Uhen Lab

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30435-9

Congratulations to our colleague Olivier Lambert for the earliest Mysticete!

Earliest Mysticete from the Late Eocene of Peru Sheds New Light on the Origin of Baleen Whales Lambert et al. describe a new toothed cetacean from the late Eocene of Peru. Being the oldest known baleen whale relative (Mysticeti), its skeletal morphology provides crucial information about the archaeocete-neocete transition, suggesting a specialization toward suction and possibly benthic feedin...

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967064516303873

More beaked whales + more South American fossils = win!

A new species of Africanacetus (Odontoceti: Ziphiidae) found on the deep ocean floor off the coast of Brazil A fossil skull of a beaked whale was newly collected by a manned submersible from the São Paulo Ridge of the Atlantic floor about 2900 m deep off the coast of Brazil. It was found in the middle of the manganese nodules on the seafloor. The whale fossil can be dated sometime between the middle Miocen...

New developmental mechanisms for the Mammalian middle ear? Why yes, we're interested!

http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/284/1848/20162416?etoc

A new developmental mechanism for the separation of the mammalian middle ear ossicles from the jaw Multiple mammalian lineages independently evolved a definitive mammalian middle ear (DMME) through breakdown of Meckel's cartilage (MC). However, the cellular and molecular drivers of this evolutionary transition remain unknown for most mammal groups. Here, we identify such drivers in the living mar...