July 2026

Featured article: The spectrum of extinction rate magnitude

We use new macroevolutionary rate estimates to resolve the dynamics of severe versus background extinction through the history of a major, globally distributed, Paleozoic zooplankton clade, the graptoloids...

Our results are consistent with the notion that, whereas a mass or severe extinction may have an exceptional or singular initial trigger, the effects of that trigger propagate out to global-scale species loss via a complex web of processes that are common to many extinction episodes and may take significant time.

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May 2026

Featured article: Exploring rates of change and modes of evolution in blastozoan echinoderms

Sarah L. Sheffield, Maggie R. Limbeck, Jennifer E. Bauer, April M. Wright  and Peter J. Wagner.

This study adds to a growing body of literature that highlights the need to revise echinoderm taxonomy. We tested different clock models for each group and found that model choice had strong effects on resulting trees; our findings suggest linked clocks (i.e., the same clocks for all character partitions) had more support than unlinked clocks (i.e., different clocks for different character partitions). These findings indicate a need to carefully consider model choice and rates of evolution when utilizing these types of analyses.

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February 2026

Featured Article: Fecundity in fossil Bryozoa: accounting for colony fragmentation and the spatial division of reproductive labor

Maya Samuels-Fair and Seth Finnegan

In this study, we measure colony fecundity in a population of Recent neocheilostome bryozoan specimens of the species Parasmittina eccentrica Winston & Jackson, 2021 and quantify the nonrandom spatial arrangement of ovicells due to colony organization. 

While there is much to be learned about neocheilostome ovicell arrangement across taxa and environments, we can robustly estimate fecundity from small fossil fragments even in extinct neocheilostome species.

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