Melina Jobbins- PhD Evolutionary Biology
- Postdoctoral fellow at University of Manitoba
Melina Jobbins
- PhD Evolutionary Biology
- Postdoctoral fellow at University of Manitoba
Postdoctoral Fellow
About
23
Publications
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Introduction
I am an evolutionary biologist focusing focusing on the field of palaeontology. My research focuses on understanding the origin and early evolution of vertebrate characters through the study of early vertebrates. Methods include fieldwork, preparation, computed tomography, comparative anatomy, taxonomy, and phylogeny. Currently learning geochemical and geomorphometric methods in my postdoc. I am a science communicator, researcher, teacher, and supervisor.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
July 2019 - July 2023
Education
September 2017 - September 2018
September 2013 - June 2016
Publications
Publications (23)
Arthrodires are the most common and diverse placoderms, an extinct group of early jawed vertebrates. Although commonly found, numerous taxa remain poorly known, rendering taxonomy and establishing affinities challenging. One of the best examples for this is the genus Eastmanosteus. First described as part of Dinichthys in the 1890s, revisions of th...
Jaws are a key structure that arose early in the vertebrate tree of life. ‘Placoderms’ are stem gnathostomes and their study contributes to the understanding of diversification of feeding strategies, diets, and modularity early in our evolution. In these fossils, such variations in function are mainly expressed through jaw disparity. Modularity in...
Late Devonian strata of the eastern Anti-Atlas are gaining a reputation to yield three-dimensionally preserved and articulated skulls of gnathostomes including that of osteichthyans, chondrichthyans and placoderms. This articulated preservation facilitates direct comparisons, yields new anatomical information, and thus helped recognizing several ne...
Synopsis
The hyoid apparatus of tetrapods is highly diverse in its morphology. It plays an important role in feeding, breathing, sound production, and various other behaviors. Among turtles, the diversity of the hyoid apparatus has been recurrently linked to their habitat. The ossification of the hyoid corpus is often the main trait used in correla...
Jaws are a key vertebrate feature that arose early in our evolution.
Placoderms are among the first jawed vertebrates; their fossils yield essential knowledge about the early diversification of gnathostome feeding strategies, diets and modularity. Modularity can be expressed through disproportional lengths of lower and upper jaws as in swordfish or...
Placoderms are an equally diverse and enigmatic group of Devonian vertebrates, which gained fame for the fierce looking apex predator Dunkleosteus (Lehman 1956; Anderson & Westneat 2007; Rücklin et al. 2012) on the one side and, more importantly, for the evolution of jaws and teeth (Rücklin et al. 2012; Zhu et al. 2013, 2022) as well as the origin...
Morphological diversity of arthrodires is believed to reach a peak in the Middle to early Late Devonian, to then collapse before their extinction. Here we describe a unique ‘placoderm’ from the Famennian of Morocco and Poland with a strong lower jaw elongation, reminiscent in proportions to extant halfbeaks. Currently, it is the oldest known verteb...
Throughout the Silurian and Devonian, cartilaginous fish successively evolved their specialized skeletal and dental characteristics, and increasingly refined their sensory systems. The Late Devonian shark taxon Maghriboselache mohamezanei gen. et sp. n. from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco is known from multiple specimens reserving most of its sk...
Supplementary materials including:
Taphonomy
Supplementary Table 1 (list of specimens)
Description of specimens
Remarks on phylogenetic analyses
Taxon and Character lists
Supplementary Figs. 1 to 55
Placoderms are an extinct group of early jawed vertebrates that play a key role in understanding the evolution of the gnathostome body plan, including the origin of novelties such as jaws, teeth, and pelvic fins. As placoderms have a poorly ossified axial skeleton, preservation of the mainly cartilaginous axial and fin elements is extremely rare, c...
Like other vertebrate groups, chondrichthyans diversified during the Devonian. Although mostly known from their teeth, some conservation deposits like the northern American Cleveland Shale or the northern African Thylacocephalan Layer yield complete skeletons of early chondrichthyans. Based on several nearly complete skeletons and some 3D crania, w...
The Tafilalt and Maïder region in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas has become a classical region for research on Devonian vertebrates. While some placoderm plates and chondrichthyan teeth are well documented, other skeletal materials are still poorly known. We give an overview over the diversity of gnathostome remains with a focus on Famennian occurrences....
Placoderms are an extinct group of early jawed vertebrates that play an important part in understanding the evolution of the vertebrate body plan, including the origin of jaws, teeth and pelvic fins. The predominantly cartilaginous post thoracic skeleton with sparse perichondral ossifications renders axial and fin elements extremely rare, unlike th...
Trace fossils occur in several strata of the Devonian and Carboniferous of the eastern Anti-Atlas, but they are still poorly documented. Here, we describe a fossil swimming trace from strata overlying the Hangenberg Black Shale (correlation largely based on lithostratigraphy; Postclymenia ammonoid genozone, ca. 370 Ma old). We discuss the systemati...
We describe the swimming trace Undichna from the latest Devonian of Morocco and interpret it as a trace of an early chondrichthyan.
Placoderms are an extinct group of early jawed vertebrates that play a key role in understanding the origin of the gnathostome body plan, including novelties like the jaws, teeth and pelvic fins. This makes them essential to elucidate the evolutionary success and early radiation of gnathostomes. As placoderms have a poorly ossified axial skeleton,...
For the understanding of the evolution of jawed vertebrates and jaws and teeth, ‘placoderms’ are crucial as they exhibit an impressive morphological disparity associated with the early stages of this process. The Devonian of Morocco is famous for its rich occurrences of arthrodire ‘placoderms’. While Late Devonian strata are rich in arthrodire rema...
The timing of origin of eukaryotes and the sequence of eukaryogenesis are poorly constrained because their fossil record is difficult to interpret. Claims of fossilized organelles have been discounted on the unsubstantiated perception that they decay too quickly for fossilization. We experimentally characterized the pattern and time scale of decay...
Thylacocephalans are enigmatic arthropods with an erratic Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fossil record. In many of the few localities where they occur, they are quite abundant. This also holds true for the Famennian Thylacocephalan Layer in the Maider (eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco), a small epicontinental basin hosting some strata with taphonomic propert...
