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Frederic Delsuc

@freddelsuc.bsky.social

Evolutionary biologist at CNRS - ISEM - University of Montpellier - Phylogenomics - Mammals - Convergence - Microbiome

14 Posts583 Follower 601 Folgt

Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf.bsky.social · 2w ago

Holiday in the climate emergency. No that’s not AI or edited, just a snapshot I just took with my phone on Lacanau beach in France. What future will this boy grow up in? It is in our hands, but time is running out.

Science Magazine @science.org · 3w ago

A mouse that lives higher than any other mammal has evolved unexpected adaptations that allow it to thrive from sea level to Andean summits, researchers report in a new Science study. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4bzjqWY

Adaptation across an extreme elevational gradient in Andean leaf-eared mice, the world’s highest-dwelling mammal

Andean leaf-eared mice (Phyllotis vaccarum) live at the highest elevations of any mammal, and they also have the broadest elevational range, from sea level to mountain summits of >6700 meters. Highlan...

scim.ag

Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution @official-smbe.bsky.social · last mo.

#SMBE2026 day 2 is ongoing! The day started with a great talk by @emmateeling.bsky.social on why understanding bat evolution is crucial for human health. The symposia are now starting. We wish everyone a great first full day of the meeting!

Michael Okun @michael-okun.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I’ve officially resigned as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. It used to be a reputable journal, but became a case study in how forced automation destroys academic integrity. 👇

Rémi Allio @remiallio.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are very glad to introduce a new method for designing phylogenetically informative target-enrichment datasets that leverages recent whole-genome alignment methods to identify thousands of shared and homologous regions across a broad range of reference taxa! Please, check out Benjamin's preprint!

GABBI: an automated, open-source pipeline, integrating genome alignments into phylogenetic markers selection

bioRxiv Evolutionary Biology@biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A new method based on genome alignments provides a highly resolutive target enrichment set for weevils (Coleoptera, Curculionoidea) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.09.724036v1

Gael Kergoat @gkergoat.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Paper alert! 📣 Really cool study stemming from the Master thesis of #Benjamin_Zelvelder @cbgpmontpellier.bsky.social @inrae-dpt-spe.bsky.social with @remiallio.bsky.social #insect host-shifts between #parasitic and non-parasitic plants! #Proc.B @royalsocietypublishing.org doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🦔 It’s #WorldPangolinDay! The world’s only scaly mammals have skulls as distinctive as their scales. A study in our @zoojlinnsoc.bsky.social analysed 241 specimens, revealing differences between Asian & African species - and hidden diversity within the white-bellied pangolin: buff.ly/bZPlGIl

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · 6mo ago

McMaster University is seeking applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow in Sedimentary Ancient DNA. The role focuses on improving sedaDNA methods and reconstructing past ecosystems. Salary: CAD $70,000/year. Apply by Feb 24, 2026. More info: [McMaster University](https://www.mcmaster.ca). #postdoc

Home

Explore McMaster University, a prestigious Ontario university in Canada, known for its research and academic programs. Discover our vibrant campus today.

mcmaster.ca

Frederic Delsuc @freddelsuc.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper on convergent regressive evolution of genes involved in oral anatomy of myrmecophagous mammals is now officially published @molbioevol.bsky.social 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009

Pseudogenes document protracted parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals

Abstract. Adaptation to ant and/or termite consumption (myrmecophagy) in mammals constitutes a textbook example of convergent evolution, being independentl

doi.org

Frederic Delsuc@freddelsuc.bsky.social · last yr.

New @erc.europa.eu funded #ConvergeAnt preprint on using the evolution of pseudogenes to document the parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals posted at @biorxiv-evobio.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Regression of genes linked to the oral apparatus in myrmecophagous mammals

Molecular Biology and Evolution @molbioevol.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Emerling, @freddelsuc.bsky.social et al. investigated candidate genes related to dentition, gustation, and mastication in nine convergent myrmecophagous mammalian lineages, finding that convergent evolution of myrmecophagy was a protracted process. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009 #evobio #molbio

Pseudogenes document protracted parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals

Abstract. Adaptation to ant and/or termite consumption (myrmecophagy) in mammals constitutes a textbook example of convergent evolution, being independentl

doi.org

Claire Mérot @clairemerot.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We hope this little guide and review of the recent literature on SVs will be useful for the community in #ecology #evolution #genomics #PopGen. Great lead by Kat!!

Katarina Stuart@katarinastuart.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New review! Theory & a practical guide to structural variants in popgen🧬 Many thanks to my co-authors: @rebekahoomen.bsky.social @annatigano.bsky.social @marenwellenreuther.bsky.social @janawold.bsky.social @dlfield.bsky.social @clairemerot.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Steven Salzberg @stevensalzberg.bsky.social · 7mo ago

very sad news. Peer Bork was one of the leaders of our field, a wonderful scientist, and he's much too young to be gone. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...

In remembrance of Peer Bork | EMBL

EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.

embl.org

Frederic Delsuc @freddelsuc.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Just sharing new tool written by Vincent Ranwez to view and manipulate sequences and alignments directly in your terminal github.com/ranwez-searc... Pretty convenient!

GitHub - ranwez-search/SeqTUI: A fast terminal-based viewer and command-line toolkit for molecular sequences (DNA, AA). View, translate, convert (to FASTA), and combine sequences aligned or not — all ...

A fast terminal-based viewer and command-line toolkit for molecular sequences (DNA, AA). View, translate, convert (to FASTA), and combine sequences aligned or not — all from the terminal. - ranwez-...

github.com

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 7mo ago

We've got ISSUES. Literally. We scraped >100k special issues & over 1 million articles to bring you a PISS-poor paper. We quantify just how many excess papers are published by guest editors abusing special issues to boost their CVs. How bad is it & what can we do? arxiv.org/abs/2601.07563 A 🧵 1/n

Dr Mark E Hauber @thecowbirdlab.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Academia friendly peer-reviewed journals in EEB: academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology

Abstract. The current economics of scientific publishing reveal a profound imbalance: academia pays prices far exceeding the actual costs of publication. R

academic.oup.com

Jean-Pierre Vacher @jpvacher.bsky.social · 9mo ago

“Handbook of Amphibians of French Guiana” by Antoine Fouquet, Elodie A. Courtois, Maël Dewynter is now available in English. This reference book presents detailed keys, distribution maps, phylogeography, ecology and calls of all species of 🐸 and caecilians. sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/collectio...

Yawako @yawaguchi.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees! yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/ Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches. Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.

PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor

Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.

yawak.jp

🧬Jacob L Steenwyk @jlsteenwyk.bsky.social · 9mo ago

NEW pub in @science.org 🥳 Is it sponges (panels A & B) or comb jellies (C & D) that root the animal tree of life? For over 15 years, #phylogenomic studies have been divided. We provide new evidence suggesting that... 🔗: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Adam Rutherford @adamrutherford.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Right. Hitler's DNA. Brace yourselves for a deluge of misinformation and bad science. I'm in Australia, so do get in touch if you want some expert debunking.

Tania Louis @tanialouis.fr · 9mo ago

De mon côté on m'a confié le micro pour la chronique sciences. Cette fois j'ai décidé de parler du fonctionnement scandaleux de l'édition scientifique, peu connu en dehors des labos : www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg2C... Mais 4 minutes c'est court, alors j'ajoute quelques ressources ci-dessous !

Le beurre, l’argent du beurre et le c*l des chercheurs- La chronique de Tania Louis dans La dernière

YouTube video by Radio Nova

youtube.com

Bruce S. Lieberman @bruceslieberman.bsky.social · 9mo ago

If you're a #teacher interested in a great #openaccess write up on reading #phylogenetic trees, check out www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/system... created by @jonhendricks.bsky.social and Elizabeth Hermsen.

2.1 Reading Trees

Chapter contents: Systematics — 1. Taxonomy — 2. Phylogenetics —— 2.1 Reading trees ← —— 2.2 Building trees —— 2.3 Character mapping —— 2.4 Phylogenetic trees and classificationParts of a tree A phylo...

digitalatlasofancientlife.org

Ana Serra Silva @anaserrasilva.bsky.social · 10mo ago

If you're interested in understanding discordance in phylogenomic analyses, the @evojlinnsoc.bsky.social's special issue 'Phylogenomic Discordance: Patterns, Processes, and Solutions' is for you! tinyurl.com/v2eces3s I'll be sharing a few articles a week until we're through the issue! (1/n)🧪

Phylogenomic Discordance: Patterns, Processes, and Solutions

Phylogenomics, the study of evolutionary relationships using genomic data, has revolutionized our understanding of the Tree of Life. As a field, phylogenomics h

academic.oup.com

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below.

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

A figure detailing the drain on researcher time.

1. The four-fold drain

1.2 Time
The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce,
with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure
1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material
has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs,
grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for
profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time.
The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million
unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of
peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting
widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the
authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many
review demands.
Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of
scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in
‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow
progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to
volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier,
local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with
limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging
with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks
intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision.

A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below:

1. The four-fold drain
1.1 Money
Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for
whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who
created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis,
which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024
alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit
margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher
(Elsevier) always over 37%.
Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most
consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial
difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor &
Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American
researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The
Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3
billion in that year.

The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised
scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers
first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour
resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.

Dan Brockington @danbrockington.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Profits from scientific publishing are eye-watering, costing us billions. In ‘The Drain of Scientific Publishing’ (arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820), (building on ‘The Strain of Scientific Publishing’ doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00327) we show how it is harmful – and unnecessary.

The Drain of Scientific Publishing

The domination of scientific publishing in the Global North by major commercial publishers is harmful to science. We need the most powerful members of the research community, funders, governments and ...

arxiv.org

Lucie Zinger @luciezinger.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Retour sur quatorze années de recherche sur la #biodiversité #tropicale d'Amazonie avec le Centre d’Etude de la Biodiversité Amazonienne (Labex #CEBA) 😍 - Un grand merci à Jerôme Chave et tous les autres acteurs du LabEx! anr.fr/fr/actus/det...

Plongée au cœur de quatorze années de recherche sur la biodiversité amazonienne avec le laboratoire d’excellence (Labex) CEBA (Centre d’Etude de la Biodiversité Amazonienne)

La Guyane est un laboratoire naturel idéal pour étudier la biodiversité tropicale. Depuis 14 ans, le Labex CEBA, basé en Guyane française et porté par le CNRS, cherche à comprendre l’origine et le mai...

anr.fr

Quentin Martinez @quentinwildlife.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Thrilled to have won the Amphibians and Reptiles category of the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year and to be able to share this fascinating frog behavior! #wpy61 #frogs #herpetology www.quentinmartinez.fr

Jonathan Romiguier @selfishmeme.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Cross-species cloning in ants 🐜 These two males belong to different species—but share the same mother. How? Why? To celebrate the print release of our last paper in this week’s @nature.com (issue 8084), here’s a thread summarizing the results. Why? Let’s dive in🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Marcela Uliano-Silva @marcelauliano.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Preprint Alert! 🦥 We produced complete genomes for 2 Xenarthra and placed them in a mammalian comparative framework. We found that Xenarthra harbour the largest number of retrocopies in mammals! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Retrocopy formation and domestication shape genome evolution in sloths and other xenarthrans

Xenarthrans, comprising sloths, anteaters, and armadillos, represent one of the most morphologically and physiologically specialised mammalian clades, yet the genomic basis of their adaptations remain...

biorxiv.org

Andy Foote @andrewfoote.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Another record month for bioRxiv - and further evidence the pandemic spike+dip was just that and growth continues. Thanks to all involved and that includes 🫵