Kory Evans Ph.D
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sternarchella.bsky.social
Kory Evans Ph.D
@sternarchella.bsky.social
Assistant Professor | Rice University | FLS |skull shape evolution in fishes |#BlackandSTEM | #teamfish |Romans 12:12| he/him koryevans.weebly.com
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
I'm glad that I wasn't a grandma for once and went to the division social because @sternarchella.bsky.social taught me that flat fish have handedness preferences (!!?!!) and that parrotfish beaks are a hellscape amalgamation of teeth. Fish are wild.
I 🐟 #SICB2026
January 7, 2026 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
The K/Pg extinction created a buffet for open-ocean fishes. A new paper shows that Pelagiaria underwent an adaptive radiation following the extinction based on new jaw shapes to fill the vacuum @knapprew.bsky.social @evoswami.bsky.social @sternarchella.bsky.social academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
December 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
New paper! Here we look at shape evolution of the mandible in Pelagiaria, a group of open-ocean fishes that includes tuna and mackerel. We find that shape disparity accumulated rapidly at the origin of the clade at around the K/Pg boundary... academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...
Adaptive radiation of pelagiarian fishes at the K/Pg boundary led to rapid diversification of mandible morphology
Abstract. Mandibles represent a key evolutionary innovation that has enabled jawed vertebrates to adapt and diversify in response to a range of food source
academic.oup.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
This paper has been in the works for a long time for various pandemicky and other reasons, and I thank all of my excellent coauthors for their hard work and patience! @evoswami.bsky.social @friedmanlab.bsky.social @sternarchella.bsky.social @gilespalaeo.bsky.social @gizehrdelazaro.bsky.social
December 9, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
MicroCT scan of crypt galls induced by the cynipid wasp Bassettia pallida in branches of the southern live oak, Quercus virginiana. Hiding in the crypts are a second parasitoid wasp, the crypt-keeper - Euderus set! @sternarchella.bsky.social
#biodiversity
December 11, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Stoplight Parrotfish, just a ridiculously beautiful animal. #scuba #diving #oceans 🦑
November 22, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Took a long time but we are finally growing baby clownfish in the lab!
November 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
I love it when art and science connect! The newest art exhibit at Rice’s Moody Center features stunning representations of fish anatomy by @sternarchella.bsky.social and some of his students!
October 18, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
ICB
From the Evan's lab!
Developmental and Functional Interactions Structure Patterns of Variational #Modularity in the Lunar #Wrasse Skull
by
Hugi,& @sternarchella.bsky.social et al

doi.org/10.1093/icb/...

Evans lab
koryevans.weebly.com/people.html
October 15, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
91 years is a good long run for most but too short for someone like Jane Goodall. Damn.
October 1, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, has died. She was 91
October 1, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Checkout the write up for our latest study! news.rice.edu/news/2025/an...
news.rice.edu
September 30, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Thrilled to see our PNAS paper out! Such an amazing journey and couldn’t have asked for a better experience working with the Evans Lab 💙🐟
September 29, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
We have a new paper on the icefish adaptive radiation led by @mayaranevesbio.bsky.social, a new PI at UFPR 🧊🐟
September 29, 2025 at 9:33 PM
New paper alert!!!🚨 in our new study we find that Antarctic icefishes added a new module in their skulls during their adaptive radiation special shout out to @mayaranevesbio.bsky.social who led this project!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
September 29, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Episode 62 launches this Friday! Join us as we chat with @sternarchella.bsky.social, Ichthyologist and professor of biosciences at Rice University. Dr. Evans chats with us about fish evolution, particularly through the lens of fish skulls. A fascinating discussion, fresh in your podcatcher Friday!
September 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Join us!!! We’re hiring an Assistant Professor of Evolution! apply.interfolio.com/173889
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
September 15, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Wing pelage is suggested to have a functional role in bats — and it’s not just to make them cuter. Check out the publication below to learn more!

#academia #academicSky #PhDSky #bats #science
August 9, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Super proud to share the first first-author paper from @ashockney24.bsky.social and our first official Rummel lab publication! Check it out here: nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
NYAS Publications
Bats are the only mammals capable of powered flight, and while they retain the furry coat of other small mammals, their wings, the primary flight surface, are generally thought to be hairless. We ass....
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 7, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Loved this write-up of our fieldwork in Tanzania this summer, led by grad student Annie Finneran and undergrad Caroline Pollan. I felt very lucky to join them to catch some bats there!

news.rice.edu/news/2025/ba...
July 29, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Went fishing for gar in Buffalo Bayou, didn’t catch anything but we saw this incredible alligator snapping turtle!
July 29, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Another active night at Buffalo Bayou watching the bat emergence. The bats come out before sunset, and so do the predators, with hawks catching them mid-air and herons plucking them from their roosts
July 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Every fish that we catch has a story, some are crazier than others. We caught this unicornfish during a night dive in Okinawa last year. The trip was memorable because we had to end the dive early when North Korea fired a missile in our general direction and we had to take cover
July 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Kory Evans Ph.D
Kory Evans @sternarchella.bsky.social taking on Modularity promotes the evolution of complex biomechanical systems #JMIH25 #ASIHin3D
July 12, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Our new REU student Darla found something interesting in one of her CT scans! Looks like this fish was halfway through eating a big snail and some coral rubble when @mwestneat.bsky.social caught it last summer in Okinawa!
July 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM