This constraint arise from the tribosphenic architecture itself and the talonid-trigonid structures: It is possible to achieve a tooth that is effective for grinding whilst retaining both regions, but to obtain a tooth that is effective for slicing, one of the regions tends to disappear

Finally, when looking at the trade off between the two function something became quickly evident: it is quite rare to find a tooth very efficient at both functions. Fewer than 1% our dataset sat on the Pareto font of optimality

Our analyses show that each of the two recurring morphotype previously highlighted appear specialized for one function (slicing or crushing) but also that efficient slicing seem to be more morphologically constrained to a narrow set of phenotypes

We used a stack of medical gelatin to simulate the penetration of a multi-layer system (e.g. skin, muscle, fat) and a bone modelling filament to simulate the crushing of hard tissues

Then, we had to find a way to quantify the functional aspect. To do so we developed a protocol to quantify to very antagonistic functions: slicing and crushing

Our GMM analyses reveal two recurring shape in the lower carnassial on carnivorans and ‘creodonts’

We gathered scans of 250 species spanning the whole Cenozoic, isolated their lower carnassial and quantified the shape using a semi automated high density landmarking protocol

The carnassial is a very interesting topic: it appeared multiple times in mammals but the only extant placentals bearing those specialized pair of teeth are the carnivorans. Therefore, the lower carnassial of carnivorans and “creodonts” was chosen as a study system

Carnivorans represent an amazing study system: with lower molars showing high disparity, some species retain lower carnassial resembling the tribosphenic molar, some generalists and some specialists

One of the dental breakthroughs in mammals is the tribosphenic molar: a tooth allowing crushing and slicing in a single stroke with its 2 distinct regions. However, the evolutionary implications & consequences of potential trade-offs between those two functions are unclear

Excited to share our latest study highlighted on the cover of @science.org 🥳Combining a 3D dataset representing 250 taxa spanning the whole Cenozoic, 3D modelling & printing and material testing; we deciphered the form-function relationship in the lower 🦷 of mammals www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

There will be a paleo session at #AGU2026! B088 The Future of the Fossil Record: Developments, Trends and Innovative Approaches in Paleontology. Don't forget to submit your abstract 🔗 tinyurl.com/mtkyptc7 📅 Deadline: Wednesday, 5 August 2026 📍 7–11 December 2026 | San Francisco, CA

Out in @jvertpaleo.bsky.social for #FossilFriday with @tsengzj.bsky.social @amnh.org back in 22' I found a skull labelled Pseudaelurus. It turned out to be the most complete skull of Adelphailurus kansensis, an early-diverging machairodont🦁🔪 doi.org/10.1080/0272... 🎨 by @gamarraptor.bsky.social

New open access review out in BMC Ecology and Evolution lead by Naomi De Leo (Sapienza Università di Roma) 🥳 doi.org/10.1186/s128...

If you're attending the Anatomy Connected meeting in Albuquerque #Anatomy26 come check my talk on Monday at 2:30 pm! 🦷

I haven't post anything for #FossilFriday in a while but this week while visiting the Field Museum collections I finally got the chance to see the holotype of Thylacosmilus 😍

In Chicago this week visiting the Field Museum collections to scan some fossils of carnivorous mammals with PhD student Melvin Vankelst 😍 🦝 🐻 🦁 🦦

New paper out lead by @just-fre.bsky.social, with @rboman.bsky.social, @palaeotheoryum.bsky.social, and @val-fisch.bsky.social 🥳Using FEA, we studied the feeding behavior of 16 species of sympatric marine reptiles from the Western Interior Seaway 🦎 Check this out ➡️ doi.org/10.1111/pala...

Interested in the shape variation of phocid long bones? Check out our new study led by Leonard Dewaele in @anatrecord.bsky.social 🦴Using 3DGM, we show that long bones capture variation between subfamilies but fail at species level, calling for caution in fossil taxonomy doi.org/10.1002/ar.7...

The @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social Annual Meeting #2025SVP was an absolute blast! Great to reconnect with European colleagues this year, and to hang out with EDDy Lab folks again. I presented some of our ongoing work on #teeth #biomechanics. Stay tuned, more toothy madness on the way! 🦷

Had a blast for the first #SVP2025 day yesterday with an amazing carnivora session 🦁🐻🦝🦦 What an amazing way to start the meeting 🤩

Fully funded PhD position available at @univmalaga.bsky.social 👩‍🎓👨‍🎓 focusing on the evolution of the vertebral column in crocodylomorphs 🐊under the supervision of @bortxaf.bsky.social & @albertomartinserra.bsky.social Application deadline: Sep 30 🚨

New paper out today lead by @tsengzj.bsky.social where we test the 150-year-old hypothesis that the unique jaw torus in Nimravus is an adaptation to resist bite forces using FEA🦁🔪our results highlight some functional advantage of the torus, which are amplified at larger gape doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...

Abstract accepted for a talk at #SVP2025 - #2025SVP in Birmingham 🇬🇧 See y'all there if you wanna learn about fun stuffs we did to learn more about teeth form-function 🦷🥩🌿 Can you spot the Black Sabbath ref in the title? 😎🤘🎸 @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social

(finally) back in in Liège for a few days after two conference in a row. Had an amazing time at @eavpalaeo.bsky.social #EAVP2025 and @sebiology.bsky.social #SEBCONFERENCE 🤩

Hey @sebiology.bsky.social attendees! Don't forget the A2 - Experimental palaeo session in Nightingale 1&2 tomorrow morning 🤩🦖🦾 #SEBCONFERENCE #SEB2025

So proud of Nicolas who just won the @eavpalaeo.bsky.social best poster award this year in Kraków 🇵🇱🤩🥟 I had the chance to co-supervise Nicolas for his BSc thesis last semester at @maastrichtu.bsky.social We looked into the functional anatomy of proboscideans long bones using FEA 🦴🐘🦣

For this #FossilFriday meet Sarkastodon mongoliensis from the Eocene of Inner Mongolia from @natural-history.bsky.social we scanned with PhD student Melvin Vankeslt. First described in 1938 by W. Granger this oxyaenid was absolutely MASSIVE 😱

A bit too late for #FossilFriday but I haven't post anything in a while soooo... In the @natural-history.bsky.social for 2 weeks to scan carnivorous mammals with PhD student Melvin Vankelst and we found some BIG BOIIIS 🐯🐺

Abstract deadline is THIS FRIDAY!! 🚨 Don't forget to submit your abstract for the session "A2: Experimental Palaeobiology - Bringing Fossils Back to Life" 🦖🦴