An early form of terrestrial hominine bipedalism in the Late Miocene of Bulgaria - Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments Fossils of Orrorin record the first convincing evidence of hominid terrestrial bipedalism in the Late Miocene, at about six million years ago. Bipedalism in the slightly older (7 Ma old) Sahelanthropus has recently been called into question. Here we present the first known hominine postcranial element from Azmaka (Bulgaria), a 7.2 Ma old nearly complete femur, which we tentatively attribute to cf. Graecopithecus. The Azmaka hominine represents a candidate for the ancestral form of positional behaviour from which bipedalism documented in later hominins evolved. The Azmaka femur lacks many of the specialised attributes of arboreal quadrupeds. At the same time the combination of locomotor features of this femur indicates a complex locomotor repertoire. Qualitative and quantitative morphological analyses demonstrate that the Azmaka femur combines certain attributes of terrestrial quadrupeds and bipeds and clusters mostly with early bipeds and partially with African apes. The morphology indicates a transitional form of bipedalism. The wooded-grassland savanna environment of the early Messinian locality of Azmaka suggests that terrestrial bipedalism likely evolved in a non-forested setting. The early Messinian age is critical to our understanding of mammalian palaeobiogeography and the intercontinental dispersals between Eurasia and Africa. We hypothesise that the descendants of the Azmaka hominine may have dispersed from Eurasia into Africa under the influence of climatic and environmental changes in the eastern Mediterranean. If such dispersal occurred, it may have been associated with subsequent re-occupation of more forested settings in both the ancestors of African apes and hominins.

This #OpenAccess article from 'Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments' describes a 7.2-million-year-old femur showing a transitional locomotor repertoire combining terrestrial quadrupedalism with early bipedalism, suggesting bipedalism evolved in open landscapes. bit.ly/3PIQkN1 #EvolSky #Fossil

Raw hand-made ideas for the figure. Pen on paper.

First digital draft of the figure, mostly reflecting the first raw concepts.

Second digital version of the figure, with some modifications.

Final published version of the figure.

Also, ever wondered what goes into producing a figure for a paper? A tremedously tangled process! You know where you start but not where you'll land #evolsky #SciArt

Heres a glimpse: from raw ideas to final results! Btw, the figure got eventually split into two.

From our last pub shorturl.at/03ROX

Figure 1 of the paper showing two examples of trait loss reversals in the form of phylogenetic trees: on the top, the case of the reinstatement of the second lower molar of the euroasian linx; on the bottom, the case of the reinstatement of stick insect wings.

You ever wondered what happens to a trait after its loss?
Dollo's law predicts that it can't be reinstated in its original form. Actually true (partially)! #evolsky

Happy to see this published: we have reviewed the LOSS, PERSISTENCE & REVERSAL OF PHENOTYPIC TRAITS 🖥️🧬🦑🐜

doi.org/10.1002/brv....

Genetic Drift (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

I've made some small revisions to my Genetic Drift entry for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy... probably not worth checking out if you have seen the entry before, but if you haven't seen it, might be worth checking out!

plato.stanford.edu/entries/gene...

🐋🌱 #evolsky #evobio #popbio

ICYMI: in our new paper, we contend there is "no current consensus on a definition of sex that is free of assumptions and limitations... and most importantly,...no biological definition of sex should be used to dictate human rights" #evolsky #LGBTQSTEM #ecology #evolution #biologicalsex

Do eye trackers estimate eyeball rotation? The relationship between tracked eye image feature and estimated saccadic waveform - Behavior Research Methods The eyeball is not rigid and deforms during saccades. As a consequence, the saccade waveform recorded by an eye tracker may depend on which structure of the eye is used to estimate eyeball rotation. Here, we systematically describe and compare signals co-recorded from the retina, the cornea (corneal reflection, CR), the pupil, and the lens (fourth Purkinje reflection, P4) during saccades. We found that several commonly used parameters for saccade characterization differ systematically across the signals. For instance, saccades in the retinal signal had earlier onsets compared to saccades in the pupil and the P4 signals. The retinal signal had the smallest saccade amplitude and reached the peak saccade velocity earlier compared to the other signals. At the end of saccades, the retinal signal came to a stop faster than the other signals. We discuss possible explanations that may account for the relationship between the retinal signal and the other signals.

Do eye trackers estimate eyeball rotation? New research from 'Behavior Research Methods' uncovers how different eye-tracking signals saccades in distinct ways, revealing why eyeball deformation matters for interpreting gaze data. bit.ly/4pbre5U #EvPsych #EvolSky @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social

Submission deadline is November 15! Reach out if you have work you'd like to be considered for this collection 🧪🌎 #mammals #popbio #evolsky

Digging into the evolutionary history of the fungus-growing-ant symbiont, Escovopsis (Hypocreaceae) - Communications Biology Comprehensive analysis of Escovopsis fungi across the Americas traces its evolution, distribution, and adaptations, providing insights into their complex symbiotic relationship with ants.

Digging into the evolutionary history of the fungus-growing-ant #symbiont, #Escovopsis (Hypocreaceae)

@ngerardo.bsky.social & many others I wouldn't find here....

#SymbioSky #MicroSky #EvolSky

doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Many of you have never had to hand type DNA base calls from an autorad into a Word file and it shows. #molbio #evolsky

Review on time budgets in life history trade-offs of female reptiles 🧪 #evolsky

PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

The evolution of robustness and fragility during long-term bacterial adaptation
#mevoSky #evoSky #evolSky #evolution #ExperimentalEvolution #LTEE

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Adaptation repeatedly uses complex structural genomic variation Structural elements are widespread across genomes, but their complexity and role in repeatedly driving local adaptation remain unclear. In this work, we use phased genome assemblies to show that adapt...

#Adaptation repeatedly uses complex structural genomic variation
#evolution #evolSky #evoSky #ScienceSky

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

On the Probability of Reaching High Peaks in Fitness Landscapes by Adaptive Walks Abstract. Adaptive evolution can be described by an uphill walk in a fitness landscape. However, climbing the global peak in a multipeak landscape is impro

On the Probability of Reaching High Peaks in Fitness Landscapes by Adaptive Walks
#evolution #evolSky #ScienceSky

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

And we are holding another one this year!
sip-sassenheim.org
#ImmunoSky #EvolSky

🧪🌎 #evolsky #AcademicSky

#mevosky #evosky #evobio #popgen #evolsky #ecoevo #molevol

Discover #Evolutionary #Biology in #BioOneComplete with our Top & Trending Research collection, featuring articles from @mobotgarden.bsky.social , Candollea, and the Journal of #Herpetology.

📖 Free to read through March 31: bio-one.co/3CZugaY

#evolbiol #evolsky

How Randomness Can Flip Evolution: New Study Uncovers Surprising Role of Population Noise <p>Read about &ldquo;Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics for Finite Populations and the Noise-Induced Reversal of Selection&rdquo; by Ananda Shikhara Bhat and Vishwesha Guttal (Jan&nbsp;2025)</p><br/>

amnat.org/an/newpapers...

Nice to see Tahirah Williams' fantastic layperson summary of our ( @vishuguttal.bsky.social and I) Synthesis work on demographic stochasticity and eco-evolutionary dynamics out on the @asn-amnat.bsky.social webpage!

#evolsky #evolution #mathsky #physky #philbio 🧪🧬🌏

Here is the link to the first episode of the Evolutionary Tree of Life series

youtu.be/Na0Q8qfsdc0?...

#evolsky 🧪

A simple example of a phylogenetic tree

Let's see if Bluesky has some magic ...

Is there a way to plot a dated phylogeny with a log-scale time axis? If possible, using R

🧪 #EvolSky #ecoevo @phylogeny.bsky.social #phylo #rstats #plantscience botany

This looks like an outstanding meeting, likely of interest to #Drosophila and #EvolSky 🧪communities.

#evolsky

Looks like a tremendous amount of work from Rodrigo Cogni's group, and a very useful quantitative review of the negative effects of viral infection across insect taxa.
#symbiosky #virosky #InsectEcol #infection #evolsky

You're cordially invited to send a "🙋‍♂️" if you're working on #consci and would like to be added!

🧪 #AcademicSky 🧠📈 #neuroscience #philsci #complex #MathSky #cogpsyc #CogSci #PsychSciSky #PhilMind #compneuro #evolsky

If you're working on #consciousness, 🙋‍♂️ if you would like to be added to this #consci community feed. 👇

🧪 #AcademicSky 🧠📈 #neuroscience #philsci #complex #MathSky #cogpsyc #CogSci #PsychSciSky #PhilMind #compneuro #evolsky

#evolbiol #evolsky #evolution #reproductivebiology #geneexpression #RNA #phenotypicplasticity #sexualselection

Some of the more recent findings I talked about were also covered in the below thread and linked to results that I think are really, really interesting and warrant serious follow-up (come on NSF, it's been >4 months, I'm willing to beg).

bsky.app/profile/nedd...

#Evolution #evobio #evolsky 🧪

I was honored to be asked and give a plenary at the 2024 ABS meeting. This talk was a lot of fun: it let me reflect on my career, where some neat recent work fits in, and where I think we're going.

Hope some of you find it interesting!

youtu.be/vElss6p7SSM
#Evolution #evobio #evolsky #Ecology 🧪

Flier for PhD position. Text with a lab logo at the bottom with a cricket silhouette of a cricket with antenna that look like normal curves. Also has a picture of a cricket (Acheta domesticus) on a white background. Text: Crickets! Behavior! Genetics! Statistics! The Dochtermann Lab in the Department of Biological Sciences at North Dakota State University is seeking to fill a PhD assistantship examining how selection has shaped phenotypic plasticity and patterns of genetic variance. The position will start Fall Semester 2025 and the incoming student will be joining a dynamic department (www.ndsu.edu/biology) and an interdisciplinary graduate program that provides a broad foundation for success (www.ndsu.edu/ecs). For more information about the lab visit www.neddochtermann.com If interested, please contact me at ned.dochtermann@gmail.com with a brief synopsis of your research interests. @neddochtermann.bsky.social

I have a PhD position open to start fall semester 2025!

The position will include investigations of the structure of both phenotypic (behavioral) plasticity and genetic variation in behavior as well as lots of opportunity to develop your own project.
#Evolution #evobio #evolsky #Ecology 🧪

What do you think about the future of neo-Darwinism? I feel that more strong voices are turning against it."
#philosophy #philmind #philsky #evolsky #evobio #evolbiol #phylo #popgen #ecoevo #evodevo #molevol #paleobio #systematics