Royal Society Publishing

17/01/2026

A recovering puma population in Patagonia has found an unlikely new favourite prey: the Magellanic penguin. Efforts to restore large carnivores are transforming ecosystems worldwide, sometimes in surprising ways. In Patagonia, a recovering puma population has begun preying on Magellanic penguins, which colonized the coast after pumas disappeared a century ago. GPS and camera data revealed the highest puma density ever recorded, clustered around a small but abundant resource. Much like grizzly bears feeding on salmon runs, pumas showed unusually high social tolerance and concentrated movements. This unexpected behaviour reveals that as carnivores recolonize altered landscapes, they may adapt in ways that challenge long-held assumptions about solitary predators.

Read the New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/science/penguins-pumas-patagonia.html

Read the research article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/292/2061/20252172/366096/A-marine-subsidy-reshapes-the-ecology-of-a-large?searchresult=1

16/01/2026

The Australian zebra finch (Taeniopygia castanotis) is a colonial species that constructs intricate domed nests. In the wild, zebra finches use stiff grass stems for structure and soft linings such as feathers or wool, with densities reaching 76.6 nests per hectare in thickets. In laboratory settings, zebra finches build with diverse materials, add a dome when material allows and learn to prefer stiff string that enables more efficient dome construction, a behaviour linked to reproductive success. In aviary experiments, birds given poor-quality materials often switched to match a demonstrator’s material, a 'copy-if-dissatisfied' strategy. Computer models revealed how birds decided nest building—they balanced their own knowledge with others’ cues. In other words, they built through asocial and social learning, not instinct.

Read the article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/292/2061/20251508/366106/Dynamic-strategic-social-learning-in-nest-building

16/01/2026

Researchers have discovered fossilized bee nests inside the bones of extinct mammals from a Quaternary cave in the Dominican Republic—evidence of a behaviour never before seen in bees. The ichnofossils, named Osnidum almontei, show that solitary bees once used the cavities of bones as nesting chambers, repeatedly returning to the same site for generations. This remarkable adaptation suggests that limited soil in the karstic landscape drove bees to exploit vertebrate remains in caves as alternative nesting substrates, expanding our understanding of bee ecology, fossil behaviour and environmental responses in island ecosystems.

Read the Scientific American article:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-bees-burrowed-inside-bones-fossils-reveal

Read the research article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251748

15/01/2026

Cannibalism in invasive cane toads (Rhinella marina). Cane toad tadpoles in Australia are attracted to bufadienolide toxins excreted by the eggs and early-developmental larvae of other cane toads and respond to the toxin with feeding behaviour, hence the term ‘targeted cannibalism’. The consistency of this behaviour is surprising because rates of cannibalism by amphibian larvae are usually variable. Here, researchers use laboratory experiments and analyses of published data to show that rates of cannibalism by invasive Australian cane toad tadpoles are variable. Older, more developed tadpoles are more cannibalistic, as are larger tadpoles and those from resource-stressed ponds. They also show that some of this variation exists in the toads’ native range, clarifying the pathway through which the behaviour evolved in Australia.

Read the article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251042

15/01/2026

We are very pleased to welcome Proceedings B’s new Editor-In-Chief, Phil Donoghue FRS. Here, Phil tells us about his research background and his excitement for the new role:

Find out more about Phil Donoghue's background, current research and how he feels about his new appointment.

14/01/2026

Humans may delight upon finding cash in a pocket or groan at unexpected traffic, but how animals express such positive or negative surprise remains less clear. How animals react to violations of expectations offers a valuable lens into their perception of the world. This study tested how two parrot species, kea and Goffin’s cockatoos, respond to food secretly swapped for another of either higher or lower value. By examining changes in behavior, body temperature, and information seeking, this study found that the kea, and not the cockatoos, were susceptible to the bait-and-switch regardless of reward value. Such research broadens our understanding of how surprise manifests in animals and highlights new avenues for future work.

Read the article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251264

14/01/2026

Peyssonneliales are calcified red algae common in shallow marine environments worldwide. They are particularly abundant in coral reefs. Until now, the oldest known Peyssonneliales were Lower Cretaceous (about 120 million years) in age. Here researchers report Peyssonneliales from 450 million year-old shallow marine limestones in the Tarim Basin of north-west China. They name this alga Paleometapeyssonnelia. This discovery extends the fossil record of this group of algae by ~335 million years providing a new basis for the origination and evolutionary divergence of this long-lived group of reefal calcareous red algae.

Read the article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/292/2061/20252328/366110/Late-Ordovician-calcified-peyssonnelialean-red

Image credit: Northwest University; painted by Liu Xi

13/01/2026

Researchers tracked endangered oceanic manta rays (Mobula birostris) in northern Aotearoa New Zealand using high-resolution GPS tags to understand their movements and foraging behaviour. The manta rays mostly stayed within the Hauraki Gulf area and showed the movement typically associated with foraging in association with gentle northerly winds. Mantas spent most of their time near the surface but also dived deeper at night and during gibbous moon phases. These patterns suggest that environmental conditions strongly influence manta behaviour in the southern limit of their range. More information on their prey distribution is needed to guide conservation efforts for this data-deficient species.

Read the article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250838

13/01/2026

Exceptionally preserved Cretaceous crabs provide novel insights into the fossilisation of arthropod compound eyes. The arthropod exoskeleton consists of a chitin–protein meshwork that is reinforced by incorporated minerals. Such naturally biomineralised cuticle forms the bulk of arthropod bodily remains in the rock record. Researchers examined the composition of Cretaceous crab cuticle, focusing on exceptionally preserved ommatidial lenses. These were compared against optic tissues in extant sesarmid crabs to determine how post-burial processes affect the long-term survival of corneal cuticle. The analyses show that rather than calcium carbonate, the exocuticle of sesarmid eyes is strengthened solely by calcium phosphate. The ancient lenses are likewise phosphatised; however, in these, the originally chitinous endocuticle has also been replaced by phosphatic deposits, resulting in a fully mineralised cornea. This finding has implications for interpretations of the optic capabilities of other extinct arthropods; notably the Palaeozoic trilobites, which are generally thought to have possessed mineralised ommatidial lenses in life.

Read the article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250478

12/01/2026

As human parasites, schistosomes cause the water-borne disease schistosomiasis, which, despite ongoing large-scale control, blights the wellbeing of over 200 million people across the world. A new issue of Philosophical Transactions B brings together the latest multidisciplinary data, evidence synthesis and expert opinions about the special reproductive and evolutionary biology of African blood flukes.

Read the theme issue:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/issue/381/1941

12/01/2026

The Biology Letters Early Career Researcher Competition is back for 2026!

To enter, you must be:
1. An early career researcher
2. Opt-in and
3. Submit your research by 31 March 2026.

The overall winner will receive £1000 and two runners-up will receive £500 each (or currency equivalent). We hope the prizes are particularly helpful for funding new research and/or attending conferences.

Find out more here: http://ow.ly/aCgx50UCo2H

Good luck!

11/01/2026

Evarcha culicivora is a mosquito-specialist jumping spider in which both sexes rely on red-coloured cues in the context of identifying blood-carrying Anopheles mosquitoes as preferred prey. In a second context, males also attend to the red-coloured faces of other males that are displayed in male–male interactions. As a third context, researchers present evidence that red facial coloration of males is also a mate-identification cue for females. In a Y-shaped arena, they gave females the choice between two stationary male specimens. With colour as the only variable, significantly fewer females approached and touched the vials that housed males with their red facial coloration concealed by application of black liquid eyeliner when the alternative was sham-treated males that had their red facial coloration intact. The findings suggest that, for E. culicivora, relying on the same colour in three different contexts may function as a way to minimize attentional load.

Read the article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.251953