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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · 11d

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!

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · 18d

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💪

Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Sep 3

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/...

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...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Aug 19

🦌 A new #AmniotaColLab study led by Elpiniki-Maria Parparousi (with AmniotaLab’s Leonardo Sorbelli) describes a latest Early Pleistocene Dama-like deer from Cal Guardiola (NE Iberia).

🔗 Read more:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#Paleontology #Pleistocene #Fossils

Biochronological and paleobiogeographic implications of the Dama-like deer sample from the latest Early Pleistocene of Cal Guardiola (NE Iberia)

Different species of Dama-like deer usually included in the genus Pseudodama, occurred in the European Plio-Pleistocene. In this paper, the medium-siz…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Aug 11

Some pics from our #PALEONILE meeting today! We discussed paleo🦴, geology🪨, archaeology🏺 & geochronology🕰️

Team from MfN, TU Berlin, LIAG Hannover, Institute of Archaeology Prague, plus Al Neelain University & Khartoum Natural History Museum, Sudan 🇸🇩

@mfnberlin.bsky.social @tuberlin.bsky.social

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Aug 8

The latest publication from Khalafallah Salih about the exceptional fossil croc 🐊 from #Sudan was just featured on Al Jazeera!

Don't miss it:
www.aljazeera.net/science/2025...

#PALEONILE project @mfnberlin.bsky.social

"تمساح السودان".. اكتشاف نادر على نهر عطبرة عمره 90 ألف سنة

كشفت دراسة حديثة عن أول سجل لتمساح منقرض من العصر البليستوسيني المتأخر في أفريقيا، ما يعيد رسم خريطة تنوع جنس “كروكودايلوس” خلال هذه الحقبة.

https://www.aljazeera.net/science/2025/8/5/تمساح-السودان-اكتشاف-نادر-على-نهر

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Aug 5

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 🙌

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Aug 5

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...

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

www.nature.com

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Aug 4

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

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Jul 24

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

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Jul 21

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

#AmniotaLab #MfNBerlin

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

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Russell Garwood @russellgarwood.co.uk · Jul 18

For #FossilFriday meet an ancestor of today's cockroaches, mantises and termites. This lovely animal is Sysciophlebia, and lived ~295 million years ago, in what is today Germany 🇩🇪 . It was 3.6cm long, and was a female. How do we know?

⚒️🧪🦀🦑 #evosky

A brown rock, with a lighter fossil insect in it. The fossil has a head with antennae (left), then a pronotum (~shiled shape plate), and then long wings with prominent veins. Under these you can make out some of the walking legs. Inset is a close up of a long structure towards the back of the animal, which it used to lay eggs in life.

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · Jul 10

⚠️The website's new look ⬇️🎊
palass.org

#Website #palaeontology

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Jun 18

⚠️ 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...

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...

herpetozoa.pensoft.net

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · Jun 15

The oldest definitive docodontan from central East Greenland sheds light on the origin of the clade onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @morphobank.bsky.social @paleodb.bsky.social

An artist's reconstruction of a pair of the small mammal Nujalikodon cassiopeiae facing one another on a rock enjoying a peaceful sunset in the Rhaetelv Formation, Greenland. There are stars in the sky to the left and trees outlined against the red of the sunset, with a passing pterosaur flying over. Artist: Pedro Andrade; CC BY NC 4.0.

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Joe Bauwens @sciencythoughts.bsky.social · Jun 13

Malformations in Trilobites from the Silurian and Devonian of Europe.
sciencythoughts.blogspot.com/2025/06/malf...

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Jun 9

Was uns 60 Millionen Jahre stabile Ökosysteme über den heutigen Artenverlust lehren

www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/de/museum/me...

Was uns 60 Millionen Jahre stabile Ökosysteme über den heutigen Artenverlust lehren

Eine neue Studie unter Leitung der Universität Göteborg mit Beteiligung von Forschenden aus dem Museum für Naturkunde Berlin und Spanien zeigt, wie große urzeitliche Pflanzenfresser auf tiefgreifende ...

www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin

Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Jun 9

What 60 million years of stable ecosystems teach us about today’s loss of species:

www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/museum/me...

Was uns 60 Millionen Jahre stabile Ökosysteme über den heutigen Artenverlust lehren

Eine neue Studie unter Leitung der Universität Göteborg mit Beteiligung von Forschenden aus dem Museum für Naturkunde Berlin und Spanien zeigt, wie große urzeitliche Pflanzenfresser auf tiefgreifende ...

www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Jun 5

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

Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · Jun 5

🦏🦣🦌 LARGE paper alert!!! We tracked 60 million years of large herbivore evolution—over 3,000 fossil species—to uncover how ecosystems have changed and reorganized through time. What we found might help us understand the next big tipping point 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two major ecological shifts shaped 60 million years of ungulate faunal evolution - Nature Communications

Here, the authors analyze a fossil dataset spanning 60 million years to investigate ecological stability. Their network analysis identifies prolonged stability interrupted by two major functional tran...

www.nature.com

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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · Jun 5

9/ This paper is the result of over 7 years of work—a true collective effort. Huge thanks to all my co-authors for making this possible! @ohsanisidro.bsky.social @singerstone.bsky.social @amniotalab.bsky.social et al.

📸 @singerstone.bsky.social

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Fernando Blanco @fernandoblancos.bsky.social · Jun 5

🦏🦣🦌 LARGE paper alert!!! We tracked 60 million years of large herbivore evolution—over 3,000 fossil species—to uncover how ecosystems have changed and reorganized through time. What we found might help us understand the next big tipping point 🧵👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Two major ecological shifts shaped 60 million years of ungulate faunal evolution - Nature Communications

Here, the authors analyze a fossil dataset spanning 60 million years to investigate ecological stability. Their network analysis identifies prolonged stability interrupted by two major functional tran...

www.nature.com

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · May 19

🚨 PhD Opportunity!
Join Mozes Blom’s group at @mfnberlin.bsky.social to study the demographic history of New Guinea bird populations 🐦🌴
#PhD #Ornithology #Evolution #Genomics
🗓️Apply by 11.06.2025
More info 👇

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Apr 30

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

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Matt Friedman @friedmanlab.bsky.social · Apr 26

Now featuring belemnites and Baculites!

Scaled-up version of a Cretaceous marine diorama, with cephalopods made of repurposed waste.

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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · Apr 25

#FossilFriday The long-snouted Cretaceous enantiornithine bird Longipteryx chaoyangensis

Skeleton of the Cretaceous enanitornithine bird Longipteryx

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Apr 22

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.

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Apr 22

It was such a pleasure to host Marco Cherin and Beatrice Azzarà from the THOR project last week at the @mfnberlin.bsky.social!
Great conversations, shared curiosity, and wonderful company.
Looking forward to the next one 🙌 Come back soon!

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Apr 14

🐾 Just in! Our latest #AmniotaLabCollab 📚🔍

The most complete 𝘌𝘶𝘤𝘺𝘰𝘯 skeleton in Europe, from the Late Miocene site of Verduno, Italy 🇮🇹 offers new insights into canid evolution!

#Paleontology #Canidae #Fossils #AmniotaColLab

🔗 Read more:
academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

An articulated skeleton of Eucyon monticinensis (Carnivora: Canidae) from the latest Miocene of Verduno (Italy)

Abstract. The genus Eucyon includes several Late Miocene–Early Pleistocene canid species, the earliest of which, Eucyon davisi, is regarded as basal in the

academic.oup.com

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Amniota Lab @amniotalab.bsky.social · Apr 10

#News&Views in @nature.com from Faysal Bibi spotlights a fascinating study: Ancient Arabia wasn’t always dry🏜️
Wetter periods over the past 7 million years may have opened key migration routes for animals and early humans 🚶‍♀️🌍

🔗https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00905-7

A wetter ancient Arabia could have enabled easier intercontinental species dispersal

Recurrent humid phases in Arabia over the past seven million years could have influenced how species, including human ancestors, moved between continents.

www.nature.com

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