My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Zooms with species from my #MistakenPoint #Ediacaran landscape reconstruction, created with @dmcediacaran.bsky.social at Memorial University, #Newfoundland.

#SciArt #SciComm #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #Fossils #FossilFriday #Beothukis #Fractofusus #Arborea #Charnia

Yesterday we wandered in the « Eastern hyper-oceanic barrens ecoregion » of Newfoundland to walk in socks on the oldest animal ever known (Ediacaran fauna, Avalonian period) at Mistaken Point.

And this Beothukis ? The holotype, still in situ. What a day !

#PaleoSky ⚒️

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

A few more zooms with species from my #MistakenPoint #Ediacaran landscape reconstruction, created with
@dmcediacaran.bsky.social at Memorial University, #Newfoundland.

#SciArt #SciComm #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #Fossils #Beothukis #Fractofusus #Arborea #Charnia

My 25 years of palaeoart chronology...

Here's my 2024 #MistakenPoint #Ediacaran landscape reconstruction, created with @dmcediacaran.bsky.social & his team at Memorial University, #Newfoundland.

#SciArt #SciComm #PaleoArt #PalaeoArt #Fossils #FossilFriday #Beothukis #Fractofusus #Arborea #Charnia

A bit late on #FossilFriday but this Ediacaran Mistaken point specimen has been on my desk haunting me this last month. It is the paratype of #Beothukis mistakensis. All know specimens of this sp. on the E Surface are oriented nearly perpendicular to the palaeocurrent doi.org/10.3389/fear...

The highlight for me from my work clearing at #InnerMeadow was this complete #Beothukis mistakensis. There’s only 4 or so complete specimens known of this #Ediacaran rangeomorph. It is almost identical to the holotype that we published on in 2020. We interpret it as growing along the seafloor.

For the last 30 years I’ve been working on the Ediacaran of Avalonia. The last 6 years we have really focussed on morphology and palaeobiology of the #Ediacaran clade #Rangeomorpha. The fundamental tools are careful photography, fieldwork, sculpting, working with palaeoartist Bob Nicholls.

No idea ! All I can say is that the paper describing it dates from 2020, and it still look as fresh to me

Those are beautiful! The leaf patterns and layering is fascinating. Is there a story behind the "mistakensis" part of Beothukis mistakensis?

the holotype of mistakensis comes from Mistaken Point in Newfoundland, the site of many old shipwrecks as it was mistaken for another headland further down the coast which had safe harbour. Beothukis is named for the now extirpated Beothuk people, who were here before European colonization.