Lukas VFN 🇪🇺

How an unlikely all-female clonal #fish species copied and pasted itself free from extinction https://phys.org/news/2026-03-female-clonal-fish-species-free.html

"The molly gives live birth to its young, which are its clones, because the species is made up entirely of females... It picks up mutations faster than its sexual relatives, yet avoids the expected genetic decay... gene conversion purges harmful mutations by copying a healthy version of the same gene from another part of the fish's own DNA, and pasting it over the faulty region"

New fossil reveals the weird ‘tooth cushions’ of an apex predator from 425 million years ago https://theconversation.com/new-fossil-reveals-the-weird-tooth-cushions-of-an-apex-predator-from-425-million-years-ago-274122

Largest Silurian #fish illuminates the origin of osteichthyan characters https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-10008-y

"The jaw would have been 17 cm long, suggesting an animal roughly 1 m long—the largest known jawed fish from the #Silurian... nothing prepared us for what turned up just few years later: a complete skull and jaws that revealed a creature far weirder than we could have imagined"

Peculiar crocodile ancestor started life on four legs before learning to walk on two https://phys.org/news/2026-03-peculiar-crocodile-ancestor-life-legs.html Paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2025.2604859 #PaleoArt by @serpenillus@sauropods.win

"Sonselasuchus had more proportional forelimbs and hindlimbs as young, and their hindlimb grew longer and more robust through adulthood... these creatures started out their lives on four legs… they then started walking on two legs as they grew up."

Across South America, canopy bridges evolve as a lifeline for tree-dwelling wildlife https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/across-south-america-canopy-bridges-evolve-as-a-lifeline-for-tree-dwelling-wildlife/ paper: https://neotropical.pensoft.net/article/154791/

"researchers deployed a sophisticated system of canopy bridges with nets, thick ropes, and platforms at varying heights... to form extensive corridors designed to facilitate safe movement from one treetop to another... Internationally, suspension bridges have proven their effectiveness, providing connectivity, increasing gene flow, and reducing mortality"

Ancient lands beneath Neanderthal feet https://www.botany.one/ancient-lands-beneath-neanderthal-feet/ @botanyone@botany.social

Beyond the cold steppes: Neanderthal landscapes & the neglect of flora https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379125004937

"Using current knowledge, they created 8 plant-centric renderings of ancient landscapes representing the range of Neanderthal habitats from Europe to central Asia—boreal & temperate woodlands, mixed forests, grass steppes, Mediterranean scrub, heathlands, semideserts, alpine & shrub tundra"

#PaleoArt by https://www.gabrielaamoros.com

Ctenophore research points to earlier origins of brain-like structures
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ctenophore-earlier-brain.html Paper by Anna Ferraioli et al.: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1817-6891: https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aea8399

"The #animals possess a sensory structure called the aboral organ (AO), which allows them to sense gravity, pressure, and light... AO is definitely not like our #brain, but it could be defined as the organ that #ctenophores use as a brain... #evolution seems to have invented centralized nervous systems more than once"

Two #marsupials believed extinct for 6000 years found alive https://www.newscientist.com/article/2518082-two-marsupials-believed-extinct-for-6000-years-found-alive/ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/05/marsupials-discovered-new-guinea paper: https://journals.australian.museum/flannery-2026-rec-aust-mus-781-1734/

"#Indigenous people in #Papua, Indonesia, have helped scientists track down two #animals that were thought to have gone #extinct thousands of years ago: a relative of Australia’s greater glider and a palm-sized #possum with a bizarre, elongated finger"

Oldest known bony #fish fossils uncover early vertebrate evolution https://phys.org/news/2026-03-oldest-bony-fish-fossils-uncover.html

"Eosteus chongqingensis lived 436 million years ago and measured just 3 cm. It displays a mosaic of primitive and derived traits: its streamlined body, single dorsal fin, and specialized scales known as caudal fulcra resemble those of early ray-finned fishes, yet it lacks the bony fin rays typical of bony fishes and bears an anal fin spine previously known only in cartilaginous fishes and placoderms."

Ancient plant-eater with a twisted jaw was a 'living fossil' in its own time https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ancient-eater-jaw-sideways-teeth.html

An aberrant stem tetrapod from the early #Permian of Brazil https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/293/2066/20252106/480542/An-aberrant-stem-tetrapod-from-the-early-Permian

"the lower jaw was twisted, so that the teeth pointed out to the sides. The part of its jawbone that, in humans, faces the tongue, in Tanyka is facing up towards the roof of its mouth. This surface is covered in smaller teeth forming a grinding surface like a cheese grater"

#PaleoArt by @vitorsilva@sauropods.win

Radiocarbon dating rewrites angiosperm #trees' lifespan records worldwide https://phys.org/news/2026-03-radiocarbon-dating-rewrites-angiosperm-trees.html paper: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/abs/radiocarbon-dating-opens-up-new-frontiers-in-the-study-of-tree-longevity-insights-from-angiosperm-trees/D0B293603AB4AB049F67EB26400A8C0F

"tree rings may have been underestimating the #lifespan of many trees—sometimes by centuries... #RadiocarbonDating can dramatically extend the known maximum age of broadleaved trees... maximum lifespans of 400–500 years are not exceptional among many species... 20 species exceeded 500 years, and five surpassed 1,000 years."

Large land predators were hunting big plant-eaters more than 280 million years ago https://phys.org/news/2026-03-large-predators-big-eaters-million.html

Earliest direct evidence of trophic interactions between terrestrial apex predators and large herbivores https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-38183-6

"large land #predators were already hunting big plant-eating #animals more than 280 million years ago... The puncturing, pitting, scoring and furrowing marks on the skeletons are indicative of large predators found nearby, including #Varanops and #Dimetrodon"

Dense, dark #forests in Europe are a modern phenomenon
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dense-dark-forests-europe-modern.html paper: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111749

"Europe's landscapes over the past more than 20 million years have predominantly been a mosaic: a mixture of #grasslands, scrub and #woodlands of varying density. A light-filled, flower-rich open #woodland shaped by grazing #animals as a decisive ecological force—not a dark closed-canopy #forest."

Scientists rescue lost song of the critically endangered regent honeyeater
https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scientists-lost-song-critically-endangered.html

Rescue of the traditional song culture of a critically endangered songbird https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-40115-3

"Using recordings and two wild-born tutors, scientists taught young zoo-bred males the species's traditional wild song—a song that has now been lost from the wild populations and was becoming increasingly simplified as numbers declined. The zoo-bred #birds went on to tutor the next generation."

New paper from my second PostDoc is published!

Novak et al.: Sulfur disproportionation occurs globally across anoxic habitats and has multiple mechanisms of independent evolutionary origin https://academic.oup.com/ismej/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ismejo/wrag042/8503335

Some #bacteria are able to gain energy by metabolizing elemental #sulfur alone—no other chemical needed. We investigate which genes may be responsible for this unique #metabolism and speculate about its evolutionary origins.

#Microbes #Evolution #DeepSea

#SilentSunday: Tachenn natur Bodonoù, #BZH

Exceptionally preserved 551-million-year-old site suggests #AvalonBiota lasted longer https://phys.org/news/2026-02-exceptionally-million-year-site-avalon.html paper: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/doi/10.1130/G54217.1/725338/Ediacaran-endlings-from-the-Avalon-Assemblage-and

"That loss of diversity in the late #Ediacaran has long been recognized as the #KotlinCrisis, making it the first #extinction event that #animals ever experienced. The percentage of known macroorganisms that went #extinct at the Kotlin Crisis event is, in light of this newly published study, considered to be around 80%"

Bug beats: Caterpillars use complex rhythms to communicate with ants https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bug-caterpillars-complex-rhythms-communicate.html Paper by Chiara De Gregorio et al.: https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.70223

"#ants treat the #caterpillars like colony members, carrying them into nests, protecting and feeding them. Caterpillars provide sugary secretions to ants or mimic ant behavior... chemical mimicry has long been known to underpin these relationships... caterpillars also use precisely timed vibrational rhythms to attract and appease their hosts"

Globe-trotting ancient sea-salamander fossils rediscovered from Australia's dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs https://phys.org/news/2026-02-globe-ancient-sea-salamander-fossils.html paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2025.2601224

"The end-#Permian mass #extinction prompted the emergence of modern marine ecosystems... this involved the earliest appearances of sea-going #amphibians and #reptiles... A new study of 250 million-year-old fossils from the Kimberly region has uncovered a surprisingly diverse marine amphibian community with worldwide trans-oceanic links."

A bacterium's built-in compass, explained: Single-cell magnetometry confirms Earth-field alignment https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bacterium-built-compass-cell-magnetometry.html Paper: https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/lffn-l7m6

"Inside this bacterium is a chain of magnetic nanoparticles. These act like a biological compass and allow the bacterium to align with Earth's magnetic field. In their natural habitat, bodies of water or moist sediments, this compass helps the #bacteria to advance in a systematic manner when searching for the optimal living conditions."

New sabre-crested Spinosaurus species named from desert #dinosaur fossils https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2026/february/new-sabre-crested-spinosaurus-species-named-from-desert-dinosaur-fossils.html

Scimitar-crested Spinosaurus species from the Sahara caps stepwise spinosaurid radiation https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adx5486

"#Spinosaurus mirabilis lived in what is now the #Sahara 95 million years ago back when it was a #wetland. It would have had no problem wading on its sturdy legs into two meters of water but probably spent most of its time stalking shallower traps for the many large #fish of the day"

#CitizenScience rediscovers rare South African moth https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/citizen-science-rediscovers-rare-south-african-moth/ paper: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/171904/element/8/16038/

"A strikingly handsome emerald-green #moth, lost to science for nearly one-and-a-half centuries, has been rediscovered in #SouthAfrica by #CitizenScientists who posted photographs of it online. The moth was thought to be #extinct. The species hadn’t been recorded since two male specimens were collected near the #WesternCape town of Swellendam around 1875."

18-year study: #deer inhibit #trees, raise plant diversity https://cals.cornell.edu/news/2026/02/18-year-study-deer-inhibit-trees-raise-plant-diversity Paper by A. Sophie Westbrook et al.: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0339466

"the presence of deer increases the overall diversity of smaller plant species... deer improve this diversity by eating a lot of the plant species that would otherwise become dominant... Without deer, there are often one or two plant species that dominate a system. And those also tend to be the plants that are most edible"

#SilentSunday: Grey heron in Koad Keroual, near #Brest, #BZH

#Birds #Mosstodon #LichenSubscribe #Breizh

After decades of decline, there are signs of hope for the #capercaillie, one of #Britain’s most endangered birds https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/13/small-signs-of-recovery-scotland-rare-capercaillie-bird

"Populations of the charismatic grouse, which is found only in the Caledonian pine forests of the Scottish Highlands, have increased by 50%, from 20 males in 2020 to 30 in 2025"

#Birds #Conservation #Scotland

Acoustic communication—an overlooked driver in #boxfish evolution https://phys.org/news/2026-02-acoustic-communication-overlooked-driver-boxfish.html paper: https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-abstract/146/2/blaf079/8268841

"All species are capable of producing sounds, but acoustic data are lacking, particularly for Atlantic species whose sound mechanism was unknown until now... researchers demonstrated a novel sound apparatus, called the sphaera sonica. It consists of two globular masses of tissue surrounded by fast sonic muscles... like spheres used in swimming pools to generate waves"

#fish

Football-sized #fossil creature may have been one of the first land #animals to eat its veggies https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1115870

#Carboniferous recumbirostran elucidates the origins of terrestrial herbivory https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02929-8

"for tens of millions of years, these early land-dwelling creatures only ate their fellow animals... In a new paper, scientists describe the 307-million-year-old fossil of one of the earliest known land #vertebrates that evolved the ability to eat #plants."

Spring #bloomscrolling in #Brest, #BZH: Chaenomeles / Flowering quince

#Bermuda snail thought to be #extinct now thrives after a decade’s effort https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/07/bermuda-snail-thought-to-be-extinct-now-thrives-after-a-decades-effort

"The greater Bermuda #snail was found in the fossil record but believed to have vanished from the archipelago, until a remnant population was discovered in a damp and overgrown alleyway in Hamilton, the island capital, in 2014... Since 2019, generations of the captive-bred snails have been returned to islands... After a decade-long effort, the species has been confirmed as safe from #extinction."

“Spiny dragon” reveals hidden secrets of #dinosaur skin after 125 million years https://www.naturalsciences.be/en/science/news/spiny-dragon-reveals-hidden-secrets-of-dinosaur-skin-after-125-million-years

Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early #Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02960-9

"An exceptionally well-preserved #fossil from China reveals the true appearance and possible defence strategies of iguanodontian #dinosaurs. The new species #Haolong dongi preserves skin at cellular level and bears strange spikes never seen before in dinosaurs."

Huayuan biota decodes Earth's first mass extinction https://phys.org/news/2026-01-huayuan-biota-decodes-earth-phanerozoic.html

"#CambrianExplosion was cut short around 513 million years ago by the #SinskEvent—with an #extinction rate on par with the planet's 5 most severe mass extinctions. #Biodiversity remained low for 50 million years... While paleontologists have uncovered dozens of #Cambrian soft-bodied fossil sites... no equivalent deposit had been found from the critical post-Sinsk Event interval... That changed over the past 5 years"

Happy #FungiFriday from #Prague!

UL: Trichaptum abietinum - Purplepore Bracket
LL: Phlebia radiata - Wrinkled Crust
UR: Ascocoryne sarcoides - Purple Jellydisc
LR: Chondrostereum purpureum - Silverleaf Fungus

#Fungi