Pictured: Two tired and dusty old contraptions submitting the PhD thesis they created 🥲

RT @misosoupgf: (on the verge of having a complete psychotic break) i need to make some kind of a list or perhaps sort things into categori….

RT @FlindersPalaeo: The good folk at @museumsvictoria catch up with @Flinders Professor Emeritus Rod Wells to burrow down deep into wombat….

RT @aNATomy_Lab: So great to see everyone at @CAVEPS_Palaeo 2023 Melbourne Museum with amazing #Triceratops and very fun bag of goodies. It….

RT @emgfitzgerald: On Monday 27 November, the 18th Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology & Systematics (@CAVEPS_Pa….

RT @Formorphology: Manatee hand.

Ever feel like your day just needs a little more in situ leopard seal baculum anatomy? We got you covered! 🦭.

I've just discovered a new flavour of dread!.It's called 'on my way to collect the expensive printed and bound copies of my thesis and wondering how many errors I will spot as soon as I open one' flavour!.Try it today! ✨.

RT @EmuLarge: For anyone else having a hell of a time looking at this, THESE are the orbits… Flatfish laugh in the face of your fancy bilat….

Thanks to everyone who came by to chat vombatiform muscles with me! #ICVM2023💪🐨 .You can read the open access paper and play with 3D models here:

Huge thanks to the #ICVM2023 organisers for a terrific week of inspiring science. I got to mingle with so many incredible scientists, but a personal highlight was meeting my comparative anatomy hero @JoyReidenberg 🐋🦘🦴🔪

RT @Kate_Garland: Come on down to the chicken shed (P3-6, Auditorium A/B/D) this afternoon to see my poster on tweaking the chicken beak.🐥🐔….

RT @peterfalkingham: Guess which handsome palaeontologist has made good progress this week on porting the previously maya-only #XROMM toolk….

RT @emgfitzgerald: The 18th Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics @CAVEPS_Palaeo is coming to @mel….

RT @CAVEPS_Palaeo: Only two weeks left for Early Bird registration for CAVEPS! Register now at

Come chat to me about this or other functional morphology stuff at #ICVM2023 in Cairns at the Saturday poster session, 4pm 29 July! .Thanks to coauthors @DrTeethAl & Justin Adams, and to @DPHocking for the title (evoking my mood trying to finish this study during COVID lockdowns).

There are interactive 3D versions of the figures on Sketchfab, made from our #diceCT and MRI scans - have a play! .Or peep the supp material for juicy dissection photos if that's more your speed.

How is this useful? .The quantitative PCSA data can aid studies exploring patterns in mammalian forelimb muscle architecture. But crucially, koalas and wombats bracket a huge diversity of extinct vombatiforms, so their anatomy helps us infer muscles in fossils like Palorchestes.

The koala had more differentiated muscles to their digits too, enabling fine grasping control, rather than the stout, spade-like hand of the wombat that seemed to operate more as a single unit.

Key topological differences included a large insertion for Trapezius on the wombat humerus, while the koala had big Teres minor and Coracobrachialis that were missing in their bulkier cousins. Likely reflects differences in mobility requirements of the shoulder.

New paper from my PhD is out now #OA! .Koalas and wombats use their forelimbs for pretty different stuff - is this reflected in the topology and architecture of their muscles? 🤔💪.Physical and digital dissections show us they're surprisingly similar!.