In Current Biology! *Uncovering genetic hotspots in the Southern Ocean informs conservation action *Only 28% of genetic hotspots are protected *Keeping current & adopting proposed MPAs boosts hotspot protection @lausally.bsky.social @marine-omics.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we used genetic data from a suite of Antarctic marine invertebrates to map locations of genetic diversity hotspots, divergence and connectivity 🐙🦐🪱🧬 @lausally.bsky.social @janstrugnell.bsky.social arcsaef.com/story/scient...

To a first approximation, all Australian vertebrates are lizards. 🦎 But not just any lizards, Sphenomorphine skinks! With more than 280 species they are hyper variable. Now, Janne Torkkola has pulled together the biggest phylogeny of the group to date. Read for free: doi.org/10.1016/j.ym... 1/4

Curator Marine Invertebrate Zoology position advertised at the WA Museum, Perth. 🪸🪼🫙🔬 search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...

Supervising postgraduates is the best part of my job and when they are as talented as @shelbymiddleton.bsky.social and the team includes @kennytravouillon.bsky.social @planigale.bsky.social @annajmhopkins.bsky.social and Harriet Mills, it’s as good as it gets! Go well Shelby.

Random Delightful Fact of the Day - Eastern quolls go grey as they get older! A juvenile (~6 mths old) on the L, & a 4 yr old on the R (Worth noting that 4 yrs old is oooooold for an eastern quoll)

Join the fun at this link - australianmammals.org.au/membership

JOB ALERT! Collection Manager job going in Palaeontology at the Australian Museum in Sydney, Australia iworkfor.nsw.gov.au/job/collecti...

Complete Rainforest Elevational Gradient Reveals Unusual Diversity Patterns of Non‐Volant Mammals in New Guinea - Vejmělka - 2025 - Diversity and Distributions - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

UPCOMING WORKSHOP🚨 dartRverse: Harnessing the Force of R for Conservation Genomics Hands-on training in population genetics and conservation genomics using R and dartR 🧬🌿🦘🐟🐜 📆8–14 March 2026 @ ANU Kioloa Coastal Campus + online participation options Details here: cba.anu.edu.au/news-events/...

The Draft National Recovery Plan for the Ghost Bat is open for public consultation until the 10th March 2026. Head to to the DCCEEW website below to find out more consult.dcceew.gov.au/draft-nation...

“This feels like yet another attack on our research community that is already under siege” Senator @davidpocock.bsky.social has issued a media release about the ARC's proposed restructure and job cuts 👇

Perth Reached 39.0 Degrees At 1:32pm 🌡️ 40.0 At Gooseberry Hill, 39.8 At Pearce, 39.7 At Perth Airport, 39.5 At Millendon (Swan Valley) 39.2 At Jandakot, 38.4 At Swanbourne, 36.8 On Garden Island, 36.4 At Hillarys, 36.2 On Rottnest, 36.1 At Bickley & 35.2 At Mandurah 🥵 #PerthWeather #WesternAustralia

Very proud of our PhD student @nirjana-dewan.bsky.social for delivering an excellent talk at #AOC2025 on her white-tailed black cockatoo genomics work this morning! Looking forward to being able to share some nicely assembled genomes in the near future...stay tuned!

So exciting our lab won the Government Science project of the year for 2025! #WASciAwards #2025PremiersScienceAwards www.wa.gov.au/organisation...

I work on bats AND dasyurids, which symposium will I go to 🤔

Over five years after cameras were set up within a sprawling Western Australian landscape, an elusive “chuditch” has been filmed for the first time. au.news.yahoo.com/camera-captu...

🐘 There is more funding for elephant conservation than there is for all reptiles combined 🦎 (and the majority of reptile funding is for marine turtles). @achughes.bsky.social #LivingData2025 #DatosVivos2025

I'm increasingly tired of seeing ChatGPT writing style everywhere. It sticks out, especially high en-dash usage, poor similes, and supposed-to-be-clever "that's not just A, it's B" statements. Wikipedia has a nice list of AI "tells": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...

Tiny New Marsupial With a Tail Longer Than Its Body Discovered in Peru

As a previous staff member of this faculty I'm alarmed at the proposed forced redundancies! c.org/vWNX7G4Qkf

The latest Australian University wanting to diminish science capacity and training. At least 18 academic staff in the science faculty threatened with job loss. A petition to save science at #QUT Queensland University of Technology here www.change.org/p/stop-force...

@wamuseum.bsky.social advertising TWO science jobs. 1. A 5-year(!) Project coordinator in marine biodiversity search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pag...

A cautionary note on using STRUCTURE to detect hybridization in a phylogenetic context onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

This #MarsupialMonday we bring you a trio of critters: the fat-tailed dunnart, the yellow-footed antechinus and the red-tailed phascogale.

🐭 Cryptic Kultarr 🏆 @kultarrcam.bsky.social studies hidden biodiversity in carnivorous marsupials, uncovering strong genetic and morphological evidence for multiple distinct species of kultarr across Australia🧬🏜️🐀 6/11 @reneecatullo.bsky.social @kennytravouillon.bsky.social @planigale.bsky.social

New paper in @funecology.bsky.social led by @felixpleiva.bsky.social. We present ShareTrait, a community-driven platform for standardising & sharing individual-level trait data in ectotherms to improve data reuse across studies. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365... #OpenScience #FAIRdata

Using this piece by @reallygoodwizard.bsky.social in my introductory lectures for my design students.

AMNH is hiring a #curator! We are searching for an “Assistant Curator in #Climate #Physics: #Atmosphere or #Ocean”! Join us! careers.amnh.org/postings/4579 #academicjobs #tenuretrack

Looking for a #PhD project (or know someone who is)? I'm currently recruiting for a student to work on #conservation and #PopulationGenomics of two freshwater #fish using whole genome and ddRAD data: more info in the flyer below! #PopGen #ConsGen #Biodiversity 🐟🧪🧬

It's wildflower season!

🏆 Octopus and Ice Sheet Team @marine-omics.bsky.social is awarded the Aspire Scholarship Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research. Learn more: youtu.be/8H3bCE6wfjM #EurekaPrizes @janstrugnell.bsky.social @lausally.bsky.social @nick-golledge.bsky.social

Owlfly appreciation post for #InverteFest, featuring an adult and a stalk full of fresh children Old dry plants bearing weird Fruit 🤎

"We found when generative AIs produce images of Australia and Australians, these outputs are riddled with bias. They reproduce sexist and racist caricatures more at home in the country’s imagined monocultural past." theconversation.com/australiana-...

Bats may mistake wind turbines for open sky, causing deadly collisions | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Velvet worm repeat pattern! Putting more invertebrate linocuts into surface design! 🧪🐡 These adorable, caterpillar-like blue velvet worm from New Zealand (Aotearoa). Velvet worms (phylum: Onychophora) are named for their velvet-like texture and somewhat wormlike appearance. They are elongated, 🧵

Why do males and females often differ in traits? The expected answer: selection. But our new paper in GENETICS shows that genetic drift alone can generate sexual dimorphism — even when male & female optima are the same

Long runs of homozygosity are reliable genomic markers of inbreeding depression 🧬 www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...

Want to watch me talk about reassessing the size of the thylacine? Here are two conference talks, coming at it from very slightly different angles: youtu.be/JGoZYKV9pLc?... youtu.be/7Xg9PWCDAi0?... #evobio #Mammals #paleontology 🧪

New p-p-p-pebble mouse p-p-p-paper out this week!! Very happy to publish this with some young and inspiring ecologists, Rachelle and Will, and of course Dustin (a more seasoned, but also inspiring, behavioural ecologist). www.publish.csiro.au/WR/fulltext/...

the Western Australian Museum is now on Bluesky @wamuseum.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social‬ @amnh.org‬ @mnhn.fr‬ @pittriversmuseum.bsky.social‬ @australianmuseum.bsky.social‬

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate at Murdoch to work on bat movement ecology 🦇 with a focus on predicting wind energy impacts 🌬️ www.nicholaswulab.com

Huge news! Having spent a while studying #kiwi pukupuku, this got me very excited. Finding a remnant mainland population of LSK is probably more significant than finding more #kakapo. Huge respect to those involved and particularly the hunter who found them. www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-r...

The Australasian Evolution Society comes home to the Goddard Building, UQ, St Lucia, Brisbane- where it started 25 years ago (I was a founder and on the first conference organising committee). 1st to 3rd of October 2025

Our new piece is out in @nature.com big mihi to all my co-authors it was a pleasure to work with you on this @lanipai.bsky.social @niiyokamigaabaw.bsky.social @napaaqtuk.bsky.social @sereananaepi.bsky.social @1nativesoilnerd.bsky.social Bradley Moggridge and Brittany Kamai tinyurl.com/yc4y9kfk

Control fire and ferals in Australia’s tropical savannas to bring the small mammals back theconversation.com/control-fire...

Next the legendary Lindy Lumsden 🇦🇺 looked at wind farms in Victoria. Estimated 11.4 bats 🦇 killed/turbine/year. Some turbines as high as 26 mortality/turbine/year! No clear pattern on turbine choice but seasonal peak in autumn 🍂 @ibrc2025.bsky.social #ibrc2025

@planigale.bsky.social : in case you hadn't seen the Pilbara bat design from 2023 (available as a sticker and a notepad via postal order - I only have the sticker at the event)