Looking for a master student to work on the microstructure of metapodials and phalanges in arboreal mammals!! Fully funded by the MNHN. Cool collab with @houssayecnrs.bsky.social ! Contact me for more info 😁

A Quantitative Analysis of the Manus Musculature in Tapirs (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) Tapirs (Perissodactyla: Tapiridae) show evidence in their forefoot bones that suggest clear differences in the way their load is distributed during locomotion. Here, we also found corresponding diffe...

big thankyou to my collaborators and colleagues for their parts in this work:
Eva Corssmit (www.evacorssmit.com)
Jorge Rojas-Jimenez (linkedin.com/in/jorge-rojas-jim%C3%A9nez-a7b079269/)
Martha MacMillan (linkedin.com/in/martha-macmillan-084661b8/)
and here's the paper: doi.org/10.1002/jmor.70051

Hands up who loves tapirs! Eugh, oh dear it's been a LOOONG time since I posted anything. I have been super busy with research and teaching this past year, and unfortunately you fine folks have been left out. But no longer. I have finally managed to find a little time to sit down and write up some bloggy-business for a couple of publications that have come out this year!

In my latest (and long overdue) blog post, I give a short account of some work that was published in the summer looking at tapir hand muscles, and their internal architecture. Hopefully interesting for biologists, conservationists, and veterinarians alike! Enjoy!
#tapir #anatomy #locomotion

New paper! Led by @knapprew.bsky.social, we show that jaw shape in pelagiarian fishes diversified early in their evolution. Surprisingly, jaw shape is highly correlated with habitat, but not diet & with different optimisations for mechanical advantage during closing. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

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...

Jordan @jordangonet.bsky.social presented the project DINOSIM at the Annual meeting #DIM Pamir this morning

Your body has tendons, your robots should too! Our new paper in Advanced Science highlights how adding tendons to muscle-powered “biohybrid” robots makes them 11X stronger. Check out this great MIT News feature of our work:

news.mit.edu/2025/artific...

#biohybrid #robotics #biomaterials

Time to publish responsibly: DAFNEE, a database of academia-friendly journals in ecology and evolutionary biology Abstract. The current economics of scientific publishing reveal a profound imbalance: academia pays prices far exceeding the actual costs of publication. R

DAFNEE, a useful database of academic-friendly journals in #Ecology and Evolutionary #Biology

academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Curator of Natural Sciences - Warwick,Warwickshire job with Warwickshire County Council | 250490 About Heritage and Culture Warwickshire Heritage and Culture Warwickshire (HCW) provide a wide range of services that help local communities and ...

Curatorial job with significant geological and palaeontological collections at Warwick Museums.

www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/250490/c...

A new step in @cnrs.fr policy in favor of open science to promote open, transparent and responsible alternatives.
#OpenAccess

📢 Institut Jacques Monod Seminar

📅 December 12th
📍 IJM

Invited by the @stemdevevo.bsky.social Lab , Mélanie Débiais-Thibaud ( @isemevol.bsky.social ) will present the Institut Jacques Monod seminar «The vertebrate skeleton through the eye of a cartilaginous fish»

➡️ buff.ly/ffSs3Zu

Neuroanatomical convergence between pterosaurs and non-avian paravians in the evolution of flight Bronzati et al. show that pterosaurs, the first flying reptiles, evolved brains resembling bird precursors but not modern birds. They also demonstrate that, unlike birds, which built on inherited dino...

New study in @currentbiology.bsky.social reveals pterosaur brains evolved rapidly at the origin of flight — unlike the gradual reshaping seen in birds.

Most complete lagerpetid brain cast shows side‑placed optic lobes like pterosaurs and bird precursors 🧠

👉 www.cell.com/current-biol...

🚨 Palaeo jobs alert!! 🚨

Two(!!) postdoc positions available in Cambridge!

1. Human Evolutionary Anatomy: cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
2. Evolutionary Biomechanics: cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

As part of the @erc.europa.eu funded STEPS project!

Final pdf is out! journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

Honoured to have contributed to a new paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social led by Mario Bronzati and lots of excellent and brainy (yes, pun intended) colleagues, showing that pterosaurs and birds evolved flight-capable brains but in different ways. www.cell.com/current-biol...

A microCT of a Heloderma osteroderm paired with xray diffraction and xray fluorescence data showing the superficial capping tissue and underlying transition zone and bone.

Stiff and different - Lizard osteoderm papers from a collaboration with @henrikbirkedal.bsky.social's group led by Adrian. We show a capping tissue from Heloderma that is enamel-like in mechanical properties but highly disordered in crystal pattern
doi.org/10.1016/j.ac...
doi.org/10.1002/adfm...

Pour tout savoir sur les stratégies du vivant pour manger et boire, lisez le livre de Vincent Bels professeur émérite @isyeb.mnhn.fr @mnhn.fr
"MANGER ET BOIRE" Des innovation évolutives extraordinaires.
Paru aux éditions @editionsodilejacob.bsky.social
➡️ isyeb.mnhn.fr/fr/actualite...

My article has been published today in @peerj.bsky.social peerj.com/articles/20388 #Paleontology

Have you already sent us your abstracts? Deadline for talks and poster submissions is December 1: Only a few days left!⏳

Deadline to enter the paleoart gallery is December 20 🎨
More info: awap-science.org/en/vcwap-cur...

A re-evaluation of the notosuchian crocodyliform Eremosuchus elkoholicus from the lower Eocene of Algeria and the evolutionary and biogeographic history of sebecids Notosuchian systematics have been highly debated in recent decades, particularly the placement of sebecids and closely related species. As the only notosuchian lineage to have survived the Cretaceo...

New paper on the notosuchian Eremosuchus by @piginatutu.bsky.social, co-authored by myself and @pdmannion.bsky.social among others out now!! We even find some cool evidence of replacement teeth in the dentary! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A new #PhD opportunity supervised by @drmambobob.bsky.social and me at the @uniofreading.bsky.social on dragonfly and damselfly evolution!

It is competition funded through the CROCUS partnership, and involves a mix of palaeontology and comparative biology.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A new analysis of Dunkleosteus terrelli reveals its massive jaws were far more cartilage-rich than once thought, reshaping ideas about muscle layout, bite mechanics & feeding style. Time to rethink this Devonian apex predator.
Engelman et al.:
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Hey everyone! I’m excited to share that one of my thesis projects was just published in @currentbiology.bsky.social and featured on phys.org! In this paper, we use an old statistical approach developed by the US Navy in WW2 to predict the aquatic habits of various dinosaurs and marine reptiles 🦖🐊

Hindlimb functional morphology and locomotor biomechanics of the small Late Triassic pseudosuchian reptile Gracilisuchus stipanicicorum (Archosauria: Gracilisuchidae) A three-dimensional biomechanical model of the musculoskeletal system is used to analyse the potential locomotor functions of the small (~1 kg) Late Triassic archosaurian reptile Gracilisuchus stipan...

#DAWNDINOS paper! We built a 3D musculoskeletal model of ~1 kg Triassic pseudosuchian archosaur Gracilisuchus. Forelimbs were a challenge. Nice articulations of ribs, vertebrae & osteoderms made a good torso & neck. Probably quadrupedal, plantigrade & not fully erect limbs. doi.org/10.1111/joa....

Postdoctoral researcher for DFG-funded project “FossilGaitSim” The Biomechanical Motion Analysis and Creation (BioMAC) group at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) invites applications for a postdoctoral position with the goal to…

My research group has an open position for a postdoc! Interested in investigating the postural transition towards mammalian gait using movement simulations? We might have the right position for you! More details and application info here: www.asm.tf.fau.de/en/2025/11/1...

the stunning next skull attributed to t. imperator

art of t. imperator soaring over a lagoon on a sunny day, plant material clasped in its beak

incredible! a gorgeously preserved skull from tupandactylus imperator has been described, offering new insights into its dietary ecology and soft tissues 😻
www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/6Hv...
(art by maurilio oliveira)

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

Look what my amazing colleagues did! Early Triassic bonebed at Svalbard shows recovery after mass extinction🥳 @aubronectes.bsky.social

Large-eyed animals like owls 🦉 have a trade-off between large eyes & short optic nerves, which lowers eye mobility (to compensate they evolved swivelly necks)

But chameleons 🦎 have long, coiled optic nerves with extra slack for eye mobility, allowing them to use their famous large swivelly eyes 👀🧪🌏

Our paper on tinamou evolution is finally out in @systbiol.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...