We just went full Thanos on the Phocidae 😂

We had hoped that by the novel addition of some stem pinniped taxa to our biogeographic analyses, we could shed light on the origins and dispersal of the group, but unfortunately it still remains unclear.

We found that pinniped diversification is mostly constant, but walruses go crazy around 12 Ma, ultimately resulting in the single species alive today.

We used a metatree approach to construct the largest ever pinniped phylogeny, combining molecular and fossil data to give us this:

One more sleep 😍

@Andy_B_LFC @GWr_ght @90sWWE

Today marks the last day of my time @NHM_London. I’ve been privileged enough to call this place ‘work’ since 2017 (with a stint @BensonLabOxford sandwiched in the middle). Thank you to everyone here who has made it so special! News on the next step will be announced soon.

Might be the same one then. Here’s a pic