Pierre Orgebin

New #AmniotaLab research!
How well do computer models really predict bite force in living animals?

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 has just published this paper from her PhD, testing digital jaw models against real bite-force measurements in #lizards 🦎

Excited to be @tibsaarhus2026.bsky.social conference in Aarhus with @pierreorgebin.bsky.social. If you're interested in neuroanatomy 🧠, hippos 🦛, bovids 🐐 & island evolution 🏝, come to see our posters today (16:00-18:00) & tomorrow (16:10-18:10) in Room 3 #TIBS2026 (1/2)

a cartoon character from the simpsons is standing in front of a row of lockers ALT: a cartoon character from the simpsons is standing in front of a row of lockers

Amniota Lab is at #2025SVP! 🦴✨

come find us and say hi and follow this thread for all our presentations 👇

New #AmniotaLab research!
Faysal Bibi and Jean-Renaud Boisserie describe a fossil buffalo from Ethiopia, revealing how early members of the lineage evolved into today’s African buffalo 🐃

paleo.peercommunityin.org/PCIPaleo/art...

Virtual endocast of the Late Miocene Hoplitomeryx matthei (Artiodactyla, Hoplitomerycidae) and brain evolution in insular ruminants | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Mammals often follow peculiar evolutionary trajectories on islands, with some Pleistocene insular large mammals exhibiting reduced relative brain size. However, the antiquity of this phenomenon remain...

New #AmniotaLab study: the first digital endocast 🧠 of the five-horned ruminant 🦌 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘹 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪 from Miocene Gargano (Italy) reveals a distinct evolutionary path among island mammals

👏 @pierreorgebin.bsky.social @robertorozzi.bsky.social

🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

🧠🏝️
Each new fossil endocast helps us learn more about the intriguing phenomenon of island brain evolution! Huge thanks to all my coauthors and everyone who contributed to making this study possible! 🙏
7/7

🏝️⚖️
Unlike M. balearicus, H. matthei underwent only a minor brain size reduction. Different islands = different evolutionary pathways!
6/7

🕰️🐐
This means that its putative ancestor colonized Gargano much later than thought: not before the Early Miocene! The brain morphology of Hoplitomeryx definitively places it within Pecora, not primitive Tragulina as previously suspected.
5/7

🖥️🔬
Using high-resolution CT scanning, we digitally reconstructed its brain from fossil skulls and compared it with 35 extant and extinct ruminants. 🚨 H. matthei had a "modern" bovid-like brain, not a more primitive brain structure as expected!
4/7

Life reconstruction of the head of Hoplitomeryx matthei (artist: Velizar Simeonovski).

🧬❓
H. matthei was truly bizarre: 5 horns, saber-like canines, and a debated phylogenetic position. Was it related to antelopes? Deer? Primitive ruminants? Its brain may hold crucial clues to solving this evolutionary puzzle...
3/7

🐐🧠
We know that some Pleistocene island mammals, like Myotragus balearicus (the "mouse goat"), underwent pronounced brain size changes. But how widespread and ancient is this phenomenon? More data are needed to build a comprehensive picture across time and different island systems.
2/7

Virtual endocast of the Late Miocene Hoplitomeryx matthei (Artiodactyla, Hoplitomerycidae) and brain evolution in insular ruminants | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Mammals often follow peculiar evolutionary trajectories on islands, with some Pleistocene insular large mammals exhibiting reduced relative brain size. However, the antiquity of this phenomenon remains unclear. Here, we report the first digital endocast ...

🦌🧠🏝️
So happy to share my first PhD chapter! First digital brain endocast of Hoplitomeryx matthei - a strange five-horned ruminant from Gargano paleo-island (Italy).
Full study: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
#Paleontology #Paleoneurology #IslandBiogeography
1/7

Time to grow up: the PETM climatic event favoured metamorphosing salamanders (Urodela, Salamandridae) | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Currently, little is known about the early evolution and geographical origin of Salamandridae, the most species-rich family of Palearctic salamanders. The description of new fossil material from the e...

Our study on the role of the #PETM on the early evolutionary success of #salamandrids is out! Delighted to be part of this great project led by Loredana Macaluso, with A.Villa, @grumpydrfabre.bsky.social & B.Mennecart #salamanders #climatechanges 🌡☀️⌛️
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... (1/2)

Great to have @evomorpholab.bsky.social visiting us!
A fantastic few days of sharing ideas, methods, and common interests.
Looking forward to more collaboration ahead!
#EvolutionaryBiology #Paleobiology #AmniotaLab

Excited to be @eavpalaeo.bsky.social conference #EAVP2025 in Krakow with @pierreorgebin.bsky.social & @willliii.bsky.social. If you're interested in neuroanatomy 🧠, ruminants 🦌🐐 & island evolution 🏝, don’t miss our talk & poster tomorrow at Krzysztofory Palace [Rynek Główny 35]) 1/3

Congratulations, @pierreorgebin.bsky.social! 🎉🎉 #proud_PhD_advisor

I had the great pleasure of attending the APF annual congress in #Lille last week! Deeply honored to have received the award for the best talk on an ongoing PhD 🦌🧠🏝
Many thanks to the organizers and to the inspiring researchers I had the chance to meet and learn from!

Cranial morphology in flying squirrels: diet, shape, and size disparity across tropical and temperate biomes - Frontiers in Zoology Background Species richness increases gradually as latitude decreases, however, the explanation for this phenomenon remains unclear. Ecological hypotheses suggest that greater niche diversity in tropi...

Do tropical biomes drive greater skull diversity in flying squirrels? 🐿️

@paleoiris.bsky.social from #AmniotaLab led this study to test it!
Diet shapes skulls, but tropical biomes don’t show extra disparity. extreme niche specialization might matter more!

🔗 Read more:
doi.org/10.1186/s129...

The differentiated impacts and constraints of allometry, phylogeny, and environment on the ruminants’ ankle bone - Communications Biology 3D geometric morphometrics reveal how phylogeny, allometry, and locomotor adaptations shape the morphology of the ruminant astragalus, highlighting its integrated nature and evolutionary constraints.

How do #evolution and environment shape ruminant ankles? 🐃🦴
@pierreorgebin.bsky.social from #AmniotaLab led this 3D morphometric study, revealing how size, phylogeny & habitat leave distinct marks on astragalus morphology!

🔗 Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#AmniotaLabCollab 📚🔍

Thrilled to announce that my first Master's paper on the astragalus of ruminants has been published! 🦒🐐🦌

The differentiated impacts and constraints of allometry, phylogeny, and environment on the ruminants’ ankle bone - Communications Biology 3D geometric morphometrics reveal how phylogeny, allometry, and locomotor adaptations shape the morphology of the ruminant astragalus, highlighting its integrated nature and evolutionary constraints.

3D geometric #morphometrics reveal how phylogeny, allometry, and locomotor adaptations shape the morphology of the ruminant astragalus, highlighting its integrated nature and evolutionary constraints. 🦒🐃🐐 @pierreorgebin.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42...