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All tagged Zoology
In December 2019, I visited the Grant Museum of Zoology in London with a couple of friends, and given our current situation, I thought it would be a good time to write about that visit and daydream about my next one!
Let’s talk about frogs and toads!
I often write pretty lengthy posts about specific species, or subjects relating to manuscripts on which I am currently working. However, I thought it would be fun to write a series of short blog posts that go back to basics on one of my favourite extant orders of the amphibia class – Anura.
I don’t usually write about fish and, in general, don’t tend to focus much on ichthyology – but take me to a natural history museum and you will see me hunting for a Dunkleosteus. Can you blame me? They were pretty impressive creatures, just look at the image above. Talk about science fiction meets reality, right?!
Yes, they were enormous. Yes, they looked like modern dolphins (mammals) or sharks (fish) but they were actually reptiles. And finally, no, they were not dinosaurs. Ichthyosaurs have got to be one of my favourite groups of extinct reptiles and a great example of convergent evolution.
I cannot think of many events to which I look forward as much as TetZooCon every year, and I am glad to report that this year’s event did not disappoint. Once again, Darren Naish and John Conway managed to put together an incredible panel of talks and palaeoartists for all of us Tetrapod Zoology fanatics to enjoy. Prepare yourselves, my friends, because this post will be a VERY long one!
Spiders are amazing creatures and there are thousands of identified species in the world. In the UK alone, there are over 600 species across 37 families. Many people will commonly refer to spiders as ‘insects’. Although spiders, like insects, are invertebrates and belong to the phylum Arthropoda, they do not belong to the same class. Insects are part of the Insecta class, whereas spiders – similarly to scorpions, mites and ticks – belong to the class Arachnida.
