Using 3D vertebral models and Autobend, this study by Esteban et al shows pinnipeds have highly mobile spines, especially in the lumbar region. Different families reveal distinct flexibility patterns tied to swimming style and land locomotion. anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Excellent write-up in Science by Ann Gibbons of the exciting new Ileret Homo material: ] www.science.org/content/arti... Check out the original AR article by Frederick Grine and colleagues here: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🦕A nearly complete titanosaur axis from Upper Cretaceous São José do Rio Preto Fm reveals rare cervical data, complex internal pneumaticity & affinities w/colossosaurians—highlighting overlooked phylogenetic value of axial elements Navarro et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Top predators: Enormous #shark remains from northern #Australia push back the earliest appearance of gigantic lamniforms by ~15 Ma. Bazzi et al 2025 Communications Biology Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution doi.org/10.1038/s420...

🦎✨ New research delivers the 1st full 3D anatomical atlases of the veiled chameleon (Chamaeleo calyptratus)! Open-access atlases + lesson plans offer powerful new tools for studying reptile evolution and teaching comparative anatomy. Leavey et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Buffa et al.’s paper on the enigmatic Permian reptile 🦎 Galesphyrus and the origin of Neodiapsida is out in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology! Read the thread 👇 for some important takeaways from our study @valentinbuffa.bsky.social #Paleontology #Reptile #Permian doi.org/10.1080/1477...

Dinosaur skull geometry does not follow functional optimisation trends but facilitates adaptability: iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

New story on the Avian Hybrids blog! Can hybridization explain the evolution of plumage patterns in black-and-white wagtails? avianhybrids.wordpress.com/2025/11/19/c... Based on the Systematic Biology paper by Loïc Rancilhac and his colleagues | #ornithology

Optic nerves of adult #chameleons are proportionally long and have a unique coiled path allowing independent #eye movement. Collins et al 2025 Scientific Reports. A new twist in the evolution of chameleons uncovers an extremely specialized optic nerve morphology.  doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Viviparous reproduction in #anurans - a extremely rare trait. Thrane et al 2025 Vertebrate Zoology. Museomics and integrative taxonomy reveal three new species of glandular viviparous tree #toads (Nectophrynoides) in Tanzania’s Eastern Arc Mountains (Anura: Bufonidae) doi.org/10.3897/vz.7...

A glimpse into a vanished ecosystem: reconstructing diet and palaeoenvironment of Palaeoloxodon from the Pleistocene of Taiwan royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Great expectations: altricial developmental strategies are associated with more flexible evolution of limb skeleton proportions in birds | royalsocietypublishi... | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | #ornithology 🪶

Morphological Evolution in Island Birds Is Associated With More Terrestrial Lifestyles and a Lower Number of Raptors and Intra‐Family Competitors | onlinelibrary.wiley.... | Global Ecology and Biogeography | #ornithology #RaptorResearch 🪶

Study on high-altitude #birds with increased hemoglobin-oxygen affinity shows that adaptive solutions are contingent on prior evolutionary history. Natarajan et al (2016) @science.org Predictable convergence in hemoglobin function has unpredictable molecular underpinnings doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Behavioral #plasticity: First documentation of systematic predation on #bats by #rats. Gloza-Rausch et al 2025 Global Ecology and Conservation. Active predation by brown #rats on #bats at urban mass hibernacula in Northern #Germany: Conservation and one health implications doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...

New #AmniotaLab research! Faysal Bibi and Jean-Renaud Boisserie describe a fossil buffalo from Ethiopia, revealing how early members of the lineage evolved into today’s African buffalo 🐃 paleo.peercommunityin.org/PCIPaleo/art...

Why extant, not extinct? A new JSP paper by Sorbelli 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. describes an extinct 𝙇𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙖 species (Anura: Discoglossidae) from the Early Pleistocene of the Apennine Peninsula—offering fresh clues on how the genus survived in Eurasia. Read more: buff.ly/NGVelt5 #Paleosky @amniotalab.bsky.social

A paper in Scientific Reports presents the origins of vivid colours within the gemstone ammolite — a rare type of brightly coloured fossilised ammonite shell. go.nature.com/48OT5DX #Paleosky ⚒️ 🧪

Remarkable #cancer resistance of the bowhead #whale arises from its enhanced ability to maintain genome integrity through enhanced DNA repair. Firsanov et al 2025 @nature.com Evidence for improved DNA repair in long-lived bowhead whale doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Issue 20 has closed and issue 21 is open journals.biologists.com/jeb/issue/22... The front cover showing two giraffes accompanies Seymour and Snelling's Theory & Modelling article discussing how the animals' long legs have raised their hearts to reduce the cost of pumping blood to their heads

Unusual low-risk/high-gain strategy in small #bats: Short search and pursuit times with high hunting success rates and targeting prey approaching their own body size of 30 g. Baier et al 2025 @currentbiology.bsky.social Extreme hunting efficiency in a carnivorous bat doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

🦣 New discoveries at Mammoth Site USA: 2 foot elements— “predigit” & fused sesamoids—found 1st time in extinct elephants. Long known in modern elephants they reveal ancient adaptations for supporting massive land giants Gardner et al anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #FossilFriday

New paper by Guilherme Hermanson & me out: we explore ontogenetic shell shape change in turtles to check if there is a size threshold at which turtles reach adult shapes. This started for a different (in prep) study & was a fun little project w preliminary data link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Multitaxic #dinosaur footprint assemblage from Dinosaur Park Formation incl. ceratopsid and ankylosaurian tracks Bell et al 2025 @plosone.org A ceratopsid-dominated tracksite from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Campanian) at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

I am proud and grateful to present a dream project today in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... Meet #Mirasaura grauvogeli, a #wonderreptilewith skin appendages that rival feathers and hairs, challenging our view of reptile #evolution🪶🦎

Oh! Another paper! From @camillebader.bsky.social Camille Bader's PhD, with Alexandra Houssaye @houssayecnrs.bsky.social. Elephant limb bone microanatomy reflects bone function and posture. Paper: academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a... Tons of CT scan DICOM files: figshare.com/articles/dat...

Enlargement of sternum traits facilitated the evolution of powered flight in birds 🧪⚒️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Have you ever wondered about the origin of birds restricted to specific regions? Led by doctoral student Hevana Lima, we attempt to unravel the origins of birds endemic to the Caatinga dry forests in Brazil. Check our ms out! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑎 𝑦𝑎𝑟𝑎, a new cryptic species of Manta Ray, is described from the Western Atlantic Ocean. The existence of an undescribed manta ray species has been suggested for over 15 years and is now formally described. 🐟🧪 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Despite rabbits being common lab models, their vertebral muscles were never fully described. 54 muscles were mapped in wild rabbits & hares, revealing key differences from other mammals & proposing leporid-specific terminology Taewcharoen et al: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Our August issue is now out! anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/19328494... The cover article discusses skink systematics, comparative cranial osteology of the New World Mabuyinae by Julio Ferreira-Junior et al.: doi.org/10.1002/ar.2...

Semi-autonomous tracking algorithms: in situ measurements of fiber lengths & orientation in #chicken #embryo. Molnar‪ @crocodilejulia.bsky.social et al 2025 @anatrecord.bsky.social Quantifying #muscle architecture in embryos using diceCT and algorithmic fascicle tracking doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...

Convergent reduction of olfactory genes and olfactory bulb size in mammalian species at altitude: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

ICB free read Show Me Your #Teeth And I Will Tell You What You Eat: Differences in Tooth Enamel in #Snakes with Different Diets by Dumont, Milgram, Herrel, Shahar, Shacham, Houssin, Delapré, Cornette, @marionsegall.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/icb/... #morphology #ecology #science #biology

3D humerus shape & functional performance data reveal multiple adaptive radiations non-mammalian synapsids Brocklehurst et al 2025 @plosbiology.org Adaptive landscapes unveil the complex evolutionary path from sprawling to upright #forelimb function and posture in #mammals doi.org/10.1371/jour...

You can read the original paper here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Check out our new paper! We find cavefish colonized caves 3x and global cooling events may have influenced these events. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

#Bird mating dances, including walking, high stepping, stomping in place, short-distance flying, hopping, pecking, and lateral leaping inferred from a Miocene trace #fossil. Abbassi 2025 Scientific Reports Reconstructing miocene bird mating behavior from a fossil tracksite doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Signs of hypoplasia found in caudal #vertebrae of two fossil sirenian individuals of Halitherium schinzii (Oligocene) from the Rhine area in Germany and northern Belgium. Voss et al 2011 @anatrecord.bsky.social Vertebral Anomaly in Fossil Sea Cows (Mammalia, Sirenia) doi.org/10.1002/ar.2...

Our special issue The integrative Biology of the Gut is building. It addresses questions regarding the functional role of the gut, from the cellular level to its interactions with other organs & tissues, including its role in ecophysiological processes journals.biologists.com/jeb/issue/22...

Remarkable soft tissue anatomy recorded in titanosaur (Sauropoda) tracks from the latest Cretaceous of Mongolia academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

One of earliest few pterosaur found outside Europe: Eotephradactylus mcintireae gen. et sp. nov. Kligman et al 2025 @pnas.org Unusual bone bed reveals a vertebrate community with #pterosaurs and #turtles in equatorial Pangaea before the end-Triassic #extinction doi.org/10.1073/pnas... 🖼️ Brian Engh

Paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper out today with @profpaulbarrett.bsky.social @gondwannabe.bsky.social Kimi Chapelle and Paul Upchurch. In it we describe the partial femur of a large silesaur from Zambia 🧪🦕 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Hi! I'm a palaeontologist who has just joined Bluesky. My lab recently published a paper on gorgonopsian osteohistology. doi.org/10.1111/joa....

Full article: A description of new sauropodomorph cranial material from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan Province, P. R. China www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

If you haven't already checked it out, you must read, "A brief history of Massospondylus" by Paul Barrett & Kimi Chapelle! A wonderful history and review of dare I say, perhaps the best Early Jurassic sauropodomorph 🏆🦕 wiredspace.wits.ac.za/items/ac85b6...

Great to see this collaborative study published that recovered 20 Ma old proteins from tooth enamel of a fossil rhinocerotid! 🦏 🦷 🦏 #rhino #palaeoproteomics