolutionsmuseet