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A rare fossil from the world-famous Mazon Creek in Illinois reveals the first known case of algal infection in extinct h...
02/01/2026

A rare fossil from the world-famous Mazon Creek in Illinois reveals the first known case of algal infection in extinct horseshoe crabs. An exceptionally rare, 300-million-year-old specimen of Euproops danae shows unusual dimples across the exoskeleton. These abnormal structures are considered due to algae or parasites that infected the animal during life. Comparisons with modern horseshoe crabs suggest the infection occurred in a fully grown individual, marking a terminal stage of growth in the fossil animal. This discovery sheds new light on how ancient parasites interacted with their hosts, underscoring the scientific value of exceptional preservation sites.

Read the article in Biology Letters:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0565

Animals often fight over valuable resources like food, space, or mates, and their decisions to engage depend on how like...
01/01/2026

Animals often fight over valuable resources like food, space, or mates, and their decisions to engage depend on how likely they are to win. Males of the fruit fly (Drosophila prolongata) engage in territorial contests, using their elongated forelegs as weapons to fend off rivals and secure access to females and food. Researchers used this highly aggressive fruit fly to examine how differences in body size and leg (weapon) size affect contest behaviour. They found that even when flies are genetically identical and raised in the same conditions, individuals still differ in their contest behaviour and adjust their aggression depending on their rival’s size. This shows that small environmental differences influencing body and weapon size can strongly shape how individuals behave and compete.

Read the article in Biology Letters:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0519

Image credit: Tom Ratz

Killer whales and humans share a trait that is otherwise rare in nature: a long female menopause. Whilst decades of fiel...
31/12/2025

Killer whales and humans share a trait that is otherwise rare in nature: a long female menopause. Whilst decades of field studies have revealed the important positive impact of a living menopausal grandmother in both humans and killer whales, the genes responsible for this trait remain elusive to science. In this 'thought experiment' researchers outline why the X-chromosome may play an important role in the evolution of menopause. They deduce this from the patterns of inheritance of the X-chromosome which result in granddaughters inheriting more of the paternal grandmother's X-chromosome, than other grand offspring. This could explain why grandmothers invest preferentially in their sons: to increase their genetic legacy.

Read the opinion piece in Biology Letters:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0528

Image credit: Christopher Michel

Why do sea turtles not nest every year? Many vertebrates breed every year, but some species only reproduce every two or ...
30/12/2025

Why do sea turtles not nest every year? Many vertebrates breed every year, but some species only reproduce every two or more years (non-annual breeding). In sea turtles, non-annual breeding has been linked to their long migrations. However, a conundrum is that sea turtle populations with short migrations still tend to be non-annual breeders. Researchers solve this conundrum by showing that non-annual breeding in sea turtles is linked to high time and energy costs associated with mating and nesting, regardless of migration distance, and is favoured due to their generally high adult survival rates.

Read the article in Biology Letters:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0594

Image credit: GretelW

Food availability determines where and how animals use space across a landscape and, therefore, affects the risk of enco...
29/12/2025

Food availability determines where and how animals use space across a landscape and, therefore, affects the risk of encounters leading to zoonotic spillover. This relationship is evident in Australian flying foxes (Pteropus spp.), where acute food shortages precede clusters of Hendra virus spillovers. Researchers analyzed decades of environmental and ecological data to predict food shortage periods. Using weather patterns, climatic indices including El Niño, wildlife rehabilitation admissions, and body condition metrics from rescued bats, they developed a forecasting approach that detects shortage signals several months in advance. Previous research has demonstrated that food-stressed bat populations relocate to urban and agricultural areas, increasing Hendra virus spillover risk to horses. The new forecasting framework provides proof-of-concept for early warning systems that could inform wildlife management strategies and public health interventions to mitigate spillover risk.

Read the article in Biology Letters:
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0371

Image credit: Andrew Mercer, baldwhiteguy.co.nz

Researchers studied the relationship between ecology and morphology in a diverse and widespread lizard radiation, genus ...
28/12/2025

Researchers studied the relationship between ecology and morphology in a diverse and widespread lizard radiation, genus Sceloporus. The results show that changes in ecomorphology are linked to both speciation and patterns of coexistence in this group. Differences in body size and limb proportions align with habitat use, reflecting functional trade-offs in performance. They find that the evolution of one ecomorphological form, arboreality, is associated with increased speciation and further morphological diversification. These findings suggest that shifts in phenotype can themselves generate ecological opportunities, fueling rapid diversification even without changes in range or resource availability.

Read the article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/292/2060/20251305/363963/Ecomorphology-is-associated-with-speciation-and-co

Poison frogs can return home after being moved far from their territories, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Through fi...
27/12/2025

Poison frogs can return home after being moved far from their territories, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Through field experiments, researchers tested whether male Oophaga pumilio rely on vision when navigating by blocking parts of their visual environment. The team also displaced frogs away from their territories in forest and open areas. They found that frogs need visual information from the ground, but not from the canopy. Frogs in open areas, which contain more directional information, returned home more quickly, with better initial orientation and less meandering. These findings show that low-level visual panoramas guide frog navigation in complex environments.

Read the article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/292/2060/20252310/363285/Poison-frogs-rely-on-vision-for-homing-in-natural

Why do some male birds dance better than others, and does it mean they’re smarter? A new study on zebra finches explored...
26/12/2025

Why do some male birds dance better than others, and does it mean they’re smarter? A new study on zebra finches explored whether male dance displays reflect intelligence, health, and attractiveness. Researchers found that dance complexity, but not dance duration, was associated with better body condition, greater attractiveness and, to a lesser extent, improved motor learning. These findings suggest that complex dances signal health more than general intelligence, while also hinting at the role of specific cognitive abilities like motor learning.

Read the article in Biology Letters:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsbl/article/21/12/20250526/363282/Dance-complexity-is-not-associated-with-cognitive

The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) is a keystone herbivore in many North American boreal forests, both in terms of her...
25/12/2025

The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) is a keystone herbivore in many North American boreal forests, both in terms of herbivore biomass and their importance in the food web. A wide range of mammalian and avian predators in these boreal forests rely on snowshoe hares as a primary food source, with their reproductive success closely linked to snowshoe hare abundance. Climate change is reshaping boreal forests, especially around Kluane Lake, Yukon, by warming temperatures and changing snow. Using seven years (2016–2022) of camera trap data, researchers studied snowshoe hares’ seasonal coat colour changes. Autumn moults (brown to white) occur from late September to mid-November, and spring moults (white to brown) from mid-April to late May, with no shift in timing over time. However, hares’ coat colors increasingly mismatch snowy backgrounds, possibly due to less white fur. Temperature and snow affect moulting differently, and more research is needed to see how this impacts hare survival and predator interactions as climate changes.

Read the article in Royal Society Open Science:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.250662

Image credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson

How far can frugivorous birds disperse seeds during migration? Seed dispersal over long distances plays a key role in de...
24/12/2025

How far can frugivorous birds disperse seeds during migration? Seed dispersal over long distances plays a key role in determining the distribution of plants. Fruit-eating birds have an outstanding potential to spread seeds far during migration, but little was known about the distances they can disperse seeds. A new study combining GPS-based movement data from thrushes migrating across Europe and data on seed retention times in their gut found that these birds can disperse seeds over hundreds of kilometres. The study also reveals that birds disperse smaller-seeded plants farther. Thus, seed size is a trait that influences the potential of plant species to reach, and eventually colonize, distant areas.

Read the article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.1545

Algae is becoming increasingly prevalent on coral reef systems globally, making it important to understand the feeding m...
23/12/2025

Algae is becoming increasingly prevalent on coral reef systems globally, making it important to understand the feeding mechanisms of herbivorous fishes that remove these algae. However, these bites only last milliseconds, making it impossible to quantify them using standard filming equipment. Here researchers use high-speed filming videography to quantify how surgeonfishes, a dominant group of herbivorous fish feeds on algae. They found three main techniques that different species utilised. Each technique requires a separate suite of adaptations e.g. different types of teeth. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of these bite types uncovers novel dynamics in the evolution of surgeonfishes.

Read the article in Proceedings B:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2025.2386

The latest issue of Philosophical Transactions A is dedicated to the Latin Geneva edition of Newton’s Principia. The aut...
23/12/2025

The latest issue of Philosophical Transactions A is dedicated to the Latin Geneva edition of Newton’s Principia. The authors discuss Newton’s original text and the editor’s commentaries in footnotes, which are often longer than Newton’s text itself. The Geneva edition is indispensable for scientists and historians of physics and mathematics and is key for understanding the reception of Newton’s science.

Read the full issue:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rsta/issue/383/2311

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Royal Society Publishing

We publish 10 journals across the life and physical sciences, plus the history of science, including the longest running journal in the world since 1665.