New preprint now available on BioRxiv ( doi.org/10.64898/202...)! Thank you to @bertaverd.bsky.social, Roger Benson and my other co-authors, Hannah Ugboma, Katharine Criswell and Mexford Mulumpwa.

Whole body elongation drives coordinated vertebral shape evolution in Lake Malawi cichlid fishes

Understanding how anatomical structures evolve requires disentangling the roles of integration and modularity in shaping morphological variation. The vertebral column, a serially repeated and regional...

doi.org

New Pre-Print Alert! Evolving initial conditions: an alternative developmental route to morphological diversity with Shannon Taylor and @jamesehammond.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Out now in Seminars in Cell & Dev Biol! doi.org/10.1016/j.se... With thanks to co-authors @callumbucklow.bsky.social and @bertaverd.bsky.social

James Hammond@jamesehammond.bsky.social · last yr.

Latest work: Review on the evolvability of vertebral number, and the developmental processes underpinning it Written by Callum Bucklow, @bertaverd.bsky.social, and myself Check it out here: doi.org/10.32942/X2K...

My third PhD manuscript is on BioRxiv: "Somitic Change Drives Changes in Vertebral Regionalisation in African Cichlids Despite Strong Canalisation of Somite Number" (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). Thanks to my co-authors and supervisors @bertaverd.bsky.social and Roger Benson. Thread below...

Somitic Change Drives Changes in Vertebral Regionalisation in African Cichlids Despite Strong Canalisation of Somite Number

Vertebrae arise from somites, transient embryonic segments that rhythmically bud from the presomitic mesoderm during axial elongation. The number and identity of vertebrae are ultimately determined by...

biorxiv.org

Lake Malawi cichlids: even common, big, spectacular species are often a taxonomic mess, like these Taeniolethrinops species. Much work needed!

Experimental embryology postdoc available in my lab at the @biology.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk working on the evolution of vertebral counts. Reach out if you’re passionate about EvoDevo, enjoy lab work and microscopy and are into or could get into cichlid fishes. Deadline on the 16th June. Please share!

Please join next week‘s Western 🌙 VGZT: 🗓️ Thursday, May 22 ⏰ 9:30 PDT / 12:30 EDT / 16:30 UTC / 17:30 BST / 18:30 CET @aliseleit.bsky.social 👉Developmental heterochrony & evolution of segmentation in eels @laura-rustarazo.bsky.social 👉Rigidity transitions & epithelial organization in 🐟 embryos

Excited to announce my second PhD manuscript is on bioRvix (biorxiv.org/content/10.1...). Thanks to all co-authors, including my supervisors @bertaverd.bsky.social and Roger Benson. Thread below...

African Cichlid Lake Radiations Recapitulate Riverine Axial Morphologies Through Repeated Exploration of Morphospace

African cichlids comprise more than 1800 species of freshwater fishes, with remarkable adaptive radiations in Lakes Tanganyika, Malawi, and Victoria that have given rise to extraordinary morphological...

biorxiv.org