So far this year, 3 independent labs have published research using #anatomical #networks to study the evolution of #vertebrate #morphology

Let's have a look at them! Thread

(1) Birds have peramorphic skulls, too: anatomical network analyses reveal oppositional heterochronies in avian skull evolution by Olivia Plateau & Christian Foth https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-0914-4

They studied the postnatal ontogenetic changes in the skulls of bird and non-avian theropods and found that early juvenile birds have less integrated skulls that resemble their non-avian theropod ancestors.

(2) The craniomandibular anatomy of the early archosauriform 𝐸𝑢𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠 and the dawn of the archosaur skull by Roland Sookias ( @spookias) and collaborators

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.200116

Here they re-described the cranium and mandible of Euparkeria using CT scans of fossil materials and compared their skull network to that of other archosaurs

(3) Fingers zipped up or baby mittens? Two main tetrapod strategies to return to the sea by Marta Fernández and collaborators

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0281

Here they studied the anatomical changes evolved by different vertebrate groups in their independent land-to-water transition.

Full details of this one in this nice thread: https://twitter.com/yatachelys/status/1291053247659225088

All in all, very happy that more and more people are using anatomical networks for their research questions. And I am looking forward to seen more papers with new ideas and findings in the near future