Rafaela Missagia
@rmissagia.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at USP | Functional Morphology & Macroevolution Lab | Evolution, rodents & morphology
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
How to use and interpret the #adaptationinertia framework of #phylogenetic comparative methods based on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process to study adaptation:
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Pienaar et al. 2025
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Pienaar et al. 2025
Phylogenetic comparative methods for studying adaptation: the adaptation-inertia framework
Abstract. Phylogenetic comparative methods are a major tool for evaluating macroevolutionary hypotheses. Methods based on the mean-reverting stochastic Orn
doi.org
November 6, 2025 at 6:15 PM
How to use and interpret the #adaptationinertia framework of #phylogenetic comparative methods based on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process to study adaptation:
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Pienaar et al. 2025
doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...
Pienaar et al. 2025
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Very well done, timely, and complete report published by @universitypress.cambridge.org about the future of academic publishing. I had the opportunity to be interviewed for it and I highly recommend everyone to read it. Important messages here
www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
Publishing futures | Cambridge University Press & Assessment
www.cambridge.org
October 21, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Very well done, timely, and complete report published by @universitypress.cambridge.org about the future of academic publishing. I had the opportunity to be interviewed for it and I highly recommend everyone to read it. Important messages here
www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades - Nature Ecology & Evolution
The interplay between speciation and extinction rates shapes clade diversity dynamics. Using a novel phylogenetic model that includes living and fossil lineages, the authors estimate speciation and ex...
www.nature.com
October 21, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Loss of macroevolutionary species fitness explains the rise and fall of clades 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
🐀
Chicago's viral 'rat hole' was not made by a rat after all, new study finds
After existing quietly for over two decades on a Roscoe Village sidewalk in Chicago, a rodent-shaped indent became an internet sensation in 2024, when a tweet by comedian and writer, Winslow Dumaine, ...
phys.org
October 16, 2025 at 2:45 PM
🐀
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
About 120 million years ago, a pterosaur fell from the sky and died in a pond. A layer of sediment washed over it, preserving not only its skeleton, but also its stomach.
The resulting fossil is the first pterosaur ever found with a belly full of plants. #NationalFossilDay https://scim.ag/4hbaedc
The resulting fossil is the first pterosaur ever found with a belly full of plants. #NationalFossilDay https://scim.ag/4hbaedc
October 15, 2025 at 4:51 PM
About 120 million years ago, a pterosaur fell from the sky and died in a pond. A layer of sediment washed over it, preserving not only its skeleton, but also its stomach.
The resulting fossil is the first pterosaur ever found with a belly full of plants. #NationalFossilDay https://scim.ag/4hbaedc
The resulting fossil is the first pterosaur ever found with a belly full of plants. #NationalFossilDay https://scim.ag/4hbaedc
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
It's crazy to think that while heading toward 9 billion people on Earth, we ere still undescribed (and know nothing about) hundreds to maybe thousand mammalian species
academic.oup.com/jmammal/adva...
"projections of ∼7,079 species by 2030 and ∼8,376 by 2050 if these trends continue"
🧪 #Macroecology
academic.oup.com/jmammal/adva...
"projections of ∼7,079 species by 2030 and ∼8,376 by 2050 if these trends continue"
🧪 #Macroecology
October 13, 2025 at 8:58 AM
It's crazy to think that while heading toward 9 billion people on Earth, we ere still undescribed (and know nothing about) hundreds to maybe thousand mammalian species
academic.oup.com/jmammal/adva...
"projections of ∼7,079 species by 2030 and ∼8,376 by 2050 if these trends continue"
🧪 #Macroecology
academic.oup.com/jmammal/adva...
"projections of ∼7,079 species by 2030 and ∼8,376 by 2050 if these trends continue"
🧪 #Macroecology
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Your regular reminder:
Please do not call bad-acting humans "rats." This is slander against rats.
Please do not call bad-acting humans "rats." This is slander against rats.
October 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Your regular reminder:
Please do not call bad-acting humans "rats." This is slander against rats.
Please do not call bad-acting humans "rats." This is slander against rats.
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience
BIRDBASE dataset tracks ecological traits for 11,589 species of birds
Çağan Şekercioğlu was an ambitious, but perhaps naive graduate student when, 26 years ago, he embarked on a simple data-compilation project that would soon evolve into a massive career-defining achiev...
phys.org
October 4, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Ever run `install.packages()` and wish it were faster, smarter, and more reliable?
The {pak} package speeds things up with parallel downloads, dependency solving, and reproducible installs.
📦 pak.r-lib.org
#RStats
The {pak} package speeds things up with parallel downloads, dependency solving, and reproducible installs.
📦 pak.r-lib.org
#RStats
September 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Ever run `install.packages()` and wish it were faster, smarter, and more reliable?
The {pak} package speeds things up with parallel downloads, dependency solving, and reproducible installs.
📦 pak.r-lib.org
#RStats
The {pak} package speeds things up with parallel downloads, dependency solving, and reproducible installs.
📦 pak.r-lib.org
#RStats
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Featuring several mentions of this excellent paper www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... by our colleague Ronald Jenner.
What is animal venom? Rethinking a manipulative weapon
The scientific study of animal venoms covers a broad phylogenetic domain. We argue
that the true extent of this domain has been obscured by researchers having overlooked
the biological essence of veno...
www.cell.com
September 14, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Featuring several mentions of this excellent paper www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... by our colleague Ronald Jenner.
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
As we're all taught, you can (usually) only directly date the age of a rock if it cooled from lava.
But here, scientists have dated dinosaur eggs, using uranium-lead ratios in the calcite. Hugely exciting, maybe groundbreaking.
My take @science.org
www.science.org/content/arti...
But here, scientists have dated dinosaur eggs, using uranium-lead ratios in the calcite. Hugely exciting, maybe groundbreaking.
My take @science.org
www.science.org/content/arti...
Scientists directly date dino eggshells for the first time
The new findings narrow age estimates for the clutch of eggs—and may help identify which species laid them
www.science.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:29 PM
As we're all taught, you can (usually) only directly date the age of a rock if it cooled from lava.
But here, scientists have dated dinosaur eggs, using uranium-lead ratios in the calcite. Hugely exciting, maybe groundbreaking.
My take @science.org
www.science.org/content/arti...
But here, scientists have dated dinosaur eggs, using uranium-lead ratios in the calcite. Hugely exciting, maybe groundbreaking.
My take @science.org
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Some 241 million years ago in what is now England, a tiny, lizardlike creature had teeth well suited for snapping after insects.
Now named Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, this extinct reptile may be the oldest of its kind ever found. https://scim.ag/3V75MC5
Now named Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, this extinct reptile may be the oldest of its kind ever found. https://scim.ag/3V75MC5
‘Incredible’ fossil reveals earliest relative of lizards and their kin
Paleontologists use x-rays to reconstruct ancient reptile bones too fragile to remove from rock
scim.ag
September 10, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Some 241 million years ago in what is now England, a tiny, lizardlike creature had teeth well suited for snapping after insects.
Now named Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, this extinct reptile may be the oldest of its kind ever found. https://scim.ag/3V75MC5
Now named Agriodontosaurus helsbypetrae, this extinct reptile may be the oldest of its kind ever found. https://scim.ag/3V75MC5
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Water anoles take a bubble of air down when they submerge, which they breathe like a tiny scuba tank, and now @lindseyswierk.bsky.social & co reveal that the reptiles may also be using the bubble like a gill, to breathe oxygen directly from the water
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
September 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Water anoles take a bubble of air down when they submerge, which they breathe like a tiny scuba tank, and now @lindseyswierk.bsky.social & co reveal that the reptiles may also be using the bubble like a gill, to breathe oxygen directly from the water
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Thumbs are cool and all, but have you ever thought about how important thumbnails are? They just might have been the key to rodents' evolutionary success. That and more of the best from @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
September 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Thumbs are cool and all, but have you ever thought about how important thumbnails are? They just might have been the key to rodents' evolutionary success. That and more of the best from @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
Reposted by Rafaela Missagia
Jokes on you, that's his treadmill
Please enjoy 24 seconds of this naked mole rat's struggle to climb a small incline. He worked at it for probably five minutes while I was there.
September 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Jokes on you, that's his treadmill
Me too! 😂
Truly and without irony, I love that we live in a world where folks can spend time studying rodent thumbnails
Our paper on rodent thumbnails is out! Big team effort, powered by museum collections. Turns out, nails can reveal a lot about rodent evolution. Shoutout to Dr. Gordon Shepherd for the wild idea to study rodents thumbs!
September 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Me too! 😂
Our paper on rodent thumbnails is out! Big team effort, powered by museum collections. Turns out, nails can reveal a lot about rodent evolution. Shoutout to Dr. Gordon Shepherd for the wild idea to study rodents thumbs!
New findings in Science suggest that rodents owe much of their evolutionary success to their thumb-nail (the first digit, D1), an adaptation that gave them dexterous hands for cracking seeds and nuts.
Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/46caVho
Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/46caVho
September 4, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Our paper on rodent thumbnails is out! Big team effort, powered by museum collections. Turns out, nails can reveal a lot about rodent evolution. Shoutout to Dr. Gordon Shepherd for the wild idea to study rodents thumbs!