🔥The 9th Round of Easy Loan, Earn $40 Reward is in progress❗️ ⏰ Promotion Period: January 15th - Feburary 15th, 2025 👉 Register now and check more details at gate.io/campaigns/358

Honoured to be awarded #discoveryproject from Australian Research Council to investigate the growth and evolution of dinosaurs and birds over the next three years! With @Dr. Joy_RichmanUBC , Field Palaeobiology Research Group and Kate Garland . School of Biological Sciences, Monash Evans EvoMorph Lab

Thylacines are an icon of extinction, with #NationalThreatenedSpeciesDay observed on the anniversary of the last animal’s death. But its final resting place has been subject to an 86-year-old mystery, solved this week after a discovery in the TMAG archives. 1/6

It’s nubbin’ time! Our new paper on skink limb reduction and its environmental associations is out: doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14…. Thanks to Alistair Evans ChappleLab Christy Hipsley Shai Meiri Mark Hutchinson Alex Slavenko Rodolfo Anderson. Check out our graphical abstract [thread]:

🚨 Job alert: Lecturer position in Zoology at Unimelb BioSciences UniMelb ⬇️

SAVE THE DATE! CAVEPS - Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics - in Melbourne 27-30 Nov 2023. Monash University Museums Victoria Logo competition open until end Jan 2023. Alistair Evans Erich Fitzgerald and Justin Adams

How weird was Palorchestes? Find out here!!

On #TrilobiteTuesday I'm keen to say my first lead-author paper is, at long last, published in Evolution Journal! We find that segments developing in the tail region of trilobites follows a simple developmental rule that matches what is seen in vertebrates. academic.oup.com/evolut/advance…

Hi Twitter! This is the first tweet for the official CAVEPS Australasian vertebrate palaeontology conference. Please follow for all information and updates on our conferences!

Registration is now open for CAVEPS 2023 Melbourne! Early bird registration until 31 July. All details with second circular at caveps.org .

New paper from my PhD is out now #OA! Koalas and wombats use their forelimbs for pretty different stuff - is this reflected in the topology and architecture of their muscles? 🤔💪 Physical and digital dissections show us they're surprisingly similar! doi.org/10.1093/zoolin…

Key topological differences included a large insertion for Trapezius on the wombat humerus, while the koala had big Teres minor and Coracobrachialis that were missing in their bulkier cousins. Likely reflects differences in mobility requirements of the shoulder.

The koala had more differentiated muscles to their digits too, enabling fine grasping control, rather than the stout, spade-like hand of the wombat that seemed to operate more as a single unit.

How is this useful? The quantitative PCSA data can aid studies exploring patterns in mammalian forelimb muscle architecture. But crucially, koalas and wombats bracket a huge diversity of extinct vombatiforms, so their anatomy helps us infer muscles in fossils like Palorchestes.

There are interactive 3D versions of the figures on Sketchfab, made from our #diceCT and MRI scans - have a play! Or peep the supp material for juicy dissection photos if that's more your speed. skfb.ly/oJ6NE skfb.ly/oJ6NF

Come chat to me about this or other functional morphology stuff at #ICVM2023 in Cairns at the Saturday poster session, 4pm 29 July! Thanks to coauthors Alistair Evans & Justin Adams, and to Dr David Hocking for the title (evoking my mood trying to finish this study during COVID lockdowns)

New paper by my colleagues and I on the reproductive anatomy of a leopard seal 🦭 Leopard seal reproduction is mostly unknown. This note from a Monash University dissection discusses the importance of morphology in providing some clues. Open access paper here: doi.org/10.1111/mms.13…

Monash University Thanks to my coauthors Dr Hazel L Richards Dr Tahlia Pollock Dr David Hocking and Alistair Evans for assisting with the dissection and paper on some fairly obscure leopard seal anatomy. Link to paper in above tweet.

new episode of #palsinpalaeo with Jake Kotevski from the Evans EvoMorph Lab to talk about #megaraptors spotify.link/rgCjEvfnaEb

Join a panel of scientists and palaeontologists as they discuss the rise and fall of #marinemegafauna including the #megalodon and the #bluewhale. Tue 28 Nov, 6.30pm at Melbourne Museum and online. Book this @MuseumsVictoria Lecture now: brnw.ch/21wDXXb

Lab member William Parker tells us all about the wonders of kangaroo teeth! theconversation.com/kangaroo-teeth…