Our latest: Xinyuan Meng @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social describes Bataspis crux, expanding galeaspid (jawless fish) disparity with a bat-like head adapted for dynamic lift. Xinyuan's study was aided by @ferronhg.bsky.social Davide Pisani, Zhikun Gai and myself. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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

Our latest: The timescale of nematode evolution reveals late and convergent radiations of parasitism. Led by Liang Lü, with help from @djbirddanerd.bsky.social Mattia Giacomelli @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social Oleksandr Holovachov, Davide Pisani and myself www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The timescale of nematode evolution reveals late and convergent radiations of parasitism - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Establishing a universal evolutionary timescale of nematodes has been complicated by their patchy fossil record and analytical limitations. Combining genomic data from 156 nematode species with fossil...

nature.com

How about Jason, in honor of the local Donarvan?

Bristol Palaeobiology@bristolpalaeo.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Katrina and Emily present our latest adoption to the vert palaeo teaching collections, a platypus. We’re all now very invested in finding him a name - any suggestions?

Our latest: Exploring the limits of wing design in pterosaurs, led by Benton Walters @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social who shows, in this theoretical morphospace analysis, that assaying pterosaur wing shape variation and performance is compromised by a lack of consensus on wing shape and structure

Our latest: Phylogenomics resolves the century-old ‘Zoraptera problem’: Zoraptera as the earliest diverging lineage of Polyneoptera - largely completed by the indefatigable Chenyang Cai while a postdoc @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social - the study finds that Zoraptera are sister to all other polyneopterans

Phylogenomics resolves the century-old ‘Zoraptera problem’: Zoraptera as the earliest diverging lineage of Polyneoptera

Abstract. Wing evolution enabled insects to pioneer aerial niches, a key innovation driving their remarkable radiation. However, interordinal relationships

royalsocietypublishing.org

Latest from the lab: @ruolinwu.bsky.social integrates fossil and molecular evidence to estimate the timing of origin of flowering plants. Thanks to @sabifo4.bsky.social @jameswclark.bsky.social Yue Tong, Shan Wan, Davide Pisani, Harald Schneider and Daniele Silvestro for helping to make this happen

Ruolin WU@ruolinwu.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The broader implication extends beyond flowering plants. Many famous "rocks vs. clocks" debates may not require choosing sides. The challenge is finding better ways to let fossils and molecules speak to each other. Link to our latest: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Assistant Professor position in paleontology @uugeo.bsky.social 🤩 🐚 🌊 🧪 ⚒️

Assistant Professor in Paleontology

Are you a team player and proactive innovator in an emerging field of paleontology? Please apply!

uu.nl

JOB CLAXON: Imaging Assistant @nhm-london.bsky.social . Permanent role. Would be good for someone with CT experience! jobs.nhm.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Imaging Assistant:South Kensington

jobs.nhm.ac.uk

Come join us! We have a one-year, part-time, education-focussed Assistant Professor post in Palaeobiology. Deadline for applications is 2nd June 2026. Please see more at the below link: edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Assistant Professor (Education) in Palaeobiology - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences - 107465 - Grade 8

You will contribute to a range of education-related activities. In addition you will be expected to demonstrate academic citizenship, developing and maintaining mutually respectful and supportive work...

edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com

Out latest: Morphological disparity in elateriform beetles: patterns, trends and implications by YanDi Li, with negligible contribution by myself, Chenyang Cai and colleagues royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Morphological disparity in elateriform beetles: patterns, trends and implications

Abstract. Morphological disparity, reflecting the breadth of phenotypic variation within clades, offers critical insights into evolutionary dynamics beyond

royalsocietypublishing.org

Our latest: Theoretical morphospace reveals mixed optimisation of the avian wing planform for flight style - the work of Benton Walters, with very little help from myself and @emilyrayfield.bsky.social

Theoretical morphospace reveals mixed optimisation of the avian wing planform for flight style - Nature Communications

Here, the authors examine bird wing planform shape and functional performance using theoretical morphospace and phylomorphospace. They find that, in a sample of 1138 extant bird taxa, planform shape i...

nature.com

"Ten simple rules for postdoctoral mums to stay competitive in academia" provides good advice for anyone, but great to see an article focused on having a life in science

Our latest: Conflict in ant phylogeny results from complex interaction between multiple evolutionary signals and tree reconstruction artifacts.

Conflict in ant phylogeny results from complex interaction between multiple evolutionary signals and tree reconstruction artifacts

Abstract. Ants, Formicidae, are a group of small social insects that inhabit nearly all terrestrial environments. Three competing hypotheses of ant relatio

academic.oup.com

My spring vacation reading has arrived!

Final day of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social visited Museu de las Ciencias de la Terra in Alacasser and on to the K-Pg boundary section in Agost

Day 6 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social visited Museo de Paleontología de Castilla-La Mancha, constructed food webs for Las Hoyas from museum collections, and debated museum designs and communicating palaeontology to the public

Day 5 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social investigated the Lower Cretaceous Las Hoyas wetland with its exceptionally preserved dinosaurs, birds, early mammals and early members of the flowering plants

Day 4 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social constructed a sea level curve and palaeogeography for middle and upper Ordovician of Fombuena

Day 3 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social investigated the taphonomy of cinctans (bilateral stem-echinoderms) and the nature of middle Cambrian marine environments

Day 2 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip for our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social we looked at exceptional preservation in Miocene lakes and Cretaceous deltas

Today was Day 1 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip for our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social. We packed in a flight to Alicante and a drive to Teruel to visit Dinopolis and Albarracin to visit the Jurassic Seas museum

If you are looking for an example of best-practice in abstract-writing, this is a good starting point

Statistically significant chuckles: who is using humour at scientific conferences?

Abstract. We’ve all been there: 11.47, swamped by a long stretch of dense scientific talks at a conference. Six slides into a hyper-technical presentation,

doi.org

Our latest: Dermoskeletal histology of Moythomasia and the evolution of the vertebrate dermal skeleton, led by Xianren Shan and Edine Pape, with a little help from Martin Rucklin @evopalaeo.bsky.social and Davide Pisani @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

The Dermal Skeleton of Stem‐Actinopterygian Moythomasia durgaringa and Its Implications for the Nature of the Ancestral Osteichthyan

The figure presents a model of Moythomasia and a schematic histological model illustrating the internal structure and features of the cranial bones. These include bone (brown), osteocyte spaces (red)...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Go @kirstenflett.bsky.social !!!

Kirsten Emily Flett@kirstenflett.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Very excited to share that my first PhD paper is out now in Biology Letters! We studied Megaclonophycus specimens and analysed how they develop, informing on their affinity. Developmental biology of the Ediacaran Megaclonophycus from the Weng’an Biota url: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...

Thanks to Yinuo and Wei for organising such an excellent Spring Festival meal @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social last night - enough to attract our alums Eleonora and Mattia from Ireland and Spain!

Our latest: A new dead (jawless) fish from the early Silurian of China, informs on the nature of the ancestral galeaspid. Led by Yumeng Zhang from Zhikun Gai's group at IVPP

A New Dayongaspid Galeaspid from the Silurian of the Lower Yangtze Region: Implications for Biogeography and the Evolution of Key Adaptations in Galeaspids - Journal of Earth Science

Galeaspids are an extinct group of jawless armored fishes that are integral to understanding the origin of anatomical innovations of jawed vertebrates. Resolving the nature of the jawless ancestor of ...

link.springer.com

Congrats to @ruolinwu.bsky.social who is now officially Dr Wu! @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

📢 Open faculty position – Origins of Life We have an opening in our section at the University of Geneva! 🧬🚀 SPREAD THE WORD Apply here: jobs.unige.ch/www/wd_porta...

a woman says " would you like to join us " with her eyes closed

ALT: a woman says " would you like to join us " with her eyes closed

media.tenor.com

Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others

Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history

Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.

science.org