The presence of enlarged maxillary recesses is notable in some non-Mammaliaformes cynodonts, especially traversodontids. Given that cranial pneumatization can be related to several functional parameters, the aim of this study is to evaluate the biomechanical role of the maxillary recess of three South American Triassic traversodontids: Exaeretodon riograndensis, Siriusgnathus niemeyerorum, and Massetognathus pascuali. We scanned the skulls with computed tomography, reconstructed the adductor musculature and calculated the muscle force for each species. We conducted a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in two models for each species: one normal and one with digitally filled maxillary recesses. The biomechanical efficiency was evaluated by comparing the Von Mises stress distribution and bite forces of the two models. The results show that the stress distribution is very similar in both models in the three species, with the region of the maxillary recess presenting a markedly low stress in both the normal and filled models. The bite force was also very similar, being slightly lower in the filled models. These results indicate that the presence of enlarged maxillary recesses in these traversodontids does not have a strong biomechanical effect, and that it occurs in a region of low stress where bone is possibly superfluous.

The late Eocene exposures of the Headon Hill Formation at Hordle Cliff, near Lymington, have produced a diverse assemblage of vertebrate remains representative of a coastal lacustrine/lagoonal system. Most studies concerning this locality have focused on mammalian and reptilian faunas of the Basal Mammal Bed. This study presents and details the micro-vertebrate assemblages from 6 vertebrate bearing horizons throughout the succession, providing implications for a rapidly changing palaeoenvironment and an insight into late Eocene ecosystem dynamics in the Solent Basin. Targeted sampling of vertebrate bearing units and an in-depth sedimentological assessment of each unit has been undertaken to understand the implications of sedimentology, and micro-vertebrate assemblages relative to palaeoenvironment. Results show a varied and everchanging vertebrate composition and taphonomic profile throughout the units studied, with major changes occurring between units attributed to freshwater lakes and units attributed to brackish lagoonal facies. These results provide many implications concerning the trends in micro-vertebrate occurrences within each unit. The representation of key vertebrate groups provides insights into the vertebrate communities, climatic conditions, and salinity profiles of the locality. The ever-changing taphonomic windows can be used to critically assess these results for potential biases.

Living golden moles (Chrysochloridae) and tenrecs (Tenrecidae) are known for several molecular loci. A recent phylogenetic analysis supports well-resolved topology for extant tenrecids and most chrysochlorids . However, currently available molecular data do not resolve the oldest branching point, or root node, within crown C hrysochlorid ae . Most of the hard-tissue anatomy of chrysochlorids has been indelibly stamped with their fossorial (i.e., burrowing) nature, making it difficult to reconstruct the mosaic pattern of evolution by which chrysochlorids evolved from a non-fossorial ancestor. Nonetheless , a surprising part of the chrysochlorid skeleton provides a hint as to the group's origins : the hyoid apparatus. In most species, the stylohyoid is "L" shape d with a bulbous distal end that articul ates with the dentary. The only extant chrysochlorids with a more primitive stylohyoid are Eremitalpa and Huetia , two of the prime candidates to occupy the group's root node . T he hyoid of the anatomically best-known fossil golden mole (Namachloris from Namibia) remains unknown, but its dentary angular process suggests that it too possessed a more primitive stylohyoid, without a jaw articulation . Hence, the oldest divergence(s) within Chrysochloridae is likely defined by one or more node s separating Eremitalpa and Huetia from the remaining species. (Available for virtual talk only)

Few groups are as controversial in current eusuchian systematics as the “thoracosaurs”. Occurring from Late Cretaceous through middle to late Eocene deposits of the northern hemisphere, these longirostrine crocodyliforms were long thought to be gavialoids, closely related to the extant Gavialis gangeticus. However, this contradicts most molecular clock estimates of a split between Gavialis and its extant sister taxon Tomistoma around the Oligocene – early Miocene. Moreover, the position of “thoracosaurs” varies between phylogenetic studies, from being the sister taxon of the extant Gavialis to being excluded from the crown group Crocodylia entirely. Despite these issues, “thoracosaurs” have received little attention from researchers in recent years. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the fossil record of this group, highlighting their diversity and widespread geographic distribution. Furthermore, we present new results of phylogenetic analyses with updated scorings based on new material of the key taxon Thoracosaurus isorhynchus from the Maastrichtian of the Paris Basin. Our findings indicate a close relationship between this taxon and the Cenomanian Portugalosuchus azenhae. The inclusion of the latter in “thoracosaurs” underlines the early emergence of this group and of gavialoids in general.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ottokár Kadić discovered a rich and diverse Late Cretaceous vertebrate assemblage around the village of Vălioara in the Haţeg Basin, including the types of the dwarf sauropod Magyarosaurus and the crocodyliform Allodaposuchus. Unfortunately, the actual positions of Kadić’s localities were not published and the stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental setting of the Vălioara assemblages remained unknown. However, an unpublished map used by Kadić during fieldwork was brought to our attention in 2018 and was used to approximate the locations of the original sites. Since 2019, systematic excavations have been carried out in the area annually, resulting in the discovery of significant new vertebrate material from several different sites (including new ones), among which sites K2, NVS, and FNS are considered the most productive so far. Besides important isolated elements of crocodyliforms, theropods, pterosaurs and mammals, associated skeletons of rhabdodontid, titanosaurian and hadrosauroid dinosaurs were unearthed at these sites. Our stratigraphical and sedimentological investigations conducted in the area indicate that the Vălioara material represents the oldest systematically collected latest Cretaceous faunal assemblage from the Haţeg Basin. According to our results, these continental beds represent a sequence of syn-tectonic sediments deposited in an elongated transtensional strike-slip basin.

Fossil tracks are a key means of determining the palaeoecology and distribution of dinosaurs through time and complementary to the skeletal record. They are also amongst the most popular and recognisable trace fossils encountered by the public and are major draw to some areas of the UK. Thus, beyond scientific value, they provide key aesthetic and pedagogic opportunities in the tourism and education sectors. However, the protection, monitoring, communication, and scientific knowledge of dinosaur track sites varies considerably. We reviewed the fourteen in-situ dinosaur track sites present in the UK today and used an established quantitative system to determine the relative scientific and cultural ‘value’ of each. We find that UK track sites vary substantially in scientific and cultural value, with some sites such as Ardley and Bendrick Rocks having high scientific value, whereas sites such as Hanover Point and Spyway have high cultural but low scientific value. We identified inconsistent documentation of sites with substantial knowledge gaps. Ultimately, dinosaur track sites are an important part of the UK’s heritage with strong potential to expand our knowledge of past ecosystems and engage the public, and ensuring appropriate protection, regulation and communication of this finite natural resource is important.

Palaeoclimate from the Miocene of western India is well defined by vertebrates like crocodiles and shark fossils from the Kutch region. A ferruginous conglomerate bed from Samda in Kutch revealed heavily broken crocodilian remains. A partial skull of an unknown crocodilian (KF-40) was recovered between 2010 and 2011, and was initially thought to be a tomistomine (false gharial). The skull fragment (KF-40) consisted only of the anterior portion, the snout. It was diagnosed as a tomistomine due to its premaxillary-maxillary sutures and maxillary alveolar characteristics. However, in 2024, reexamination with more comparative analysis demonstrated the snout is more closely related to the family Crocodylidae rather than Tomistominae from the Gavialidae family. The suture pattern from the dorsal and ventral sides along with the dentition pattern strongly suggests the specimen is from the Crocodylidae family. The premaxillary-maxillary suture with the absence of nasal suture proximate to the naris along with the massive naris and broad snout resembles the extinct crocodylomorph group Pholidosauridae, which includes the giant Sarcosuchus imperator. The group Pholidosauridae ranges from the Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous; therefore, the morphology of KF-40 is a result of convergent evolution. The estimated size of the skull based on the snout could potentially rival Sarcosuchus imperator in skull length. Complete crocodilian fossil specimens with proper identification and taxonomy in South Asia are scarce and understudied, often with dubious taxonomy. This redescription provides a more accurate identification and can further our understanding of crocodilian diversity, evolutionary relationships, and wider faunal migratory routes in response to climate change.

Pelagic suspension-feeding has independently evolved many times in vertebrates. Pachycormiforms is an important clade of marine stem-teleosts which include some of the earliest know vertebrate suspension-feeders. Inferences for this ecology in large-bodied asthenocormine pachycormids, including Leedsichthys and Asthenocormus from the Upper Jurassic, are based on the presence of elongate toothless jaws and modified gill rakers in the gill arches. However, very little is known of the anatomical origins and causation for the acquisition of this feeding strategy within the clade. A review of ‘suspension-feeding’ characteristics in Lower Jurassic asthenocormine pachycormids with transitional morphologies reveals a wealth of vital clues to piece together this evolutionary enigma. Key anatomical landmarks in Saurostomus, Germanostomus, Ohmdenia, and an undescribed taxon, offer insight into the timings and order of acquisition for these key features. These include reduced cranial ossification, progressive jaw elongation, modification to the hyomandibula, tooth reduction, and specializations in the caudal fin. Surprisingly, the loss of tooth is only first detected in the Middle Jurassic. Examination of preserved gut contents suggests these anatomical changes in pachycormids are associated with a dietary shift from raptorial macrophagy to bulk-feeding. Identification of piscivorous gut contents in Late Jurassic asthenocormines sheds doubt on their supposed ‘suspension-feeding’ ecologies.

Hagfishes, one of the only two surviving lineages of jawless fishes, occupy an important basal phylogenetic position in vertebrate evolution. There is, however, a paucity of information on their sensory biology. One interesting question regarding the olfactory ability of the monorhinal hagfishes is how they find the source of a scent with just a single nostril. We have answered this question by performing computational fluid dynamics on an anatomically accurate model of the head and nasal passage of the hagfish Eptatretus stoutii. We will present the answer here. We will also show how the hagfish’s anatomy controls the flow of water through its nose to help it capture scent molecules, whilst simultaneously avoiding damage to its delicate nasal surfaces. In addition, we will present quantitative data showing how the hagfish’s sense of smell squares up to that of dogs. Our results are relevant to olfaction in other early monorhinal vertebrates, both living (lampreys - the other surviving lineage of jawless fishes) and dead (osteostracans, a group of ostracoderms). Consequently, we hope that this talk will appeal to the attendees of the annual Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy.

The fossil record cannot preserve the dynamics of animal locomotion, such as kinematics or reaction forces, and the only way to systematically reconstruct these features is through simulation. However, simulating the movement of fossil taxa presents numerous challenges, not least because of the absence of fundamental soft-tissue information. Here, we perform a sensitivity analysis of predicted maximum-effort vertical jumping performance – an important motion in the locomotor repertoire of many animals – by treating two living taxa with reliable experimental data (humans and guineafowl) as if they were extinct. We show that when known muscle properties are used alongside common modelling techniques, simulated maximum jump heights are within 15% of the experimental average of both taxa across several distinct starting postures and jumping techniques. However, when muscle masses are estimated using the schematic and predictive methodologies usually applied to fossils, large differences in the power available to the model and therefore overall jumping performance can be produced. That said, even substantial over- and underestimations of muscle mass will generally uphold qualitative differences in jumping between starting postures, which we suggest validates this workflow, with specific caveats, for evolutionary analyses where broad changes in body shape and posture may significantly impact vertical jumping.

Among large quadrupedal dinosaurs, the armoured ornithischian Stegosaurus has distinctive body proportions, including its long femur, short humerus, and broad pelvis. The influence of body shape on the locomotor biomechanics of Stegosaurus is therefore a topic of particular interest. Here, we present our workflow and preliminary results from a new biomechanical model of Stegosaurus, based on the exceptionally complete “Sophie” skeleton (NHMUK PV R36730), and constructed for use in the musculoskeletal simulation software OpenSim. To ensure that the estimated soft tissue parameters were empirically grounded, body segment and muscle dimensions were based on soft tissue scaling factors derived from extant sauropsids. We predict a body mass of 1.6 tonnes, with the combined muscle masses of all four limbs making up 19% total mass. Compared to large mammals and predicted values from other quadrupedal dinosaurs, a greater proportion of this predicted muscle mass belongs to the hind limbs in Stegosaurus (forelimb/hind limb muscle mass = 0.40 in Stegosaurus, compared to 0.64 in Chasmosaurus, 0.55 in Rangifer, and 0.91 in Rhinoceros). This, in addition to a relatively posterior centre of mass, may suggest that the hind limbs of Stegosaurus played a greater role in weight bearing and propulsion than other quadrupeds.

Nocturnal, arboreal and aquatic mammals are classed as whisker specialists due to their organised vibrissae and crucial role they play in sensory ecology. Pinnipeds, like seals, possess long, organised, sensitive mystacial vibrissae that are highly mobile, essential for underwater foraging and navigation. Traditional histology, offering two-dimensional images, limits our understanding of these complex structures, especially given the large, curved mystacial pad of pinnipeds. Unlike rodents, the vibrissal muscles of pinnipeds remain largely unexplored. In rats and mice, intrinsic muscles in the mystacial pad protract the vibrissae during sensory exploration. Therefore, we predicted harbour seals, would possess regular, well-defined intrinsic muscles due to their organised vibrissae and underwater foraging in dark environments. Using diffusible iodine contrast-enhanced computed tomography (diceCT), we described for the first time, the three-dimensional architecture of harbour seal mystacial pads. Contrary to our expectations, the intrinsic muscles were not well-defined, but were regularly distributed. Additionally, we identified several large, deep extrinsic muscles extending throughout the pad, suggesting these muscles play a key role in driving vibrissal protraction underwater, unlike in rats and mice. These findings highlight the value of three-dimensional visualisation techniques in understanding the complexities of pinniped mystacial anatomy and function, offering new insights into their sensory system of pinnipeds.

Most mammals have whiskers to feel around their environment. Whisker deformations, following a contact, will be felt within whisker follicles and translated into neural signals. How much the whisker bends will depend on its shape and material. However, it is hard to understand how whiskers bend, since they are small and flexible and have complex shapes. It is also challenging to measure their material properties. Here, we adopt finite element modelling to explore how shape affects whisker bending in three Carnivora species - a terrestrial red fox (Vulpes vulpes), semi-aquatic Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) and aquatic grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). We present novel methods to select whiskers and approximate their shape and material stiffness. Using our approach, we show that taper (in all species) and undulations (found only in seal whiskers) can both contribute to making whiskers bend more. We also show that the aquatic species have stiffer whiskers than the terrestrial fox – which helps them to keep their whiskers positioned precisely underwater. Overall, we make recommendations here for studying whisker biomechanics, especially to help us understand more about whisker bending and the resulting sensations.

The Early Cretaceous Wessex Formation, Wealden Group, of the Isle of Wight, UK, is a series of fluvial sandstones and floodplain clays, which yield a high diversity of vertebrate remains, including dinosaurs. Commonly found amongst these remains and throughout the succession, are well-rounded exotic stones, exhibiting a high surface polish, with a unique surface texture that identifies them as gastroliths. Concentrations of these stones have also been found in association with sauropod remains.  An analysis of 388 gastroliths, all discovered in situ within the Wessex Formation sediments, revealed a wide diversity of lithologies including chert, silicified limestone and wood, sandstone and various metamorphic rocks. The sources of these gastroliths were investigated using petrography and fossil content and revealed two major provenances: 1. relatively locally derived (within 50 km) silicified Jurassic limestones and cherts, and 2. orthoquartzite and metamorphic clasts derived from Triassic conglomerates in Devon, some 150-200 km to the south west. Other than in gastroliths these lithologies do not occur in the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight and are not represented in Brittany and France to the south and east.

The results indicate that dinosaurs, most likely sauropods, were responsible for their transport and that the acquisition of the stones involved travel over considerable distances, to access two individual source areas. Although the primary reasons for visiting these sites are unknown, it may be linked to seasonal migratory routes or topographical constraints. This implies that the sauropod’s choice of gastroliths could have been highly selective and even indicative of complex patterns of learnt behaviour.  

Preliminary experiments to replicate the polish using a rock tumbler and a mix of Equisetum, pine needles, water and pebbles with a lithology typical of the study gastroliths, demonstrate an effective maceration process. Contrary to previous studies, the diagnostic polish of gastroliths could be achieved in a couple of weeks.

This study provides new evidence that gastroliths from the Early Cretaceous sediments of the Wessex Formation were transported by dinosaurs and in this case were acquired from two specific localities.

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The contribution of social and ecological factors to the evolution of large and complex brains in mammals is widely acknowledged. Despite numerous comparative studies on the impact of these variables on brain size, a comprehensive framework for understanding their relationship with brain shape is lacking. Here, I employ landmark-based 3D geometric morphometrics to investigate the impact of phylogeny, allometry, ecology, and sociality on brain shape within Caniformia (Carnivora). Using phylogenetic comparative methods, I test two key hypotheses: 1) brain shape varies between social and non-social species due to the cognitive demands of social environments (the ‘social brain hypothesis’), and 2) brain shape varies between ecological groups due to the specialized motor and sensory demands of each lifestyle. Preliminary work on the superfamily Musteloidea revealed distinctive brain morphologies across different families and subfamilies, particularly the subfamily Lutrinae (otters), which possess traits well-adapted to aquatic life. With the inclusion of a broader sample of carnivores, including semi-aquatic families (pinnipeds), I examine the impact of terrestrial and semi-aquatic lifestyles on brain shape evolution in Caniformia. This study aims to disentangle the impact of ecology and phylogeny on brain shape while testing for convergent evolution in brain shape between carnivore groups with similar lifestyles.

Terrestrial animals not only need to walk and run but also lie prone to rest and then stand up. The sit-to-stand (STS) transition likely imposes biomechanical constraints on limb design because it involves near-maximal excursions of some limb joints. Birds, a diverse lineage of bipedal animals with exceptional locomotor agility, provide a valuable opportunity to study STS biomechanics and the impact of body size on performance. However, experimental investigation is typically limited in revealing fundamental mechanisms. Using computational biomechanical models and predictive simulations, we can explore the questions on STS performance criteria, muscle-tendon dynamics, and body size influence in a detailed and mechanistic way. In this study, we used a combination of a 2D simplified model and a 3D high-fidelity musculoskeletal model to evaluate STS performance criteria (e.g., minimisation of effort and force rate) and estimate muscle functions in a large bipedal bird – the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), with future investigations extending to simulate STS in a smaller bird – the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). Our study provides insights into the control strategies used by these avian species during STS and suggests the influence of anatomical and functional traits on STS performance. These findings enhance our understanding of constraints on muscle structure in extant animals and offer valuable implications for reconstructing musculoskeletal function in extinct species.

The presence of numerous sympatric medium- to large-bodied theropod dinosaurs in the Morrison and Bahariya Formations raises questions regarding levels of inter- and intraspecific competition and its effect on community structure. Dietary niche partitioning may decrease competition intensity but constraining dinosaur diets has often relied on tooth morphology and stomach contents, both of which have limitations. Here, we use 3D dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) to constrain the diets of 15 species across all dentulous neotheropod clades, in comparison to extant crocodylians and varanids with known diets. We show evidence for piscivory in , and possible invertivory in Eotyrannus, suggesting that faunivorous theropod diets were more diverse than previously thought. Preliminary results suggest theropod clades exhibit different degrees of ontogenetic dietary shifts. Spinosaurid ontogenetic dietary shifts, for example, appear less pronounced than the distinct shifts inferred in . The statistically significant ontogenetic shifts in tyrannosaurid diets suggests these genera performed several distinct ecological roles during their life cycles which might have prevented the sympatry of other large-bodied theropods through competitive exclusion.

Our understanding of the swimming abilities of Mesozoic marine reptiles varies significantly among different groups. The swimming methods of certain groups such as ichthyosaurs are fairly well established due extensive research effort and straightforward comparisons to extant fauna. However, other groups such as the plesiosaurs and thalattosaurs have received less attention or are more challenging to interpret, leaving their swimming capabilities ambiguous. In this short review, the current state of knowledge regarding the hydrodynamics of Mesozoic marine reptiles is explored. The groups with well-established swimming methods are identified, the various locomotion techniques employed are described, the methodologies used to reach these conclusions are considered, and areas for future research are suggested.

Species of the extinct ‘terror crocodile’, Deinosuchus, were among the largest crocodilians to ever live. Two of its roughly contemporaneous species differed in body size and geographic distribution with the smaller species limited east of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America and the larger to the west. This biogeographic pattern together with a gigantic body size, specialised morphology, and evidence for a coastal habitat preference has been difficult to reconcile with the consistently inferred alligatorid phylogenetic affinities of Deinosuchus. Extant alligators and caimans lack lingual glands for saltwater tolerance, consistent with the distribution of other early relatives of Alligatoridae, otherwise small-sized and morphologically more similar to extant representatives of the group. We present an expanded phylogeny that finds that Deinosuchus was no “greater alligator” and reinterprets it as a stem-group crocodylian, along with Diplocynodon and Leidyosuchus canadensis. The novel topology implies saltwater tolerance in Deinosuchus and is consistent with divergence of Alligatoridae from other crocodylians driven by extreme sea level rise. Phylogenetic body-length analysis reveals size reduction early in alligatoroid evolution and a shorter, more reasonable total length estimate for Deinosuchus than previously inferred. We find that gigantism in crocodyliforms is strongly correlated with exceptional, high-productive aquatic or wetland ecosystems in the present and the past. 

Dinosaurs exhibited numerous dietary adaptations, enabling them to occupy a wide array of ecological niches throughout their dominance. Many of these adaptations originated during their initial radiation from the late Triassic (237-227 Ma) and are often linked to their dentitions. Historically, the feeding habits of dinosaurs have been hypothesised from morphological studies in comparison with extant analogues to infer dental function.

However, these methods lack biomechanical evaluation and have yet to quantify the tooth mechanics involved during feeding. Here, we use a combined approach of finite element analysis of tooth function alongside physical puncture tests to investigate tooth mechanics and food-tooth interactions during feeding in early dinosaurs. Our analyses use idealised models representative of the three tooth types seen in early ornithischians, sauropodomorphs and theropods. Results from biomechanical testing show sauropodomorph teeth exhibiting poor structural strength supporting their primary diet of soft plants. Ornithischian teeth demonstrated high structural strength and low puncture performance, supporting hypotheses of prioritising tough plant material. Theropod teeth perform best during puncture and slicing tests within specific contact angles. Dental adaptations of early dinosaurs were immensely varied and more nuanced than previously theorised which is indicated by testing functional hypotheses through these biomechanical analyses.

Dinosaurs exhibited numerous dietary adaptations, enabling them to occupy a wide array of ecological niches throughout their dominance. Many of these adaptations originated during their initial radiation from the late Triassic (237-227 Ma) and are often linked to their dentitions. Historically, the feeding habits of dinosaurs have been hypothesised from morphological studies in comparison with extant analogues to infer dental function.

However, these methods lack biomechanical evaluation and have yet to quantify the tooth mechanics involved during feeding. Here, we use a combined approach of finite element analysis of tooth function alongside physical puncture tests to investigate tooth mechanics and food-tooth interactions during feeding in early dinosaurs. Our analyses use idealised models representative of the three tooth types seen in early ornithischians, sauropodomorphs and theropods. Results from biomechanical testing show sauropodomorph teeth exhibiting poor structural strength supporting their primary diet of soft plants. Ornithischian teeth demonstrated high structural strength and low puncture performance, supporting hypotheses of prioritising tough plant material. Theropod teeth perform best during puncture and slicing tests within specific contact angles. Dental adaptations of early dinosaurs were immensely varied and more nuanced than previously theorised which is indicated by testing functional hypotheses through these biomechanical analyses.

The Solnhofen plattenkalks have yielded the world’s most significant pterosaur assemblage, yet the taphonomic processes that consigned these animals to the fossil record remain poorly understood and underexplored. Multiple examples of catastrophic injuries, combined with a comprehensive quantitative approach to taphonomy, reveal the influence of two distinct taphonomic pathways. 

The primary taphonomic pathway is indicated by complete and often fully articulated small- to medium-sized individuals, often exhibiting traces of soft tissue preservation and, in some cases, major traumas to limb bones that had fatal consequences. These individuals likely perished during storms, suffering wing failure due to excessive wing loading. The same storm events ensured rapid drowning/waterlogging in rough seas and swift burial in storm-driven muds. 

In stark contrast, the remains of larger individuals are often disarticulated and incomplete. These partial remains suggest a secondary attritional pathway involving extended periods of floating and drawn-out disintegration on the lagoon floor. Strongly right-skewed size distributions, along with higher degrees of articulation and completeness among smaller size classes, indicate that the catastrophic taphonomic mode is dominant in the Solnhofen assemblage. These findings highlight a significant ontogenetic bias: smaller individuals are overrepresented, while larger, mature individuals are largely absent from the record. 

Body mass relates to a wide range of factors in the ecology of animals, such as diet, predator-prey relationships, and locomotion. Therefore, rates and modes of evolution of body mass have been widely studied, especially in mammals. The predator-prey interactions of carnivores and artiodactyls may have affected their evolution. This biotic effect could be expressed in their diversification patterns or in their phenotypes, such as their body mass. This study explores rates and modes of body mass evolution in terrestrial Cetartiodactyla and carnivores (Carnivora, Hyaenodonta, Oxyaena). Large scale phylogenies with fossil tip data and inferred body masses, as well as diet, geographic location and global temperature were extracted from the literature and databases. Lineage and disparity through time, temperature correlations and analysis of the rates and modes of evolution show no direct correlation between carnivore and artiodactyl body mass but do hint at previously suggested patterns. Temperature has a large effect on body mass. Shifts in rate of body mass in both carnivores and artiodactyls appear to occur during temperature optima. There also is a significant effect of temperature on the number of carnivore lineages. These initial results suggest an important role for temperature in the evolution of these clades. 

Ichthyosauridae is a monophyletic ichthyosaur group known from abundant fossil material almost exclusively from the Lower Jurassic of the United Kingdom. The most recent taxonomic review recognized two valid genera within the clade – Ichthyosaurus, comprising six species, and Protoichthyosaurus, including two species. Here, we present a new ichthyosaurid from the Lower Jurassic of Warwickshire, United Kingdom, represented by an almost complete, three-dimensionally preserved skull and mandible in occlusion. The new taxon is one of the largest ichthyosaurids reported to date and diagnosed by a unique combination of morphological character states, which include a moderate overbite, an anterior terrace of the supratemporal fenestra, a posteroventral process of the postorbital, and a posterior process of the jugal. An expanded, specimen-level phylogenetic analysis of Ichthyosauridae, based on a previously published dataset, places the new taxon within a group of specimens previously referred to Protoichthyosaurus, but outside a clade comprising the type specimens of Protoichthyosaurus. This has implications for the systematics of Ichthyosauridae and enables a critical revision of several cranial characters used in previous studies of ichthyosaurid taxonomy. Our results demonstrate the importance of specimen-based phylogenetics in vertebrate palaeontology and encourage additional work on the anatomy, taxonomy, and phylogeny of Ichthyosauridae.

In the Mecsek Mountains, southern Hungary, a roughly continuous Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic continental to shallow marine sequence is exposed. Within this sequence, the lower part of the Mecsek Coal Formation contains the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, according to palynological studies. Apart from a few scattered finds and footprints of theropod dinosaurs (Komlosaurus carbonis), this formation yielded no significant continental vertebrate remains to date. Recently, we discovered a thin horizon among the lowermost, coal-bearing layers, from which hundreds of teeth and bone fragments were screen-washed. The finds represent amphibians, sphenodontians, lepidosauromorphs, possible archosauromorphs and cynodont synapsids. This latter group is represented by premolariform and sectorial teeth, attributable at genus level at least to Meurthodon, originally described from the Saint-Nicholas-de-Port site in eastern France. This further strengthens the Rhaetian age of our finds and thus this fauna pre-dates the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. 

As there is a similarity with the Rhaetian fossil record of eastern France, we hypothesize that the Mecsek Mountains being, in this time south-southeast from the Bohemian Massif, might have had land connection with more western parts of Europe.

Understanding the relationship between environmental perturbations, physiological traits of organisms, and their evolutionary consequences is important because it allows us to predict the impact of anthropogenic climate change on current ecosystems, and to better quantify the role of climate change in deep time evolutionary trends.

Physiology provides the link between physical and biotic changes in the environment and their effects on an individual animal. Field metabolic rate (the energetic cost of living) integrates a wide range of potential physiological and behavioural responses to environmental change. Monitoring how individual field metabolic rate varies in response to environmental change within and across species can therefore provide a sensitive test of climate-organism interactions.

In my PhD, I am using a novel proxy based on the stable carbon isotope compositions of carbonate biominerals, to reconstruct field metabolic rates in modern and fossil marine animals. We aim to use our proxy to determine relative metabolic rates across taxa and to quantify how sensitive animal physiology is to temperature change.

As global temperatures have increased with Anthropogenic climate change, some fish species have decreased in size. Smaller body sizes may negatively impact reproductive success and lead to population declines in slow reproducing, economically important families like Trachichthyidae (also known as ‘Slimeheads’). However, testing the temperature-size relationship in extant Trachichthyidae is challenging and research is limited. An extinct Trachichthyidae genus, Hoplopteryx, survived millions of years of climate instability through the Cenomanian to Campanian stages (100 - ~72 Ma) of the Late Cretaceous. This study used extensive collections of well-preserved fossils of this genus from the English Chalk, housed in UK institutions, to investigate Hoplopteryx body size changes through the Late Cretaceous. Size data were then compared to palaeotemperature estimates from oxygen isotope analysis of bulk chalk matrix attached to each specimen. Results showed a significant negative relationship between δ¹⁸O-derived palaeotemperature estimates and body size in the species Hoplopteryx lewesiensis, but a similar relationship at the genus level was not significant. These findings support the prediction that fish shrink in size in warmer seas and are the first evidence of this effect in Trachichthyidae. Further research should address the influences of ontogenetic and sexual variation on the observed temperature-size relationship.

Recent discoveries in the Middle and Late Triassic deposits of Africa highlight the importance of areas outside western Gondwana (South America) to our understanding of early avemetatarsalian evolution. For example, the archosaur fauna of the Tanzanian Manda Formation contains three key avemetatarsalian taxa; potentially the earliest dinosaur, Nyasasaurus; the aphanosaur, Teleocrater; and the silesaurid Asilisaurus. The description of another silesaurid, Lutungutali sitwensis, from the similarly-aged Ntawere Formation of neighbouring Zambia hints that an equally diverse assemblage may be present. Another notable aspect of these faunas is the presence of unusually large silesaurids: a partial femur from the Manda Formation suggests an individual of ~3 m in length and another from a potentially even larger individual has been reported from the Ntawere Formation. It is currently unclear whether these are new taxa or later ontogenetic stages of described taxa from these formations. Two Ntawere Formation specimens from the NHMUK collections are  currently being described: one of these, NHMUK PV R37051, is a fragmentary femur from another large silesaurid. It is hoped that an osteological description and histological analysis of NHMUK PV R37051 will help shed some light on the taxonomic and size diversity of the Ntawere Formation silesaurids.

Spinosaurus is one of the largest and most derived members of the Spinosauridae, a clade of theropod dinosaurs linked to freshwater environments from the Early and mid-Cretaceous of Eurasia, South America, and North Africa. With a unique suite of highly derived anatomical features, Spinosaurus has captured the attention and interest of researchers and the public ever since it was first discovered. It is characterised by an elongated skull with retracted nostrils, a specialised sensory system powered by hyperdeveloped branches of the trigeminal nerve, conical and well-spaced teeth, widespread osteosclerosis across the postcranial skeleton, elongated neural spines of the dorsal vertebrae that form a distinctive sail, proportionally short hind limbs, flattened pedal unguals and a long functional hallux, as well as a deep and narrow, paddle-shaped tail. Most of these adaptations have been interpreted as strong indicators of a semi-aquatic and piscivorous lifestyle in Spinosaurus, but the degree to which they facilitated different modes of locomotion in water and on land remains controversial. Ongoing discoveries and reviews of existing fossils continue to advance our understanding of the anatomy and palaeoecology of this enigmatic theropod. Here, we present a summary of recent findings regarding surface swimming and subaqueous hunting capabilities in Spinosaurus.

Hadrosauroid bones occur relatively frequently in the Maastrichtian of Transsylvania, but are mainly isolated, fragmented, and lack diagnostic features, hindering their proper taxonomic identification. Therefore, these were usually referred previously to Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, the only nominally described Transylvanian hadrosauroid. Recently, a small-sized partial skeleton of a hadrosauroid with associated skull and postcranial elements was discovered near Vălioara in the new Fântânele3 site from the Densuș-Ciula Formation. This partial skeleton shows several differences from Telmatosaurus, especially in the morphology of the nasal and the coronoid process, the proportions of the dentary, and the morphology and foramina pattern of the surangular.

Thorough comparisons prompted by our discovery  revealed that previously collected hadrosauroid fossils from the Hațeg Basin are also in need of revision, while prompting a new, revised diagnosis of T. transsylvanicus as well.

The new hadrosauroid material from Fântânele3 can help in clarifying the taxonomic status, and updating the diagnosis, of Telmasosaurus, while also appears to support earlier hypotheses that more than one hadrosauroid taxon was present in the Hațeg Island fauna during the Late Cretaceous. Furthermore, it also contributes to the better understanding of the phylogenetic affinities, the palaeobiogeographical distribution and evolution of the different European insular basal hadrosauroids.

Ichthyosaurs, often referred to as ‘fish lizards’, are an extinct group of marine reptiles that occupied the oceanic regions throughout the Mesozoic era. Since the earliest years of their discovery, an increasing interest in the study of these prehistoric vertebrates has resulted in a range of implications concerning their lifestyle and biology.  Significant advancements within the field of fossil preparation means we now can observe the fossil remains of these creatures in far greater detail than ever before, thus resulting in previously overlooked elements to be recognised. Thanks to these advancements, we now know much more about the diet of ichthyosaurs, with many specimens exhibiting phosphatic masses underlaying the ribs, in which cephalopod hooklets can be observed. We report here an Ichthyosaurus communis specimen exhibiting an exceptional degree of soft-tissue preservation, recovered from Black Ven (Charmouth Mudstone Formation, Lower Lias Subgroup) of Lyme Regis in 2004 by Derrick Powell. A phosphatized mass located in the posterior region of the stomach is here interpreted to be the first recorded instance of 3D intestinal preservation in an Early Jurassic Ichthyosaur, further supplementing our understanding of these animals’ biology and degrees of gut preservation that can occur.

Tyrannosaurines were the dominant predators of Laramidian ecosystems during the Late Cretaceous. An anagenetic hypothesis for the evolution of derived tyrannosaurines in Laramidia has received much attention in recent years, although several studies disagree on the degree of anagenetic and cladogenetic evolution driving tyrannosaurine evolution. These studies have relied on phylogenetic results of equal weights parsimony analysis and do not consider the impact of alternative phylogenetic methodologies. Here, I build on previous work by applying maximum likelihood Bayesian inference and Extended Implied Weights parsimony analyses to competing datasets and show that both of these methods provide additional support for anagenetic evolution in tyrannosaurines. In species-level and specimen-level analyses, species of the Campanian taxon Daspletosaurus form a paraphyletic grade of tyrannosaurines leading to Tyrannosaurini. A fully-resolved specimen-level topology allows for the application of species delimitation techniques and reveals potentially novel metaspecies of Daspletosaurus, diagnosable by unique combinations of ancestral and derived characters. Future detailed description of the specimens analysed by this contribution and previous work may provide additional support for establishing novel Daspletosaurus metaspecies. This study reinforces the application of specimen-level analyses and the analytical benefits that come from accounting for homoplasy in such analyses by differentially weighting homoplastic characters.

Aquatic birds exhibit a wide range of ecologies and locomotion types. While species with the best aquatic skills have lost their ability to fly or move effectively on land, others excel in water, on land, and in the air, despite the different physical characteristics associated with each medium. This project aimed to analyse the shape variation of limb long bones of different aquatic birds using 3D geometric morphometrics, as well as to explore the inner structure of their bones using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, in order to understand the relationship of these characteristics with locomotor abilities. In terms of shape, although variation is mainly driven by phylogeny, different morphologies linked to given types of locomotion can be distinguished and characterized. Moreover, the shape of the ulna is influenced by both size and aquatic propulsive techniques even when phylogeny is taken into consideration. As for the inner structure, compactness and cortical thickness generally increase in taxa best adapted to diving, particularly in flightless species, especially penguins. However, the compactness of different bones can vary within a skeleton. These results could help us to better understand aquatic birds’ evolution and can be of great use in inferring extinct species' ecologies.

Doratodon is an enigmatic ziphodont mesoeucrocodylian known from the Santonian of Hungary, the Campanian of Austria and Spain, and the Maastrichtian of Romania. While its taxonomic position has been a subject of debate since the end of the 19th century, due to the fragmentary nature of its remains, new material from the Santonian Iharkút locality calls its previously assumed ziphosuchian affinity into question. A nearly complete cranium uncovered in 2018 referred to Doratodon shows many anatomical characteristics typical of the neosuchian clades Paralligatoridae and Atoposauridae. Phylogenetic analyses on both the type locality and the Iharkút Doratodon material imply a phylogenetic connection to these clades, with its similarities to Ziphosuchia being a result of ecomorphological convergence. As Doratodon was one of the faunal elements in the Iharkút locality previously assumed to be of Gondwanan origin, this new discovery weakens the presumed faunal link between Africa and Europe, and suggests that the Late Cretaceous European crocodyliform record is dominated by Laurasian groups.

The first published reconstruction of a dinosaur was the lizard-like Megalosaurus in Georg August Golduss’ classic 1831 illustration Jura Formation. Ever since, life restorations of Megalosaurus bucklandii have been important components of British palaeontological culture. Reconstructions of this iconic species are contentious, however, with M. bucklandii variably regarded as unrestorable, a ‘generic’ large theropod, or something more distinct. A historically confused and unassociated type series and the poor megalosaurine fossil record are the main causes of these varied opinions. As part of celebrations surrounding the 200th anniversary of the naming of M. bucklandii, modern megalosaurine discoveries and current understandings of early theropod phylogeny were used to reassess the likely appearance of the first-named dinosaur. Megalosaurus were probably long-jawed and blunt-snouted, with nasal crests and minimised, scale-covered supraorbital ornaments. Their arms were probably of moderate length and generously muscled, but with short antebrachia. Their hindlimbs were likely stout and married to a shallow pelvis. Estimating their body lengths is challenging, but body fossils indicate values approaching 8 m. Footprints referred to M. bucklandii indicate larger individuals, however, perhaps closer to 10 m. Efforts at restoring Megalosaurus remain tentative, but they neither seem unrestorable nor ‘generic’ in their anatomy.

Archosauriformes are a diverse clade encompassing both extinct (archosaurs, dinosaurs & pterosaurs) and extant species (crocodiles & birds). They are identified on the basis of a distinctive craniofacial feature in their snout known as the antorbital fenestra (AOF). Despite its prevalence in both extinct and extant archosaurs, its function and importance have been equivocal, as its soft tissue content have been debated for almost a century with suggestions such as AOF housed a gland, or a muscle or an air sac. There are multiple hypotheses for the function of this structure. Some believe that it contained an air sac, while others believe that it was just a cavity that was opened up by archosaurs to lighten the skull.  Its morphology and function are yet to be properly tested biomechanically.  Here we present a comprehensive dataset of almost 100 species of Archosauria throughout the Triassic period which tracks the origin of AOF and its morphological changes in size. As previous studies have shown most significant changes in relative skull size in Archosauria occur soon after the origin of most terrestrial archosauriformes and their skull sizes become disproportionally smaller with increasing body sizes. Our analyses show and support that although the skull sizes become disproportionally smaller with increasing body size, AOF scales isometrically with skull size as compared to body size and diet. This trend is largely independent of temporal distribution, species richness and phylogeny.  Our findings lay the groundwork for a broader, deep-time comparative analysis into AOF’s size and shape evolution across all of Archosauria, and it will also help us gain insight into the mechanical trade-offs that influence the size changes in AOF relative to skull size.

Palaeontology shows us that many billions of species that once existed are now extinct, and their natural extinctions enabled new species to inherit the Earth. We identify mass extinctions during which 50–95% of species were killed off, and yet life always recovered. In fact, some of the great diversifications in the history of life were triggered by the opportunities afforded by mass extinctions. So, extinction in the context of modern life, especially the needless slaughter of species by human action or carelessness, is inexcusable. Who does not mourn the loss of the Polynesian tree snail or the dodo? Palaeontologists of course work on longer time scales and can see how extinction events have released the potential of new groups to show their evolutionary mettle. This is one of the wonders of exploring the geological record but should not allow us to think we can hasten the extinction of any modern species.

The placenta is a temporary organ which mediates nutrient exchange between the fetus and the mother. In mammals, all placentas are descended from a single common ancestor and their functions are conserved across species. However, the placenta exhibits remarkable structural diversity, the selective pressures of which are poorly understood. These may include major biological phenomena, such as the evolution of different life history strategies or offspring-parent conflict. We will be unable to understand the role of these drivers in placental evolution until placental structure can be accurately quantified and the link between function and structure understood. Historically, placental structures have been grouped into qualitative categories. Assessing the placenta, or any biological structure, on this basis could be problematic if it hides biological variation or fails to resolve the structure as an integrated multiscale system. To address this, we are developing correlative multiscale 3D imaging workflows to image the mammalian placenta from the whole organ to the nanoscale and using the results to computationally model physiological function within realistic tissue architectures. Using examples from species from mice to giraffes, I will show how our approach is being used to unravel the drivers of placental evolution.

The study of genital bones in mammals offers unique insights into evolutionary biology, revealing patterns of adaptation and diversification. The evolutionary trajectories and biological roles of genital bones will be explored, with a focus on the baculum (os penis) in males and the baubellum (os clitoridis) in females. These structures, while present in many mammalian lineages, exhibit remarkable variability in presence, size, shape, and function across different species. Factors such as mating systems, reproductive strategies, and ecological niches play crucial roles in the retention or loss of these bones. By integrating fossil evidence and anatomical studies, the aim is to shed light on the complex interplay between structure and function in the evolution of genital bones, tracing the morphological changes that led to the highly specialized forms observed today. The presence of these bones in both males and females across various species suggests a complex interplay of evolutionary forces. Understanding the evolutionary patterns and biological significance of genital bones provides deeper insights into mammalian reproductive evolution, highlighting the intricate relationship between form, function, and evolutionary fitness. A comprehensive overview of current research findings will be provided, stimulating further discussion on this intriguing aspect of mammalian evolution.