Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 1h

YES you should!! It’s the best logo!

Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 22h

Don't forget to get your #CAVEPS merch here using our amazing logo featuring #plesiosaur Umoonasaurus, #lungfish Metaceratodus, #echidna Megalibgwilia, and #flamingo Phoeniconotius, designed by Dr Jonathan Cramb: www.toothygrin.com.au/shop/categor...

CAVEPS 2025

We create amazing designs.

www.toothygrin.com.au

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Reposted by Dr Alice Clement

Michael Lee (Evolutionary Biologist) @michael-s-y-lee.bsky.social · 1d

Fully funded PhD scholarship on Scorpion Evolution at Flinders University, working with Russell Bicknell, Bruno Buzzato
@brunobuzatto.bsky.social and myself

Details at this link:
www.flinders.edu.au/scholarships...

Please spread the word!

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 7d

Many animals can reshape and shed their teeth – and now scientists have traced this ability back 380 million years #Bullerichthys #GogoFormation #Devonian

theconversation.com/many-animals...

Many animals can reshape and shed their teeth – and now scientists have traced this ability back 380 million years

A new study of ancient, extinct fish known as placoderms provides another piece of the evolutionary puzzle about our deep time, aquatic ancestors.

theconversation.com

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 10d

The functional trait space of fish communities reflects evo history, habitat and climate.

Devonian and modern fish communities differed in trait composition, implying that ancient communities functioned differently. But habitat and climate functional diversity patterns were consistent across time.

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 10d

This work was led by John Llewelyn with coauthors John Long, Richard Cloutier, Alice Clement, Giovanni Strona, Frédérik Saltré, Michael S.Y. Lee, Brian Choo, Kate Trinajstic, Olivia Vanhaesebroucke, Austin Fitzpatrick & Corey Bradshaw @conservbytes.bsky.social @flindersuniversity.bsky.social

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 10d

“Trait-space disparity in fish communities spanning 380 million years from the Late Devonian to present”, published now in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, comparing trait space occupation between 3 Late #Devonian communities with modern ones

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Trait-space disparity in fish communities spanning 380 million years from the Late Devonian to present

The diversity and distribution of species' traits in an ecological community determine how it functions. While modern fish communities conserve trait …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 15d

This work was led by Kate Trinajstic, with co-authors Zerina Johanson, Carole Burrow, Moya Meredith Smith, John Long, Alice Clement, Brian Choo, Anton Maksimenko & Vincent Dupret, and supported by ARC funding (DP1092870, DP140104161, DP220100825, DP240102156)

#GogoFormation #arthrodire #dentition

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 15d

New paper out yesterday "New specimens of the arthrodire Bullerichthys fascidens Dennis and Miles 1980 show incipient site-specific osteichthyan-like tooth addition and resorption"

Read it now in Swiss Journal of Palaeontology: sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10....

New specimens of the arthrodire Bullerichthys fascidens Dennis and Miles 1980 show incipient site-specific osteichthyan-like tooth addition and resorption - Swiss Journal of Palaeontology

The arthrodiran placoderm Bullerichthys fascidens, from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation, Western Australia, was originally described from an incomplete headshield with only the spinal and interolater...

sjpp.springeropen.com

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · 16d

48 hours, 8 sharks, 3 researchers and a WHOLE LOT OF DATA! 🦈 🩻 Another busy and successful trip to @ansto.bsky.social synchrotron!

With @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social for an exciting new project with @charlie-huveneers.bsky.social @meyer-sci.bsky.social & our other fabulous collaborators… 🦈🦈🦈

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Reposted by Dr Alice Clement

Corey Bradshaw @conservbytes.bsky.social · 17d

Trait-space disparity in fish communities spanning 380 million years from the Late #Devonian to present www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#traits #fish #evolution #ecology 🌏🧪

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Sep 2

scienmag.com/jaw-by-jaw-h...

Jaw by jaw: How biting shaped the evolution of fish

In the sprawling timeline of life’s evolution on Earth, few chapters capture the imagination quite like the earliest development of vertebrate jaws. These seemingly simple structures not only r

scienmag.com

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Reposted by Dr Alice Clement

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

Visualizing this as a morphospace, we see the lungfish jaws (on the right) are much thicker and stockier compared to ray-finned fishes (lower left). 11/15

A morphospace plot. Each dot in the plot is colored according to a mechanical advantage value (yellow is the highest and dark purple the lowest). The dots generally go from dark purple in the lower left hand corner and gradually change color to yellow in the top right corner. There are representative CT scan models of lower jaws throughout the plot.

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Reposted by Dr Alice Clement

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

If we look at jaw shape as a morphospace thru time, we see lungfish (Dipnoi) burst out of the gate during the early Devonian, leaving the ray-finned fishes, and most of their lobe-fin relatives, far behind. 9/15

A traitgram through time. There is a geological scale on the x-axis going from the Silurian period (430 million years go) to the end of the Devonian (359 million years ago). The y-axis shows PC1, or principal component 1 of the shape analysis. There are colored dots in the plot representing 1 individal species. There are seven major groups represented by a colored silhouette: Actinopterygii is lime green, Stem Sarcopterygii is red, Onychodontida is dark blue, Actinistia is light blue, Tetrapodomorpha is yellow, Non-dipnoan dipnomorpha is light purple, and Dipnoi is orange. Overall, most dots in the traitgram cluster together through time, but the species in Dipnoi extend far into the upper portion of shape space.

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Reposted by Dr Alice Clement

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

When we compare how fast/slow these jaws are evolving, we find a neat pattern. Devonian lungfish really stand out with their super fast rates, while early ray-finned fishes are comparatively very slow. 8/15

A circular phylogenetic tree with seven major groups of fishes indicated around the branches. There are colored silhouettes representing each bony fish clade (Actinopterygii is lime green, Stem Sarcopterygii is red, Onychodontida is dark blue, Actinistia is light blue, Tetrapodomorpha is yellow, Non-dipnoan dipnomorpha is light purple, and Dipnoi is orange. The tree branches are colored by rate of shape, some branches are dark blue (indicating slow rates) and some are purple to yellow (fastest rates). Most of the tree is dark blue to light purple branches, but the Dipnoi clade (lungfishes) are light purple to orange to yellow, indicating fast rates of jaw shape evolution).

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Sep 1

"Macroevolutionary role reversals in the earliest radiation of bony fishes", led by @fishfetisher.bsky.social Emily Troyer & Rafael Rivero-Vega in Current Biology examines 86 species of early bony fishes to examine shape variation, rates of evo & Mech Adv through time.
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Macroevolutionary role reversals in the earliest radiation of bony fishes

Troyer et al. examine lower jaw evolution in Silurian-Devonian bony fishes and find substantial differences in patterns of morphological disparity, rates of shape evolution, and functional diversity b...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Dr Alice Clement

Emily Troyer @fishfetisher.bsky.social · Sep 1

Excited to announce that the 1st paper from my postdoc is now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social ! Using a large dataset of 3D preserved fossils, we explore the diversification of jaws in early bony fishes. 1/15
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Macroevolutionary role reversals in the earliest radiation of bony fishes

Troyer et al. examine lower jaw evolution in Silurian-Devonian bony fishes and find substantial differences in patterns of morphological disparity, rates of shape evolution, and functional diversity b...

www.cell.com

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 22

Registration for @CAVEPS_Palaeo conference is now open, secure your place here: pay.flinders.edu.au/SAE039

Visit the website for more info: www.caveps.org

a cartoon of homer simpson and his family standing next to each other with the words tickets tickets who needs tickets below them

ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson and his family standing next to each other with the words tickets tickets who needs tickets below them

media.tenor.com

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 20

Registration for ISELV 18 in Morocco is open!
Register for the conference and field trips here:
www.ema.uzh.ch/RREVA

18th International Symposium on Early and Lower Vertebrates (ISELV)

Pre-conference field trip: 29 Jan - 3 Feb 2026, Symposium: 3 - 8 Feb 2026, Post-conference field trip: 9 - 14 Feb 2026 | Higher School of Education and Training of Berrechid (ESEFB)

www.ema.uzh.ch

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 19

Flinders Uni “fishy crew” catch up, extra special with John and Heather in town!!! 🦈🐟

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 11

Want to do a PhD on White Sharks using high-powered imaging to analyse form and function of their teeth and jaws?

You will work with me and the dream team @charlie-huveneers.bsky.social @meyer-sci.bsky.social @weisbeckerbblab.bsky.social & #SARDI at Flinders Uni

🦈🦷🦴 Interested? Get in touch!

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 7

Congratulations #Monkeystack, the amazing animators who brought our #Carboniferous #amniote "Manny" to life.

The video won 🥈 in the Education and Infographics category at the Australian Effects and Animation Festival Awards!

Watch it again 'cause it is just SOOO GOOD! youtu.be/KTU0hY-JZuc

Fossil footprints found in Australia the oldest evidence of amniotes

YouTube video by Guardian Australia

youtu.be

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 7

Wow. Some NICE neurocranial anatomy of Norselaspis (an Early Devonian osteostracan from Spitsbergen) in this latest paper from Tetsuto and co-authors. Congrats all! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Novel assembly of a head–trunk interface in the sister group of jawed vertebrates - Nature

Imaging of a Devonian jawless fish reveals advanced features previously thought to be exclusive to jawed vertebrates, challenging the idea that jaws were the primary driver for the evolution of d...

www.nature.com

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Aug 5

Want to present your work at the upcoming Conference of #Australasian #Vertebrate #Evolution, #Palaeontology and #Systematics (CAVEPS) 2025 in Adelaide (Australia) this November?

Make sure you submit your abstract by the end of this month! www.caveps.org

CAVEPS: Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics

CAVEPS 2025. You are invited to attend the 19th Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics (CAVEPS). It will be held from 24th - 30th of Nov 2025 on Kaurna Yarta at...

www.caveps.org

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Dr Alice Clement @draliceclement.bsky.social · Jul 26

Very proud of Flinders Palaeontology PhD student, Joshua Batt, who won second place for the best student presentation (Lars Brundin Award) at the recent Willi Hennig meeting in Hong Kong! Great stuff Josh!! 👏🏼

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