Morphological variations and asymmetry

Rapid changes in wing size and shape during the transition to laboratory conditions in a Neotropical drosophilid

This study tracks rapid wing size and shape changes in Drosophila sturtevanti across generations in lab conditions, showing genetic and environmental influences on morphology.

Selection for extreme neck elongation in crown birds

This study examines how developmental constraints and selection for elongation shape neck morphology in birds and other archosaurs, showing that extreme neck elongation in crown birds results from increases in both cervical number and length.

Playing by their own rules: clade-specific trends in mandibular form and function disrupt current paradigms of early tetrapod evolution

The paper examines morphofunctional trends in vertebrate mandibles across extant and extinct taxa, finding clade-specific patterns that challenge the assumption that mandibles reliably reflect feeding modes in deep-time reconstructions.

El Niño, capture success, and wing fluctuating asymmetry in Drosophila sturtevanti Duda, 1927

The paper examines wing fluctuating asymmetry in Drosophila sturtevanti across three years, finding reduced asymmetry in 2024 despite challenging environmental conditions.

Biology-guided machine learning for robust anatomical correspondence across biodiversity datasets

This paper introduces a biology-guided machine learning method for automated anatomical landmark transfer across diverse biological datasets, showing significant improvements in accuracy and robustness under severe perturbations.

Evolutionary diversification of the biological screw joint in weevils

The paper examines the evolutionary diversification of screw joints in weevils, showing continuous variation and modular evolution rather than discrete types.

Convergent evolution of extreme snout elongation in deep-sea fishes reveals constrained trajectories

The paper shows that extreme snout elongation in deep-sea fishes evolved independently but along constrained trajectories due to phenotypic integration and functional innovation.

Decoupled wing evolution reveals trait-specific links between morphology, geography, and diversification in Ithomiini butterflies.

This study examines the relationship between diversification and phenotypic evolution in Ithomiini butterflies, finding trait-specific and geographically structured links between forewing shape evolution and diversification.

Navigating the window: structural bottlenecks in avian craniofacial integration revealed by the ontogenetic patterning of shape variance

The paper analyzes 3D micro-CT images of chicken embryos to show that primary palatal fusion creates a structurally constrained shape window during craniofacial development.

Craniofacial suture complexity and digging mode importance in rodents

This study examines the relationship between fossoriality and cranial suture complexity in rodents, finding that different digging modes correlate with specific suture traits.

Habitat impacts the diversification of adhesive discs and skull shape in clingfishes

This study examines how habitat and substrate use influence the morphological evolution of adhesive discs and skull shape in clingfishes, finding that transitions to coral reefs increase evolutionary rates while shifts to softer substrates constrain disc shapes.

Sexual Dimorphism and Geographic Variation in Washington Bobcat (Lynx rufus) Skulls

This study examines sexual dimorphism and geographic variation in Washington bobcat skulls, finding significant sex-based differences and minor regional effects on skull size and shape.

Conserved covariance structure underlies 60 million years of morphological diversification in primates

This study shows that primate cranial variation has remained conserved in covariance structure and evolvability over 60 million years, despite morphological divergence.

A hierarchical Bayesian framework accommodates intraspecific and interspecific variation in multivariate traits

The paper introduces a hierarchical Bayesian framework to estimate taxon-specific intraspecific covariance structures and evolutionary processes for multivariate traits, showing improved uniformity in evolutionary rate estimates across the great ape clade.

To slide or not to slide, that is the question: evaluating dense semilandmarks and sliding in 3D geometric morphometrics with real and simulated data

The paper evaluates dense semilandmarks and sliding techniques in 3D geometric morphometrics using real and simulated mouse skull data, finding that sliding can improve or harm results depending on correspondence quality.

Region-specific patterns of sexual shape variation in the human bony labyrinth: 3D geometric morphometric analysis of a sample with known genomic sex

This study uses 3D geometric morphometrics to analyze sexual shape variation in the human bony labyrinth across different regions, finding subtle and regionally heterogeneous differences.

DICAROS: Diffeomorphic Ancestral Shape Reconstruction on Phylogenies

DICAROS improves ancestral shape reconstruction by modeling shape correlations using diffeomorphic dynamics, outperforming traditional methods on non-symmetric trees.

MorphQ: label-free quantification and visualisation of complex morphology from standardised specimen images

MorphQ provides a label-free method to quantify and visualize complex morphology from standardized images, outperforming PCA and supervised models in downstream biological analysis.

Patterns and drivers of cranial evolution in rhinos (Rhinocerotoidea; Perissodactyla): allometry, phylogeny and tempo of evolution

This study investigates patterns and drivers of cranial evolution in rhinos using geometric morphometrics, phylogenetic methods, and allometric analysis, finding that horn presence and size influenced cranial shape under phylogenetic constraints.

On the characterization and interpretation of phenotypic ellipse geometry, with examples from Canis and sigmodontine rodents.

This paper examines phenotypic ellipse geometry in Canis and sigmodontine rodents, showing that Vrel fails to distinguish between different geometric differences and advocating the use of three parameters to better characterize ellipse geometry.

Heritable shell differentiation among populations of the sole lymnaeid snail across freshwater habitats of southern Patagonia

This study shows that shell shape differences in Pectinidens diaphanus snails are heritable and linked to habitat type across southern Patagonia.

Complex interplay of biomechanics and ecology influenced crab claw morphology evolution

This study investigates the evolution of crab claw morphology by integrating biomechanics, ecology, and phylogeny across 80 crab species, revealing that ecological and biomechanical factors drive diversity rather than phylogenetic relatedness.

Whole body elongation drives coordinated vertebral shape evolution in Lake Malawi cichlid fishes

The paper examines how vertebral morphology evolves in Lake Malawi cichlids, finding strong integration between precaudal and caudal vertebrae shapes during body elongation.

LizardMorph: A generalizable machine learning framework for automated anatomical landmark detection in digital images

LizardMorph automates anatomical landmark detection in biological images, achieving high accuracy and efficiency compared to manual methods.

Macroevolutionary shifts in post-hatching ontogeny and the origin of craniofacial disparity in fowl (Aves: Galloanserae)

This study investigates ontogenetic changes in cranial morphology across Galloanserae to understand the developmental basis of cranial disparity between anseriforms and galliforms.

Static allometry of the horn and pronotal depression in adult Oryctes rhinoceros supports continuous nonlinearity, sexual dimorphism, and size-independent covariation

The paper analyzes allometry in Oryctes rhinoceros, finding continuous nonlinear scaling and size-independent covariation between horn length and pronotal depression width.

A new reference-invariant consensus template generation method in ALPACA

This paper introduces a consensus atlas generation method to reduce reference bias in automated landmarking, showing improved reproducibility and reduced variance across datasets.

A probabilistic and phylogenetic principal component analysis for modelling high-dimensional trait evolution

This paper introduces P3CA, a probabilistic and phylogenetic PCA method for high-dimensional trait evolution, showing improved accuracy in parameter estimation and missing data reconstruction.

Cephalo-pelvic covariation and sexual dimorphism are disrupted in hybrid mice: implications for the human obstetrical dilemma

This study shows hybrid mice exhibit disrupted cephalo-pelvic covariation and reduced pelvic sexual dimorphism, suggesting these traits are genetically structured and sensitive to hybridization.

Scaling and ecomorphology of lagomorph body shape and appendicular skeleton

This study quantifies body shape and appendicular skeleton traits in lagomorphs to identify key skeletal components driving shape diversity and how body size, ecotype, and locomotion influence morphology.