#FunFact A frog’s limb muscles don't start out as dozens of individual muscles. They develop from just two pre-muscle masses, which gradually split and differentiate into the muscles of the shoulder, arm and hand. 3/3

Knowing which muscles are evolutionarily equivalent across species is key to comparing anatomy and reconstructing how vertebrate limbs evolved. Development can reveal relationships that adult anatomy alone may obscure. → doi.org/10.1002/jmor... @robinslnr.bsky.social @kengelkes.bsky.social 2/3

Same muscle, different frog? Researchers traced how shoulder & forelimb muscles develop in 11 frog and toad species, revealing a largely shared developmental pattern despite differences in adult anatomy. #LIBresearch © Saulnier Masson & Engelkes, CC BY 1/3

Another lab paper in a @royalsociety.org journal this summer: @rsookias.bsky.social and colleagues analyse the biodiversity dynamics of archosauromorphs before, during, and after the Triassic, in ProcB @universitedeliege.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Dawn of the dinosaurs demonstrates early diversification bursts and a potential role for neutral dynamics during major evolutionary radiations

Abstract. Major radiations have given rise to huge swathes of life on Earth, and understanding their dynamics reveals the process of biodiversity generatio

royalsocietypublishing.org

All the lab and #3DReconstruction work paid off for Robin: He published the first paper of his PhD project! Congratulations!!! 🎉🐸

Robin Saulnier Masson@robinslnr.bsky.social · last mo.

🚨Excited to share my first PhD paper, out in Journal of Morphology 🐸 With @kengelkes.bsky.social, we studied the ontogeny and homology of anuran forelimb muscles across 11 species, resolving long-standing inconsistencies in their nomenclature and homology. First step of many! doi.org/10.1002/jmor...

🚨Excited to share my first PhD paper, out in Journal of Morphology 🐸 With @kengelkes.bsky.social, we studied the ontogeny and homology of anuran forelimb muscles across 11 species, resolving long-standing inconsistencies in their nomenclature and homology. First step of many! doi.org/10.1002/jmor...

Ontogeny and Homology of the Shoulder Joint and Forelimb Muscles in Frogs and Toads (Lissamphibia: Anura)

The ontogenetic development, innervation, and morphology of the shoulder joint and forelimb muscles were investigated in 11 anuran species. The results reveal largely conserved splitting patterns of ...

doi.org

Here are two of the four new species of moss-camouflaged frogs we just described in the journal Salamandra: Spinomantis fohitstilo and S. chlorostictus! The article is OA, available here: www.salamandra-journal.com/salamandra/6... 🧪🐸

🚨Job alert🚨: Fantastic fossils are waiting to be prepared @smnstuttgart.bsky.social : naturkundemuseum-bw.helixjobs.com/_/jobad?prj=...

Präparator*in (m/w/d) für wirbellose Fossilien – Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart

naturkundemuseum-bw.helixjobs.com

New paper out in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social ! With @CyrilETIENNE and @houssayecnrs.bsky.social, we explored how limb bone inner structure varies across bovids of different sizes and habitats.

Platypelis tuberifera always remind me of a rockclimber bridging a chimney, the way they sit in the groove of Pandanus fronds. Such charming frogs! And we know so very little about their ecology. For instance, as far as I know nobody has ever found their eggs or tadpoles! 🧪🐸🇲🇬

📢 New #Paper Alert ! Happy and excited to share our new paper in the Swiss Journal of #Palaeontology describing a new hyracoid species, providing the first phylogenetic definition of Pliohyracidae, and shedding new light on their dispersal from Africa to Eurasia ! doi.org/10.3897/sjp....

A new genus and species of Pliohyracidae (Hyracoidea, Mammalia) from the Pliocene of Jradzor, Armenia

Hyracoidea is a group of afrotheres that is today represented by three extant genera, but its fossil diversity is much greater. While most recent palaeontological studies have focused on documenting t...

doi.org

Better late than never! If you haven’t yet read Isabelle’s latest paper on the impact of tweezers on table manners in salamanders, now’s the time. Check out her blog and the full paper at the link below👇 that’s an order 😉 metamorphosis-project.org/publications...

A small look behind the scenes of my PhD work ! 🐸

LIB-MorphoLab@lib-morpholab.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Robin (@robinslnr.bsky.social) is acquiring data from a #Hyla specimen for the second part of his doctoral project using episcopic #microtomy and mounting selected sections on slides for #histology. Reconstruction of muscle #evolution ahead. 🐸🐸🐸

New publication from my lab, led by @njorisfleck.bsky.social! 🧪 We explore the diversity and origins of a genus of tiny frogs 🐸 on an isolated mountain in north Madagascar. A cool case study of both in-situ diversification and repeated colonisation! vertebrate-zoology.arphahub.com/article/1664...

🚨PhD position available!🚨🧪 I am seeking a talented PhD student to join my ERC StG project GEMINI, to explore the exciting world of vertebrate genomics and comparative genomics, seeking to understand the genomics of miniaturisation! 🦇🦎🦜🐸🐟🦈 🤏🧬 Deadline: 4 Jan 2026! employment.ku.dk/phd?show=153...

Olfaction written in bones 👃🧠🦴🧬 Thrilled to see our latest study showing that the olfactory bulb endocast is a reliable proxy for mammalian olfaction, now published in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Thread 👇

The first digital anatomical atlases of the chameleon skull, nervous system & cranial & hyolingual muscles are published, including lesson plans to bridge a gap between theoretical knowledge & hands-on analysis in comparative anatomy anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The Natural History Museum Denmark is seeking a new Head of Conservation Unit! The conservation team here works on a wide array of incredible specimens, and are hard at work preparing for the new museum opening in spring 2027! candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

Large-eyed animals like owls 🦉 have a trade-off between large eyes & short optic nerves, which lowers eye mobility (to compensate they evolved swivelly necks) But chameleons 🦎 have long, coiled optic nerves with extra slack for eye mobility, allowing them to use their famous large swivelly eyes 👀🧪🌏

Javi Ibarrondo@jibarrondo.bsky.social · 10mo ago

The twisted secret behind a chameleon’s oddball eyes | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

📢 We have an open position for a postdoc to join my lab. It's a great position @animecol-uu.bsky.social, fully salaried for 2.5 years with all benefits. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/... The project is about transmission patterns of bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquatic insects. 🧬🦠 (1/3)

Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology - Uppsala University

Postdoctoral researcher in molecular ecology, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University

uu.se

Spent a little time in the last couple of day working with micro-CT scans of frogs again. This is the holotype of Rhombophryne coronata. I’m hoping to submit a manuscript including a plate of this specimen’s skeleton tomorrow! 🧪🐸🩻

🚨 Postdoc in evolutionary genomics of heat stress adaptation position at @ucddublin.bsky.social. 📍 Dublin, Ireland Closes: 15th Oct 2025 🔗 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOV094/u...

Hello, microanatomy &/or salamander enthusiasts! If you’re a first-year master’s student, I might have an exciting internship for you on the microanatomy of two salamanders sp., with already great results on the humerus. What: Zeugopod microanatomy Where: SMNS Contact: morgan.proust@smns-bw.de

Hello, microanatomy &/or salamander enthusiasts! If you’re a master’s student, I might have an exciting internship for you on the microanatomy of a broad sample of salamanders! What: long bones microanatomy Where: SMNS Contact: morgan.proust@smns-bw.de

Four generic frogs? No! These are members of four different FAMILIES from Europe, Borneo, Madagascar, and East Africa, convergently evolved on the generic brown frog morphotype! 🧪🐸

Thrilled to announce version 2.0 of my poster featuring some of Madagascar's endemic frog species, to scale! This version features 176 species—40 more than version 1.1 (now retired)! Check it out! 🐸🧪 www.redbubble.com/i/poster/Som...

Are you tired of people constantly overestimating body size of marine reptiles? No longer! We provide equations to estimate body size in ichthyosaurians, mosasaurids, and thalattosuchians. 1/4

Last week: #SEH2025 in Bonn ! I gave my very first talk, about the Homology of the shoulder joint and forelimb muscles #anura. I hope to submit the paper later this year, so stay tuned 😉 Many thanks to the organisers of this congress ! #SEH2025 #herpetology #anura #amphibian #frog #toad

We offer a fully funded 4-yr contract for a PhD candidate in Evolutionary Biology to join our group (www.eco-evo-devo.com). The project will combine genomics and ecophysiology to understand the evolution of developmental plasticity in spadefoot toads. For requisites and contact info please check 👇

"Growth series", with foetus, of two very distinct ichthyosaurs from the Triassic! Very glad to have participated to this cool study! Thanks again Lene!

Lene Liebe Delsett@leneliebedelsett.bsky.social · last yr.

Ichthyosaurs were fully pelagic five million years after the End Permian Mass Extinction - and we have fetal vertebrae from two Early Triassic taxa. That is the main findings in our @natureportfolio.nature.com Scientific Reports paper published just now🥳 www.nature.com/articles/s41...