Boneyard XIV

Welcome to the 24th edition of the Boneyard. The blog carnival for everything old. Zach gave a good carnival last month, but there was something missing. Something obviously out of place. After pondering about it all month I realize this blog, The Other 95%, was the only blog that submitted a palaeo-invertebrate entry out of 15 total links. 1 out of 15, that's 6.7%, meaning that the amount of vertebrate entries were 93.3%. I was shocked, flabbergasted! While this edition will also be laden with vertebrate-centric scriblings, I'll will even out the score and ensure that at least 93.3% of the links, images and video for this edition more accurately reflect the diversity of animal life. Enjoy!

Brokeback Invertebrate: a tale of two spineless palaeontologists out in the desert searching for fossil ammonites... alone.
Bond, Peter Bond that is, presents his palaeo-art for all the world to critique. There is also an interesting discussion on how a fossil skeleton that is 95% complete can have widely varying artistic renderings.

Did you know that the world's oldest fossil animal tracks were from an invert?

Fossil serpulid worm tubes at the National History Museum, London. So cool!!!!
Zach over at When Pigs Fly Returns gets a slight invert bent discussing the weirdest dinosaur I've seen in recent memory. Check out its arms and learn what MYRMECOPHAGY means and what that (unfortunately) means for some poor invertebrate. Also, be sure to check out his virtual palaeo-art show!


The Australian government gets it.

In more recent historical news, Carl Zimmer wrote an excellent piece on the allure of big antlers. The extremely productive (despite what he might say of himself, his blog record speaks for itself) Brian Switek writes on horsies and shares a fascinating entry on "Professor Paleozoic" from the 19th century.

On the topic of palaeontological history, Over at Cryology and Co. there is a wonderful post on an extraordinary geologist, William Smith, the from 18th century. Smith wandered the hills and mapped out the geology and described such wonderful fossils as these below.



Zinjanthropus gives us a reason to take a closer look at fossils with an open mind and fresh view.

Traumador the Tyrannosaur gives an expose on Albertosaurus (or is it?) and a provides an interesting narrative on Joeseph Tyrrell.

Blastoids from Belgium!!! Where invertebrate palaeontology meets rockstardom.

Will Baird discusses the caste ecology of carboniferous times. In a very well-written essay taking a whole ecosystem approach, instead of focusing on a particular organism, and has some fascinating drawings of a land much foreign to our current time. Though hints of some of these amazing trees can still be found in strange areas such as southern Africa, Madagascar and other exotic locales.

Of course, saving the best for last. Todd Oakley gets the inverts major props for having an enormous phossilized phallus. Of course, he was naturally drawn to its large "eyes". Sure Todd ;)

There was also some good food for thought in the last edition of Linnaeus' Legacy, hosted here by Eric. Be sure to stay tuned for the 25th edition of the Boneyard at The Big Dinosaur Lie next month and remember to worship thy trilobite!