Category Archives: Uncategorized

A new paper describing the feeding apparatus of Silurian cornulitids from China: More evidence supporting placement of this group in the lophophorates

Mark Wilson January 17, 2026 1:13 am

It was my privilege to join an Estonian-Polish-Chinese-American team interpreting partial soft-tissue preservation of the feeding devices of Silurian cornulitids, which are extinct Paleozoic organisms that constructed small conical, ribbed tubes. Cornulitids are very common sclerobionts (hard-substrate dwellers) in the … Continue reading →

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Paleoecology (2025) and New Displays in Scovel Hall

gwiles January 14, 2026 9:18 pm

Dr. Lyon’s class along with her TAs and in collaboration with the Wooster Art Museum’s director Dr. Marianne Wardle, significantly upgraded many of the fossil and mineral displays in Scovel Hall this past fall. The classes hard work was revealed … Continue reading →

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A New Paper on Deciduous Conifers at Secrest Arboretum

gwiles January 13, 2026 10:08 pm

Imagine a world with larch trees in the uplands and dawn redwoods in the flats, and bald cypress trees in the wetlands. This existed in the Eocene (~40 million years ago) when the world was warmer, the treeline was at … Continue reading →

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A Blast from the Past: Paleoecology 2025 Visits Cleveland Museum of Natural History

evlyon December 30, 2025 4:15 pm

by Claire Elsie and Allie Toombs, with contributions from other Paleoecology students. On Saturday, November 8th, Dr. Lyon’s paleoecology class visited the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for inspiration for our own museum project. We explored the exhibits and analyzed … Continue reading →

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A Tradition Continues: Richmond, Indiana – Paleoecology, Fall 2025

evlyon December 12, 2025 3:41 pm

Blog post written by students enrolled in the course, including Madeline Eaton and Lynnsey Delio. On August 30th, Dr. Lyon’s Paleoecology class took a trip down to Richmond, Indiana to collect fossils for their lab project. The class found many … Continue reading →

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Muscle scars in tiny conical fossils: A new paper describing the musculature of Devonian tentaculitids from Armenia and what they mean for the biology and evolution of the group

Mark Wilson December 3, 2025 5:45 pm

A new paper on tentaculitid paleobiology and evolution has just appeared in its final form in the journal Historical Biology. The authors are headed by my Estonian friend Olev Vinn and include two new Armenian colleagues Tamara Hambardzumyan and Vahram … Continue reading →

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Possible Linkages Between Climate and Human History in Ohio (the 4.2 yr. ka interval)

gwiles December 1, 2025 11:54 am

Nigel Brush and colleagues have assembled a record of human history in the Walhonding Valley of Ohio (see map below). Along with Jeffrey Dilyard and others, Brush has worked in the region for decades  examining the history of human occupation … Continue reading →

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A spotty Middle Ordovician trilobite from Estonia: A new paper describing an ancient parasitic infection

Mark Wilson November 26, 2025 11:01 am

One of the many reasons we need natural history museums is that they can curate large collections of specimens that can be examined for interesting features decades after they were bagged in the field. Recently my Estonian colleagues Olev Vinn … Continue reading →

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A new paper on James Parkinson’s neglected 19th century contributions to crinoid paleontology

Mark Wilson November 24, 2025 8:54 pm

About three years ago I became curious as to who the “Parkinson” was of Parkinson’s Disease. I found the Wikipedia entry for the man, and its first sentence is: “James Parkinson FGS (11 April 1755 – 21 December 1824) was … Continue reading →

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A New Tree Ring Study from the Kashmir Valley, western Himalaya

gwiles November 4, 2025 11:36 am

The global tree-ring community is racking up the papers investigating the utility of the relatively new proxy using blue intensity of annually-dated tree rings. This latest effort is a blue intensity investigation followup of a recent study on ring widths … Continue reading →

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