The 4th annual BESERC Bristol Earth Sciences Enhancing Research Culture day is underway - palaeo talks in the first session from @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social Annie Worth on necks and grooming and Dani Schmidt on research and policy in climate adaptation in South West communities

Katrina and Emily present our latest adoption to the vert palaeo teaching collections, a platypus. We’re all now very invested in finding him a name - any suggestions?

Our latest: Phylogenomics resolves the century-old ‘Zoraptera problem’: Zoraptera as the earliest diverging lineage of Polyneoptera - largely completed by the indefatigable Chenyang Cai while a postdoc @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social - the study finds that Zoraptera are sister to all other polyneopterans

Our latest: Exploring the limits of wing design in pterosaurs, led by Benton Walters @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social who shows, in this theoretical morphospace analysis, that assaying pterosaur wing shape variation and performance is compromised by a lack of consensus on wing shape and structure

my @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social master's research on alvarezsaur arms is finally out today! we used range of motion and moment arms analysis to show that these weird little dinosaurs probably did use their teeny tiny arms to dig 🦴

Our MSc in Palaeobiology has its 30th anniversary in 2026! We're delighted to invite you to a special event celebrating the anniversary, exploring the contributions to science by Bristol palaeobiologists during that time, and looking to the future. Book your free ticket: tinyurl.com/Palaeo30

Final day of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social visited Museu de las Ciencias de la Terra in Alacasser and on to the K-Pg boundary section in Agost

Day 6 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social visited Museo de Paleontología de Castilla-La Mancha, constructed food webs for Las Hoyas from museum collections, and debated museum designs and communicating palaeontology to the public

Day 5 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social investigated the Lower Cretaceous Las Hoyas wetland with its exceptionally preserved dinosaurs, birds, early mammals and early members of the flowering plants

Day 4 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social constructed a sea level curve and palaeogeography for middle and upper Ordovician of Fombuena

Day 3 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip, our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social investigated the taphonomy of cinctans (bilateral stem-echinoderms) and the nature of middle Cambrian marine environments

Day 2 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip for our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social we looked at exceptional preservation in Miocene lakes and Cretaceous deltas

Today was Day 1 of the Iberian Cordillera Fieldtrip for our Palaeontology & Evolution students @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social. We packed in a flight to Alicante and a drive to Teruel to visit Dinopolis and Albarracin to visit the Jurassic Seas museum

Our latest: Dermoskeletal histology of Moythomasia and the evolution of the vertebrate dermal skeleton, led by Xianren Shan and Edine Pape, with a little help from Martin Rucklin @evopalaeo.bsky.social and Davide Pisani @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

Early sponges lacked [mineralised] skeletons. New paper led by M. Eleonora Rossi. Great to have contributed alongside colleagues from @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social , @nhm-london.bsky.social and @mncn-csic.bsky.social. Read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by @meleonora-rossi.bsky.social with help from friends @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social including @anariesgo.bsky.social @evopalaeo.bsky.social Davide Pisani and many others

Very excited to share that my first PhD paper is out now in Biology Letters! We studied Megaclonophycus specimens and analysed how they develop, informing on their affinity. Developmental biology of the Ediacaran Megaclonophycus from the Weng’an Biota url: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article...

Our latest, led by the inimitable Chris Kay "Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes" in which we used gene duplications to test hypotheses of eukaryogenesis. TLDR? They're all wrong. With @tweethinking.bsky.social @anya1.bsky.social @ssolo.bsky.social Davide Pisani

A new paper by Ananth Srinivas and colleagues shows that modern crocodiles evolved flatter and weaker skulls from domed ancestors to adapt to life in water, trading skull strength for streamlining. doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

Check out this article @davehone.bsky.social, Mike Habib and I wrote based on our ideas about pterosaurs as models for aircraft. Heavy lifting done by Dave Hone and very little by me while I’m on mat leave, but still appreciate being involved!

Our latest, led by @jameswclark.bsky.social of @milnerevolution.bsky.social shows that the notorious mismatch between molecular and palaeontological estimates for the timing of origin of angiosperms is a consequence of equivocal interpretation of their fossil record @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

The last bit of Frankie Dunn's PhD is finally published! @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

For #fossilfriday my first paper just dropped, published by @geolassoc.bsky.social with @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social. We found a mixed terrestrial and marine fauna with complex ecological implications and a Rhaetian age for these Holwell fissures. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Really pleased to be part of this project which shows that aerobic bacteria arose in the Archaean, long before the GOE - after which aerobes proliferated through HGT. Fun @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social collab including @tweethinking.bsky.social @sabifo4.bsky.social @emoody.bsky.social Davide Pisani

This weeks palaeo seminar @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social is by @cambriannelids.bsky.social on the Cambrian evolution of animal skeletons

This week’s palaeo seminar @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social was delivered by Rachel Wood (Edinburgh) on what triggered the Cambrian Explosion. Oxygen - not much, but just enough!

Job Alert: Senior Research Associate in Phylogenomics @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social researching timing, sequence and phenotypic consequences of rediploidisation following whole genome duplication - comparative genomics, molecular clock and phenotypic disparity methods, with @jameswclark.bsky.social

Our latest: a Richard Boyle (Exeter) production, using simulations to show how differential selection of biogeochemical cycles can lead to planetary homeostasis, with some empirical data from @emoody.bsky.social and @sabifo4.bsky.social @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

New lab toy at @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social! We’ve inherited a Bruker Skyscan 1272 from another uni group and today I did my first scan on it, playing around with some microfossils. Not bad for a first attempt I think.

In friday’s palaeo seminar @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social we were treated to Microfossil evolution and morphological change through warm and cold climates by the amazing @bridgetwade.bsky.social

Beau is one of our 3rd year undergrads so make sure you check this out!

First week back to teaching in 2025 and for our palaeo seminar we have Prof Christine Janis telling us about her research into giant kangaroos and whether or not they could hop!

Very exciting day today setting up our new (old) CT scanner for @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social! Looking forward to training on it tomorrow and learning the tricks and seeing what we can do with our new toy…

Tahlia Pollock @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social has an amazing new study integrating 3D shape, biomechanics, and optimality modelling, helps explain why so many mammals evolve sabre teeth: functional optimality was a key driver behind the repeated evolution of extreme sabre-tooth morphologies.

Cool functional morphology paper by Pollock et al. from @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social finds functional optimality of puncture & stress resistance performance drove convergent #evolution of sabre-teeth in mammalian carnivores. #Science #Paleontology #EvolutionaryBiology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Yay! Our LUCA study shorturl.at/09YR8 made into @quantamagazine.bsky.social list of 2024's biggest breakthroughs! Thanks to @emoody.bsky.social @tweethinking.bsky.social Davide Pisani @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social and the rest of our amazing team!

The indefatigable Madleen Grohganz has just published the third paper from her PhD thesis this year, showing that heterostracans did not have teeth but tooth-like structures evolved convergently in many stem-gnathostomes, coopted to a tooth function in jawed vertebrates @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social

We've got a number of PhD projects up for grabs with competitive funding, but apply asap because they have Jan 13 and Jan 20 application deadlines!! Check out the list below...... www.bristol.ac.uk/earthscience...

Cool new paper by Ballell et al. from @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social on #lepidosaur (🦎&🐍) jaw #evolution using 3D morphometrics & phylogenetic comparative methods to show ecological adaptation is a prime driver of their extensive diversification. Read here: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Congrats to Dani Schmidt and Mike Benton who won the President’s and Lapworth medals at #PalAss24 for their immense contributions to palaeontological science

Thanks to Kirsten, Pablo, Tahlia and Wenqian for organising the Bristol Palaeo christmas party - so much amazing food and amazing people from around the world inc Australia, Canada, Chile, China, France, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Scotland, Spain and Turkey. No one needs to eat for a week!

Mike Benton came all the way to Sussex today to talk about local fossil hero Gideon Mantell and how far dino research has come since 1824 at the now annual SERC conference organised by Tony Brook

UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships are up for grabs, providing generous funding for PostDocs to transition into Research Leaders. If you want to apply with Bristol Palaeo, please get in touch with one of our academics shorturl.at/XqOoK before Dec 13 internal deadline www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

We have been delighted to have @stevebrusatte.bsky.social deliver our palaeo seminar this week on the early diversification of placental mammals. As expected, the room was packed to overflowing for this great talk!

Our NERC funded Doctoral Training Partnership has lots of PhD projects on offer to start September 2025. The funded is competitive but it is open to global applicants (though ~80-90% will go to UK nationals). See below for information about the projects on offer www.nercgw4plus.ac.uk

This week in our Palaeobiology Discussion Group we are very happy to welcome back former PhD student/post doc Dr Stephan Lautenschlager @palaeostephan.bsky.social from the University of Birmingham on cranial fenestration and functional morphology in dinosaurs

Our latest, led by Jenny Morris, used synchrotron tomography to out the early bryophyte Tortilicaulis as an early tracheophyte, not least because its axes bear tracheal elements. This study formed part of Tom Crooks MSc Palaeobiology at Bristol fi.nm.cz/en/clanek/lo...

Latest from the Lab: Madleen Grohganz, with little help from her friends, shows that contrary to expectations of a filter feeding ecology, the oral plates of heterostracans exhibit evidence of microstructural adaptation to a mechanical function. Who knew? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Hello bluesky! The University of Bristol Palaeobiology Group is now here so please look out for posts on our research, opportunities and more. We look forward to sharing with you what we do! www.bristol.ac.uk/earthscience...