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A coalition of 36 herbaria across the United States have teamed up to create a web portal for #ferns called the PteridoPortal. “There were hundreds of thousands of records that were digitized specifically for this project,” said Lucas C. Majure. Story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/biolog…

#GoodNews 🌊 “Only rarely do we find historical evidence that can make us optimistic about the current state of a local ecosystem,” said Michal Kowalewski about a new study on seagrass ecosystems along the northern half of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scient…

Scientists have analyzed ancient DNA and compared more than 400 fossils from 17 natural history museums to figure out how and why extinct sloths got so big. Story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scient… Study: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Online Exhibit 🐢 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating #WorldTurtleDay Feature: Alligator Snapping Turtle This specimen was collected in the 1960s by one of our FLORIDA students George Zug, who later became a Smithsonian Curator. 🎧 More with Dave Blackburn: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/obje…

#ICYMI 🌵 "The odds of encountering a prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.) in your lifetime is high no matter where you live." Our botanist Lucas Majure was a guest on In Defense of Plants to talk about these spiny succulents: indefenseofplants.com/podcast/2025/4… 🌵🌵🌵

Museum Resource 🐍 Florida Snake ID Guide #SnakeSunday Easy visual ID and searchable tool for learning about our state's snakes including habitat, range, diet & lookalikes. Featured: Brown Watersnake (Nerodia taxispilota) Full info: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/florida-snake-… NON-VENOMOUS

Exhibit #SciArt 🪸 Florida Miocene Paintings in our Florida Fossils exhibit help to illustrate Florida's evolving ecosystems over time as changing sea levels exposed or submerged our peninsula. 🗝️ Check out the art + key for this marine environment: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/blog/…

#ICYMI 🦥 Scientists have analyzed ancient DNA and compared more than 400 fossils from 17 natural history museums to figure out how and why extinct sloths got so big. “They looked like grizzly bears but five times larger,” said Rachel Narducci. Story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scient…

Museum Collections 🐛 Cocoon Artifacts For thousands of years, humans have found functional & spiritual uses for cocoons. More from our McGuire Center: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/mcguire/collec… Featured: Ankle rattles used in the Pascola Dances in southwestern U.S.A. and northwestern Mexico.

This spring, researchers successfully reared some 400 caterpillars of the rare frosted elfin butterfly and released more than half into the wild in their historic North Florida range. 🐛 #Conservation story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/the-fr…

Civic engagement is a crucial component of all societies, but when it comes to climate change, few educators feel adequately equipped to show students the best ways to get involved with their communities. floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/new-st…

Scientist Spotted 🔦 Our moth specialist Akito Kawahara recently talked to Jason Acuna @wfsunews about one of his favorite topics: moths. They chatted about their evolution, nocturnal lifestyle, sonar jamming skills and more. 🎧 Listen now: news.wfsu.org/podcast/speaki… 🦇

Over one-fifth of native North American pollinators at elevated risk of extinction: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/over-o… "Simply being aware of the wildlife around you is also a net positive," said Jaret Daniels. "There’s an old saying that we can only protect what we know and care about."

"I could not figure out what it was," said Jason Bourque. "Is it a lizard? Is it a snake? In the back of my mind for years and years, it just sat there." The first tegu fossil found in the U.S. shows these large lizards were here millions of years ago: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/from-p…

#Conservation story 🐛 Meet the rare frosted elfin butterfly. This spring, researchers successfully reared some 400 caterpillars of the frosted elfin butterfly and released more than half into the wild in their historic North Florida range. Story: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/the-fr…

Scientists Spotted 🔦 Several of our moth specialist contributed toward a study on the long tails of luna moths, and the bat 🦇 predation and environmental factors behind these wild wings. Story + study: sciencenews.org/article/luna-m… 📖🤔

Dozens of scientists & collection experts collaborated to identify opportunities to better utilize data stored in natural history collections in order to support and inform the broader scientific community working on pandemic preparedness. Story + paper: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/paper-…

Online Exhibit 🐸 Rare, Beautiful & Fascinating Feature: Vessel with Frog Adorno (face), Taíno people, ~AD 1300-1500 In ancient Taíno cultures, frogs were symbols of female fertility related to beneficial rains. 🎧 More with archaeologist Bill Keegan: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/obje…

Scientists analyzed ancient DNA and compared more than 400 fossils from 17 natural history museums to figure out how & why extinct sloths got so big. They reached their greatest stature during the Pleistocene ice ages, shortly before they disappeared. floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/scient…

June 21 📌 Pollinator Palooza Plant for pollinators! 🐝 Meet our Daniels Lab team at First Magnitude 🍺 to support pollinator #conservation, pick up a free plant, & enjoy music, beer & food. Event: floridamuseum.ufl.edu/event/pollinat… Learn about FL plants & wildflowers with our researchers!