Could not be more pleased to share the culmination of my "sturgeon project" out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41... I and my co-authors estimate neck mobility in some of the first vertebrates on the road to conquering life on land. We found that the necks were surprisingly stiff!

Early tetrapod neck mobility modelled using an extant analogue - Nature

Biomechanical analysis of several early tetrapods using sturgeon as an analogue revealed that early tetrapods had limited neck mobility despite separation of the head and shoulders.

nature.com

🚨New open-access paper! 🦈 I am excited to share our most recent publication - the descriptor of FINS Dataset, capturing the past 145 Myr of neoselachian evolution in the form of curated occurrences. Article 👉 doi.org/10.1111/geb.... Dataset 👉 fins-app.shinyapps.io/FINS_App/ And some key stats below👇

I was exposed to Paleozoic ray-finned fishes and it affected me for life.

Jack Stack@jackstack.bsky.social · last wk.

Should students be exposed to such dangerous materials as Paleozoic ray-finned fishes?

Hot off the presses! I reviewed the history of early ray-finned fishes, with a focus on their morphology, fossil record, and taxonomy. My principal goal is a guide for other workers to make the rich record of early actinopterygian evolution more broadly available. dx.doi.org/10.1002/jmor...

The Evolutionary History of Early Ray‐Finned Fishes (Pan‐Actinopterygii)

Ray-finned fishes, the most diverse living vertebrate clade, include over 600 extinct early actinopterygian species whose evolution is an enigma.

dx.doi.org

New paper on some very large ray-finned fish fossils! Thank you to Elizabeth Furman this awesome illustration. TLDR: Large early ray-finned fishes are rare, but show very different morphologies to the point that big body size is associated with distinct ecomorphologies. mapress.com/zt/article/v...

Fossils of an over 1-meter-long Permian ray-finned fish (Actinopterygii) from the western USA highlight multiple origins of large body size in stem-group actinopterygians | Zootaxa

mapress.com

Second new paper this week: Reconstructing the oral apparatus of the Silurian heterostracan Athenaegis. Led by @lisaschnetz.bsky.social and in collaboration with many colleagues, including @euphanerops.bsky.social (who rendered the animation) and @nitroshutter.bsky.social

The taxonomy and phylogeny of British ‘cephalaspids’ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @morphobank.bsky.social @aminff.bsky.social @fossilrob.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social

Introducing Platyrhakis, Saigheadaspis, Ymersaspis, and Rochtarge, 4 new genera of British cephalaspids named after @aminff.bsky.social spent ages cleaning up centuries of messy taxonomy. ENJOY FOSSIL FISH 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Amin El Fassi El Fehri | أمين الفاسي الفهري@aminff.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🧪So happy this is finally out after almost four years! We try to bring some order to the messy taxonomy of an iconic jawless fish. 🐟 Thanks to @evopalaeo.bsky.social, Madleen, Mike, @fossilrob.bsky.social & to all who contributed to this research! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New #lungfish just dropped! Welcome to the world, Jumisodus latus, a #Devonian lungfish from the Famennian of #Latvia! Named for the Latvian figure 'Jumis', god of fertility and harvest, whose symbol represents the tooth plate outline in this new taxon... www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A new Late Devonian dipnoan from the Ketleri Formation of Latvia

Dipnoans (lungfishes) reached their peak of taxonomic diversity and morphological disparity during the Devonian Period, followed by a pronounced decline in both thereafter. The Late Devonian (Famen...

tandfonline.com

🧪So happy this is finally out after almost four years! We try to bring some order to the messy taxonomy of an iconic jawless fish. 🐟 Thanks to @evopalaeo.bsky.social, Madleen, Mike, @fossilrob.bsky.social & to all who contributed to this research! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The taxonomy and phylogeny of British ‘cephalaspids’

Osteostracans are considered the sister group of jawed vertebrates and are phylogenetically the earliest branching vertebrate lineage to exhibit true paired fins with endoskeletal support. This means...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

📢 Please repost! Want to do a Masters by Research at the University of Bristol? If you're interested in phylogenetics, morphology, macroevolution or vertebrate palaeobiology, please get in touch! More information: tinyurl.com/4h6v3s99 ⏰ Deadlines: • International: 30th June • Home: 31st July

Biological Sciences | Study at Bristol | University of Bristol

Find out about the University of Bristol's PhD in Biological Sciences, including entry requirements, supervisors and research groups.

bristol.ac.uk

📢🎓Open PhD position on ammonoid evolution 🦑🧬 at the Dept. of Paleontology of the University of Zurich! Interested in building ammonoid phylogenies? Check out the link below for more info. Applications will be reviewed in late June! www.pim.uzh.ch/de/institut/...

Exporting Moroccan fossils without a licence has been illegal since 2020, but the law has been a little unclear for those outside Morocco. In our new paper, my colleague and friend Kawtar Ech-charay clearly explains the law, using our field area as a case study: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The Palaeontological Heritage of Boulemane Between Illegal Looting and Geoconservation: Issues, Challenges and Solutions - Geoheritage

Morocco possesses important palaeontological heritage, recognized at both the national and international levels, including within the Boulemane region, located in the Middle Atlas Mountains. This repu...

link.springer.com

Out over the Atlantic and headed home after a few great days of intense fossil fishing w/ @aminff.bsky.social & @gilespalaeo.bsky.social in B'ham. Sorted some old problems and turned up some new ones. Until next time!

A sudden, heart-rending and tragic loss... Rest in peace, Ben Bartlett, greatest and most beloved of all paleo docu soundtrack composers. You painted for us a glorious vision of lost worlds with unforgettable music, music that shall always echo in our hearts... www.youtube.com/watch?v=HArX...

Giant of the Skies

YouTube video by Ben Bartlett - Topic

youtube.com

Here the result of the Escuminac Formation #paleostream! These deposits from the Devonian of Canada offer a glimpse into a coastal fish community with some absolute bangers and historical favorites. But it doesn't come without it challenges.

100 million year old fishes that left traces just before they settled in their final rest. On display at Memory of Time in Jbeil, Lebanon Over a million people have been displaced and over a thousand killed. If you feel powerless, remember you can support those in need here: gofund.me/91aa67767

Result from Flocking #paleostream! Tusciziphius, Cyrtograptus, Callawayia and Doryaspis

Results from the Flocking #paleostream! Megamastax, Ornitholestes, Tanyka and Eosteus

Our work on the histology and mineralization patterns of 3 Devonian chondrichthyan taxa from Morocco is finally out now! I am very happy to share this work and hope there will be more to come about early shark tooth histology! Thanks to all my co-authors, especially Hector Botella! rdcu.be/e34zE

Diversity of tooth mineralisation patterns at the base of crown chondrichthyans

Communications Biology - The study of three in situ preserved chondrichthyan tooth files reveals histological and developmental disparity at the stem of crown chondrichthyans and provides insights...

rdcu.be

Devonion fishies Elpistostege (close relative of the famous Tiktaalik) and couple of bothriolepis swimming by. Needs updating but still thinking this is one of my better paintings I have done

‼️Conference t-shirts!‼️ 👕Order your own Moroccan early #vertebrate themed #t-shirt 📝Please complete the following form before 7 Nov: forms.gle/W9NoGcBK5oo9... 📆After this date, you'll receive a link to complete your order. Don't miss out!

‼️Attention early #vertebrate enthusiasts‼️ 📝Submit your #abstract for the 18th #ISELV before 23:59 (UTC+1) on Fri 31st Oct 🌐Please follow the #submission instructions provided here: sites.google.com/view/iselv-1... 🦈We look forward to receiving your contributions!

30hrs in Sydney/Gadigal country contained far more lobe-fins than I anticipated! pt. 1 at Sealife Aquarium

Now out in Tim Smithson's Festschrift: neurocranial anatomy (incl. endocast) of the Early Devonian Durialepis et al. OA for your porolepiform pondering pleasure. W/ @gilespalaeo.bsky.social @jorgemondejar.bsky.social @tom-challands.bsky.social & S. Henderson www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

‼️Chirp, chirp‼️ 🐣Early bird registration for the 18th ISELV closes in 5 DAYS! 📆Make sure you register before September 30th for lower fees! 🌐Follow this link: sites.google.com/view/iselv-1...

Here the result from the Kuanti #paleostream! This piece was brought basically back from the brink of being an empty wasteland in the last few days.

‼️Registration for the 18th ISELV is now open!‼️ 🌐Follow this link to save your spot now! sites.google.com/view/iselv-1... 🚨Early bird deadline is 31 Sept 🐟Join us in Morocco for some fishy business!

My girlfriend found this at the store today- a tissue box with stylized #paleoart of prehistoric, pre-Mesozoic sea creatures on it! Very unexpected- features anomalocaris, tremataspis, zenaspis, and dunkleosteus.

Synchrotron CT reveals a slew of gnathostome characters in a jawless fish. Time to rethink the jawless-to-jawed transition for the umpteenth time. Also a much appreciated update to osteostracan internal anatomy. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Novel assembly of a head–trunk interface in the sister group of jawed vertebrates - Nature

Imaging of a Devonian jawless fish reveals advanced features previously thought to be exclusive to jawed vertebrates, challenging the idea that jaws were the primary driver for the evolution of d...

nature.com