Lizzy Steell
@lizzysteell.bsky.social
Birds 🦜 Passerines 🐦 Fossils 🦴 Macroevolution Post-doc at Girton College and Cambridge University (Sarah Woodhead Research Fellow in Earth Science)
The latest ish (Aug 2026) of Historical Biology has arrived. It's another monster, 30 mm thick. Highlights for me include Steell et al. on the possible Miocene bowerbird Aeviperditus and Churchill et al. on new malleodectids. Tons of other stuff. Also includes my review of Mark Witton's King Tyrant.
Lower speciation, not higher extinction, drove African megaherbivore diversity collapse doi.org/10.1038/s414... by @singerstone.bsky.social et al.
This is soooooo cool! 🐦 🎶 Something that always made me wonder when birding in a tropical place is how different the bird songs sound to temperate places. Amazing work!
Quentin Bacquelé@quentinbacquele.bsky.social · last mo.1/ The world's songbirds sing in just 8 basic sounds. And where a bird lives decides which ones it uses. My first PhD paper is out now in @science.org (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee6239) Here is what we found:
Great paper! A huge amount of effort went into the makings of this awesome work on passerine bird skeletal evolution, congrats everyone 🐦
Jake Berv@jakeberv.bsky.social · last mo.Happy to share this 'capstone' project from my time as a postdoc @umich.edu, where we show that hierarchically nested bursts of body-shape evolution may underlie much of perching-bird diversification over ~50 million years. Free access link here: rdcu.be/fuxB1
If you've ever wondered what the inside of a crocodile's skull looks like, wonder no more! Here are 43 of them in our new paper led by @palaeoburke.bsky.social in which we evaluate endocranial anatomy across extant + fossil crocodylians 🐊: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @es-ucl.bsky.social
Computed tomography reveals the endocranial anatomy of Crocodylia: Implications for phylogenetic relationships and ecomorphological convergence across Crocodylomorpha
The evaluation of the endocranial anatomy of 43 crocodylian species reveals several differences, including variation in the curvature of the encephalic endocast, the size of the endosseous labyrinth ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Why were the arms of T. rex so tiny? Literally the size of human arms, but on a bus-sized animal. Insane! Many of us have had ideas over the years & I'm part of a project led by @funstonpaleo.bsky.social But first, my thoughts on a new study for @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/t-rex-had-hu...
T. Rex Had "Human-Sized Arms On A Bus-Sized Animal" – Now We Have The Best Explanation Yet For Why
The idea that T. rex's tiny arms were a consequence of its large, powerful skull isn't new – but a study of 85 theropod species pulls together some convincing numbers to back up the claim.
iflscience.com
🦖 Research co-authored by Girton Fellow Dr Elizabeth Steell has found that smaller arms in several carnivorous dinosaur groups were closely linked to the development of large, powerful skulls. 🎧 Listen on the BBC Today Programme (starts at 2h9m) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wjl9
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
You can also read about our research in this @aunz.theconversation.com piece theconversation.com/meet-the-old... 13/13
Meet the ‘Old Mother Goose’ from NZ’s subtropical prehistoric past
The newly described fossil goose Meterchen luti lived alongside crocodilians and turtles on the shores of the ancient Lake Manuherikia.
theconversation.com
Welcome to the world Meterchen luti, the St Bathans goose that lived in subtropical New Zealand 14-19 Mya (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....), making it ten waterfowl species that lived around the giant palaeolake Manuherikia. Artwork by Sasha Votyakova/Te Papa CC BY-NC-SA. 1/13 🧵
Check out the new bowerbird special issue in Emu - Austral Ornithology! Lots of interesting new #bowerbird research, featuring a fancy flame bowerbird on the cover! Check out our review on the origins and functions of bower construction behaviour here: doi.org/10.1080/0158...
Say👋 to *Gorgonavis alcyone*, the newest enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Spain✨🐦 We welcome here the 1st adult cranial remains of a bird from the fossil site of Las Hoyas, and the 1st longipterygid out of China... Thread!!🧵👇 Paleart by Roc Olivé
🚨 For those with access to collections of bird specimens: we are looking for collaborators who can quickly measure bulbuls/greenbuls (Pycnonotidae) for a project on intraspecific trait variation. We need 100s specimens measured from common species in return for co-authorship. Anyone up for it? 🧪🌐🪶
This #FossilFriday I am delighted to share a postdoctoral position that we @deeptimeecology.bsky.social @camzoology.bsky.social are advertising on early animal evolution in the #Ediacaran. www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/postdoc...
🚨NEW PAPER OUT🚨 The anatomy of bird lower jaw bones has been understudied...until now! Here, we examine avian mandibular anatomy, answering some and raising more questions about the phylogenetic affinities of key early crown-group birds. Read on! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Mandibular morphology clarifies phylogenetic relationships near the origin of crown birds - BMC Ecology and Evolution
Background The phylogenetic relationships of fossil birds near the origin of the avian crown group remain debated, in part due to a limited amount of character evidence from incomplete fossils. The av...
link.springer.com
Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. We’re searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
Don't forgot your fossil friends on Penguin Awareness Day. Here's the skull of Eudyptes warhami, an extinct crested penguin from the Chatham Islands. Its such an interesting species that it's features on a NZ coin! Read more here: fossilpenguins.wordpress.com/2019/02/05/a...
Beyond excited to announce that as of today I officially started a Ramón y Cajal 5-year senior fellowship (tenure-track) at University of Alcalá in Madrid, if you are interested in birds & vertebrate macroevolution & you like sun & good food, hit me up to explore postdoc or PhD opportunities!
Our paper re-evaluating the notosuchian Eremosuchus elkoholicus is out now! This work formed a chapter of my PhD thesis, and sheds some light on the complex evolutionary history of sebecid crocodyliforms 🐊🌎 @es-ucl.bsky.social
Dr Paul M.J. Burke@palaeoburke.bsky.social · 9mo agoNew paper on the notosuchian Eremosuchus by @piginatutu.bsky.social, co-authored by myself and @pdmannion.bsky.social among others out now!! We even find some cool evidence of replacement teeth in the dentary! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The geology department at the University of Leicester, where myself and countless others did our palaeontology PhDs, is at serious risk of closure Please show your support by signing the below! c.org/KtYyZB8dHk
Save Geology at the University of Leicester
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
c.org
I reviewed The Tree of Life by @maxjtelford.bsky.social for @natecoevo.nature.com 🌳 You can access my review for free here: rdcu.be/eOcYY
A beginner’s guide to tree thinking
Nature Ecology & Evolution - A beginner’s guide to tree thinking
rdcu.be
Max Telford@maxjtelford.bsky.social · 10mo agoNice, intelligent review of my book "The Tree of Life" in Nature Ecology and Evolution by @bethanyjallen.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Life-So... Out in USA next Tuesday! www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...
What better way to finish off #FossilFriday than to read about the latest discovery from St Bathans of a possible Miocene bowerbird in Aotearoa #NewZealand theconversation.com/a-tiny-fossi... @lizzysteell.bsky.social
A tiny fossil suggests bowerbirds once lived in ancient New Zealand – new research
New Zealand’s ancient bowerbird was smaller and more slender than the species living in Australia and New Guinea today.
theconversation.com
Bowerbirds are Australo-Papuan birds engaging in some of the most flamboyant displays among vertebrates, and they might have been in New Zealand - Aotearoa in the Miocene too! Amazing descriptive research with a tinge of quantitative flair lead by @lizzysteell.bsky.social Check it out! 👇
Lizzy Steell@lizzysteell.bsky.social · 10mo ago🦴New fossil alert🦴 Introducing Aeviperditus gracilis, a possible bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand. My first fossil description! Artwork by the amazing Sasha Votyakova (Te Papa CC-BY-SA) (🧵1/11)
Check out our @aunz.theconversation.com article covering the St Bathans #bowerbird story! theconversation.com/a-tiny-fossi... @nicrawlencenz.bsky.social @atennyson.bsky.social @plubbe.bsky.social
A tiny fossil suggests bowerbirds once lived in ancient New Zealand – new research
New Zealand’s ancient bowerbird was smaller and more slender than the species living in Australia and New Guinea today.
theconversation.com
Welcome to the world Aevipertidus gracilis - the gracile one from a lost age. 14-19 Mya ancient #NewZealand appears to have had a bowerbird. Check out this amazing research mahi led by Elizabeth Steell (www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....). Artwork by Sasha Votyakova/Te Papa CC-BY-SA. 1/9 🧵
🦴New fossil alert🦴 Introducing Aeviperditus gracilis, a possible bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand. My first fossil description! Artwork by the amazing Sasha Votyakova (Te Papa CC-BY-SA) (🧵1/11)
And here you can find the plain-language summary🙂 fesummaries.wordpress.com/2025/09/19/w...
Why bird wing bones look so similar inside, no matter how they live
Fabio Alfieri, Oliver E. Demuth, Elizabeth M. Steell, Anne-Claire Fabre, Daniel J. Field This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which can be found here. Bones are…
fesummaries.wordpress.com
