Vincent Debat
@vincentdebat.bsky.social
Evolutionary biologist at Paris museum of natural history
Interested in butterfly evolution, wing shape, colors and flight, morphometrics, plasticity/canalization
https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=mZ3UnBEAAAAJ&
https://www.evomorpho.com
Interested in butterfly evolution, wing shape, colors and flight, morphometrics, plasticity/canalization
https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=mZ3UnBEAAAAJ&
https://www.evomorpho.com
Looks amazing ! Congrats Allowen Evin ! The emergence and diversification of dog morphology | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The emergence and diversification of dog morphology
Dogs exhibit an exceptional range of morphological diversity as a result of their long-term association with humans. Attempts to identify when dog morphological variation began to expand have been con...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Looks amazing ! Congrats Allowen Evin ! The emergence and diversification of dog morphology | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Looking for a PhD opportunity? I'm hoping to recruit someone to my group at Durham University to work on a project combining fieldwork and labwork to study speciation in rubyspot damselflies: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Get in touch if you want to chat!
Reposted by Vincent Debat
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
Finally out in Elife @elife.bsky.social : well done @joledamoisel.bsky.social ! Convergent iridescence and divergent chemical signals in sympatric sister-species of Amazonian butterflies doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
November 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Finally out in Elife @elife.bsky.social : well done @joledamoisel.bsky.social ! Convergent iridescence and divergent chemical signals in sympatric sister-species of Amazonian butterflies doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Nice paper showing a major effect of wing morphology on diptera flight by Camille Le Roy, Florian Muijres and collegues!
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
October 19, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Nice paper showing a major effect of wing morphology on diptera flight by Camille Le Roy, Florian Muijres and collegues!
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
A few close up videos of Morpho flight. We will aim at capturing wing deformation during wingbeat
October 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM
A few close up videos of Morpho flight. We will aim at capturing wing deformation during wingbeat
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Does phenotypic plasticity promote (Baldwin effect) or hinder (Mayr) genetic adaptation? Lambert et al. mathematically show that when adaptive plasticity increases, the Baldwin effect increases, peaks then decreases as plasticity begins to mask selection.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
The Baldwin Effect Reloaded: Intermediate Levels of Phenotypic Plasticity Favor Evolutionary Rescue | The American Naturalist
Abstract Since the late 1890s up until today, how phenotypic plasticity interacts with genetic adaptation has been a debated issue. Proponents of a positive causal role of phenotypic plasticity—James ...
www.journals.uchicago.edu
September 22, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Does phenotypic plasticity promote (Baldwin effect) or hinder (Mayr) genetic adaptation? Lambert et al. mathematically show that when adaptive plasticity increases, the Baldwin effect increases, peaks then decreases as plasticity begins to mask selection.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
September 12, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Hybridization and introgression are major evolutionary processes. Since the 1940s, the prevailing view has been that they shape plants far more than animals. In our new study (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
), we find the opposite: animals exchange genes more, and for longer, than plants
Reposted by Vincent Debat
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Constraints on chromosome evolution revealed by the 229 chromosome pairs of the Atlas blue butterfly
The genome of the Atlas blue butterfly contains ten times more chromosomes than most
butterflies, and more than any other known diploid animal. Wright et al. show that
this extraordinary karyotype is ...
tinyurl.com
September 11, 2025 at 3:22 PM
How many chromosomes can an animal have?
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
In our paper out now in @currentbiology.bsky.social we show that the Atlas blue butterfly has 229 chromosome pairs- the highest in diploid Metazoa! These arose by rapid autosome fragmentation while sex chromosomes stayed intact.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature
In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM
You may have missed this #ant poster at #ESEB2025, but be sure not to miss the article just published in #openacess in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Still possible to apply to this #post-doc position at CESAB #Montpellier.
Application closing date: September 15th 2025 (12:00 PM CET)
How taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs.
Please share widely #PopGen #NbS #Biodiversity
Application closing date: September 15th 2025 (12:00 PM CET)
How taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs.
Please share widely #PopGen #NbS #Biodiversity
3-year #postdoc position at Centre de synthèse et d'analyse de la biodiversité (CESAB) in Montpellier to work on how taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs. Please share widely #PopGen #NbS
[📢 Postdoc offer in Montpellier] Work on intraspecific diversity & translocation in Nature-based Solutions 🌿
Join the EVOLUTION Knowledge-Hub at the #FRB-CESAB
🔗 More informations: bit.ly/43uRz6Z
@cnrs.fr @inrae-france.bsky.social @umontpellier.bsky.social
Join the EVOLUTION Knowledge-Hub at the #FRB-CESAB
🔗 More informations: bit.ly/43uRz6Z
@cnrs.fr @inrae-france.bsky.social @umontpellier.bsky.social
September 2, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Still possible to apply to this #post-doc position at CESAB #Montpellier.
Application closing date: September 15th 2025 (12:00 PM CET)
How taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs.
Please share widely #PopGen #NbS #Biodiversity
Application closing date: September 15th 2025 (12:00 PM CET)
How taking intraspecific diversity and evolutionary processes into account in translocation-based programs.
Please share widely #PopGen #NbS #Biodiversity
Reposted by Vincent Debat
I'm hiring a postdoc... By combining samples that are more than a million years old with the short generation time of small rodents, we hope to gain a unique window into evolution unfolding across millions of generations!
🚨JOB ALERT!🚨
Postdoc position at #CpgSthlm on Microtine Palaeogenomics!
Join our deep-time genomics project, funded by @erc.europa.eu, and help us explore lemming and vole evolution using ancient DNA from fossils spanning the last 2.6 million years 🐭🦴🧬
Apply here:
su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
Postdoc position at #CpgSthlm on Microtine Palaeogenomics!
Join our deep-time genomics project, funded by @erc.europa.eu, and help us explore lemming and vole evolution using ancient DNA from fossils spanning the last 2.6 million years 🐭🦴🧬
Apply here:
su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
September 2, 2025 at 12:18 PM
I'm hiring a postdoc... By combining samples that are more than a million years old with the short generation time of small rodents, we hope to gain a unique window into evolution unfolding across millions of generations!
Reposted by Vincent Debat
🚨 Hiring! We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in computational fluid dynamics and structural simulations to investigate biomechanics and mechanosensory feedback in insect flight.
Extreme agility ✔️
Morphological computing ✔️
Meshes! ✔️
jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
Extreme agility ✔️
Morphological computing ✔️
Meshes! ✔️
jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
a close up of a fly 's head with a blurred background .
ALT: a close up of a fly 's head with a blurred background .
media.tenor.com
September 2, 2025 at 4:22 PM
🚨 Hiring! We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in computational fluid dynamics and structural simulations to investigate biomechanics and mechanosensory feedback in insect flight.
Extreme agility ✔️
Morphological computing ✔️
Meshes! ✔️
jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
Extreme agility ✔️
Morphological computing ✔️
Meshes! ✔️
jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Super nice study by @titouanbouinier.bsky.social on niche partitioning in Morpho butterflies!
Oikos - Wiley Online Library nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Oikos - Wiley Online Library nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Vertical and temporal niche partitioning in Amazonian butterflies: implications for the evolution of thermal tolerance
Closely related species living in sympatry are often partitioned into divergent ecological niches. Such specialization can be enabled by the evolution of divergent traits enhancing adaptation to diff...
nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Super nice study by @titouanbouinier.bsky.social on niche partitioning in Morpho butterflies!
Oikos - Wiley Online Library nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Oikos - Wiley Online Library nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Was great to be involved in such an interesting paper, now published in @ecol-evol.bsky.social!
dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
The Adaptive Significance of Tail‐Flagging: A Test in European Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
European rabbits use their white tails to warn others of danger and ward off predators, revealing the dual function of a single animal signalling behaviour. Using both field observations and phylogen....
dx.doi.org
June 23, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Was great to be involved in such an interesting paper, now published in @ecol-evol.bsky.social!
dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Reposted by Vincent Debat
New PhD position: Butterfly Conservation Genomics 🦋
The project focuses on threatened butterflies in Czech dry grasslands and steppes.
Deadline: September 12, 2025
More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/
The project focuses on threatened butterflies in Czech dry grasslands and steppes.
Deadline: September 12, 2025
More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/
Join us
Opportunities Below are the positions currently open in our lab. PhD position (full-time doctoral funding) We are seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join our team. The goal of the project is…
pavelmatos.wordpress.com
August 19, 2025 at 8:18 AM
New PhD position: Butterfly Conservation Genomics 🦋
The project focuses on threatened butterflies in Czech dry grasslands and steppes.
Deadline: September 12, 2025
More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/
The project focuses on threatened butterflies in Czech dry grasslands and steppes.
Deadline: September 12, 2025
More info: pavelmatos.wordpress.com/join-us/
Reposted by Vincent Debat
A PhD position is open at the Teotónio lab in Paris to study genetic assimilation in C. elegans. Applicants with a master's in evolutionary biology are preferred. Apply by 19 Sept 2025. More info: https://www.ibens.bio.ens.psl.eu/?rubrique28 #phd
Henrique Teotónio - IBENS - ENS
Henrique Teotónio - IBENS - ENS
www.ibens.bio.ens.psl.eu
July 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
A PhD position is open at the Teotónio lab in Paris to study genetic assimilation in C. elegans. Applicants with a master's in evolutionary biology are preferred. Apply by 19 Sept 2025. More info: https://www.ibens.bio.ens.psl.eu/?rubrique28 #phd
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Gregarious behaviour in butterfly larvae has evolved multiple times - Cicconardi, @ebablab.bsky.social et al. use genome data of 60 Heliconiini species, identifying signatures of convergent molecular evolution, on both coding and noncoding loci.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf179
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf179
#evobio #molbio
Convergent Molecular Evolution Associated With Repeated Transitions to Gregarious Larval Behavior in Heliconiini
Abstract. Collective behavior forms the basis for many antipredator strategies. Within Lepidoptera, larval gregariousness has evolved convergently across m
doi.org
August 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Gregarious behaviour in butterfly larvae has evolved multiple times - Cicconardi, @ebablab.bsky.social et al. use genome data of 60 Heliconiini species, identifying signatures of convergent molecular evolution, on both coding and noncoding loci.
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf179
#evobio #molbio
🔗 doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf179
#evobio #molbio
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Another paper on polyommatine blue butterflies just published in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social. Blues have high chromosome numbers associated with increased diversification and their karyotypes reveal strategies to maintain genomic integrity amidst profound karyotypic changes doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...
August 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Another paper on polyommatine blue butterflies just published in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social. Blues have high chromosome numbers associated with increased diversification and their karyotypes reveal strategies to maintain genomic integrity amidst profound karyotypic changes doi.org/10.1093/gbe/...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
À la découverte du pika « chou », un animal étonnant menacé par le changement climatique
Un article de Violaine Nicolas-Colin de l'@isyeb.mnhn.fr dans @france.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/a-la-decouve...
Un article de Violaine Nicolas-Colin de l'@isyeb.mnhn.fr dans @france.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/a-la-decouve...
À la découverte du pika « chou », un animal étonnant menacé par le changement climatique
Ces lagomorphes plus proches des lapins que des rats sont aujourd’hui menacés par le changement climatique et par les activités humaines.
theconversation.com
August 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
À la découverte du pika « chou », un animal étonnant menacé par le changement climatique
Un article de Violaine Nicolas-Colin de l'@isyeb.mnhn.fr dans @france.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/a-la-decouve...
Un article de Violaine Nicolas-Colin de l'@isyeb.mnhn.fr dans @france.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/a-la-decouve...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
Among insects, lepidoptera 🦋 show one of the most diverse photoreceptor types 👁, explaining diverse spectral sensitivities including a convergent evolution of red vision.
Lu & Kronforst review the lepidopteran eye evolution.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Lu & Kronforst review the lepidopteran eye evolution.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Cellular innovations and diversity in the lepidopteran compound eye - Journal of Comparative Physiology A
Lepidoptera, having co-diversified with flowering plants and adapted to various diel niches, present a remarkable system for studying compound eye cell type diversity. Here we synthesize the latest re...
link.springer.com
August 8, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Among insects, lepidoptera 🦋 show one of the most diverse photoreceptor types 👁, explaining diverse spectral sensitivities including a convergent evolution of red vision.
Lu & Kronforst review the lepidopteran eye evolution.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Lu & Kronforst review the lepidopteran eye evolution.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Vincent Debat
... sur la structuration génétique de cette espèce et son comportement de migration.
"A genomic test of sex-biased dispersal in white sharks." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(32), e2507931122.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Laso-Jadart, R., Lesturgie, P., Mona, S. @isyeb.mnhn.fr et al.
"A genomic test of sex-biased dispersal in white sharks." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(32), e2507931122.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Laso-Jadart, R., Lesturgie, P., Mona, S. @isyeb.mnhn.fr et al.
August 5, 2025 at 7:44 AM
... sur la structuration génétique de cette espèce et son comportement de migration.
"A genomic test of sex-biased dispersal in white sharks." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(32), e2507931122.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Laso-Jadart, R., Lesturgie, P., Mona, S. @isyeb.mnhn.fr et al.
"A genomic test of sex-biased dispersal in white sharks." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(32), e2507931122.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Laso-Jadart, R., Lesturgie, P., Mona, S. @isyeb.mnhn.fr et al.
Reposted by Vincent Debat
More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab
Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122
Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122
Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS
Insects are declining worldwide. These declines have been documented across taxonomic
groups and are worrisome given ecosystem services provided by...
www.pnas.org
August 4, 2025 at 10:10 PM
More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab
Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122
Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122