Kenneth De Baets

Spatial patterns of trematode-induced pits on bivalve skeletons: Challenges and prospects for research on parasite-host dynamics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.13.643152v1

More than happy that this is finally out. Well done @isaiah-e-smith.bsky.social

Nice collaboration led by @palaeolina.bsky.social and with @kiessl.bsky.social

Glad to see this finally available as a preprint. Unique fingerprint of marine ectotherm body size during hyperthermal crises which studies generality of the Lilliput effect and it potential link with climate warming. #paleontology #paleobiology #ecology #evolutionarybiology

Shell accumulation and taphonomic attributes of the stout razor clam Tagelus plebeius as indicator of environmental features in a South American coastal lagoon of international relevance. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.664465v1

Unique fingerprint of marine ectotherm body size change during hyperthermal crises https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666730v1

A black and white photo of a really beautiful fossil millipede. The main part of the picture shows the millipede curled up, you can see tens to undreds of legs on the inside surface, and clear segmentation on the outside surface. TBH it looks a lot like living millipedes. It has a 2cm scale bar. Inset are picture of its legs, and what you can see of the ornament on its dorsal surface.

It's #FossilFriday, so meet an absolutely stunning ~310 million year old fossil millipede - Pleurojulus. This fossil was discovered in the Czech Republic in the 19th century. Exactly how these animals are related to living millipedes remains debated, but they presumably..

⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky

It is not just me advocating for Paleontological Research Institution, Carlton E. Brett, a prominent paleontologist at the University of Cincinnati, shared a letter on our behalf to the scientific community, reproduced below 1/ 18
#SavePRI ⚒️🧪🦑 #fossils #paleontology #palaeontology

Specialized R packages for spatial cross-validation: sperrorest and blockCV – geocompx This document provides an overview of two R packages, sperrorest and blockCV, that can be used for spatial cross validation, but are outside of standard machine learning frameworks like caret, tidymodels, or mlr3.

New overview of #Rpackages sperrorest and blockCV for spatial cross-validation using temperature data 🌡️

Essential if you are working with:

🔵Species distribution models
🔵Climate reconstructions
🔵Spatial autocorrelation issues

We are looking for a #PhD Student in our group on "Environmental versus host controls on #parasite diversity in #Permian-#Triassic #vertebrate #coprolites" in the NCN project "The impact of mass #extinctions on parasite #diversity and #evolution".

www.biol.uw.edu.pl/staze-stypen...

New paper led by @aniekebrombacher.bsky.social using x-ray CT and laser ablation to detect plastic environmental responses in fossil individuals www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2421549122 featuring @jamesmulqueeney.bsky.social @clivetrue.bsky.social @thefosterlab.bsky.social

Incompatibility between two major innovations shaped the diversification of fish feeding mechanisms Large teeth and highly protrusible jaws are two feeding innovations that have evolved in fishes. High-speed videography and comparative phylogenetic analyses indicate that they are incompatible with e...

Out today in @plosbiology.org! We show that two major advances in fish feeding - highly protrusible jaws and large teeth - are functionally and evolutionarily incompatible with each other. @mikemihalitsis.bsky.social and Peter Wainwright. Free to read: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

New day, new paper! 🦣🌍 Led by @mapaslab.bsky.social ab.bsky.social PhD student Sofía Galván and out now in Global Ecology and Biogeography in which we asked:

"Could future palaeontologists detect today’s biodiversity patterns from fossils alone?"

🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The ocean… 🌊💙

sustains life,
regulates climate,
hosts biodiversity,
buffers storms,
produces oxygen,
holds untold wonder.

Yet, we’ve polluted its depths and pushed it to the brink.

On #WorldOceanDay and every day, let’s act to #SaveOurOcean.

Ancient poop yields world’s oldest butterfly fossils Tiny wing scales suggest the proboscis evolved 100 million years before flowers

Oldest known fossil evidence of lepidopterans (butterflies & moths), from the Triassic (~236 mya) of Argentina! Scales from the wings of these insects were preserved in dicynodont coprolites, & were likely on plants eaten by the dicynodonts. www.science.org/content/arti... #PoopScience 🧪💩🪨🦋

rhamphorhynchus reconstruction with raging sea background

Laser scanned pterosaur from ROM

NEW PAPER! Fossils are usually associated with bones, but soft tissues, such as skin, can be preserved. In this study, we use lasers to recover invisible, mysterious 150-million-year-old tissue decorating the tails of the first flying vertebrates, the pterosaurs. 🧵

Temnodontosaurus bromalites from the Lower Jurassic of Germany: hunting, digestive taphonomy and prey preferences in a macropredatory ichthyosaur Fossilized food items found in or passed through the digestive tract of an animal (bromalites) offer a window into the dietary habits and ecological role of the producer taxon. Bromalites have been d...

Temnodontosaurus bromalites from the Lower Jurassic of Germany: hunting, digestive taphonomy and prey preferences in a macropredatory ichthyosaur - Serafini - 2025 - Papers in Palaeontology - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

a stylized 3d render of a kid drawing at a table, surrounded by ancient fish and sea creatures of the devonian and silurian.

ancient friends

Reminder that SSE members in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, India, and 152 low-income countries around the world can still get FREE registration for the virtual Evolution meeting! Please share with your colleagues: www.evolutionsociety.org/index.php?mo...

I have been trying to convince people for years that this is the case based on modern gradients. It is great to see this being substantiated and quantified in such a way. 🧪⚒️

The origin of vertebrate teeth and evolution of sensory exoskeletons - Nature Re-examination of the presumed Cambrian fossil fish Anatolepis reveals previous misidentification of aglaspidid sensory structures as dentine, a vertebrate sensory tissue, showing it to be a...

According to this new paper on early vertebrates evolution, teeth have evolved from sensory structures in ancient fishes, 460 million years ago.

In a funny evolutionary twist, the the narwhal tusk with it sensory abilities, may finally be a return to their original function ?

#PaleoSky 🦑 🌊

Colossal scientist now admits they haven’t really made dire wolves Despite a huge media fanfare in which Colossal Biosciences claimed to have resurrected the extinct dire wolf, the company's chief scientist now concedes that the animals are merely modified grey wolve...

www.newscientist.com/article/2481...

Longitudinal median section through the well preserved specimen PIMUZ 28583 of Sellanarcestes spp. (Sellanarcestes wenkenbachi Zone, Emsian, Oufrane, Morocco) displaying many “Housean pits” interpreted as blister pearls, many with internal tube.

The answer is both fossil types are #underdogs to study #evolution and i discovered parasitic remains in #ammonoid shell pathologies during my PhD research: doi.org/10.4202/app..... I saw the potential in both; one things led to another. Now i am a #malacologist and a #paleoparasitologist

I am #paleontologist and my research focuses on the diversity and evolution of two #fossil groups - shelled cephalopods with better record and soft-bodied parasites with a poorer record. I was recently asked how and why i started studying the helminths if i am expert on the ammonoids and belemnites?

Aquatic Parasitology: Ecological and Environmental Concepts and Implications of Marine and Freshwater Parasites A unique open access collection on ecological and environmental parasitology in marine and freshwater. Covers climate change and parasite conservation.

Must read comprehensive #OpenAccess book was just published on Aquatic Parasitology by @nicojsmit.bsky.social and @berndsures.bsky.social: Ecological and Environmental Concepts and Implications of Marine and Freshwater Parasites edited by Nico J. Smit, Bernd Sures doi.org/10.1007/978-...

Get more from Kiabugboy on Patreon Paleo-animator

Heya..so seeing that Freelance work is getting unstable and I can't rely solely on Youtube Revenue, I'm giving Patreon a shot!

patreon.com/Kiabugboy

The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism This book highlights and reviews the potential of the fossil record to calibrate the origin and evolution of parasitism, and the techniques to understand the development of parasite-host associations ...

Last Thursday (8/5), it was the 4-year anniversary of the publication of our Topics in #Geobiology volume on The #Evolution and #Fossil Record of #Parasitism: Identification and Macroevolution of Parasites. doi.org/10.1007/978-... with @realhuntley.bsky.social Thanks all contributors #paleobiology

A microscope image of a mite in clear rock. The animals itself is an orange to brown colour, and you can see tiny legs protruding from a brown blod. TBH you kinda have to squint a bit to see it here, which makes it all the more amazing anyone found it. Inset are images of the ends of its legs

A confocal laser microscopy image identical to the last one, but in this case the host rock is blue, and the cuticle of the animal is green thanks to the lasers.

A labelled line drawing of the same mite specimen

Happy #FossilFriday. Here is an amazing fossil published last month: a ~410 million year old fossil mite from the collections of @nhm-london.bsky.social. This tiny animal (that scale bar is 0.05mm) is shown below in a microscope image, a laser microscopy image and reconstruction.

⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky

YouTube video by Kiabugboy More Oncocerida from Gotland

Timeline cleanse: do you want to see one of the best fossil animations I have EVER seen?

@kiabugboy.bsky.social you are literally a master of the form. BBC or Discovery (whoever pays more) should hire you immediately 🧪🦑⚒️

Our report on #PalGes 2024 - Joint Meeting of Polish Paleobiologist and the 95th Annual Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft was just published in Folia Malacologica: doi.org/10.12657/fol... #Paleobiology This years meeting will be at Geo4Göttingen: www.geo4goettingen2025.de/tablet/index...