Martin R. Smith

The terminal Ediacaran Tongshan Lagerstätte from South China - Nature Communications Here, the authors present Ediacaran fossils from the Tongshan Lagerstätte (South China), including Burgess Shale-type rangeomorphs preserved both with fronds and holdfasts. They use sedimentary and ch...

Burgess Shale-type preservation of Ediacaran Fronds
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Phoronid genome supports a monophyletic Lophophorata The definition and membership of Lophophorata, including brachiopods, phoronids, and bryozoans, have been debated for over a century. Lewin et al. show that phoronids and bryozoans share multiple deri...

Chromosomes point to Lophophorate monophyly
www.cell.com/current-biol...

I wonder what this topology means for the origins of Bryozoans?

Reconstruciton of Spongiophyton

There were at least five independent origins of lichens – and at least one had occurred by the Devonian
www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

Molecular evidence from xenacoelomorph gonopore formation supports homology with the bilaterian anus - Nature Ecology & Evolution The evolutionary origin of the bilaterian gut with two openings is debated. Expression in xenacoelomorphs, the sister group to bilaterians, of genes involved in bilaterian gut patterning suggests that...

Is the anus a gonopore? Origins of the bilaterian through-gut
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

StratoBayes: a Bayesian method for automated stratigraphic correlation and age modelling Abstract. Stratigraphic correlation and age modelling are fundamental to reconstructing Earth's history, biological evolution, and palaeoclimate, and underpin the exploration for subsurface resources....

Our new paper is out: StratoBayes: a Bayesian method for automated stratigraphic correlation and age modelling doi.org/10.5194/gchr... with @palaeosmith.bsky.social Kilian Eichenseer & Matthias Sinnesael

Have we reached 'peak fossil'?

Sampling bias hardly affects the lizard fossil record – suggesting that new finds are unlikely to overhaul our understanding?
doi.org/10.1017/pab....

Fossil mushrooms from the Cretaceous – almost fresh enough to top a pizza with!
doi.org/10.1093/botl...

Modern wildfire (BBC)

What was burning? Evidence of Ediacaran wildfires doi.org/10.1016/j.gl...

Fossil of Shishania

An early "mollusc" reconsidered: Is Shishana, in fact, a chancelloriid?
Read our new paper @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

StratoBayes: our quantitative tool for automated stratigraphic correlation.

Read the preprint: egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...

Horizontal Transfer of msp130 Genes and the Evolution of Metazoan Biocalcification Abstract. The formation of calcified skeletons is crucial for the development, physiology, and ecology of many marine metazoans. The evolutionary origins o

Is a borrowed bacterial gene key to the origins of biomineralization in animals?
academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Origin of the anus: was a gonopore key to inventing the through gut?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Derived Cirratuliform annelids in Cambrian SCF deposits – possible relatives of Iotuba? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Adaptive responses in Cambrian predator and prey highlight the arms race during the rise of animals Bicknell et al. explore the hypothesis that predation was a major ecological driver of early animal evolution. A study of the early Cambrian tommotiid Lapworthella fasciculata shows a correlation between increasing shell thickness and predation intensity (evidenced by perforations) over time, representing the oldest known microevolutionary arms race.

A Cambrian arms race?
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Kaolinite induces rapid authigenic mineralisation in unburied shrimps - Communications Earth & Environment Instantaneous burial capturing animals alive may not be prerequisite for exceptional marine animal preservation and fossilization, according to experiments on marine and freshwater shrimps and cryogen...

Burial not required for exceptional fossilization?
www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Low oxygen but dynamic marine redox conditions permitted the Cambrian Radiation

Low but dynamic oxygen levels as the backdrop to the Cambrian radiation

www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publicati...

🚨Job Alert!🚨
We are recruiting an Associate Professor in Environmental Sustainability! The post is associated with a new MSc in Environmental Sustainability which is due to start in October 2026. Please apply by 31 January, and please share this with your networks!

durham.taleo.net/careersectio...

Computational innovation for the energy transition: Bayesian stratigraphic correlation of subsurface data

Apply now for two PhD projects modelling stratigraphy to understand the evolutionary past and geological future

iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships...

iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships...