Lizzy Steell

Lizzy Steell

@lizzysteell.bsky.social

Birds 🦜 Passerines 🐦 Fossils 🦴 Macroevolution Post-doc at Girton College and Cambridge University (Sarah Woodhead Research Fellow in Earth Science)

136 followers112 following35 posts

Lizzy Steell reposted

Palaeoverse
@palaeoverse.bsky.social

🚨Palaeoverse Lecture Series🚨 We are very excited to share our next four talks in the Series 💻🦕🌎🌿🐚 This time, we're looking forward to hearing from Basanta Khakurel, Abigail Keeler Parker, Corentin Gibert, and Lizzy Steell! If you are interested, sign up here: palaeoverse.org/training/lec...

Lizzy Steell
@lizzysteell.bsky.social

Does the shape of the inner ear really make a difference to flight? It doesn't seem so! Congrats to the authors on this super cool work. Another example of ecomorphological relationships not being straightforward to understand👂 🐦 🦢 🦤 #oxipotangos

Guillermo Navalón@gnavalon.bsky.social

Very happy to see this finally out! Thanks to all my amazing co-authors for this multi-year effort that we manage to wrap up! Coordinated transformations of the labyrinth and occiput during the dinosaur–bird transition | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.orgCoordinated transformations of the labyrinth and occiput during the dinosaur–bird transition | PNASEvolutionary shape changes of the vertebrate semicircular canals (SCCs) are often ascribed to evolutionary transitions in locomotion, including the...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Guillermo Navalón
@gnavalon.bsky.social

Very happy to see this finally out! Thanks to all my amazing co-authors for this multi-year effort that we manage to wrap up! Coordinated transformations of the labyrinth and occiput during the dinosaur–bird transition | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

pnas.orgCoordinated transformations of the labyrinth and occiput during the dinosaur–bird transition | PNASEvolutionary shape changes of the vertebrate semicircular canals (SCCs) are often ascribed to evolutionary transitions in locomotion, including the...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Dr Paul M.J. Burke
@palaeoburke.bsky.social

Introducing Herugavialis cairensis. A new genus of fossil gavialoid crocodylian from the Middle Eocene of Egypt. Recovered from the Mokattam Formation, Herugavialis was found from the same rocks used to build the Great Sphinx and pyramids of Egypt. Read here: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

Lizzy Steell
@lizzysteell.bsky.social

I am finally processing some photos from a long trip last year so I might share the odd cute little guy here 🐦‍⬛ Andean Emerald, July 2025, Reserva Sutú, Colombia #birding #birdphotography #hummingbird

Lizzy Steell reposted

Guillermo Navalón
@gnavalon.bsky.social

Quite an updated and deep outlook on the main problems (and potential solutions!) in avian phylogenetics, past and present, stem and crown! Also very well written & nice to read, congrats you both (J. Benito is not in bluesky yet)!

Lizzy Steell@lizzysteell.bsky.social

🚨 New bird paper! 🚨 Take a look at our review paper that Juan Benito and I put together about avian systematics and the bird fossil record along with what we think are important future directions in the field 🐦 🦴 🦜🦅🦤 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.comA bird’s eye view of the fossil record: perspectives on avian systematicsRecent decades have witnessed an unprecedented rise in avian fossil discoveries that directly inform our understanding of bird origins and evolution, the stepwise assemblage of the avian body plan,...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Darren Naish
@tetzoo.bsky.social

The latest ish (Aug 2026) of Historical Biology has arrived. It's another monster, 30 mm thick. Highlights for me include Steell et al. on the possible Miocene bowerbird Aeviperditus and Churchill et al. on new malleodectids. Tons of other stuff. Also includes my review of Mark Witton's King Tyrant.

Lizzy Steell
@lizzysteell.bsky.social

This is soooooo cool! 🐦 🎶 Something that always made me wonder when birding in a tropical place is how different the bird songs sound to temperate places. Amazing work!

Quentin Bacquelé@quentinbacquele.bsky.social

1/ The world's songbirds sing in just 8 basic sounds. And where a bird lives decides which ones it uses. My first PhD paper is out now in @science.org (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee6239) Here is what we found:

Lizzy Steell
@lizzysteell.bsky.social

Great paper! A huge amount of effort went into the makings of this awesome work on passerine bird skeletal evolution, congrats everyone 🐦

Jake Berv@jakeberv.bsky.social

Happy to share this 'capstone' project from my time as a postdoc @umich.edu, where we show that hierarchically nested bursts of body-shape evolution may underlie much of perching-bird diversification over ~50 million years. Free access link here: rdcu.be/fuxB1

rdcu.beRates of passerine body plan evolution in time and spaceNature Ecology & Evolution - A reconstruction of the evolutionary history of passerine body plans over the past ~50 Myr shows rare bursts of phenotypic innovation near the origin of major...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Phil Mannion
@pdmannion.bsky.social

If you've ever wondered what the inside of a crocodile's skull looks like, wonder no more! Here are 43 of them in our new paper led by @palaeoburke.bsky.social in which we evaluate endocranial anatomy across extant + fossil crocodylians 🐊: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @es-ucl.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.comComputed tomography reveals the endocranial anatomy of Crocodylia: Implications for phylogenetic relationships and ecomorphological convergence across CrocodylomorphaThe evaluation of the endocranial anatomy of 43 crocodylian species reveals several differences, including variation in the curvature of the encephalic endocast, the size of the endosseous labyrinth ...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Steve Brusatte
@stevebrusatte.bsky.social

Why were the arms of T. rex so tiny? Literally the size of human arms, but on a bus-sized animal. Insane! Many of us have had ideas over the years & I'm part of a project led by @funstonpaleo.bsky.social But first, my thoughts on a new study for @iflscience.com www.iflscience.com/t-rex-had-hu...

iflscience.comT. Rex Had "Human-Sized Arms On A Bus-Sized Animal" – Now We Have The Best Explanation Yet For WhyThe idea that T. rex's tiny arms were a consequence of its large, powerful skull isn't new – but a study of 85 theropod species pulls together some convincing numbers to back up the claim.

Lizzy Steell reposted

Sergio
@nebreda.bsky.social

Say👋 to *Gorgonavis alcyone*, the newest enantiornithine bird from the Early Cretaceous of Spain✨🐦 We welcome here the 1st adult cranial remains of a bird from the fossil site of Las Hoyas, and the 1st longipterygid out of China... Thread!!🧵👇 Paleart by Roc Olivé

Lizzy Steell reposted

Joseph Tobias
@josephtobias.bsky.social

🚨 For those with access to collections of bird specimens: we are looking for collaborators who can quickly measure bulbuls/greenbuls (Pycnonotidae) for a project on intraspecific trait variation. We need 100s specimens measured from common species in return for co-authorship. Anyone up for it? 🧪🌐🪶

Lizzy Steell reposted

Abi Crane
@gruiformabi.bsky.social

🚨NEW PAPER OUT🚨 The anatomy of bird lower jaw bones has been understudied...until now! Here, we examine avian mandibular anatomy, answering some and raising more questions about the phylogenetic affinities of key early crown-group birds. Read on! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comMandibular morphology clarifies phylogenetic relationships near the origin of crown birds - BMC Ecology and EvolutionBackground The phylogenetic relationships of fossil birds near the origin of the avian crown group remain debated, in part due to a limited amount of character evidence from incomplete fossils. The av...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Guillermo Navalón
@gnavalon.bsky.social

Beyond excited to announce that as of today I officially started a Ramón y Cajal 5-year senior fellowship (tenure-track) at University of Alcalá in Madrid, if you are interested in birds & vertebrate macroevolution & you like sun & good food, hit me up to explore postdoc or PhD opportunities!

Lizzy Steell reposted

Dr Cecily Nicholl
@piginatutu.bsky.social

Our paper re-evaluating the notosuchian Eremosuchus elkoholicus is out now! This work formed a chapter of my PhD thesis, and sheds some light on the complex evolutionary history of sebecid crocodyliforms 🐊🌎 @es-ucl.bsky.social

Dr Paul M.J. Burke@palaeoburke.bsky.social

New paper on the notosuchian Eremosuchus by @piginatutu.bsky.social, co-authored by myself and @pdmannion.bsky.social among others out now!! We even find some cool evidence of replacement teeth in the dentary! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.comA re-evaluation of the notosuchian crocodyliform Eremosuchus elkoholicus from the lower Eocene of Algeria and the evolutionary and biogeographic history of sebecidsNotosuchian systematics have been highly debated in recent decades, particularly the placement of sebecids and closely related species. As the only notosuchian lineage to have survived the Cretaceo...

Lizzy Steell reposted

Dr. Bethany Allen
@bethanyjallen.bsky.social

I reviewed The Tree of Life by @maxjtelford.bsky.social for @natecoevo.nature.com 🌳 You can access my review for free here: rdcu.be/eOcYY

rdcu.beA beginner’s guide to tree thinkingNature Ecology & Evolution - A beginner’s guide to tree thinking
Max Telford@maxjtelford.bsky.social

Nice, intelligent review of my book "The Tree of Life" in Nature Ecology and Evolution by @bethanyjallen.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.amazon.co.uk/Tree-Life-So... Out in USA next Tuesday! www.amazon.com/Tree-Life-So...

nature.comA beginner’s guide to tree thinking - Nature Ecology & EvolutionNature Ecology & Evolution - A beginner’s guide to tree thinking

Lizzy Steell reposted

Nic Rawlence
@nicrawlencenz.bsky.social

What better way to finish off #FossilFriday than to read about the latest discovery from St Bathans of a possible Miocene bowerbird in Aotearoa #NewZealand theconversation.com/a-tiny-fossi... @lizzysteell.bsky.social

theconversation.comA tiny fossil suggests bowerbirds once lived in ancient New Zealand – new researchNew Zealand’s ancient bowerbird was smaller and more slender than the species living in Australia and New Guinea today.

Lizzy Steell reposted

Guillermo Navalón
@gnavalon.bsky.social

Bowerbirds are Australo-Papuan birds engaging in some of the most flamboyant displays among vertebrates, and they might have been in New Zealand - Aotearoa in the Miocene too! Amazing descriptive research with a tinge of quantitative flair lead by @lizzysteell.bsky.social Check it out! 👇

Lizzy Steell@lizzysteell.bsky.social

🦴New fossil alert🦴 Introducing Aeviperditus gracilis, a possible bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand. My first fossil description! Artwork by the amazing Sasha Votyakova (Te Papa CC-BY-SA) (🧵1/11)