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Outputs (32)

Hallucigenia’s head and the pharyngeal armature of early ecdysozoans (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, M., & Caron, J. (2015). Hallucigenia’s head and the pharyngeal armature of early ecdysozoans. Nature, 523(7558), 75-78. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14573

The molecularly defined clade Ecdysozoa1 comprises the panarthropods (Euarthropoda, Onychophora and Tardigrada) and the cycloneuralian worms (Nematoda, Nematomorpha, Priapulida, Loricifera and Kinorhyncha). These disparate phyla are united by their m... Read More about Hallucigenia’s head and the pharyngeal armature of early ecdysozoans.

Robust analysis of phylogenetic tree space (2021)
Journal Article
Smith, M. (2022). Robust analysis of phylogenetic tree space. Systematic Biology, 71(5), 1255-1270. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab100

Phylogenetic analyses often produce large numbers of trees. Mapping trees’ distribution in ‘tree space’ can illuminate the behaviour and performance of search strategies, reveal distinct clusters of optimal trees, and expose differences between diffe... Read More about Robust analysis of phylogenetic tree space.

Hyoliths are Palaeozoic lophophorates (2017)
Journal Article
Moysiuk, J., Smith, M., & Caron, J. (2017). Hyoliths are Palaeozoic lophophorates. Nature, 541, 394-397. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20804

Hyoliths are abundant and globally distributed ‘shelly’ fossils that appear early in the Cambrian period and can be found throughout the 280 million year span of Palaeozoic strata1, 2. The ecological and evolutionary importance of this group has rema... Read More about Hyoliths are Palaeozoic lophophorates.

The macro-and micro-fossil record of the Cambrian priapulid Ottoia (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, M., Harvey, T., & Butterfield, N. (2015). The macro-and micro-fossil record of the Cambrian priapulid Ottoia. Palaeontology, 58(4), 705-721. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12168

The stem-group priapulid Ottoia Walcott, 1911, is the most abundant worm in the mid-Cambrian Burgess Shale, but has not been unambiguously demonstrated elsewhere. High-resolution electron and optical microscopy of macroscopic Burgess Shale specimens... Read More about The macro-and micro-fossil record of the Cambrian priapulid Ottoia.

A Bayesian astrochronology for the Cambrian first occurrence of trilobites in West Gondwana (Morocco) (2024)
Journal Article
Sinnesael, M., Millard, A. R., & Smith, M. R. (2024). A Bayesian astrochronology for the Cambrian first occurrence of trilobites in West Gondwana (Morocco). Geology, https://doi.org/10.1130/G51718.1

The first occurrence of trilobites ~520 million years ago is an iconic feature of the Cambrian Explosion. Developing a robust evolutionary view on early Cambrian life is generally hindered by large uncertainties in the ages of fossil finds, and their... Read More about A Bayesian astrochronology for the Cambrian first occurrence of trilobites in West Gondwana (Morocco).

climenv: Download, extract and visualise climatic and elevation data (2023)
Journal Article
Tsakalos, J. L., Smith, M. R., Luebert, F., & Mucina, L. (2023). climenv: Download, extract and visualise climatic and elevation data. Journal of Vegetation Science: Advances in plant community ecology, 34(6), Article e13215. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13215

Understanding the relationship between climate and vegetation requires climate data to be linked with ecological data, including habitat types and vegetation mapping. Our new R package climenv allows researchers to efficiently acquire, extract and vi... Read More about climenv: Download, extract and visualise climatic and elevation data.

Evolution: Assembling the Deuterostome body plan (2023)
Journal Article
Smith, M. R. (2023). Evolution: Assembling the Deuterostome body plan. Current Biology, 33(12), R691-R694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.05.015

Starfish, graptolites and humans look as different as can be, yet are more closely related to each other than to any other phylum. Disc-shaped Cambrian fossils join the dots between these disparate body plans to plot out their evolutionary origins.

Protomelission is an early dasyclad alga and not a Cambrian bryozoan (2023)
Journal Article
Yang, J., Lan, T., Zhang, X., & Smith, M. (2023). Protomelission is an early dasyclad alga and not a Cambrian bryozoan. Nature, 615(7952), 468-471. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05775-5

The animal phyla and their associated body plans originate from a singular burst of evolution occurring during the Cambrian period, over 500 million years ago1. The phylum Bryozoa, the colonial ‘moss animals’, have been the exception: convincing skel... Read More about Protomelission is an early dasyclad alga and not a Cambrian bryozoan.

The Cambrian cirratuliform Iotuba denotes an early annelid radiation (2023)
Journal Article
Zhang, Z., Smith, M., & Ren, X. (2023). The Cambrian cirratuliform Iotuba denotes an early annelid radiation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290(1992), Article 20222014. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.2014

The principal animal lineages (phyla) diverged in the Cambrian, but most diversity at lower taxonomic ranks arose more gradually over the subsequent 500 Myr. Annelid worms seem to exemplify this pattern, based on molecular analyses and the fossil rec... Read More about The Cambrian cirratuliform Iotuba denotes an early annelid radiation.

Using information theory to detect rogue taxa and improve consensus trees (2021)
Journal Article
Smith, M. R. (2022). Using information theory to detect rogue taxa and improve consensus trees. Systematic Biology, 71(5), 1088-1094. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab099

“Rogue” taxa of uncertain affinity can confound attempts to summarize the results of phylogenetic analyses. Rogues reduce resolution and support values in consensus trees, potentially obscuring strong evidence for relationships between other taxa. In... Read More about Using information theory to detect rogue taxa and improve consensus trees.

Phylogenetic Signal and Bias in Paleontology (2021)
Journal Article
Asher, R., & Smith, M. (2022). Phylogenetic Signal and Bias in Paleontology. Systematic Biology, 71(4), 986-1008. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab072

An unprecedented amount of evidence now illuminates the phylogeny of living mammals and birds on the Tree of Life. We use this tree to measure phylogenetic value of data typically used in paleontology (bones and teeth) from six datasets derived from... Read More about Phylogenetic Signal and Bias in Paleontology.

Introvert and pharynx of Mafangscolex, a Cambrian palaeoscolecid (2020)
Journal Article
Yang, J., Smith, M., Zhang, X., & Yang, X. (2020). Introvert and pharynx of Mafangscolex, a Cambrian palaeoscolecid. Geological Magazine, 157(12), 2044-2050. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0016756820000308

Palaeoscolecid worms are widespread in the Palaeozoic period, and are of key importance to understanding the emergence of moulting animals (superphylum Ecdysozoa). However, palaeoscolecids lack a diagnostic set of morphological characters, and as suc... Read More about Introvert and pharynx of Mafangscolex, a Cambrian palaeoscolecid.

An Ordovician nectocaridid hints at an endocochleate origin of Cephalopoda (2019)
Journal Article
Smith, M. (2020). An Ordovician nectocaridid hints at an endocochleate origin of Cephalopoda. Journal of Paleontology, 94(1), 64-69. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2019.57

Nectocaridids are soft-bodied Cambrian organisms that have been controversially interpreted as primitive cephalopods, contradicting the long-held belief that these molluscs evolved from a shell-bearing ancestor. Here I document a new nectocaridid fro... Read More about An Ordovician nectocaridid hints at an endocochleate origin of Cephalopoda.

Congruence, fossils, and the evolutionary tree of rodents and lagomorphs (2019)
Journal Article
Asher, R., Smith, M., Rankin, A., & Emry, R. (2019). Congruence, fossils, and the evolutionary tree of rodents and lagomorphs. Royal Society Open Science, 6(7), Article 190387. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190387

Given an evolutionary process, we expect distinct categories of heritable data, sampled in ever larger amounts, to converge on a single tree of historical relationships. We tested this assertion by undertaking phylogenetic analyses of a new morpholog... Read More about Congruence, fossils, and the evolutionary tree of rodents and lagomorphs.

Bayesian and parsimony approaches reconstruct informative trees from simulated morphological datasets (2019)
Journal Article
Smith, M. (2019). Bayesian and parsimony approaches reconstruct informative trees from simulated morphological datasets. Biology Letters, 15(2), Article 20180632. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0632

Phylogenetic analysis aims to establish the true relationships between taxa. Different analytical methods, however, can reach different conclusions. In order to establish which approach best reconstructs true relationships, previous studies have simu... Read More about Bayesian and parsimony approaches reconstruct informative trees from simulated morphological datasets.

An algorithm for morphological phylogenetic analysis with inapplicable data (2018)
Journal Article
Brazeau, M., Guillerme, T., & Smith, M. (2019). An algorithm for morphological phylogenetic analysis with inapplicable data. Systematic Biology, 68(4), 619-631. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syy083

Morphological data play a key role in the inference of biological relationships and evolutionary history, and are essential for the interpretation of the fossil record. The hierarchical interdependence of many morphological characters, however, compl... Read More about An algorithm for morphological phylogenetic analysis with inapplicable data.

Hyoliths with pedicles illuminate the origin of the brachiopod body plan (2018)
Journal Article
Sun, H., Smith, M., Zeng, H., Zhao, F., Li, G., & Zhu, M. (2018). Hyoliths with pedicles illuminate the origin of the brachiopod body plan. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1887), Article 20181780. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1780

Hyoliths are a taxonomically problematic group of Palaeozoic lophotrochozoans that are among the first shelly fossils to appear in the Cambrian period. On the basis of their distinctive exoskeleton, hyoliths have historically been classified as a sep... Read More about Hyoliths with pedicles illuminate the origin of the brachiopod body plan.

Orthrozanclus elongata n. sp. and the significance of sclerite-covered taxa for early trochozoan evolution (2017)
Journal Article
Zhao, F., Smith, M. R., Yin, Z., Zeng, H., Li, G., & Zhu, M. (2017). Orthrozanclus elongata n. sp. and the significance of sclerite-covered taxa for early trochozoan evolution. Scientific Reports, 7, Article 16232. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16304-6

Orthrozanclus is a shell-bearing, sclerite covered Cambrian organism of uncertain taxonomic affinity, seemingly representing an intermediate between its fellow problematica Wiwaxia and Halkieria. Attempts to group these slug-like taxa into a single ‘... Read More about Orthrozanclus elongata n. sp. and the significance of sclerite-covered taxa for early trochozoan evolution.

Evolution: Velvet worm biogeography (2016)
Journal Article
Smith, M. (2016). Evolution: Velvet worm biogeography. Current Biology, 26(19), R882-R884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.067

The present-day distribution of velvet worms corresponds neatly to the ancient supercontinent Gondwana — except for a puzzling outpost in southeast Asia. Jaw-dropping new fossil material now establishes when and how peripatid onychophorans reached th... Read More about Evolution: Velvet worm biogeography.

Onychophoran-like musculature in a phosphatized Cambrian lobopodian (2016)
Journal Article
Zhang, X., Smith, M., Yang, J., & Hou, J. (2016). Onychophoran-like musculature in a phosphatized Cambrian lobopodian. Biology Letters, 12(9), Article 20160492. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0492

The restricted, exclusively terrestrial distribution of modern Onychophora contrasts strikingly with the rich diversity of onychophoran-like fossils preserved in marine Cambrian Lagerstätten. The transition from these early forebears to the modern on... Read More about Onychophoran-like musculature in a phosphatized Cambrian lobopodian.

Cord-forming Palaeozoic fungi in terrestrial assemblages (2016)
Journal Article
Smith, M. (2016). Cord-forming Palaeozoic fungi in terrestrial assemblages. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 180(4), 452-460. https://doi.org/10.1111/boj.12389

The fossil record paints a thin picture of early terrestrial life. Useful diagnostic features are rare in the organic-walled fossils of the first land colonizers, and at first glance the Silurian–Devonian Tortotubus protuberans seems no exception. No... Read More about Cord-forming Palaeozoic fungi in terrestrial assemblages.

Sclerites and possible mouthparts of Wiwaxia from the temperate palaeolatitudes of Colombia, South America (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, M., Hughes, G. M., Vargas, M. C., & de La Parra, F. (2016). Sclerites and possible mouthparts of Wiwaxia from the temperate palaeolatitudes of Colombia, South America. Lethaia: An International Journal of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, 49(3), 393-397. https://doi.org/10.1111/let.12154

The problematic mollusc Wiwaxia is perhaps the most widely distributed non-mineralized Cambrian metazoan, but has only been reported from palaeotropical latitudes. Here, we describe mid-Cambrian (Drumian, c. 504 Ma) sclerites and possible tooth array... Read More about Sclerites and possible mouthparts of Wiwaxia from the temperate palaeolatitudes of Colombia, South America.

A palaeoscolecid worm from the Burgess Shale (2015)
Journal Article
Smith, M. (2015). A palaeoscolecid worm from the Burgess Shale. Palaeontology, 58(6), 45-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12210

Palaeoscolecid worms are a ubiquitous group of Early Palaeozoic ecdysozoans that are curiously lacking in the archetypal Cambrian Lagerstätten, the Burgess Shale. Here I describe Scathascolex minor gen. et sp. nov, the first unequivocal palaeoscoleci... Read More about A palaeoscolecid worm from the Burgess Shale.

New reconstruction of the Wiwaxia scleritome, with data from Chengjiang juveniles (2015)
Journal Article
Zhang, Z., Smith, M., & Shu, D. (2015). New reconstruction of the Wiwaxia scleritome, with data from Chengjiang juveniles. Scientific Reports, 5, Article 14810. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14810

Wiwaxiids are a problematic group of scale-covered lophotrochozoans known from Cambrian Stages 3–5. Their imbricating dorsal scleritome of leaf-like scales has prompted comparison with various annelids and molluscs, and has been used as a template to... Read More about New reconstruction of the Wiwaxia scleritome, with data from Chengjiang juveniles.

Hallucigenia’s onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda (2014)
Journal Article
Smith, M., & Ortega-Hernández, J. (2014). Hallucigenia’s onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda. Nature, 514(7522), 363-366. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13576

The Palaeozoic form-taxon Lobopodia encompasses a diverse range of soft-bodied ‘legged worms’ known from exceptional fossil deposits1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Although lobopodians occupy a deep phylogenetic position within Panarthropoda, a shortage o... Read More about Hallucigenia’s onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda.

Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte (2014)
Journal Article
Yang, J., Smith, M., Lan, T., Hou, J., & Zhang, X. (2014). Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte. Scientific Reports, 4, Article 4643. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep04643

Wiwaxia is a bizarre metazoan that has been interpreted as a primitive mollusc and as a polychaete annelid worm. Extensive material from the Burgess Shale provides a detailed picture of its morphology and ontogeny, but the fossil record outside this... Read More about Articulated Wiwaxia from the Cambrian Stage 3 Xiaoshiba Lagerstätte.

Primitive soft-bodied cephalopods from the Cambrian (2010)
Journal Article
Smith, M., & Caron, J. (2010). Primitive soft-bodied cephalopods from the Cambrian. Nature, 465(7297), 469-472. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09068

The exquisite preservation of soft-bodied animals in Burgess Shale-type deposits provides important clues into the early evolution of body plans that emerged during the Cambrian explosion1. Until now, such deposits have remained silent regarding the... Read More about Primitive soft-bodied cephalopods from the Cambrian.