😃 In a new article published in J Biomech, Steininger et al. developed a subject-specific musculoskeletal modeling framework to quantify the influence of anatomical scaling features and sex on adductor moment arms.
👀 buff.ly/4RdVSiw
Finally out. More of our work on tamarins 🤩. Whole‐Epiphysis Trabecular Bone in Tamarin Limbs Suggests Effects of Leaping Distance Alongside Non‐Biomechanical Factors - Nguyen et al. - 2026 - American Journal of Biological Anthropology - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
New research on Late Miocene hornless rhinos (Chilotherium) uses juvenile skulls and baby teeth to solve a complex taxonomic puzzle. Baby premolars successfully distinguish species, revealing uniform eruption sequences and consistent birth-stress tooth markers. Full research: doi.org/10.3897/fr.2...
The final chapter of my PhD is out!!
What happens when graviportal taxa get dwarfed? We explore this in dwarf elephantids from the Mediterranean Sea, looking at the inner and outer anatomy of limb long bones. 🐘📄
With @houssayecnrs.bsky.social and U. B. Göhlich
#GRAVIBONE
doi.org/10.1111/pala...
Triassic pseudosuchians evolved wildly diverse skull shapes and lifestyles from terrestrial predators & herbivores to semiaquatic ambush hunters. New morphonetric analyses show convergence in shape ≠ convergence in ecology
Terras et al.: anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
🧵2/2 Video showing the display behavior of the Manakin
🔊 Sound on!
youtu.be/FPNopmZNuaM?...
🧵1/2 Sexual selection: Above-head wing-clapping produces loud mechanical sounds. Radius shape appears linked to this behavior.
Friscia et al 2016 J Morphology Adaptive #evolution of derived radius #morphology in Manakins (Aves, Pipridae) to support acrobatic display behavior doi.org/10.1002/jmor...
Dogs' #eyes show reaction when observing a violation in customary response to human conventional communicative gestures (“come here”, “go away”).
Lonardo et al 2026 Cognition. Pupil size changes reveal that #dogs are sensitive to the social conventions behind human gestures
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
🦖 A single, late-stage foetus has been described in detail within the right uterine horn of the early-diverging ichthyosaur Besanosaurus leptorhynchus.
🔍 The orientation of the fossilised remains suggests a tail-first birth took place!
➡️ Find out more: doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.183128
Pérez-Ramos, A., Moulaye, J., Martín-Serra, A. et al. Virtual reconstruction and morphometric analysis of the vertebral column of the stem sirenian Pezosiren portelli (Tethytheria, Pan-Sirenia, Prorastomidae). J. Mamm. Evol. 33, 23 (2026). doi.org/10.1007/s109...
Objectives
Beyond non-biomechanical factors, the trabecular architecture of long bone epiphyses variably underlies functional adaptations to locomotor behavior. A recent study, characterizing tamari.....
Terrestrial vertebrates rely on their skeleton to provide structural support and allow the movement of the body. Heavy, graviportal taxa, such as extant elephants, exhibit numerous adaptive features ....
In this study, we virtually reconstruct the vertebral column of Pezosiren portelli, a four-limbed stem sirenian (Pan-Sirenia, Prorastomidae) from the Eocene of Jamaica. We used three-dimensional models of various vertebrae obtained through surface scanning of fossil remains and we applied several algorithms for virtual repair, including retrodeformation of distorted vertebrae or mirroring missing processes from their bilateral counterparts. To quantify the regional morphology of P. portelli, we digitized a set of homologous landmarks, following a standardized protocol retrieved from previous morphometric studies on the evolution of the mammalian backbone. The results reveal a cervical region with relatively long spinous processes, as well as a thoracic region subdivided into prediaphragmatic and postdiaphragmatic regions with an unspecialised lumbar region. Both aspects reveal anatomical traits typical of terrestrial mammals, suggesting that P. portelli may exhibit a mosaic evolutionary pattern, showing postcranial traits typical of terrestrial taxa but also early aquatic adaptations found in its cranial skeleton. Finally, we briefly discuss the implications of morphometric analyses of the P. portelli vertebral column for understanding the evolution of axial features in other secondarily aquatic tethytherians.
