2 February 2026

The osteology, taxonomy, and phylogenetic affinities of the Early Jurassic plesiosaur Lusonectes sauvagei

"This study redefines the anatomy and evolutionary position of Lusonectes sauvagei, a rare Early Jurassic plesiosaur from Portugal. It challenges previous classifications and provides new insights into plesiosaur diversity just before a major evolutionary turnover."

Shaw Badenhorst, Handling Editor

5 January 2026

The petrosal and bony labyrinth of extinct horses (Perissodactyla, Equidae) and their implications for perissodactyl evolution

"The present study evaluates, for the first time, the ear region (petrosals and inner ears) in extinct European fossil equid taxa. The results indicate that the morphology of these structures is phylogenetically informative within Perissodactyla, highlighting its potential to help resolve the issue of wastebasket taxa."

Blanca Moncunill-Solé, Handling Editor

10 December 2025

High abundance of Early Miocene sea cows from Qatar shows repeated evolution of seagrass ecosystem engineers in Eastern Tethys

"This study reveals a dense Early Miocene bonebed in Qatar, documenting a new species of sea cow (Salwasiren qatarensis) and showing that seagrass ecosystem engineers evolved repeatedly in the Eastern Tethys over the past 20 million years."

Shaw Badenhorst, Handling Editor

26 November 2025

Mandibular form and function is more disparate in amniotes than in non-amniote tetrapods from the late Palaeozoic

"This study is especially relevant because it sheds light on the early evolution of tetrapods, particularly amniotes—a topic of interest not only for vertebrate researchers, but also for those working in comparative anatomy, paleoecology and macroevolution. The results stand out as especially solid thanks to the broad dataset used to test the hypotheses, which makes the contribution both valuable and impactful."

Paula Bona, Handling Editor

11 November 2025

Decoding the bare necessities of decapod crustacean nomenclature through the ages

"This article offers a unique and data-rich analysis of naming practices in Decapoda, revealing long-term trends and cultural influences in taxonomy. Its findings challenge assumptions about bias and provide a valuable marine counterpart to previous terrestrial studies."

Shaw Badenhorst, Handling Editor

3 November 2025

From trace to trace maker: Oligocene–Miocene coprolites of southern Poland and their potential producers

"The manuscript provides important new observations on Oligocene–Miocene coprolites of southern Poland as well as comparative data on modern feces to constrain the identity of their Cenozoic producers. It will be relevant for (paleo)ichnology and other disciplines investigating poop."

Kenneth De Baets, Handling Editor

20 October 2025

Easier said than done: unexpected hurdles to preparing ∼1,000 cranial CT scans for data collection from an online digital repository

"The manuscript explores constraints and solutions to think about when preparing and/or using large CT-data sets from online repositories. Too rarely such aspects have been reported or published. A must read for everyone working with such datasets."

Kenneth De Baets, Handling Editor

17 October 2025

Remarkable dominance of myctophid otoliths in Upper Miocene Chagres Formation, Caribbean Panama

"The study shows that sound taxonomic otolith work and supporting quantitative analyses can provide crucial information to interpretation changes in paleoenvironments related with close of the Isthmus of Panama and historical contexts more generally."

Kenneth De Baets, Handling Editor

1 October 2025

The first leech body fossil predates estimated hirudinidan origins by 200 million years

"The study re-analyses the leech-like fossil Macromyzon siluricus arguing for its assignment as a stem-leech. It will be of interest to those studying fossil or modern annelids."

Kenneth De Baets, Section Editor

16 September 2025

Digitized endocasts and brains: a perspective on measurements and historical analyses of the evolution of 172 fossil and extant amniote specimens

"The manuscript is an excellent culmination of the lead author's lifetime of work and the data are quite useful for future work."

Brandon Hedrick, Handling Editor