An orange sawfly crouches over a pile of larvae. The larvae are oblong and have translucent yellow bodies and shiny black ends.

An orange sawfly crouches over a pile of larvae. The larvae are oblong and have translucent yellow bodies and shiny black ends.

An orange sawfly crouches over a pile of larvae. The larvae are oblong and have translucent yellow bodies and shiny black ends.

An orange sawfly crouches over a pile of larvae. The larvae are oblong and have translucent yellow bodies and shiny black ends.

A sawfly — species Pseudoperga lewisii — and its many, many larvae. There are only about 50 iNaturalist observations of this species so far!

Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models Abstract. Significant advances have been made in resolving the tree of life, but many nodes remain debated. The last two decades saw the emergence of mixtu

From Pisani et al: CAT-GTR is one of the most flexible models in the phylogenomic arsenal.

Phylogenomic mixture models outperform homogeneous and partitioned models

academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-...

Screenshot of text reading: Describe the applicant's weaknesses: Kryptonite

Thank you to this recommendation letter writer for breaking the monotony of reviewing grad school applications today

We visited Synchrotron Soleil to 3D-scan insects & flowers trapped in amber, a very nice project led by @cocomacro.bsky.social. The results will help us better understand over 100 million years of diversification for insects and flowering plants. 🐜🌺

Spectacular fossil treasure trove pushes back origins of complex animals A newly discovered fossil site in southwest China has transformed our understanding of how complex animal life emerged on Earth, revealing that many key animal groups had already evolved before the start of the Cambrian Period. The study, led by researchers at Oxford University’s Museum of Natural History and Department of Earth Sciences as well as Yunnan University in China, has been published today in Science.

A newly discovered fossil site in southwest China has transformed our understanding of how complex animal life emerged on Earth, revealing that many key animal groups had already evolved before the start of the Cambrian Period

Read the full story: buff.ly/FDkYfxS

@morethanadodo.bsky.social

Paper alert! 📣

Really cool study stemming from the Master thesis of #Benjamin_Zelvelder @cbgpmontpellier.bsky.social @inrae-dpt-spe.bsky.social with @remiallio.bsky.social

#insect host-shifts between #parasitic and non-parasitic plants!

#Proc.B @royalsocietypublishing.org

doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

‼️🚨 Job Alert ‼️ 🚨
Two Post Doc Opportunities:

PDRA in Macroecology / Paleobiology
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

PDRA in Extinction & Conservation / Paleobiology
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Any questions, please get in touch! Closing date May 1st.

SMBE Graduate Student Excellence Award - Arthur Matte

Arthur Matte (@arthurmatte.bsky.social), PhD student at @cam.ac.uk, has received our Graduate Student Excellence Award. He investigates how evolution retools existing molecular systems to enable animals to share materials across bodies.

More on Arthur ⬇️

#society

Paleoclimate/Paleoceanography/Sediment Geochemistry - Assistant Professor University of California, San Diego is hiring. Apply now!

SIO faculty position - Paleoclimate/Paleoceanography/Sediment Geochemistry apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04481

Please RP 🕊️: Postdoc position in my budding group at OIST. Looking for a colleague to work at the interface of chloroplast biology, evo-devo, and synthetic biology. More info here 📃: www.oist.jp/careers/post...

How Do Vertebrate Droppings Fossilise? Biogenic Versus Diagenetic Signals in Coprolites Evidenced by Elemental Mappings μXRF was applied to sections of 140 Ma fossil vertebrate droppings of different morphologies. The results reveal homogeneity of the carbonate-fluorapatite matrix and elemental compositions driven by ...

Out! We wondered what information is retained in the elemental chemistry of an animal poop 💩 that has fossilized - could it be a proxy? 🐊🦖🐢

Answer here 👇
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

@amgc-vub.bsky.social @naturalsciences-be.bsky.social @oseren.bsky.social @umons.bsky.social @belspo.be

Really happy about seeing this one finally out in @commsbio.nature.com !

Impact of the aridification of #Australia on a tribe of endemic #crickets 🦗

@cbgpmontpellier.bsky.social @isyeb.mnhn.fr @csiro.bsky.social @inrae-dpt-spe.bsky.social @tonyrobillard.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

🌿 Postdoc opportunity in plant evolutionary ecology/genetics!

My lab in the Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to start Fall 2026.

We study plant adaptation, using weeds as model systems.

#Postdoc #EcoEvo

Pls RT!

Out: new Carboniferous true bugs from Belgium and Northern France - from old collections at @naturalsciences-be.bsky.social with @belspo.be;
by @isyebsp.mnhn.fr from @mnhn.fr
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

in papers in pal by @thepalass.bsky.social
#paleoentomology #truebugs #hemiptera

Methods for knowledge-based biodiversity monitoring and management under uncertainty (BioM) - UiO:Life Science BioM develops new interdisciplinary methods to model and govern biodiversity under uncertainty, combining ecology, statistics, and philosophy. The project delivers predictive tools, normative framewor...

2 PhD & 1 postdoc available at BioM in Oslo
www.uio.no/english/rese... Interdisciplinary methods to model and govern biodiversity under uncertainty. Re-post widely! Work with statistical ecologists Olav Skarpaas (Natural History Museum Oslo @uio.no) @t-ergon.bsky.social

So I pleased to announce the conceptual spawn of FigTree: PearTree (acronym still to be finalised). If you want to dive right in it is hosted as a web app here: artic-network.github.io/peartree (click the “Example...” button for immediate candy and then click every button you can find).

Thrilled to announce that the University of Lomé #Togo 🇹🇬 inaugurated the first Palaeontology Collection building of the country last week! This was an exciting moment, which was made possible by the support of #UNESCO and the University of Lomé.
#fossils #conservation #geoheritage

Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance chang...

Thrilled to share our new paper out in @science.org, led by François Leroy and Petr Keil! Using the Breeding Bird Survey, we document not only a continent-wide decline in bird abundance since the 1980s — but, crucially, the acceleration of these declines over time. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our paper on convergent regressive evolution of genes involved in oral anatomy of myrmecophagous mammals is now officially published @molbioevol.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009

Gondwanan Origin of Bark and Ambrosia Beetles and Their Rapid Worldwide Diversification During the Cretaceous Aim It is not trivial to estimate the relative contributions of dispersal, vicariance, and range contraction in explaining the present-day distribution of ancient clades. In this study, we aim to in...

🚨PAPER ALERT🚨
A new work led by @jules2701.bsky.social explains the evolutionary dispersion of bark beetles (Scolytinae) and the angiosperms to gymnosperm host shifts during the Cretaceous.
@ibb-botanic.bsky.social #LabPaleoecology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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...

Gondwanan Origin of Bark and Ambrosia Beetles and Their Rapid Worldwide Diversification During the Cretaceous Aim It is not trivial to estimate the relative contributions of dispersal, vicariance, and range contraction in explaining the present-day distribution of ancient clades. In this study, we aim to in...

Scolytinae originated in Gondwana. Using revised time divergence for the subfamily, we here decipher their ancient biogeography and global diversification during the Cretaceous.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Multiple Dating Methods and Insights from the Fossil Record Reveal that Bark Beetles Predate the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution Abstract. Estimating the age of a given clade is not trivial. Most dating studies rely on a node dating approach, which is highly sensitive to fossil place

Scolytinae might be older than expected! In this study we use three different dating methods, all suggesting that Scolytinae predate the Angiosperm Terrestrial Revolution.
doi.org/10.1093/sysb...

Evolution, genomics and conservation of butterflies and moths - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Butterflies and moths are key indicators of functioning and healthy ecosystems around the world. This Review describes the evolutionary history of the order Lepidoptera and tracks shifts in researcher...

Now online! In this review, we cover four major topics on butterflies and moths: their evolutionary history and diversification dynamics, genomics, global diversity patterns, and conservation 🦋🌏 (1/8) @natrevbiodiv.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Estimating global bee species richness and taxonomic gaps - Nature Communications Bees are crucial for the maintenance of healthy ecosystems, yet rigorous estimates of their species’ richness are lacking. This study estimates taxonomic gaps for bees around the world and provides a ...

New paper alert! "Estimating global bee species richness and taxonomic gaps" suggests that we have thousands of bee species left to describe and decades of taxonomic work ahead of us. We also provide the methods needed to apply more broadly :)
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

A tiny fossil representative of Insecta from the Permian with an unusually regularly segmented trunk - PalZ The myriad representatives of the group Insecta dominate modern day terrestrial ecosystems. The fossil record of Insecta dates back to the Devonian, with large diversification events and corresponding...

To my great surprise, an article on a tiny (larval?) mysterious insect #fossil 🦖⚒️ from Permian of Germany, on which we were working since about Triassic, suddenly got published. Check out cute critter, its OA @cocomacro.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

leaf shaped fossils of Charnia brasieri and Trepassia sp.

Mike Simon and Pascal removing the overlying soil (all by hand) the area in front is the size of the site in May 2025

Happy #FossilFriday how does a thread about the Inner Meadow biota and unexpected age for the fossils, and a refocusing of Martin Brasier’s #KotlinCrisis sound?
We’ve been trickling out our findings from Inner Meadow including #Charnia brasieri, #Aninoides and there's even cooler stuff in review. 🧵

Digging up history What do a fossil, a comet and Beothuk history have in common?

Here is a writeup of our work on #Aninoides and how it helped us to uncover a little bit of Beothuk astronomy. Obviously :-)

With huge thanks to @julialaite.bsky.social

gazette.mun.ca/research/dig...

Tree diversity is changing in the Amazon and Andes.

Belen Fadrique leads our analysis in @natecoevo.nature.com w/ 400 plots + 40 years of RAINFOR records.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hot, drier, more fragmented forests are losing species. Many in the Andes + western Amazon are gaining them.

Our paper on the mysterious Devonian organism Prototaxites has now finally been published! See the paper here (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...) and our explainer thread below!
Prototaxites reconstruction by Matt Humpage