How many #sharks should there be on a coral #reef? Our new publication in Science tackles this question using thousands of fossil shark dermal denticles—tiny, tooth-like scales that are shed and preserve in sediments—from Panama's two oceans. Check it out here: doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Faster than terrestrial carnivores: our results suggest that craniomandibular function is achieved early in Harbor seals. Steinbach, Schaar & Böhmer @vertevo.bsky.social 2026 @anatrecord.bsky.social Postnatal craniomandibular growth in Harbor #seals (Phoca vitulina vitulina) doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...

⚠️ "New article alert: The rise of carnivoran mammals in Europe through the lens of body mass". By @val-fisch.bsky.social, Floréal Solé, Kevin Le Verger, Bastien Mennecart, Melvin Vankelst, @narimanechatar.bsky.social, Robert P. Speijer, Stéphane Peigné & Thierry Smith ➡️ doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Researchers found a lost set of megalodon vertebrae in a Danish museum collection. These fossils are record-breaking and support the idea that this giant shark grew to over 24 meters long! 🧪 palaeo-electronica.org/content/2026...

"These findings support the hypothesis that selection resulted in shifts to P. robustus dental morphology to increase mechanical resistance, consistent with an expanding dietary niche that incorporated increasingly challenging foods."

Dietary Adaptation in <fi>Paranthropus robustus</fi> Postcanine Teeth

Upper premolar enamel thickness in Paranthropus robustus increased significantly over time, especially in the occlusal region.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Our latest paper started out as a DDIG project 14 years ago and grew into an interdisciplinary reassessment of Madagascar's oldest fossil lizard, showing that Konkasaurus mahalana is a gerrhosaur and the earliest known colonization from Africa by an extant Madagascan lineage. doi.org/10.1093/zool...

Hot off the press! 🤩 Special Issue @anatrecord.bsky.social on feeding #biomechanics in #vertebrates and beyond 🥩 🌱 🦷 Explore a collection of publications covering a range of #animals from gigantic basking #sharks to tiny praying mantises. anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19328494...

African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) paper now in @anatrecord.bsky.social's Feeding Biomechanics Special Issue! Using dissection & diceCT, we show powerful bites aren't just about bigger muscles—muscle architecture, skull mechanics & fascia may be key🐺 anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Newly described Australian fossils tell a wild story: an ichthyosaur ate a pterosaur, then was itself torn to pieces by a pliosaur. This is the first evidence of these three animals interacting within the same food web! 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🌅 To learn more about the novel fish named after “The Sunrise of Java”, check out the original study here: zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1949... #newfish #newspecies #indonesia

Tomiyamichthys oriens, a new species of shrimpgoby (Teleostei, Gobiidae) from the coast of Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia

The new shrimpgoby, Tomiyamichthys oriens sp. nov., is described based on two specimens collected off Banyuwangi, East Java, Indonesia. The new species is most similar to the recently described Japane...

zookeys.pensoft.net

New species of Lower Cretaceous #coelacanth Macropoma gombessae sp nov from Gault Fm of Folkestone #fossilfriday Norton et al 2026 Papers in Palaeontology: Oldest Cretaceous latimeriid elucidates cranial evolution in derived and extant coelacanths (Actinistia, Latimeriidae) doi.org/10.1002/spp2...

Excited to share our new paper in Science Advances! Led by Dr Wei Wang at #IVPP in Beijing, it presents a complete skeleton of #Austronaga, the most marine of all archosauromorphs. To boot, this fossil preserves the oldest complete digestive tract of any reptile! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Comparative micro-ornamentation patterns of reptile skin: Phylogeny-ecology debate and species-specific variations. Study by Melodi Yenmiş: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Today, very small-sized geese are found in tropical regions. This suggests warmer paleoenvironment. Mayr et al 2022 Hist Biol: Nearly complete leg of an unusual, shelduck-sized anseriform #bird from the earliest late Miocene hominid locality Hammerschmiede (Germany) dx.doi.org/10.1080/0891...

[1/2] Sexual selection: Above-head wing-clapping produces loud mechanical sounds. Radius shape linked to behavior. #birds Friscia et al 2016 J Morphology. Adaptive #evolution of a derived #radius #morphology in Manakins (Aves, Pipridae) to support acrobatic display behavior doi.org/10.1002/jmor...

Thrilled to have my first thesis chapter published in @currentbiology.bsky.social! We combine genomics, gene editing, and performance experiments to reveal the genetic basis and functional consequences of hurricane-induced trait shifts in island lizards! Check it out: www.cell.com/current-biol...

Genomic targets of hurricane-induced selection on clinging performance in an island lizard

Vaughn et al. show that hurricanes drive parallel genomic selection signatures in island anoles. One candidate locus (hs6st1) is associated with rear toe length. CRISPR disruption reduces hindfoot ele...

cell.com

First undoubted pre-Pliocene dasyurid. Churchill et al 2026 Australian Zoologist. A new genus of dasyurid Miyumba chrisdickmani (Marsupialia, Dasyuridae) from the Early Miocene deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland doi.org/10.1071/AZ26... Art by Nellie Pease.

#DBfeature 🐠 Pax9 has a broader role in initiating development of mesenchymal structures around the mouth during zebrafish development By Sandhya Paudel, Sarah McLeod, Stefani Gjorcheska, Lindsey Barske tinyurl.com/yc3jfpux

Human-fed red squirrels in Britain developed weaker jaws and flatter skulls due to a diet of soft-shelled peanuts, highlighting the potential negative impact of human intervention on wildlife. doi.org/g8zxdx

Human-fed red squirrels in Britain develop weaker jaws and flatter skulls

A large team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.K. has found evidence that red squirrels fed by humans in a town on England's west coast lost muscle mass and experienced changes to the shape of their skulls.

phys.org

How did our mammalian #posture arise from our sprawling #synapsid ancestors? @docrobbrock.bsky.social &co reveal #parasagittal postures in stem therians, implying that synapsids evolved & radiated with distinct forelimb trait combinations for most of their history @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4loAHoy

Lambeosaurine crests! New work compares internal nasal anatomy of adult Corythosaurus & Lambeosaurus vs juveniles & Hypacrosaurus. Strong genus-level differences, but surprisingly little variation between Corythosaurus species. Dudgeon et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Excited to announce that the 1st paper from my postdoc is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! Using a large dataset of 3D preserved fossils, we explore the diversification of jaws in early bony fishes. 1/15 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Macroevolutionary role reversals in the earliest radiation of bony fishes

Troyer et al. examine lower jaw evolution in Silurian-Devonian bony fishes and find substantial differences in patterns of morphological disparity, rates of shape evolution, and functional diversity b...

cell.com

My first PhD chapter is out! How do related fishes adapt to eat different foods? And how do they change as they grow? 🧵 doi.org/10.1002/jmor...

Humerus shape evolved in cetaceans under relaxed selection and random drift: a new paper by Maria Ghazali and the whole @schmalhausenm.bsky.social team in the Communications Biology, the research on living and fossil whales and dolphins, 3D morphology and genetics www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Sperm whales rest in an unusual position, sleeping vertically underwater. In their recent paper, Freymond & co show that the whales blow bubbles in their sleep to keep themselves from shooting to the surface, letting them sleep soundly beneath the waves doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

Our latest: Hummingbird and hawkmoth wing shape: Analyzing functional convergence in analogous structures, by Benton Walters @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social, with help from Yuming Liu, Iman Fadel @ferronhg.bsky.social @emilyrayfield.bsky.social and myself.

Hummingbird and Hawkmoth Wing Shape: Analyzing Functional Convergence in Analogous Structures

Synopsis. Similar wing planform shapes have independently evolved in both hummingbirds and hawkmoths, indicating convergence. Functional analysis of bird w

academic.oup.com

Earliest sabre-toothed predatory therapsid from Mallorca: Algarpes ferus. Matamels-Andreu et al 2025 Palaeogeo, Palaeoclimatol, Palaeoecol. Track-trackmaker correlation of co-occurring gorgonopsian bones and footprints from the early–?middle Permian of equatorial Pangaea doi.org/10.1016/j.pa...

A second theropod tooth from the Cauvery Basin reaffirms the presence of troodontid dinosaurs in the Cretaceous of India. Study by Harsha Dhiman et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #FossilFriday

"Mother of all lizards" Megachirella wachtleri indicates more gradual acquisition of squamatan features in diapsid #evolution than previously thought. #fossilfriday Simões et al Nature 2018 The origin of squamates revealed by a Middle Triassic #lizard from the Italian Alps doi.org/10.1038/s415...

[1/3] All life depends on acquiring energy. Heterotrophic organisms obtain energy by consuming food resources found in their environments. With our introduction article, we aim to highlight the benefits of a comparative approach to deepen our understanding of the #feeding #biomechanics. 👇