News — Just for fun

Following on from our recent blog post about the next European Society of Arachnology Congress due to be held in the UK and as 2015 is drawing to an end, we would like to bring to your attention the identity of the European Spider of the Year 2015! This year the proud holder of this title goes to the Buzzing (or Phantom) spider Anyphaena accentuata (family Anyphaenidae). The Buzzing or Phantom spider Anyphaena accentuata (courtesy of Wikimedia) It is common throughout Europe (including the UK). It prefers the stems and crowns of deciduous trees, but also occurs on bushes and...

I could not resist posting this for Halloween! In paleontology, a zombie taxon (plural zombie taxa) or the zombie effect refers to a fossil, such as a dinosaur tooth, that was washed out of its original rock matrix and re-deposited in sediments millions of years younger, which then subsequently lithified to form rock. This could lead a casual observer to identify the fossil as being much younger than it actually is (given that the age of fossils is usually determined based on the age of the rocks from which they are extracted). This basic mistake in the interpretation of the...

Although the main activity at Siri Scientific Press is the publication of specialist natural history books focused on palaeontology and entomology, there is more to us than that! We are also involved in academic research activities and are always happy to take a little time out for the fun things as well, in addition to trying to encourage youngsters with an interest in science and nature. On Tuesday and Wednesday we were happy to host Dean Lomax, the author of two of our titles: Dinosaurs of the British Isles and Fossils of the Whitby Coast. In addition to the discussions...