🌟 #AmniotaLab PhD spotlight!

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 is featured in@jexpbiol.bsky.social, sharing her scientific journey and her work testing 3D jaw models against real bite-force data in lizards 🦎🦷 #EarlyCareerResearch

full interview 👇
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/229/3/jeb252...

New age constraints for the Singa hominin and the adjacent Abu Hugar fossil site The Singa calvaria, found on the western bank of the Blue Nile in Sudan in 1924, shows a combination of modern and archaic features of Homo sapiens. A…

New #AmniotaLab paper out!

Led by Faysal Bibi, this study provides a major update to early human timelines. Singa and the Abu Hugar fossil site are now constrained by new dating evidence 🕜.

#PALEONILE #ERCproject
🔗

Biome Specialisation in Squirrels: Phylogenetic and Geographic Patterns Aim Habitat breadth shapes species' responses to environmental change and influences large-scale biodiversity patterns. According to Vrba's resource-use hypothesis, biome specialists (inhabiting a s...

New #AmniotaLab research!

Squirrels 🐿️ include more biome specialists than expected by chance, supporting 𝗩𝗿𝗯𝗮’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲-𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀: species restricted to a single biome speciate faster when climatic change fragments habitats.

👇 #OA

We began the first day of 2026 with more #AmniotaLab research! 🎉

How do macroevolutionary patterns begin?
By studying tooth shape 🦷 in the Ibiza wall #lizard🦎, this study shows that diet-related changes in tooth complexity already emerge within populations.

More #AmniotaLab research! 

Using micro-CT scans, Tomás Fornari and Johannes Müller show that the skull bones 🦴 of fully aquatic frogs 🐸 carry signals of both shared lifestyle and deep evolutionary history👇

New #AmniotaLab research!
How well do computer models really predict bite force in living animals?

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 has just published this paper from her PhD, testing digital jaw models against real bite-force measurements in #lizards 🦎

Recent work from #AmniotaLab in Systematic Palaeontology!

Sorbelli and collaborators describe a fossil frog from Early Pleistocene Italy: a large, robust frog that likely hunted hard-shelled invertebrates!

don't miss it!👇

New #AmniotaLab research!
Faysal Bibi and Jean-Renaud Boisserie describe a fossil buffalo from Ethiopia, revealing how early members of the lineage evolved into today’s African buffalo 🐃

paleo.peercommunityin.org/PCIPaleo/art...

Great to have Marianne Brasil from Western Washington University visiting #AmniotaLab to work in the collections! 🦴🔍 She studies primate evolution combining modern primate data and the fossil record.
Thank you for sharing your passion for paleoanthropology with us!

We were delighted to host Dr. Khizar Samiullah from Ghazi University 🇵🇰 at #AmniotaLab
He shared his work on Neogene mammal fossils from the classical Siwalik sequences, and highlighted the work still ahead💪

Virtual endocast of the Late Miocene Hoplitomeryx matthei (Artiodactyla, Hoplitomerycidae) and brain evolution in insular ruminants | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Mammals often follow peculiar evolutionary trajectories on islands, with some Pleistocene insular large mammals exhibiting reduced relative brain size. However, the antiquity of this phenomenon remain...

New #AmniotaLab study: the first digital endocast 🧠 of the five-horned ruminant 🦌 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘹 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪 from Miocene Gargano (Italy) reveals a distinct evolutionary path among island mammals

👏 @pierreorgebin.bsky.social @robertorozzi.bsky.social

🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Some of our past and current #AmniotaLab members just got back from the #CPEG meeting in Zurich so happy to have met so many fantastic and inspiring people!

Huge thanks to @cpeg-cpb25.bsky.social for a great conference, and for recognizing our poster as one of the best! An honor to be part of it 🙌

A new late Pleistocene fossil crocodile from Sudan reveals hidden diversity of Crocodylus in Africa - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - A new late Pleistocene fossil crocodile from Sudan reveals hidden diversity of Crocodylus in Africa

More #AmniotaLab science! 📢

Khalafallah Salih et al. describe a new Late Pleistocene crocodile from #Sudan 🐊
the first 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘺𝘭𝘶𝘴 from this period in Africa, and distinct from all known species!

Just the beginning for the #PALEONILE project 🌍🦴

🔗 Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Just out! This #AmniotaLab study led by 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 on 𝘗𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘺𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴 🦎 across the Balearics finds that bite force & morphology vary within populations, but don’t scale up to macroevolutionary scales

🔗 More:
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

#Evolution #Lizards #FunctionalMorphology

Great to have @evomorpholab.bsky.social visiting us!
A fantastic few days of sharing ideas, methods, and common interests.
Looking forward to more collaboration ahead!
#EvolutionaryBiology #Paleobiology #AmniotaLab

Amniota Lab members working in the collections at the Museum für Naturkunde, surrounded by bones.

Some collection work at the @mfnberlin.bsky.social
🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴👀

#AmniotaLab #MfNBerlin

Expanding habitat suitability under changing climate and land use may drive rapid expansion of Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) in Bangladesh Eco-climatic and other environmental gradients significantly influence the geographic distribution of reptiles. In Bangladesh, the known range of Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) has expanded extensi...

⚠️ 𝘋𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘪𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘪 is on the move in Bangladesh! 🐍🌾

A new #AmniotaLab study shows a 5-fold increase in suitable habitat since 2015 driven by climate shifts, land use, and dispersal corridors. Rising encounters raise urgent public health concerns.

🔗 Read more: herpetozoa.pensoft.net/article/1434...

Don't miss this thread! A new publication from #AmniotaLab led by @fernandoblancos.bsky.social. Enormous work!🦏🐘

Some members of the #AmniotaLab are exploring the paleontological collections in London this week!
Stay tuned for more cool paleo stuff

Some pictures of our latest lab meeting. So many of us, we had to bring in an extra table!
Always a joy to gather as the #AmniotaLab and share science, laughs, and plans for what’s next.

Burgos retreat at @cenieh.bsky.social with some Amniota Lab members! Ignacio Lazagabaster, @fernandoblancos.bsky.social , @paleoiris.bsky.social @singerstone.bsky.social & @ohsanisidro.bsky.social Fossils, science, food and good vibes

#paleobiology #AmniotaLab #MACPALS

Intrapopulational variation in head shape correlates with soil structure heterogeneity in a head‐first burrowing amphisbaenian, Trogonophis wiegmanni Morphological traits evolve to solve ecological requirements. Amphisbaenians are fossorial reptiles with different snout shapes for burrowing head-first underground, but how these head shapes have or...

📢 New #AmniotaLab study!

Don’t miss it if you're interested in how soil structure shapes burrowing reptiles🦎 This study shows that head shape variation in amphisbaenians correlates with microhabitat and soil composition

🔗 Read more: doi.org/10.1111/jzo....

#Herpetology #Evolution #AmniotaCollab

Cranial morphology in flying squirrels: diet, shape, and size disparity across tropical and temperate biomes - Frontiers in Zoology Background Species richness increases gradually as latitude decreases, however, the explanation for this phenomenon remains unclear. Ecological hypotheses suggest that greater niche diversity in tropi...

Do tropical biomes drive greater skull diversity in flying squirrels? 🐿️

@paleoiris.bsky.social from #AmniotaLab led this study to test it!
Diet shapes skulls, but tropical biomes don’t show extra disparity. extreme niche specialization might matter more!

🔗 Read more:
doi.org/10.1186/s129...

The differentiated impacts and constraints of allometry, phylogeny, and environment on the ruminants’ ankle bone - Communications Biology 3D geometric morphometrics reveal how phylogeny, allometry, and locomotor adaptations shape the morphology of the ruminant astragalus, highlighting its integrated nature and evolutionary constraints.

How do #evolution and environment shape ruminant ankles? 🐃🦴
@pierreorgebin.bsky.social from #AmniotaLab led this 3D morphometric study, revealing how size, phylogeny & habitat leave distinct marks on astragalus morphology!

🔗 Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#AmniotaLabCollab 📚🔍

Last week, the #AmniotaLab gathered for a Ethiopian dinner. To more nights like this! #InjeraLove