Sebastian Höhna

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...

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!

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

Applications to join the Computational Approaches to Early Evolution workshop are still accepted! Do not miss your chance to attend this event full of discussions on the computational methods for studying early life! 🦠💻🧬

forms.oist.jp/form/computa...

Interested in trying to use RevBayes for the first time? Need help planning or debugging a phylogenetic analysis?

Check out the RevBayes Office Hours!

In the University Room this morning and the King Room this afternoon.

revbayes.github.io

@systbiol.bsky.social #SSB2026

Permanent Research Group Leader Position, Crete, Greece: Interested to assume long-term responsibilities for the Biodiversity Computing Group www.biocomp.gr I have set up in Crete? Apply now via apella.minedu.gov.gr/en/node/5998 (PDF also in English) - for questions email to stamatak@ics.forth.gr

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

📢 Job alert: Post-Doc Position in the project "Functional annotation of genomic🧬 innovations in a densely populated clade🪰 with deep learning 💻" Join the GEvol community in a collaborative project between @bornberglab.bsky.social and @katharinahoff.bsky.social lab.
👉 bornberglab.org/post-doc-pos...

PhD position available for theoretical and statistical modeling in my joint @gevol.bsky.social project with @luisapallares.bsky.social on the evolution of transcriptional variability and its role in adaptation and evolutionary innovation.
See
job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...

Join today our online colloquium to learn about the evolution of feather like structures 250 millions ago, before dinosaurs were around! @kombiota.bsky.social

🧬 PhD Position: Evolutionary & Comparative Genomics 🕷️
Join us at @uni-goettingen.de for a 3-year PhD (65% TV-L E13).
We will investigate the genomic & phenotypic impact of gene duplication across 233 arthropod genomes!
More infos 👇 and s.gwdg.de/eDrAAY
#Evolution #Genomics #Bioinformatics

This is a paid position for a PhD student within a larger priority program. Ms positions are available through our MGAP or EES programs.

Yes, we are in the city center of Munich.

How many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny? | Biology Letters Despite increased recent attention towards Bayesian phylogenetics and its applications in understanding macroevolutionary processes, it remains unclear how many discrete characters are needed to accur...

I'll be presenting a poster at #2025SVP #SVP2025 about my recently published work on how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny. Come by at the poster session this Thursday if you want to chat about it! royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1...

The position is part of the @gevol.bsky.social sky.social priority program. Please spread and get in contact.

PhD position available in evolutionary genomics/bioinformatics (hoehnalab.github.io/job_adverts/...). Topic: analyzing gene expression evolution across several firefly species and linking expression changes to genomic architecture. The position is jointly supervised with @anaevolcatalan.bsky.social

🎉We are happy to announce that our wonderful GEvol SPP will be funded by @dfg.de for another 3 years. Included are 17 great projects all over Germany with amazing people. You want to be part of this fantastic community? Soon you can find new PhD/Post-Doc positions here & on our website. Stay tuned🎉

#BiologyLetters How many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny?
Find out more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #evolution #palaeontology #taxonomyandsystematics

Out now in Biology Letters, my latest paper tackles an apparently simple question: how many characters are needed to reconstruct a phylogeny? TL;DR: in most cases between 100 and 500, more than a substantial portion of morphological datasets, but the story is more complex... doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

I am extremely happy to see that our review on fossil tip-dating is out in early view in Systematic Biology! A huge thanks to all the authors of this massive project (@heckeberg.bsky.social, @basantakhakurel.bsky.social, Gustavo Darlim, and @hoehna.bsky.social)! academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...

We (me, @barankarapunar.bsky.social, @sinjinis.bsky.social and @harriedrage.bsky.social) organized a symposium for the next IPC (Cape Town 2026!) on evolution, diversity and ecology in marine ecosystems throughout the Phanerozoic.
Contact us if you would like to participate or to know more about it!

Impact of Partition Models on Phylogenetic Inference and Divergence Times of Lampyridae from Mitochondrial Genomes Mitochondrial genomes are frequently used for phylogenetic inference due to their availability and cost-efficient sequencing. In most mitogenomic phylogenetic analyses, only the two ribosomal RNA and ...

This study by @hoehna.bsky.social and coauthors seems very reassuring: where we often pick partition specific models rather ad-hoc, it appears these do not influence divergence time estimations.
(I would still love to see a densitree plot though!)

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Proud supervisor moment! 🥹🤩
So incredible to watch our undergrad students from the lab shine in front of such a knowledgeable audience at @cpeg-cpb25.bsky.social. They absolutely crushed it and I couldn’t be prouder!
@fernandalandim.bsky.social, Anna Clara Annes, Jorge Silva and Gabriela Karam.

Excited to share that I will be a co-director for the upcoming Workshop on Phylogenomics @evomics.bsky.social, alongside the amazing main team lead @rosafernandez.bsky.social and Erin K. Molloy

We are putting together an amazing workshop with details to come - can't wait to share it with everyone!🥳

Female neoteny does have an impact on colonization patterns in the big European firefly, Lampyris noctiluca ✨

Phylogenetically informative proteins from an Early Miocene rhinocerotid - Nature Protein sequences from fossil tooth enamel of a rhinocerotid from Canada’s High Arctic are used to develop phylogenetic frameworks from a specimen too old to preserve ancient DNA.

We now have protein sequences from rhino enamel that are >20 million years old! I am extremely excited and grateful to have been part of this project. The incredible thing: these sequences are informative enough to place this ancient species in the rhino tree! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Phylogenetically informative proteins from an Early Miocene rhinocerotid - Nature Protein sequences from fossil tooth enamel of a rhinocerotid from Canada’s High Arctic are used to develop phylogenetic frameworks from a specimen too old to preserve ancient DNA.

The study finding phylogenetically informative proteomic data in a 20+ Myr rhino from Arctic Canada--and mind blowingly including this Miocene sequence in a tip-dated analysis--counts 2021 PhD Alessio Capobianco (now postdoc, LMU Munich) among the authors: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ancient proteins rewrite the rhino family tree — are dinosaurs next? Molecules from 20-million-year-old teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced.

This week, two papers in @nature.com reported informative ancient proteins from Early Miocene (!) mammals. What I've realized now that I've had a chance to actually look at them: *both* studies include UMMP alums and/or current researchers as authors. Neat. 🦏🦷🧬
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Research Assistant (m/f/d) - Population Genomics/Evolutionary Genomics

Job alert! I am looking for someone who would like to join my lab as a senior researcher, permanent, with teaching included. My lab is new, I still have startup money, just sayin. DM or email me with questions. Deadline Aug. 11th, interviews in september.
Ad here: jobs.uni-rostock.de/jobposting/c...

Ancient proteins rewrite the rhino family tree — are dinosaurs next? Molecules from 20-million-year-old teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced.

Molecules from 20-million-year-old rhino-relative teeth are among the oldest ever sequenced

go.nature.com/4lFx4KN