Quentin Martinez

Sample images of worker ants of different sizes at various magnifications: 3D models (top) and section views of the heads of four ants (bottom)

#Digitalization: The “Antscan” web platform is the world’s largest digital database of 3D #insect data. It is the result of an international and interdisciplinary cooperation initiated by #KITKarlsruhe and the @oistedu.bsky.social in Japan. www.kit.edu/kit/english/...

Congrats !

The final part of the story: "The arduous path to obligate asexuality in Daphnia" is out in #ProcB 🥳 royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article.... 1. Instead of comparing long-established asexuals to sexuals, we generated new asexual lineages to observe the transition in action.

Happy to hare that the preprint I was advertising below has been published by the Journal of Evolutionary Biology:

academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Thanks @jevbio.bsky.social for supporting responsible publishing!

Rare Sex in “Obligate” Asexuals. Earlier this year, I was pleased that the first part of our work on Daphnia reproductive modes was published in JEB doi.org/10.1093/jeb/.... In brief, females from so-called obligate parthenogenetic lineages, are in fact able to rarely reproduce sexually.
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Congrats!! 🧪

The functional adaptations of mammalian brain structures through a behavioural ecology lens - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Palaeontologists and comparative neurobiologists share a common interest in the evolution of the mammalian brain, but often fail to realize the benefits of this shared interest. This Review draws thes...

New paper out! It was an honor to collaborate with the legend Leah Krubitzer on this review to show that paleontologists and neurobiologists working together can only improve our understanding of brain evolution 🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Full access to the paper: rdcu.be/eK167

Dr Quentin Martinez and Dr Eli Amson next to a big fossil skull, presenting smaller skulls, taxidermied animals in the background.

Olfaction written in bones

A new study, led by Dr Quentin Martinez (@quentinwildlife.bsky.social) and Dr Eli Amson (@eliamson.bsky.social) from State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart gives new insights into the evolution of the sense of smell in mammals.

Press release: t1p.de/7riwv

A southern three-banded armadillo

A rhino

A mole

Hippo skull

Cetacean skulls

Elephant skull

Here are a few behind-the-scenes images:

And we extended these estimates to five extinct mammalian species.

Using this relationship, we infer the number of intact chemoreceptor genes in the three mammalian orders that currently lack genomic data.

We conclude that the relative volume of the olfactory bulb endocast is a robust proxy for mammalian olfactory capabilities.

Does the number of functional olfactory receptor genes predict olfactory sensitivity and discrimination performance in mammals? Abstract. The number of functional genes coding for olfactory receptors differs markedly between species and has repeatedly been suggested to be predictive

Building on previous work linking the number of intact OR genes with olfactory sensitivity and discrimination in mammals:
academic.oup.com/jeb/article/...

This pattern is primarily driven by intact olfactory receptor (OR) genes.

Using CT data and generating brain endocasts from 67 extant mammalian species, spanning all mammalian orders, we found a significant correlation between the relative volume of the olfactory bulb endocast and the number of intact chemoreceptor genes.

Olfaction written in bones 👃🧠🦴🧬
Thrilled to see our latest study showing that the olfactory bulb endocast is a reliable proxy for mammalian olfaction, now published in @pnas.org
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Life restoration by Matheus Fernandes showing a Triassic scene with the lagerpetid non-pterosaurian pterosauromorph Ixalerpeton with early pterosaurs flying overhead. The publication is here: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)01467-8

Life restorations and labeled cranial (brain) endocasts of the lagerpetid Ixalerpeton and the pterosaur Allkaruen.

Happy to be a part of this big project led by Mario Bronzati & Matteo Fabbri—out today #OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social
bit.ly/3M5weun —on the brain endocast of a close pterosaur cousin & what it means for pterosaur brain evolution...maybe different from bird brain evolution. 1/2

Merci Jean-Pierre, j´espere que tu vas bien !

After two years of hard work, I’m proud to announce that our new special exhibition @smnstuttgart.bsky.social is now open for the public – Meet Triassic Life: Dawn of the world of reptiles (1/7).

Merci Fred ;)

Merci Benoit ;)

The noise is so deafening you need earplugs, and the frogs are so frenzied that they completely ignore your presence, leaping in every direction! It was truly one of the most extraordinary naturalist events I have ever had the chance to witness.

The hypothesized evolutionary strategy behind this behavior is to overwhelm predators through sheer numbers. This photo shows only a small fraction of the actual scene—but imagine thousands of frogs all around you, covering the ground, the trees, and the pond.

Amid this chaotic night, many frogs mate with the wrong species, some even eat other frogs, and numerous predators arrive to take advantage of the abundance of prey.