𝙱𝙰𝚂𝙰𝙽𝚃𝙰 𝙺𝙷𝙰𝙺𝚄𝚁𝙴𝙻

Doctoral Researcher in Macroevolution and Phenotypic Diversification of Dung Beetles Doctoral Researcher in Macroevolution and Phenotypic Diversification of Dung Beetles

Applications are open for a 3-year funded PhD position at the Finnish Museum of Natural History, focused on dung beetle evolution. Deadline: March 16. … https://jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki-Doctoral-Researcher-in-Macroevolution-and-Phenotypic-Diversification-of-Dung-Beetles/1352799257/ #gradstudent

The first two articles of Volume 5 of the Bulletin of the Society of Systematic Biologists are now published at ssbbulletin.org.

Morning.

Thank you! You're totally right, it felt like the methodological pieces and the software framework finally aligned perfectly. So excited for you to give it a spin. Let me know if you hit any snags!

A covarion model for phylogenetic estimation using discrete morphological datasets Abstract. The rate of evolution of a single morphological character is not homogeneous across the phylogeny and this rate heterogeneity varies between morp

Khakurel & Höhna (2026-02, Systematic Biology)
A covarion model for phylogenetic estimation using discrete morphological datasets
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

@lmugeoumwelt.bsky.social

Accounting for these shifts offers a robust framework for morphological phylogenetic inference. Try the covariomorph model right now in RevBayes!
Huge thanks to @hoehna.bsky.social and the whole lab for the support and feedback along the way!

Here's the updated pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Three scatter plots comparing clade posterior probabilities for different models (Mk, ACRV, Covariomorph). Black circles indicate clades without significant differences, while blue triangles show clades sampled with significantly different probabilities between the compared models.

Results? ~Half of the empirical datasets showed patterns compatible with covarion-like dynamics (switching between rate regimes). This impacts the resulting tree topology and branch lengths. Check out the clade support differences:

A schematic of the 3-rate binary covariomorph model showing shark tooth silhouettes. It displays 'Slow', 'Medium', and 'Fast' rate categories with colored horizontal arrows for state transitions, and black vertical/curved arrows indicating the switching rate between these regimes.

Beyond among character rate variation, we can now account for among character and lineage rate variation (heterotachy)! The covariomorph model allows traits to switch between multiple rate regimes during evolution. Tested via extensive simulations & empirical datasets.

A covarion model for phylogenetic estimation using discrete morphological datasets Abstract. The rate of evolution of a single morphological character is not homogeneous across the phylogeny and this rate heterogeneity varies between morp

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...

Benchmarking of software for Bayesian sampling of divergence times using genomes

We have a new Bayesian sampler of divergence times that is smoking fast! Benchmarking by the exceptional @lauramulvey.bsky.social

Dive Deep into Probabilistic Phylogenetic Comparative Methods Transmitting Science ONLINE course Dive Deep into Probabilistic Phylogenetic Comparative Methods, by Dr. Ignacio Quintero.

Want to learn the ins and outs of diversification, trait and biogeographic evolution models? I will be giving another edition of "Dive Deep into Probabilistic Phylogenetic Comparative Methods" in Oct! @tscourses.bsky.social www.transmittingscience.com/courses/evol...

Becoming a part of the @systbiol.bsky.social community is one of my greatest scientific achievements. I am happy to celebrate this today with a journal cover and a nomination to the editorial team

Workshop on Molecular Evolution | Marine Biological Laboratory The workshop serves graduate students, postdocs, and established faculty from around the world seeking to apply the principles of molecular evolution to questions of anthropology, conservation genetic...

Applications are now open for the 2026 Workshop on Molecular Evolution (MOLE)!

www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

Claudia Solis-Lemus and I will be holding an informational session on Zoom next Wed (1/21) from 10:30-11:30 AM Central for those interested:

lsu.zoom.us/j/4968115684

Deadline to apply: 1/26

Systematic Biology’s January 2026 issue (75.1) is out! It launches our 75th anniversary series, debuts the new Invited Review article category, features a Tillandsia Spotlight, along with a nice mix of empirical & methods papers. Check it out: academic.oup.com/sysbio/issue...

@systbiol.bsky.social

Evolving RevBayes into an Open-Source Ecosystem

Had a great post-SSB hackathon with the RevBayes crew! Got tons of work done on both RevBayes and RevGadgets! Special thanks to @trayc7.bsky.social @jembrown.bsky.social for organizing and hosting!

New paper in Paleobiology! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A small grey cat staring hatefully at another cat from behind a glass door

My daughter’s cat hates our other cat, and will sometimes sit watching him sleep from behind my office door

All Systematic Zoology/Biology research articles published over past 75 years, clustered by topic and represented in 2d space.

Reflections on the evolving practice of systematic biology, a joy to write with Michael Donoghue for the upcoming 75th volume of Systematic Biology!

academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694700v1

Very excited for this incredible lineup of talks at #SSB2026!

ssb2026.github.io/talks.html

For those giving talks, more instructions will be sent shortly.

@systbiol.bsky.social

Improved Phylogenetic Posterior Estimation through Regularised Conditional Clade Distributions https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.16.694737v1

No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes Muller's ratchet predicts that non-recombining genomes can accumulate deleterious mutations, though molecular evidence for it is rare. Previous studies have tried to detect ratchet-like behavior in mi...

Have you ever wondered: just how strong *is* the evidence for Muller's ratchet on mtDNA?

Well, wonder no more!

(Project led by Yu Mo, with @smishra677.bsky.social and @yadirapga.bsky.social)

"No molecular evidence for Muller's ratchet in mitochondrial genomes"
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Does anyone know any current or former recipients of an SNF mobility grant based in Germany? I'd be grateful for any leads!

Depictions of evolution where a phylogeny often has humans on the far right or top can give an impression of evolution being progressive of leading to ‘increased complexity’ when it does not. Top figure shows such a phylogeny which can look the same as ‘the March of progress’ depiction most commonly used to depict evolution (showing monkey to man erroneous march of evolution) - instead swiveling some nodes on a phylogeny where humans are shown closer to the center (which doesn’t change relationships) can lead to better ‘tree thinking’

New post by me on #MITPressReader @mitpress.bsky.social

On the 100th anniversary of the #ScopesMonkeyTrial
the ways we depict #evolution can still give an erroneous progressive view (that evolution leads to humans or ‘increased complexity’).

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-our-pictu...

A quick reminder for everyone registered for SSB2026: please take a moment to complete the survey to submit lightning talks, sign up for workshops, and indicate your interest in other meeting activities.

If you haven’t filled it out yet, today’s the day!

We're excited to see you all in January!

Deadline soon (end of Nov) for this PhD position in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics in my group.

If I understood correctly, you can do it like this in ggplot2.

theme(axis.text.x = element_text(margin = margin(t = 10)), # further from x-axis, b would bring it closer
axis.text.y = element_text(margin = margin(r = 10)) # further from y-axis, l would bring it closer)

Agentic Coding For Scientists A four-part series on using coding agents like Claude Code for scientific programming, covering fundamentals, workflows, best practices, and the human side of AI-assisted development.

The last five months with Claude Code have completely changed how we work.

matsen.group/agentic.html details:

• How agents work (& why it matters)
• Git Flow with agents
• Using agents for science
• The human-agent interface

Questions? What has your experience been?