📣 Introducing MorphSim: an R package for simulating discrete morphological data along phylogenetic trees, built for fossil-inclusive phylogenetics, with all the complexity of real morphological data baked in 🪨🌿 besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Oh, this looks quite convenient, especially the filtering and mimicking empirical matrices.

Very well-timed publication of my most recent work at @royalsociety.org Proc B showcasing the backbone of my future research at @stonybrooku.bsky.social! There is still much to learn about ray-finned fish neurocranial evolution and the diversity of ways brain and endocasts interact in this lineage!

Check out our new paper comparing node calibrations and unresolved FBD for dating molecular phylogenies using crocs and firefly datasets as case studies 🐊

My new paper with @gdarlim.bsky.social and @hoehna.bsky.social is now out in Proceedings B! We set out to compare two different approaches to time-calibrate a molecular phylogeny: traditional node calibrations, and unresolved FBD... @royalsocietypublishing.org doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Diversification rate shifts are everywhere. Analyses of phylogenies covering >300k species reveal widespread changes in speciation dynamics across the Tree of Life. @bjorntko.bsky.social @hoehna.bsky.social @acapomorphic.bsky.social ‬ academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Out now in Contributions from me and @gilespalaeo.bsky.social, a deep dive into an early member of the sturgeon and paddlefish lineage. Bear with me, but there’s a long backstory highlighting uncertainty about the anatomy of living species and how well-studied fossils can still yield new insights.

Osteichthyans--the bony fishes--are by far the most diverse group of living jawed vertebrates. Two papers out today in @nature.com feature remarkable new Chinese fossils that paint a picture of substantial morphological diversity among stem osteichthyans.

Our new paper revealing major patterns of diversification across the Tree of Life is here! doi.org/10.1093/evle... Congratulations to @bjorntko.bsky.social for leading this ambitious effort, it was a pleasure to contribute alongside @acapomorphic.bsky.social, @hoehna.bsky.social & Luis Palazzesi.

New paper out from @hoehna.bsky.social Lab, led by the brilliant @bjorntko.bsky.social! We applied the Pesto software (Kopperud & Höhna, 2025) to look at lineage-specific shifts in diversification rate on large, densely-sampled phylogenies across the Tree of Life doi.org/10.1093/evle...

Our new paper 'A covarion model for phylogenetic estimation using discrete morphological datasets,' is out in SysBio! We introduce the "covariomorph" model in RevBayes to capture character and lineage specific rates of morphological traits. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

Michigan paleontology family portrait, Birmingham edition #2025SVP

#2025SVP #SVP2025 Final Banquet loading... ⏳⏳⌛

I'll be presenting a poster at #2025SVP #SVP2025 about my recently published work on how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny. Come by at the poster session this Thursday if you want to chat about it! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Out now in Biology Letters, my latest paper tackles an apparently simple question: how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny? TL;DR: in most cases between 100 and 500, more than a substantial portion of morphological datasets, but the story is more complex... doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Just in time for #FossilFriday 🦖 What are the big questions in #paleontology today? dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2025.10042 Nearly 200 scientists worldwide came together to map where our field is headed. Here’s the story 👇

What are the biggest questions in #paleontology? New paper out today in Paleobiology led by Smith & Kiessling with ~200 coauthors on the relevance of our field, methods, & museum collections to climate & biodiversity research🦖 #FossilFriday @paleosoc.bsky.social 🔗: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Ever wondered how to incorporate fossils as tips in a phylogenetic tree? Our new paper provides a comprehensive guide! #EarlyFossilFriday #FossilFriday #TipDating #Phylogeny #EvolutionaryBiology

I am extremely happy to see that our review on fossil tip-dating is out in early view in Systematic Biology! A huge thanks to all the authors of this massive project (@heckeberg.bsky.social, @basantakhakurel.bsky.social, Gustavo Darlim, and @hoehna.bsky.social)! academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

We (me, @barankarapunar.bsky.social, @sinjinis.bsky.social and @harriedrage.bsky.social) organized a symposium for the next IPC (Cape Town 2026!) on evolution, diversity and ecology in marine ecosystems throughout the Phanerozoic. Contact us if you would like to participate or to know more about it!

No, it is not a dream. This actually happened!!! We had a *fantastic* #CPEGCPB26 meeting and I cannot articulate any other adjective to describe it until I recover from it. Thanks to everyone who attended and everyone who helped making this happen. @kristinakocakova.bsky.social

The CPEG & CPB meeting is officially underway! 🎉 We kicked things off with two fantastic workshop sessions: 📊 R-based open data science in palaeobiology and ecology 🧠 Deep learning for macroevolutionary analyses Big thanks to all our speakers and participants - spot yourself below! #CPEGCPB25

We now have protein sequences from rhino enamel that are >20 million years old! I am extremely excited and grateful to have been part of this project. The incredible thing: these sequences are informative enough to place this ancient species in the rhino tree! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Moderate extinctions and slow recovery of non-marine teleost fishes across the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, with a systematic appraisal of early Paleocene teleost fishes from Saskatchewan, Canada, and Montana, USA. Palaeontologia Electronica, 28(2):a28. 🐟🧪 palaeo-electronica.org/content/2025...