#AmniotaLab
#AmniotaLab in the news! 📰
Our member Khalafallah Salih features in Nature Africa on how Sudanese scientists keep research alive through war.
With fieldwork in #Sudan halted, he continues studying Sudan’s fossil record at @mfnberlin.bsky.social  via the #PALEONILE project 🐊
October 13, 2026 at 10:02 AM
Fresh from #AmniotaLab! 🦪
River oysters keep a diary of the rains in their shells. Aisha Huseen read it in Sudan’s Atbara River: shells up to ~224,000 years old show that strong wet–dry seasons have shaped eastern #Sudan for at least ~200,000 years 
👇
October 15, 2026 at 10:04 AM
🦬 New from #AmniotaLab!
A nearly complete ~2.6-million-year-old buffalo skull from Ethiopia reveals a new small-bodied species of 𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘴, with short, widely divergent horns.

It looks surprisingly similar to young and small African buffalo!

#OA #paleontology #Africa
October 6, 2026 at 10:02 AM
We are so happy to celebrate one of our members winning the prize for 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 at #DGS2026! 🏆🎉

Huge congratulations, @pierreorgebin.bsky.social , you totally deserved it! 🐐🧠

@mammalbiology.bsky.social  @mfnberlin.bsky.social #AmniotaLab
September 18, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Then Pierre Orgebin (@pierreorgebin.bsky.social) on the divergent brain evolution of two extinct island bovids 🧠🐐 amazing work from his PhD

Proud to see #AmniotaLab science at the meeting! #paleobiology #islandrule
September 17, 2026 at 2:50 PM
New #AmniotaLab publication! 🌍
The Atbara River, one of the Nile's tributaries in #Sudan, hasn't always flowed where it does today. 

Mohammednoor et al found that about 27,000 years ago the river suddenly started carrying sediment from a different mountain region: the volcanic Ethiopian Highlands ⛰️
July 31, 2026 at 3:03 PM
This week, we were delighted to welcome back Sara Varela to the #AmniotaLab!

Sara, a former fellow of the lab, gave a fascinating presentation on her current research projects at @mapaslab.bsky.social and shared exciting insights into her latest work.

It is great to have you back! 😊🦴
July 29, 2026 at 2:31 PM
New #AmniotaLab paper! 🦣
Jijia Sun and colleagues test whether hominin dispersal out of Africa ~2 Ma was part of a wider faunal expansion. 

𝗦𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿: it wasn't.

Instead, major faunal interchange occurred between Europe & Asia, while African faunas remained distinct
#OA #Evolution
May 19, 2026 at 2:03 PM
🌟 #AmniotaLab PhD spotlight!

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 is featured in@jexpbiol.bsky.social, sharing her scientific journey and her work testing 3D jaw models against real bite-force data in lizards 🦎🦷 #EarlyCareerResearch

full interview 👇
https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/229/3/jeb252051/370624
February 27, 2026 at 10:01 AM
New #AmniotaLab paper out!

Led by Faysal Bibi, this study provides a major update to early human timelines. Singa and the Abu Hugar fossil site are now constrained by new dating evidence 🕜.

#PALEONILE #ERCproject
🔗
New age constraints for the Singa hominin and the adjacent Abu Hugar fossil site
The Singa calvaria, found on the western bank of the Blue Nile in Sudan in 1924, shows a combination of modern and archaic features of Homo sapiens. A…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 25, 2026 at 10:03 AM
New #AmniotaLab research!

Squirrels 🐿️ include more biome specialists than expected by chance, supporting 𝗩𝗿𝗯𝗮’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲-𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀: species restricted to a single biome speciate faster when climatic change fragments habitats.

👇 #OA
Biome Specialisation in Squirrels: Phylogenetic and Geographic Patterns
Aim Habitat breadth shapes species' responses to environmental change and influences large-scale biodiversity patterns. According to Vrba's resource-use hypothesis, biome specialists (inhabiting a s...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 19, 2026 at 4:02 PM
We began the first day of 2026 with more #AmniotaLab research! 🎉

How do macroevolutionary patterns begin?
By studying tooth shape 🦷 in the Ibiza wall #lizard🦎, this study shows that diet-related changes in tooth complexity already emerge within populations.
February 16, 2026 at 4:02 PM
More #AmniotaLab research! 

Using micro-CT scans, Tomás Fornari and Johannes Müller show that the skull bones 🦴 of fully aquatic frogs 🐸 carry signals of both shared lifestyle and deep evolutionary history👇
February 11, 2026 at 4:02 PM
New #AmniotaLab research!
How well do computer models really predict bite force in living animals?

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 has just published this paper from her PhD, testing digital jaw models against real bite-force measurements in #lizards 🦎
February 9, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Recent work from #AmniotaLab in Systematic Palaeontology!

Sorbelli and collaborators describe a fossil frog from Early Pleistocene Italy: a large, robust frog that likely hunted hard-shelled invertebrates!

don't miss it!👇
Why extant, not extinct?
A new JSP paper by Sorbelli 𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘭. describes an extinct 𝙇𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙖 species (Anura: Discoglossidae) from the Early Pleistocene of the Apennine Peninsula—offering fresh clues on how the genus survived in Eurasia.

Read more: buff.ly/NGVelt5 #Paleosky @amniotalab.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 11:51 AM
New #AmniotaLab research!
Faysal Bibi and Jean-Renaud Boisserie describe a fossil buffalo from Ethiopia, revealing how early members of the lineage evolved into today’s African buffalo 🐃

paleo.peercommunityin.org/PCIPaleo/art...
November 4, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Great to have Marianne Brasil from Western Washington University visiting #AmniotaLab to work in the collections! 🦴🔍 She studies primate evolution combining modern primate data and the fossil record.
Thank you for sharing your passion for paleoanthropology with us!
September 29, 2025 at 2:31 PM
We were delighted to host Dr. Khizar Samiullah from Ghazi University 🇵🇰 at #AmniotaLab
He shared his work on Neogene mammal fossils from the classical Siwalik sequences, and highlighted the work still ahead💪
September 22, 2025 at 8:19 AM
New #AmniotaLab study: the first digital endocast 🧠 of the five-horned ruminant 🦌 𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘹 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪 from Miocene Gargano (Italy) reveals a distinct evolutionary path among island mammals

👏 @pierreorgebin.bsky.social @robertorozzi.bsky.social

🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Virtual endocast of the Late Miocene Hoplitomeryx matthei (Artiodactyla, Hoplitomerycidae) and brain evolution in insular ruminants | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Mammals often follow peculiar evolutionary trajectories on islands, with some Pleistocene insular large mammals exhibiting reduced relative brain size. However, the antiquity of this phenomenon remain...
royalsocietypublishing.org
September 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Some of our past and current #AmniotaLab members just got back from the #CPEG meeting in Zurich so happy to have met so many fantastic and inspiring people!

Huge thanks to @cpeg-cpb25.bsky.social for a great conference, and for recognizing our poster as one of the best! An honor to be part of it 🙌
August 5, 2025 at 4:20 PM
More #AmniotaLab science! 📢

Khalafallah Salih et al. describe a new Late Pleistocene crocodile from #Sudan 🐊
the first 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘺𝘭𝘶𝘴 from this period in Africa, and distinct from all known species!

Just the beginning for the #PALEONILE project 🌍🦴

🔗 Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A new late Pleistocene fossil crocodile from Sudan reveals hidden diversity of Crocodylus in Africa - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - A new late Pleistocene fossil crocodile from Sudan reveals hidden diversity of Crocodylus in Africa
www.nature.com
August 5, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Just out! This #AmniotaLab study led by 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 on 𝘗𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘺𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴 🦎 across the Balearics finds that bite force & morphology vary within populations, but don’t scale up to macroevolutionary scales

🔗 More:
academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

#Evolution #Lizards #FunctionalMorphology
August 4, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Great to have @evomorpholab.bsky.social visiting us!
A fantastic few days of sharing ideas, methods, and common interests.
Looking forward to more collaboration ahead!
#EvolutionaryBiology #Paleobiology #AmniotaLab
July 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Some collection work at the @mfnberlin.bsky.social
🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴👀

#AmniotaLab #MfNBerlin
July 21, 2025 at 9:49 AM
⚠️ 𝘋𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘪𝘢 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘪 is on the move in Bangladesh! 🐍🌾

A new #AmniotaLab study shows a 5-fold increase in suitable habitat since 2015 driven by climate shifts, land use, and dispersal corridors. Rising encounters raise urgent public health concerns.

🔗 Read more: herpetozoa.pensoft.net/article/1434...
Expanding habitat suitability under changing climate and land use may drive rapid expansion of Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) in Bangladesh
Eco-climatic and other environmental gradients significantly influence the geographic distribution of reptiles. In Bangladesh, the known range of Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) has expanded extensi...
herpetozoa.pensoft.net
June 18, 2025 at 6:12 AM