Alright, talk ready to go. Marine Reptiles 2026 meeting at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. There are SO many talks (and posters), I'm really looking forward to it. #ichthyosaurs
Prof. Valentin Fischer
@val-fisch.bsky.social
Professor of palaeontology @ Université de Liège, Belgium Director of the Evolution & Diversity Dynamics Lab. I study the biodiversity and extinctions of fossil marine predators
How do you take the temperature of a T. rex 66 million years too late? Time machine? Impossible. Billionaire’s dinosaur island? Risky. Geochemistry? Much safer 🦖🌡️ Our new Science Advances paper adds evidence for an endothermic, “warm-blooded” T. rex, link to the paper 🔗 doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Open Palaeontology has a new look 💜 Our brand-new website is live! Same mission as ever: Diamond Open Access palaeo research — free to publish, free to read, for everyone. Come explore ➡️ www.openpalaeo.org #PaleoSky #OpenAccess #Palaeontology
Cahiers de l'ILTP
Open Palaeontology is an international Diamond Open Access journal promoting open science in palaeontology
openpalaeo.org
Ghent University members are asking for support, so its institution can investigate Cofnas as its regulations require, and because: "appeals to absolutist academic freedom as a guise for pursuing racist and pseudoscientific research threaten the integrity and credibility of research as a whole"
Pieter T. L. Beck@ptrbck.bsky.social · last mo.We have written a statement in support of Ghent Uni's decision to suspend Nathan Cofnas. We resist attempts to frame this as a punishment for "whistleblowing" or censorship of "controversial research". We invite all academics who share our views to sign our letter. forms.gle/qwN8xzEM5C7Q...
The EDDyLab Summer Mammal Madness continues with Michaud et al 2026 in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social on musteloid brains! @universitedeliege.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Brain scaling and diversity in musteloids
Virtual endocasts of 41 musteloid species show that brain organisation is dominated by size-related scaling: larger brains have expanded cerebra, reduced olfactory bulbs and hindbrains, and rounder e...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Another lab paper in a @royalsociety.org journal this summer: @rsookias.bsky.social and colleagues analyse the biodiversity dynamics of archosauromorphs before, during, and after the Triassic, in ProcB @universitedeliege.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Dawn of the dinosaurs demonstrates early diversification bursts and a potential role for neutral dynamics during major evolutionary radiations
Abstract. Major radiations have given rise to huge swathes of life on Earth, and understanding their dynamics reveals the process of biodiversity generatio
royalsocietypublishing.org
Here is our new paper: Global proliferation of opportunistic pleuromeian lycopsids following the disappearance of the end-Triassic forests. Peng J, Slater S. M, McLoughlin S, Rastier A, Vajda V: doi.org/10.1038/s445... #Paleobotany #lycopsids #Jurassic
Global proliferation of opportunistic pleuromeian lycopsids following the disappearance of the end-Triassic forests - npj Palaeoecosystems
npj Palaeoecosystems - Global proliferation of opportunistic pleuromeian lycopsids following the disappearance of the end-Triassic forests
doi.org
In the mean time we can choose to only publish in and review for society/non-profit journals. ISEM has a good list to help us: dafnee.isem-evolution.fr
DAFNEE, a Database of Academia Friendly jourNals in Ecology and Evolution
dafnee.isem-evolution.fr
Idea: create a diamond open access Journal of European Palaeontology, where all European researchers in palaeontology publish all their papers. Papers not published there will not be considered in CVs, promotions, etc. 1/3
European summers aren't what they used to be! Grey curve is the climate of 1950-90. Every coloured line is a summer since 1991. Every one since 2005 sits beyond the 95th percentile of the curve. This isn't a shifting #climate. It's already a new one! 🤯🥵 Plot inspired by Barriopedro et al. 2011
The ICS released an updated geologic time scale back in June: stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/Chr...
stratigraphy.org
Amazing day for carnivorous mammal enthusiasts out there 🐺🦁🐻🦝🦦two new papers out in @royalsociety.org 🥳: Vankelst et al 2026 in Proceedings B doi.org/10.1098/rspb... and @val-fisch.bsky.social & Solé et al. 2026 in Biology Letters doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... More details below👇🧵1/9
New paper out on dietary signals in tooth topography vs morphometrics, first-authored by the impressive Melvin Vankelst in the @val-fisch.bsky.social lab! FAVE Lab had the pleasure of hosting Melvin for this and other research activities during a semester-long visit earlier in the year.
Prof. Valentin Fischer@val-fisch.bsky.social · 2mo agoNew paper by Ph.D. student Melvin Vankelst in Proc B. We modified our semi-automated high density 3D geometric morphometrics protocol to fit carnivoran molars, and test the shape-diet links of these teeth. Check it out! @universitedeliege.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Second paper out today on fossil carnivorans, this time in Biology Letters @royalsocietypublishing.org. We looked at the evolution of the body mass of carnivorous mammals throughout the Paleogene, comparing the patterns in Europe vs USA 1/3
New paper by Ph.D. student Melvin Vankelst in Proc B. We modified our semi-automated high density 3D geometric morphometrics protocol to fit carnivoran molars, and test the shape-diet links of these teeth. Check it out! @universitedeliege.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Decoupling geometry and topography reveals contrasting ecomorphological signals in carnivoran carnassial teeth
Abstract. The lower carnassial tooth (m1) is a key innovation underlying the ecological diversification of Carnivora. However, their exceptionally diverse
royalsocietypublishing.org
Our new paper introduces a fast & Bayesian state-dependent OU model in RevBayes that implements joint inference, to test adaptive macroevolutionary hypotheses. Congrats @prilau.bsky.social! Be sure to give her a follow & give her original tweet some love! Many more exciting PCMs in her future!
Priscilla Lau@prilau.bsky.social · 2mo agoOur paper (also, my first first-author paper) is now available in MEE early view! In this study, we introduced a state-dependent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model we implemented in RevBayes to test adaptive hypotheses in macroevolution. (1/3) besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Early-diverging stem snake illuminates early diversity of our serpentine friends. Paper in @nature.com @trsimoes.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Exceptional brain and ecological diversity in the earliest snakes - Nature
A well-preserved fossil snake from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil shows early ecological and brain shape disparity in the group.
nature.com
First PhD paper from Romain Cottereau, directly without his two PhD supervisors @val-fisch.bsky.social and me. Congrats Romain for this nice dissection paper on a giant paddle of humpback whale and on those of its relatives with a new tissue-illuminating technique!
Prof. Valentin Fischer@val-fisch.bsky.social · 2mo ago#3: important new information on the soft tissues in the flipper of humpback whales by my Ph.D. student Romain Cottereau onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
New paper from @jakeberv.bsky.social harnesses a massive skeletal measurement dataset for passerines to show nested bursts in phenotypic evolution, many of which appear coincident with intervals of climate instability. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Slowly catching up with the sciences published by the lab over the first part of the summer. A thread!
Our newest paper on mammalian dental evolution, out today as the cover article in @science.org, lead by @narimanechatar.bsky.social with a team of fantastic early career scientists!!! 🎉🥳 “Performance trade-offs define a fundamental dental dichotomy in mammals” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Excited to share our latest study highlighted on the cover of @science.org 🥳Combining a 3D dataset representing 250 taxa spanning the whole Cenozoic, 3D modelling & printing and material testing; we deciphered the form-function relationship in the lower 🦷 of mammals www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
If you want an up-to-date summary of whale and dolphin evolution, have a read of my new review paper in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com! I’ve tried to cover as much research as possible in this, so apologies if I’ve missed you! doi.org/10.1038/s443...
The evolution and diversification of Cetacea - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
Cetaceans are a highly diverse and enigmatic group of animals with a well-documented evolutionary history. This Review describes the macroevolutionary and palaeobiological history of Cetacea, from the...
doi.org
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
The evolution and diversification of Cetacea - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
Cetaceans are a highly diverse and enigmatic group of animals with a well-documented evolutionary history. This Review describes the macroevolutionary and palaeobiological history of Cetacea, from the...
nature.com
Big news and only 10 days left for abstract submission - it is not too late to join the ICHTHYOSAUR symposium @ipc7.bsky.social as we can now announce that @val-fisch.bsky.social will give an amazing keynote presentation🤩🤩
IPC7@ipc7.bsky.social · 3mo ago📢 Great news! We've extended the deadline for abstract submissions! We can't wait to see your latest research! 📅 New deadline: 13 July 2026 🌐 Submit your abstract 👉 www.ipc7.site #IPC7 #Palaeontology #Abstracts #Conference2026 #CapeTown #FossilScience
I am thrilled that my dream project was funded by the #ERC @erc.europa.eu as a 5 year Advanced Grant! Final amount somewhere over €2M. I'll be advertising 2 postdocs (1 more empirical; one more theoretical), technician and research administrator in due time. erc.europa.eu/news-events/...
Out in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social for #FossilFriday with @tsengzj.bsky.social @amnh.org back in 22' I found a skull labelled Pseudaelurus. It turned out to be the most complete skull of Adelphailurus kansensis, an early-diverging machairodont🦁🔪 doi.org/10.1080/0272... 🎨 by @gamarraptor.bsky.social
The second episode of Surviving Earth premieres tonight on NBC! But before that I want to share with you more concept designs I did for various animals from last week’s episode. If you know me you can imagine how excited I was to design Triassic species for this show! #paleoart #sciart #conceptart
Flying fish gliding above the surface of the water. Original post