Donald Davesne

Possibly the weirdest fossil teleost🐟you'll see today? Check it out in our new preprint out in @biorxivpreprint, with Giorgio Carnevale biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Thread 1/4

We found that the decoupling of species richness and morphological disparity between regions is primarily influenced by colonization dynamics rather than differences in speciation rates.

Today we mourn the loss of our friend and colleague Dave Johnson, Curator of Fishes. Dave was a world-renowned comparative morphologist and ichthyologist who joined our Fish Division's curatorial staff in 1983.  He was by nature a collaborator and had many co-authors worldwide.

I'm looking for #Postdocs ! 🧑‍🔬🔍 I'm a highly motivated researcher with experience in R programming, network analysis, and multivariate statistics. My focus is on the evolution of ecosystems and biodiversity over deep time. Any retweets or shares are greatly appreciated! 🙏

🚨Our paper testing the impacts of salinity on phenotypic rates in nearly all ray-finned fishes recently arrived!🚨 Salinity is generally a weak predictor, but predictive potential for freshwater-brackish, lake living, and larger species. Free PDF here: bit.ly/fishRates

So she was first author on his key paper - in fact she's on most of his key papers, yet she didn't get the Nobel Prize, in spite of the fact they could have given 3 awards, not just 2. Explain to me how STEM is not institutionally sexist.

Very glad that our new paper testing for bone microanatomy form-function relationships is now published. Great collaborative work with @CyrilEtienne1, J. Viot, P. Watson & M. Fagan about bone strength under compressive load. doi.org/10.1111/joa.14…

🚨🚨 1/8 New paper from @TJNear, Alex Dornburg, and myself! We reconstruct the early evolution of acanthopterygian fishes, which include ~1/3 of living vertebrate species! biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

The Tube Eye (Stylephorus chordatus) is a deepsea oddity-the strange binocular eyes might help the fish detect faint bioluminescence in the dark depths of the oceans. The light these animals might be looking for would be produced by small crustaceans that they like to eat.

Just 3 more weeks to nab early bird registration and submit your abstract for #PalAss24! ✨ All of the necessary info is here: palass.org/meetings-event…

Cool piece on my latest preprint, by @SciNonficSean sciencenews.org/article/ancien…

Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) have a unique adaptation: Fang-like pharyngeal teeth in their throats. Unlike their beaklike oral teeth, these spikes help catch & process gelatinous prey like jellyfish, and act as an efficient retention mechanism. Flaum et al.: doi.org/10.1002/ar.255…

@TylerGreenfieId @biorxivpreprint OK, thanks for the insight!

@DonaldDavesne @biorxivpreprint Yes it needs both new species and genus names.

Possibly the weirdest fossil teleost🐟you'll see today? Check it out in our new preprint out in @biorxivpreprint, with Giorgio Carnevale biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Thread 1/4

@TylerGreenfieId @biorxivpreprint Ah, you mean that a new species name is needed in addition to the genus name?

@DonaldDavesne @biorxivpreprint The fossil was erroneously referred to P. volans by Volta (1796) and is not part of the type material, which consists of the extant specimens referenced by Linnaeus (1766). Therefore, the name P. volans is clearly not applicable to the fossil.

@Stanton5 @biorxivpreprint We mention this in the manuscript, this is a superficial similarity.

@DonaldDavesne @biorxivpreprint The high crest makes me wonder if it's related to Bajaichthys

@TylerGreenfieId @biorxivpreprint We erect a new genus name, that is redacted for the preprint ;)

@DonaldDavesne @biorxivpreprint By designating P. volans as the type species of the new genus you make it a junior synonym of Pegasus, rather than a distinct genus referring to the fossil.

@jethroreading32 @biorxivpreprint You'll find all the answers in the preprint ;) (We thought it could be a lampriform but it's not)

@DonaldDavesne @biorxivpreprint Commenting this before scrolling down for the answer but I really want this to be a real goofy lampriform

The wonderful paleo-art, showing a possible reconstruction of this mysterious animal, has been made by the talented Margaux Boetsch. If you are interested to commission illustrations, get in touch with them below! margauxboetsch.wixsite.com/portfolio

Similar to certain modern teleosts, such as the wonderful cusk-eels when they are larvae! Is this fossil a larva? We're not sure. But it surely records an early example of these extraordinary anatomical innovations. (cusk-eel larva, picture by @GugUnderwater) 4/4