Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
@lpnunez.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Associate @ Stony Brook University E&E. Ph.D. @ RGGS-AMNH. He/Him. Integrative Evolutionary Biology and Natural History 🐍🦎🐢. 📸: Wolf Van Elfmand.
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Available now in @asn-amnat.bsky.social ! Taking on some big-scale natural history: processed >40k @inaturalist.bsky.social images of Monarda fistulosa using computer vision to query for flower presence and phenotype flower color: doi.org/10.1086/739413
November 14, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Available now in @asn-amnat.bsky.social ! Taking on some big-scale natural history: processed >40k @inaturalist.bsky.social images of Monarda fistulosa using computer vision to query for flower presence and phenotype flower color: doi.org/10.1086/739413
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Live birth in toads! Is a thing! Three newly described species of tree toads give birth to toadlets, ~40 or more at a pop and each just a few millimeters long. They were previously all lumped together as Nectophrynoides viviparus, until new analysis identified them as three different species 🐸🧪
Newly identified species of Tanzanian tree toad leapfrog the tadpole stage and give birth to toadlets | CNN
Researchers have newly described three extremely rare species of toad that leapfrog over the egg-to-tadpole stage and give birth to toadlets.
www.cnn.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Live birth in toads! Is a thing! Three newly described species of tree toads give birth to toadlets, ~40 or more at a pop and each just a few millimeters long. They were previously all lumped together as Nectophrynoides viviparus, until new analysis identified them as three different species 🐸🧪
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Very happy that our new paper on the odd, looped optic nerves of chameleons is now out! It turns out having highly mobile eyes require some pretty specialized connections! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
November 10, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Very happy that our new paper on the odd, looped optic nerves of chameleons is now out! It turns out having highly mobile eyes require some pretty specialized connections! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Our big squamate origins and early evolution review is now fully published as open access! with @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social and F. Burbrink
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Origin and Early Evolution of Squamates and Their Kin: From Fossils to Genomes
Squamates (lizards, including snakes) are the most diverse group of terrestrial vertebrates on Earth today and have an evolutionary history dating back to at least the Middle Triassic (ca. 242 Mya). D...
www.annualreviews.org
November 7, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Our big squamate origins and early evolution review is now fully published as open access! with @marcanthonytollis.bsky.social and F. Burbrink
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
The November cover of Genome Biology and Evolution features @raularayadonoso.bsky.social @kenrokusumi.bsky.social @anthonygeneva.bsky.social et al., who studied how structural rearrangements and selection promote phenotypic evolution in Anolis.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf196
#genome #evolution
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf196
#genome #evolution
October 31, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The November cover of Genome Biology and Evolution features @raularayadonoso.bsky.social @kenrokusumi.bsky.social @anthonygeneva.bsky.social et al., who studied how structural rearrangements and selection promote phenotypic evolution in Anolis.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf196
#genome #evolution
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf196
#genome #evolution
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
New research in #RESSystematicEnt
Systematic and taxonomic revision of emerald and tigertail #dragonflies (#Anisoptera: #Synthemistidae and #Corduliidae)
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70000
#Phylogenetics #Biogeography #Taxonomy #Libelluloidea
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wiley.com
Systematic and taxonomic revision of emerald and tigertail #dragonflies (#Anisoptera: #Synthemistidae and #Corduliidae)
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70000
#Phylogenetics #Biogeography #Taxonomy #Libelluloidea
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wiley.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:15 AM
New research in #RESSystematicEnt
Systematic and taxonomic revision of emerald and tigertail #dragonflies (#Anisoptera: #Synthemistidae and #Corduliidae)
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70000
#Phylogenetics #Biogeography #Taxonomy #Libelluloidea
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wiley.com
Systematic and taxonomic revision of emerald and tigertail #dragonflies (#Anisoptera: #Synthemistidae and #Corduliidae)
doi.org/10.1111/syen.70000
#Phylogenetics #Biogeography #Taxonomy #Libelluloidea
@gkergoat.bsky.social @wiley.com
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Dream Job Alert !
Herpetology Collections Manager at the University of Michigan - manage one of the largest reptile and amphibian collections in the world in state-of-the-art facilities in the best college town in the world. #herpetology
careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Herpetology Collections Manager at the University of Michigan - manage one of the largest reptile and amphibian collections in the world in state-of-the-art facilities in the best college town in the world. #herpetology
careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Res Museum Collection Manager | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
October 9, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Dream Job Alert !
Herpetology Collections Manager at the University of Michigan - manage one of the largest reptile and amphibian collections in the world in state-of-the-art facilities in the best college town in the world. #herpetology
careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Herpetology Collections Manager at the University of Michigan - manage one of the largest reptile and amphibian collections in the world in state-of-the-art facilities in the best college town in the world. #herpetology
careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Master's degree position at Towson University with Daniel Caetano on macroevolutionary and phylogenetic comparative methods! Daniel is an awesome human and a great mentor, share with your students!
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
Join the lab
The Caetano lab at Towson University (Maryland, USA) is seeking a Master's degree student to start in Fall 2026. A Research Assistant (RA) position is available to the student during part (or all) of....
caetanods.weebly.com
October 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Master's degree position at Towson University with Daniel Caetano on macroevolutionary and phylogenetic comparative methods! Daniel is an awesome human and a great mentor, share with your students!
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
caetanods.weebly.com/join-the-lab...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
October 2, 2025 at 3:16 PM
🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Our latest paper, now how to conciliate apparently discrepant evolutionary rate patterns in squamates, but which may well apply to any study system with Stephanie Pierce and
@7brumas.bsky.social
#macroevolution
academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
@7brumas.bsky.social
#macroevolution
academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Evolutionary rate incongruences in squamates reveal contrasting patterns of evolutionary novelties and innovation
Abstract. Understanding the rate of phenotypic evolution can reveal fundamental aspects of organismal evolutionary trajectories. Hence, several studies hav
academic.oup.com
September 28, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Our latest paper, now how to conciliate apparently discrepant evolutionary rate patterns in squamates, but which may well apply to any study system with Stephanie Pierce and
@7brumas.bsky.social
#macroevolution
academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
@7brumas.bsky.social
#macroevolution
academic.oup.com/sysbio/advan...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Come one come all! Our new #BINHM exhibit is up at the #AMNH! @blackinnhms.bsky.social www.amnh.org/exhibitions/...
Black in Natural History Museums | AMNH
Black in Natural History Museums highlights 17 modern and historical Black scientists, artists, and curators.
www.amnh.org
September 19, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Come one come all! Our new #BINHM exhibit is up at the #AMNH! @blackinnhms.bsky.social www.amnh.org/exhibitions/...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Come work with me on reptile brain evolution! 🦎🧠🐍
We are hiring!! 🦎🧠🐍 2 year postdoc to work on on the evolution of brains in snakes and lizards (on our current ARC Discovery project).
Applications close 25th March 2025!
careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/51...
Applications close 25th March 2025!
careers.adelaide.edu.au/cw/en/job/51...
Learn more about South Australia's new university for the future.
careers.adelaide.edu.au
February 24, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Come work with me on reptile brain evolution! 🦎🧠🐍
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
@henryweith.bsky.social and I are organizing a symposium featuring evo-devo research, taking place at the AMNH on September 25th! If you're in the NYC area, please consider attending! (RSVP: forms.gle/bA2UeAaimrh6...)
September 16, 2025 at 10:18 PM
@henryweith.bsky.social and I are organizing a symposium featuring evo-devo research, taking place at the AMNH on September 25th! If you're in the NYC area, please consider attending! (RSVP: forms.gle/bA2UeAaimrh6...)
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
super excited to share this big project with @daeaton.bsky.social out now in Systematic Biology! We derived distributions for -- given an arbitrary species tree model -- how far you have to move along a genome before observing a change in the underlying genealogy: doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
Estimating waiting distances between genealogy changes under a Multi-Species Extension of the Sequentially Markov Coalescent
Abstract. Genomes are composed of a mosaic of segments inherited from different ancestors, each separated by past recombination events. Consequently, genea
doi.org
September 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
super excited to share this big project with @daeaton.bsky.social out now in Systematic Biology! We derived distributions for -- given an arbitrary species tree model -- how far you have to move along a genome before observing a change in the underlying genealogy: doi.org/10.1093/sysb...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
While full solicitation isn’t up, looks like we have 2025 proposal deadlines for the GRFP: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 8, 2025 at 6:10 PM
While full solicitation isn’t up, looks like we have 2025 proposal deadlines for the GRFP: www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Proposals are due next week for the Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 US in funding for PhD students. Contact communications@evolutionsociety.org with any questions. www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
September 5, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Proposals are due next week for the Rosemary Grant Advanced Awards! These grants provide up to $3500 US in funding for PhD students. Contact communications@evolutionsociety.org with any questions. www.evolutionsociety.org/content/soci...
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Join us! The Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History is hiring a curatorial associate! For more information : careers.amnh.org/postings/4529
Curatorial Associate
The American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific and cultural institutions, and has as its mission to discover, interpret and disseminate information about human cult...
careers.amnh.org
September 3, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Join us! The Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History is hiring a curatorial associate! For more information : careers.amnh.org/postings/4529
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Keeping it local for world lizard day- Rhineura floridana, also known as the Florida worm lizard or, brilliantly, the thunderworm, is a truly bizarre and wonderful creature. Eyeless, burrowing and restricted to the sandy soils of the sunshine state. What a fabulous weirdo!
August 14, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Keeping it local for world lizard day- Rhineura floridana, also known as the Florida worm lizard or, brilliantly, the thunderworm, is a truly bizarre and wonderful creature. Eyeless, burrowing and restricted to the sandy soils of the sunshine state. What a fabulous weirdo!
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Research Briefing: Bird sternum evolution facilitated the origins of powered flight rdcu.be/eyTdn
Bird sternum evolution facilitated the origins of powered flight
Nature Ecology & Evolution - An in-depth analysis of the breastbone (sternum) of bird ancestors reveals its importance in the origin and evolution of flight in dinosaurs as they evolved into...
rdcu.be
August 1, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Research Briefing: Bird sternum evolution facilitated the origins of powered flight rdcu.be/eyTdn
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵
July 24, 2025 at 7:26 PM
With many postdoc grants like the NSF PRFB, Ford Fellowship, and Hanna H. Gray fellowships disappearing, I am currently looking for grants that could fund incoming postdoctoral scholars. Here is a thread of some of them 🧵
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Say hello to Florida's newest established species, Typhlonectes natans - the Rio Cauca Caecilian! You can read about their relative abundance, distribution, & natural history, in our brand new paper:
journals.ku.edu/reptilesanda...
Here is one individual I CT scanned that had 7 babies inside!
journals.ku.edu/reptilesanda...
Here is one individual I CT scanned that had 7 babies inside!
July 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Say hello to Florida's newest established species, Typhlonectes natans - the Rio Cauca Caecilian! You can read about their relative abundance, distribution, & natural history, in our brand new paper:
journals.ku.edu/reptilesanda...
Here is one individual I CT scanned that had 7 babies inside!
journals.ku.edu/reptilesanda...
Here is one individual I CT scanned that had 7 babies inside!
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
Thrilled to share that starting in late August, I'll be Natural History Museum Specialist for the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, WI! I'll be overseeing the exhibition and programming of the nat. his. collection, which is being moved from the old Weis Earth Science Museum.
July 18, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Thrilled to share that starting in late August, I'll be Natural History Museum Specialist for the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, WI! I'll be overseeing the exhibition and programming of the nat. his. collection, which is being moved from the old Weis Earth Science Museum.
Reposted by Leroy Núñez, Ph.D.
🚨Preprint🚨
Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
July 11, 2025 at 12:44 PM
🚨Preprint🚨
Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith
Sex chromosome identification & genome curation from a single individual with SCINKD
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Incredible work led by @drpintothe2nd.bsky.social in collaboration w/ @drsimonegable.bsky.social @stuartvnielsen.bsky.social @tonygamble.bsky.social SE Keating & CH Smith