It is out, it is out! Our study on neural crest cells and micro to macroevolution in lizard skull 🦎

High-energy particles streaming through space can damage DNA and increase cancer risk, but antioxidants, tardigrades and hibernation could help astronauts make the journey safely.

How does development shape skull evolution? In lizards, neural crest–derived skull bones drive rapid sexually selected shape change within species but show long-term constraint, revealing developmental bias linking micro- and macroevolution. Image Credit: Wikimedia academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Two new Science studies on lizard coloration reveal how a delicate interplay of genetics, environment, and social dynamics can either preserve or erase polymorphic diversity in species. 📄: https://scim.ag/4srYKHi 📄: https://scim.ag/4qCcsWn

🧪 Check this if you are interested in the convoluted evolution of lacertid colours. Yes, I know, we missed a unique opportunity opportunity to call the phenomenon "Chromatic Barrier of the Appennines", which totally sounds like a badass DnD spell. #evolution #colsci #lizard #sexualselection

🦚🔪"The Handicap Principle [HP] is the only theory in modern biology to our knowledge that is anti-Darwinian... The time is long overdue to reject HP/costly signalling paradigm... the longest non-Darwinian detour in the history of modern biology"

Se acaba de publicar cierto artículo de la ganadora del I concurso de comunicación científica de la @ucciuv.bsky.social, @bartolomealicia.bsky.social #ciencia #divulgacion #reptiles #bienestaranimal theconversation.com/reptiles-los...

Today I found out that the sex pheromones of Aplysia (a genus of extremely large sea slugs) are called: • Enticin 🌶️ • Attractin 👁️🫦👁️ • Temptin 🌺 • Seductin 🔥 And I find that wonderful. Please vote for your favorite. Credits to Trystam Wyatt's book on Pheromones and Animal Behavior. #ethology

🦎THREAD: We just published something wild in @asn-amnat.bsky.social - lizards missing entire limbs not only survive, but some appear to actually thrive in the wild?! Let me tell you about the "three-legged pirate" lizards 🏴‍☠️ [Paper: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/... ] (1/n)

Check this piece published on @theguardian.com featuring the awesome work of an international team (pics by @rgarciaroa.bsky.social lens) on butterflies 🦋 coloration and deforestation 🌲🪓 in the Amazon As forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Round 4 of surveys for the Mt Lyell #salamander (Hydromantes platycephalus). We were able to sample 7 salamanders this time, including a juvenile! #herpetology #herps #amphibians

📢🦋 Our paper ‘Global selection on insect antipredator coloration’ is out and featured on the cover of @science.org We ran a huge experiment to find out how ecological context favours camouflage and warning colouration as antipredator strategies. 1/6 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Many wall lizards briefly sport bright blue tails as predator decoys after hatching. Our new study shows their throats and bellies also change color, yet at wavelengths invisible to humans! Could other species, too, undergo such cryptic shifts? @uv.es @ucciuv.bsky.social tinyurl.com/4rjfmde9 🧪🦎

Thrilled to see *National Geographic* highlight the wall lizards living in Cincinnati and our research on these little guys! www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti... #WalliesWorld

Watch #BiologyLetters author Avery Maune talk about new research revealing that urbanization can reshape social behaviour in the common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis): cassyni.com/events/3Hp2U... #AnimalBehaviour #ethology

Protección frente al alarmismo agrario: la tortuga mora, rehén del ruido político en la Región de Murcia www.eldiario.es/1_c103ac?utm...

ESTO ES IMPORTANTÍSIMO Euskadi suspende la campaña de la pesca de la angula ante la situación crítica de la especie Un paso crucial para lo conservación de la anguila, tomada en el territorio donde su consumo tiene más arraigo @miteco.gob.es y otras CCAA, os toca www.europapress.es/euskadi/noti...

Aquí podéis encontrar una nota de prensa sobre nuestro ultimo artículo. Muchas gracias al equipo de @ucciuv.bsky.social #divulgacion #lagartijas #color #desarrollo www.uv.es/uvweb/univer...

📖Published📖 Roemer et al. propose a comprehensive evaluation of the limits and possibilities of passive acoustic monitoring of bats, identifying knowledge gaps and practice barriers, and highlighting novel ideas that may revolutionise practices🦇👇 buff.ly/l8DGN7X 🌍 🧪

After a lot of time spent in the darkness of the wind tunnel, the results finally see the light. I'm very excited to share what will become the first chapter of my thesis. Energy conversion efficiency peaks at intermediate flight speed in a migratory songbird www.cell.com/current-biol...

🧪 New paper out! Growing up, wall lizards undergo a UV-visible “awkward phase” (who doesn’t?) that we can’t see—but they can. These ontogenetic color changes may mediate juvenile–adult interactions by delaying the onset of adult social signals. doi.org/10.1002/jez.... #colsci #lizard #ontogeny

333 wolf packs in Spain, 12% increase from the previous census (>10y ago). Sadly, local governments are approving 20% culls (targeting adult mothers for extra damage, ofc). The official excuse: preventing food waste. I kid you not. #lobovivo #loboprotegido #wolf elpais.com/clima-y-medi...

It's out! Read about how to combine advanced animal vision modelling and colour pattern analysis with comparative phylogenetic methods in arguably some of the most incredible critters in the ocean: doi.org/10.1111/1365.... Amazing work with amazing people! #colsci #micaToolbox #AnimalEcology

La osadía de llamar cobarde a un toro (un animal social y doméstico) por rehuir el maltrato en la plaza. Pobre Antonio, quiere que los toros pongan de su parte en su sangriento espectáculo amañado. La tauromaquia, como los gladiadores: mejor en el cine y los cuadros, donde nadie sufre @elpais.com

Remember when you first learned about genetics at school? All those fascinating examples of human traits that are each apparently determined by just a single gene? Time to check in on some of your favourites to see how they’re doing. 🧬🧵🧪 1/n

Practical advice on variable selection and reporting using Akaike information criterion: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #ProcB #ecology

📸Capturing Ecology 2025 is OPEN ⭐️Our renowned photography competition is back for another year, showcasing stories of ecological triumph, challenge and resilience. 📷@rgarciaroa.bsky.social

Free-roaming cats threaten island biodiversity, yet countries like Spain and Italy only permit trap-neuter-release. While the authors offer valuable tools to improve management, persistent myths like “neutered cats don’t hunt” remain. No wonder Maltese lizards are vanishing—kudos to the authors!

🚨 We're hiring! Fully funded Postdoc(s) in Systems Biology at Stockholm University & SciLifeLab — focus on predictive modeling in evolution and development. 📍 Stockholm 🕒 2+1 years 🔍 Details: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/... Please share!

Gracias por esta nota de prensa sobre nuestro último artículo, que incluye retrato de los hombres-lagarto iridiscentes de la UV! Link: zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #colsci #herpetology #lizard #visualmodels #sensoryecology #spectrophotometry

🧪 Lizards use jazz hands to de-escalate territorial disputes, supporting the idea that contest outcome hinges on real-time mutual assessment of motivation signals rather than developmetally-fixed proxies of fighting ability (i.e. quality signals). shorturl.at/DEIEd #ethology bsky.app/profile/abal...

Shout out to the Turtle Frog, Myobatrachus gouldii, from Australia. Image from Vertucci et al. 2017 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... 🌿🐸🧪

And here's the blog that outlines the 5-year journey and insights behind our latest article communities.springernature.com/posts/steppi...

Together with student Isabel van der Velden we started working our way through the collection. And YES we found microplastic... 😱 (This is now her first scientific publication! Congrats Isabel!! 🥳) Everyone can read it as the story is fully #openaccess ✅ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 8/x

NEW PAPER, JUST OUT! 👀 Insects from the '70s and '80s were already collecting microplastic, decades before the term microplastic even existed. 🤯 A thread on the surprising history of this pollutant and the incredible insect larvae that helped us uncover it. 🐛 Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x

🧪 Is lizard iridescence really about predators or conspecifics seeing them from different angles? Unlikely. Just look at this female—curled up so her front looks brown and her back green. It’s probably a nice byproduct… or maybe the trick is the ever-shifting appearance itself? shorturl.at/jfjIw

🧪 These two lizards are the same individual, despite shimmering in different colours. This might have made you expel a puff of air through your nostrils while thinking a lowercase "lol" (or so I hope). It took us 4 years @jzoology.bsky.social zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The lizard in these two images is the same individual, despite shimmering in different colours. This might have made you expel a puff of air through your nostrils while thinking a lowercase "lol" (or so I hope). Well, you should know that it took us 4 years to do the math. @jzoology.bsky.social

@jeffsebo.bsky.social @birchlse.bsky.social and I put a lot of philosophy into our new Science Perspective on animal consciousness. Mill's analogical argument + inference to the best explanation + careful experiments = justification for consciousness in many animals. Where might it end?

📢New research out!! "Altitude correlates with dorsal −but not ventral− scale number and dimension in a lacertid lizard" authored by Marco Sannolo and me. doi.org/10.1016/j.zo...

#PrimatePost 🦧🔵🔵 50 shades of blue balls! Some #primates sport blue shades on their genitalia 🍌, which is likely due to sexual selection (attracting females)! You can learn more at www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti... Why blue and how? (1/2) 🧪 #science #BioAnth 📷 by Diego Delso

Good luck innovating without researchers

¿Sabíais que el protocolo contra varamientos de pinnípedos y tortugas no se actualiza desde el año 2000? 🙄 Yo no lo sabía hasta que he tenido que documentarme para este artículo y por lo que sea, pese a los intentos, no han querido hablar conmigo. #Animaleros www.20minutos.es/noticia/5676...

Mom Mom I ALMOST got a two-month job!! (I am closer to 40 than to 30)

@bangoruniversity.bsky.social MScRes student Harry Searle -Webb presenting his Honours project work on the ecomorphology of viviparous lizards across different habitats in the UK.

No evidence for inequity aversion in non-human animals: a #meta-analysis of accept/reject paradigms royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... New paper led by Oded Ritov and w/ @nicholaraihani.bsky.social and Jan Engelmann.

Black margins are important for size discrimination - female green swordtails prefer larger males but preference is lost when black margins on tail are absent. Seems they can't judge which male is bigger without black margin! shorturl.at/6GKA2 @uniexecec.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org

Illustrations for the 2020 doctoral thesis: The functional significance of colour polymorphism in the European common lizard (Podarcis muralis) @abalosaurus.bsky.social #scientificillustration #reptile #biology #zoology #wildlife #lizard #illustration #art #science #drawing #sciart #naturalhistory