Sigi Maho #BIO481 and the Royal Society Open Science

Sigi Maho's #BIO481 thesis was published in Royal Society Open Science last fall, on October 2019 to be exact. This feat is outstanding by itself but what's more impresive is the fact that Sigi, now a MSc student in Prof. Rober Reisz Lab, was first author on this article.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.191297

Varanopids are a clade of early predatory synapsids and ancestors of mammals. This study describes a new varanopid taxon found near Richards Spur Oklahoma from the early Permian that bears great morphological similarity to one from the middle Permian of northern Russia. These results reveal an unexpected extension of the geographical and temporal range of the varanopid genus Mesenosaurus and contributes to our understanding of varanopid dispersal. The extended persistence of varanopids, underscored by the apparent evolutionary stasis of this genus, is unusual among Palaeozoic tetrapods and implies a high degree of ecological resilience across Palaeozoic transitions. (Sigi Maho, MsC student, Reisz lab)

Co-author to this paper is Bryan M. Gee, PhD student in Reisz lab. Bryan's blog: Temno Talk: a blog about all things temnospondyl is a must read if you are interested in all aspects of temnospondyl paleobiology.

Congratulation, Sigi and Bryan!