Fabien Lafuma

Congratulations Vitόria! (and sorry I'm late to the party 😅) Awesome study, I can't wait to see your methods applied to other groups!

🦈 🦷 Our new paper on eLife: Shark dental complexity and adaptive variation across the phylogeny depends on trait scale, disentangling the exceptional nested multi-scale nature of dentitions. elifesciences.org/articles/107... #Sharks #TeethEvolution #SharkTeeth #EcoEvoDevo

Multifaceted impacts of an innovation on dental diversity in an adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes Abstract. Evolutionary innovations bring species into new ecological zones by opening ecological opportunity. However, innovations can have varied effects

New paper out now! We show that innovations can have varied effects on a phenotypic evolution, determined by the interaction between external ecological context and internal changes to organismal structure. Read here: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Can finally share this #watercolor #paleoart I did a few years back of the “King of the Riverside” I did for the new paper by @melanieduring.com which shows that in Hell Creek there were giant Prognathodon mosasaurs that were living in freshwater (not just visiting)

Mosasaurs, the giant marine reptiles that roamed the Earth more than 66 million years ago, didn’t just live in the sea. Our new research shows that they could thrive in freshwater too! Let’s dive into what we’ve discovered.
#Paleontology #Mosasaurs

Excited to announce that my second manuscript, “Fossilised Melanosomes Reveal Colour Patterning in A Sauropod Dinosaur” has been published in
@royalsociety.org !! Diplodocus scales are complex and diverse, and it turns out their color patterning was even more so. A 🧵🦕 1/26

Tiktaalik slugs its way over a muddy bank in a flooded Devonian landscape while the sun sets over the horizon. Banks of pink and purple clouds loom in front of distant streaks of orange as clear turquoise sky peeks through cloudless regions. Various trees and shrubs stand tall above purple water glistening with gold wavelets. With vision that could probably see in the UV spectrum and eyes beginning to adapt for the infinite visual range provided in aerial habitats, Titaalik pauses to take this all in, being among the first animals that can see the natural world in such detail. All which is to say - the next time you admire sunsets or the night sky, consider what this owes to events of 375 million years ago. When the first vertebrates struggled out of the water they rapidly developed eyes that were much sharper and clearer than those of their fishy ancestors, vision being of variable utility in most freshwater habitats. Millions of years on, what probably started as a means to navigate and find prey allows us to observe and enjoy the natural world with a sense of awe and wonder.

New #paleoart on #FossilFriday: #Tiktaalik sees the world. Discussions of early #tetrapods often focus on limbs and lungs, but major changes also took place in their eyes. Seeing further and clearer than any animal before, they were the first to clearly see sunsets, stars, and the moon. #sciart

Et pour l'article original, ça se passe ici (en anglais) : doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Qu'est-ce que les dents des campagnols peuvent nous apprendre sur l'évolution ?

Pour le savoir, venez découvrir notre étude entre #paléontologie et #evodevo chez @cnrsecologie.bsky.social 🦷🐹✨ #vulgarisation #thèse

Philippe Taquet portrait, by Espace des Sciences, CC BY-SA 2.0 (from wikipedia).

Have learnt from Andrea Cau that French palaeontologist Philippe Taquet died yesterday, aged 85. Taquet published a substantial amount on north African and French #dinosaurs, including Ouranosaurus, spinosaurids, the dromaeosaurid Pyroraptor and much more.

Philippe Taquet, chasseur de dinosaures et ancien directeur du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, est mort Destiné à reprendre l’industrie textile familiale, cet esprit libre a préféré la vie de chercheur d’os, découvrant plusieurs espèces d’animaux disparus, tout en menant une carrière institutionnelle de premier plan. Il s’est éteint le 16 novembre, à 85 ans.

Philippe Taquet, chasseur de dinosaures et ancien directeur du Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, est mort

Hallucinant. C'est inacceptable. J'ai une ERC, que rétrospectivement j'ai eu la chance de rédiger à l'étranger avec un dispositif bien meilleur que ceux qui sont proposés en France et SURTOUT avec de quoi produire des résultats préliminaires que ce soit en terme de mentiring ou de moyens #esr

Pleased to be a small part of this molecular palaeobiology study by Jialin Wei, led by Marta Álvarez-Presas and Jordi Paps, with help from Davide Pisani. Animals repeatedly used similar genomic solutions to the challenges of terrestrialization @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Happy #FossilFriday! Heading to #PuertoRico for some #fieldwork & R&R! So here's #Elasmodontomys obliquus, an endemic rodent of unusual size that became extinct a few thousand years ago, marking the end of a lineage that reached the West Indies ~33 million years ago!! #ROUS #RodentsoftheCaribbean

Origin and Early Evolution of Squamates and Their Kin: From Fossils to Genomes Squamates (lizards, including snakes) are the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates on Earth today and have an evolutionary history dating back to at least the Middle Triassic (ca. 242 Mya). D...

Our big squamate origins and early evolution review is now fully published as open access! with @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social and F. Burbrink

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Déterrer la bête : épisode 1/2 du podcast Angeac : un sanctuaire de dinosaures en Charente AUDIO • Angeac : un sanctuaire de dinosaures en Charente, épisode 1/2 : Déterrer la bête. Une série inédite proposée par France Culture. Écoutez Une histoire particulière, et découvrez nos podcasts en...

Superbe reportage sur @franceculture.fr sur le gisement de dinosaures 🦕🦖, mais pas que, d'Angeac-Charente avec de nombres ami.e.s du @cr2p.bsky.social dont Ronan Alain, @lea-db.bsky.social , Lee Rozada, Yohan Despres... Quel gisement !!!!
@recherche.mnhn.fr
➡️ www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...

Faire un bon dans le passé des dinosaures pour comprendre notre présent, c’est le défi que Ronan Allain, paléontologue au Muséum a relevé pour ce dernier épisode de la saison 6 du podcast. 🦕🦖

🎧Ecoutez : urlr.me/UEYRTF
👉Plus d'infos : urlr.me/tC6dJ9

#PQNV #podcast #dinosaures #evolution

brightfield images of three lizard embryos of approximately the same developmental stage. Below each embryo image is an immunofluorescence image labeling E-cadherin (green) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (magenta) of their developing lungs

New paper out in @devdynamics.bsky.social on lizard lung development!

Project co-led w/ Kaleb Hill and also w/ @tonygamble.bsky.social @shylonatasha.bsky.social @aussiebiologist.bsky.social @bezbez.bsky.social @celestemnelson.bsky.social

anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

These were the dinosaurs that faced the asteroid.

Some of the last survivors. They lived in New Mexico, 66 million years ago. Among them was Alamosaurus, the size of a jetplane.

We unveiled them, and their true age, today in a new paper in
@science.org !

Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades - Nature Ecology & Evolution The interplay between speciation and extinction rates shapes clade diversity dynamics. Using a novel phylogenetic model that includes living and fossil lineages, the authors estimate speciation and ex...

Excited to share our new paper where we find that the rise, decline and fall of clades is not explained by the usual suspects (diversity-dependence, ecological opportunities) but rather by species' insidious loss of macroevolutionary fitness: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/3

Vole/lemming is way up high in my emoji wishlist! We have the hamster face representing cricetids though, so I guess I’ll wait some more before I riot 🐹🔥

Was there ever a better #ToothyTuesday post ladies and gents? 🙌

Many thanks to @hlusko.bsky.social for this wonderful piece recognizing the exciting work of @paleofab.bsky.social and our previous research on bats www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Mark Norell obituary: palaeontologist who showed that dinosaurs still walk among us — as birds Through fieldwork and innovative research, he transformed how scientists and the public perceive the prehistoric world.

On this #fossilfriday, take a few moments to read this.

A touching tribute to the life, career, and discoveries of Mark Norell, from his long-time friend and field companion, Mike Novacek. In @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Honoured to see @hlusko.bsky.social’s thoughtful new PNAS commentary highlighting our work on how tooth development shaped vole molar evolution—alongside research by @aigverte.bsky.social. Great perspectives on non-model animals and the future of #evodevo! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #ToothyTuesday

Scientists uncover a mysterious Jurassic lizard with snake-like jaws A strange Jurassic lizard discovered on Scotland’s Isle of Skye is shaking up what we know about snake evolution. Named Breugnathair elgolensis, the “false snake of Elgol” combined hook-like, python-s...

A new Jurassic fossil from Scotland, Breugnathair elgolensis, shows a combination of snake-like jaws and teeth with a lizard-like body and limbs, providing direct evidence of diverse squamate traits early in their history.
#Paleontology #Evolution #Fossils
🧪🐍🦴⚒️
Paper
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fossil found on Skye is new species of fanged Jurassic reptile Experts say the lizard-like creature, which has been given the Gaelic name Breugnathair elgolensis, had lived about 167 million years ago.

Is it a lizard? Is it a snake? Maybe a 'false snake'?? As that's what its name means in Gaelic!

Hello to Breugnathair, a new fossil from the Jurassic of Skye with a curious mix of snake & lizard features, showing that early squamate evolution was complex

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I was honored to create this illustration to accompany the discovery of Breugnathair elgolensis a newly discovered genus of reptile that shares traits of both lizards and snakes.
Congratulations and special thanks to the authors!
You can read the paper using the link below
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Many animals can reshape and shed their teeth – and now scientists have traced this ability back 380 million years A new study of ancient, extinct fish known as placoderms provides another piece of the evolutionary puzzle about our deep time, aquatic ancestors.

Many animals can reshape and shed their teeth – and now scientists have traced this ability back 380 million years #Bullerichthys #GogoFormation #Devonian

theconversation.com/many-animals...

New specimens of the arthrodire Bullerichthys fascidens Dennis and Miles 1980 show incipient site-specific osteichthyan-like tooth addition and resorption - Swiss Journal of Palaeontology The arthrodiran placoderm Bullerichthys fascidens, from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation, Western Australia, was originally described from an incomplete headshield with only the spinal and interolater...

New paper out yesterday "New specimens of the arthrodire Bullerichthys fascidens Dennis and Miles 1980 show incipient site-specific osteichthyan-like tooth addition and resorption"

Read it now in Swiss Journal of Palaeontology: sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10....