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Lizzy Steell

@lizzysteell.bsky.social

135 followers 112 following 35 posts

Birds 🦜 Passerines 🐦 Fossils 🦴 Macroevolution Post-doc at Girton College and Cambridge University (Sarah Woodhead Research Fellow in Earth Science)

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I am finally processing some photos from a long trip last year so I might share the odd cute little guy here 🐦‍⬛ Andean Emerald, July 2025, Reserva Sutú, Colombia #birding #birdphotography #hummingbird

An Andean Emerald hummingbird sits on a thin branch with green moss hanging off it. The bird has a bright white belly and throat, a long straight beak, tiny feet, beady black eyes, an indigo iridescent face and crown, and a bright shiny emerald head and neck.

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Eurasian Jay posing for the camera this weekend ☺️ #birding #photography

A beautiful Eurasian jay sits upright on a branch with a blue sky background

Another jay sits amongst the autumn leaves changing colour

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

We estimated the mass of A. gracilis at ~33g, which would make it the smallest of all bowerbirds. Living bowerbirds range from ~62g-292g. Our fossil bird would be about the same size as the NZ Bellbird, but with longer feet. 📸 New Zealand Bellbird. © Daniel J. Field @fieldpalaeo.bsky.social (7/11)

A photo of a New Zealand Bellbird, a member of the honeyeater family. Photo by Daniel J Field

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Aeviperditus gracilis has a foot most similar to the avenue bowerbird clade. Bowerbirds are famous for their colourfully decorated bowers, which males of many species build to attract mates. 📸 Satin Bowerbird at his avenue bower decorated in blue. © Daniel J. Field @fieldpalaeo.bsky.social (6/11)

A Satin Bowerbird attending to his avenue bower which is highly decorated with bright blue objects. Photo taken by Daniel J Field, used with permission.

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

A trait similarity analysis revealed it was very similar in shape to the bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchidae) from Australia and New Guinea, which are not endemic in New Zealand or known from the NZ fossil record! (5/11)

A colourful bar plot to show similarity with the fossil with different passerine species colour coded by clade. There are insets with different species' tarsometatarsi showing different morphologies.

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Unfortunately it was broken at the proximal end, but the proportions are long and gracile, hence 'gracilis' in the species name. We compared it to all the endemic NZ passerine species, but nothing was similar. Scratching our heads, we looked further afield to Australian species. (4/11)

A figure of several drawings of different tarsometatarsi in different views

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Our new fossil was described from a single 3D well preserved foot (tarsometatarsus). The bone is from a small passerine, and only measures about ~3cm in length. Micro-CT scanning meant we could study it in greater detail than under a microscope. (3/11)

A figure of the new fossil tarsometatarsus in different angles, showing how elongate it is

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

🦴New fossil alert🦴 Introducing Aeviperditus gracilis, a possible bowerbird from the Miocene of New Zealand. My first fossil description! Artwork by the amazing Sasha Votyakova (Te Papa CC-BY-SA) (🧵1/11)

An artist's reconstruction of the St Bathans bowerbird. A small bird with long feet, coloured in dark olive green and yellow plumage, with a bright yellow eye. It's holding a thin twig in it's thick, sturdy beak and the bird is perched on a stick.

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

A happy afternoon practicing some warbler photography in @rspb.bsky.social Fen Drayton 😊

A photo of a sedge warbler singing, perching in some dead twigs with a dark green background

A reed warbler perches amongst the reeds and peeks out

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Finally, we explored the effect of relative homoplasy on discrete morphospace and artificially increased homoplasy in simulated matrices. (6/n)

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Lizzy Steell @lizzysteell.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

RHI differs from other methods like RI (retention index) and HER (homoplasy excess ratio) in being generally better at detecting differences between datasets when homoplasy levels are high. (3/n)

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