Biology subjects

Scheyer, T. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Scheyer, T. M..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

PALAEOROBOTICS UNCOVERS DEVASTATING MAMMALIAN TAIL STRIKE DYNAMICS

Extant animals occupy only a fraction of evolutionary design space, leaving many extinct morphologies without living analogues for functional testing. We combined comparative anatomy of 32 glyptodont species with a life-sized palaeorobotic tail rig to determine strike severity in club-tailed giant from the Pleistocene megafauna Doedicurus. The robophysical model, informed by fossil geometry and inertia, matched simulated fossil-tail collision momentum (98-105%) and generated peak forces of 81.1 kN at 6.4 m{middle dot}s-{superscript 1}, with an impulse of 427 N{middle dot}s, far exceeding equine extremity fracture forces. Peak force scaled near-linearly with strike velocity, implying [~]183 kN at projected top speed of 15 m{middle dot}s-{superscript 1}. Measurements suggest Doedicurus delivered high-severity strikes, supporting antipredator defence as primary selective driver of extreme tail weaponization, and establish palaeorobotic validation of extinct animal biomechanics.

bioengineering↗

bioRxiv2020

Antiquity and fundamental processes of the antler cycle in Cervidae (Mammalia)

The origins of the regenerative nature of antlers, being branched and deciduous apophyseal appendages of frontal bones of cervid artiodactyls, have long been associated with permanent evolutionary precursors. In this study, we provide novel insight into growth modes of evolutionary early antlers. We analysed a total of 34 early antlers affiliated to ten species, including the oldest known, dating from the early and middle Miocene (approx. 19 to 12 million years old) of Europe. Our findings provide empirical data from the fossil record to demonstrate that growth patterns and a regular cycle of necrosis, abscission and regeneration are consistent with data from modern antlers. The diverse histological analyses indicate that primary processes and mechanisms of the modern antler cycle were not gradually acquired during evolution, but were fundamental from the earliest record of antler evolution and, hence, explanations why deer shed antlers have to be rooted in basic histogenetic mechanisms.

evolutionary biology↗