The evolutionary history of hermit crabs (Paguroidea) has been unraveling over the last 15 years. While claws were mainly reported before then, dozens of species based on millimeter-sized carapaces have been discovered and described since 2008.
News
Bama Bug Fest Returns on April 9, 2022
Bama Bug Fest will return in-person to celebrate the diversity and benefits of arthropods at the Alabama Museum of Natural History on April 9. What hatched as a small nature-themed museum event a few years ago has metamorphosed into the Bama Bug Fest, a community celebration of “bugs.”
Student finds rare mosasaur bones at Harrell Station
On Saturday, March 26, a class field trip was scheduled for students enrolled in the undergraduate Paleontology & Society course offered through the selective Blount Scholars Program at the University of Alabama. The classic fossil locality Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Dallas County was the destination of this trip.
Bama Bug Fest 2022 (April 9)
Bama Bug Fest is returning to an in-person event this year on April 9, 2022 at a NEW location: the Alabama Museum of Natural History!
Paleontology collection supports new cephalopod exhibit
Specimens in the paleontology collections of The University of Alabama Museums in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall get used for a variety of purposes such as scientific research, exhibits, teaching, and for outreach events.
Volunteer Achievement Award for Bing Blewitt
Dr. Harry L. “Bing” Blewitt, a retired chemistry professor at The University of Alabama, has been a volunteer in the paleontology collections at The University of Alabama Museums since 1999.
Preservation of parasitism in deep time
Over the last two months, two new books on parasitism in the fossil record were published as part of the Topics in Geobiology series. The last one appeared online on 1 January 2022.
Crustaceans as hosts of parasites
Over the last decade, parasites in the marine fossil record have been increasingly studied. The scientific community has shown that part of the lack of knowledge about marine parasites in deep time is simply due to a lack of research.
Remembering Dr. Edward O. Wilson
The University of Alabama lost one of its legends on December 26, 2021. Professor Edward O. Wilson was a giant in many ways.
Woolly mammoths, sabertooth cats and more roamed Alabama in the last Ice Age
This story is part 11 of the AL.com series “Ancient Alabama,” examining the natural forces that made Alabama what it is over the past 500 million years, and how those forces still shape the state today.