Cecily Nicholl

Loved being part of this project, led by Marco Muscioni 🐊🌍🦷

We'll be hosting a joint Crossing the Palaeontological–Ecological Gap (CPEG) meeting & Conservation Paleobiology Symposium @ucl.ac.uk in London in August 2027, which aims to bridge spatial and temporal gradients between palaeontology, ecology, and conservation: www.ucl.ac.uk/mathematical...

Our paper re-evaluating the notosuchian Eremosuchus elkoholicus is out now! This work formed a chapter of my PhD thesis, and sheds some light on the complex evolutionary history of sebecid crocodyliforms 🐊🌎
@es-ucl.bsky.social

Interested in corals, dispersal, and diversification dynamics? 🪸

We're offering a PhD project on how the Tethys closure shaped global marine biodiversity — supervised by me, Bridget Wade, Nadia Santodomingo, & Francesca Bosellini.

🗓️ Apply by 17th December 2025

www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/how...

Researchers from UCL’s Vertebrate Palaeobiology Research Group presenting in their recent findings.

Had a really great time at @eavpalaeo.bsky.social in Kraków last week with all of team croc/sauropod from @es-ucl.bsky.social 🐊🦕 (as well as many old/new pals). Big thanks to everyone involved in organising!

@macroecoevoale.bsky.social
@devinhoffman.bsky.social
@pdmannion.bsky.social

New paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social led by Steve Poropat @curtinuniversity.bsky.social ‪in which we present the first ever direct evidence of sauropod dinosaur feeding, based on stomach contents of the Australian titanosaur Diamantinasaurus: www.cell.com/current-biol... @es-ucl.bsky.social

Interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship this year? Feel free to reach out!

We've got micro🔬, invert 🪸, and vert palaeo🦕 @es-ucl.bsky.social!

📆 We are accepting Expressions of Interest until 9th June!

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...

On the left: coloured box and whisker plots illustrating morphological diversity through time of extinct crocodylomorph skulls in dorsal view. Left vertical axis shows disparity (box and whisker plots coloured according to age: Late Triassic on the left in purple, to Palaeogene on the right in orange). Dashed line shows Procrustes variance (scale on right vertical axis). On the right: photographs of a fossil crocodylomorph skull in dorsal (above) and lateral (below) view, with dots and lines indicating the position of landmarks and linear measurements used in this study. Red dots indicate landmarks; black dots are semilandmarks. The skull shown as an example is of Mariliasuchus amarali (MZSP PV 000050). There is a 2 cm scale bar shown on the lower left of the images.

For a while, crocodile: crocodylomorph resilience to mass extinctions onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad.bsky.social

The structure of the end-Cretaceous dinosaur fossil record in North America Dean et al. examine the fossil record of North American dinosaurs prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Estimates of detection probability from occupancy models decrease prior to the extinction...

🚨 I'm super happy to announce that our new paper is finally out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social! 🚨

We used the ecological approach of occupancy modelling to investigate the structure of the dinosaur fossil record prior to the K/Pg mass extinction!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Tewkensuchus salamanquensis skull elements

Palaeontologists retrieving the fossil from the ground

Our new paper out today describes a sebecoidean crocodylomorph from the Early Palaeocene of Patagonia, and provides support for the survival of a large-bodied terrestrial vertebrate lineage across the K-Pg.

@pdmannion.bsky.social @es-ucl.bsky.social

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Our new paper @royalsociety.org describing a new notosuchian crocodyliform from the early Paleocene of Argentina that we interpret as evidence for survival of a large-bodied terrestrial lineage across the K–Pg mass extinction (w/@piginatutu.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1098/rspb... @es-ucl.bsky.social

painting of alligators on a river next to a sunflower field

sunflower + alligator

prints: www.inprnt.com/gallery/guil...

Anatomical description and systematics of a new notosuchian (Mesoeucrocodylia; Crocodyliformes) from the Quiricó Formation, Lower Cretaceous, Sanfranciscana Basin, Brazil Notosuchians comprise a clade of mostly terrestrial crocodyliforms generally found in Cretaceous Gondwanan deposits. They evolved into many forms and some species show convergences with mammalian f...

🚨Croc paper alert!

Please welcome Thilastikosuchus scutorectangularis 🐊, the oldest notosuchian from South America and the first crocodyliform from the Sanfranciscana Basin, Brazil!

Happy to be part of this team. Huge thanks to Joyce for being invited to collaborate! #paleontology

I really couldn’t have done this without the support of all of my friends and family who have been right by my side over the past few years, and to all of my Palaeo and PhD pals who I’ve met along the way - I feel incredibly lucky to have existed in the same time and place as you all 🦴🌎📑🐊🦕

Thank you also to my examiners, Paul Upchurch and Pat O’ Connor, for a really great viva discussion - this was the first exam I’ve ever sat that I actually ended up enjoying!

…a BIG BIG thank you to my supervisors @pdmannion.bsky.social, Diego Pol, and @bridgetwade.bsky.social for all of your help over the last few years. All of your knowledge, expertise, support, and kindness have gotten me to this point and I’m very grateful for that.

Comment reads: this sounds alike a disturbing Lynchian scene

In all the excitement/stress of the day I failed to get any photos with those who have supported me through the last few years. Fortunately, I excel at writing nice things, as evidenced by this comment on my thesis acknowledgements 😬. So, with that said…

PhD thesis cover: The Evolutionary History of Notosuchian Crocodylomorphs

(Pending) Dr Nicholl with Cecily the caterpillar cake

My first post on here, so I’d like to share some cool things that have happened recently:

1) Last week I successfully defended my PhD thesis, and am a (pending) croc doc 🐊

2) I now share my name with a caterpillar cake

3) I learnt the importance of never being photographed with a whiteboard