Jennifer Harman, Editor of BMC Zoology and BMC Ecology and Evolution, was pleased to attend the 85th Annual Meeting of the Society for Vertebrate Palaeontology (SVP), held this year in rainy Birmingham. Despite the weather, over 1,200 delegates from over 40 countries attended, many sporting themed outfits that set the tone for a lively event. The four-day programme included field trips to local paleontological sites, such as the Jurassic Coast, and featured 311 talks and 565 poster presentations. Topics ranged from ancient biomolecules to paleo-robotics, highlighting the diverse research approaches being used in vertebrate palaeontology today.

Here, Jennifer Harman shares her highlights.

The Isle of Skye: A Window into the Middle Jurassic

At this year's meeting, several speakers described exciting discoveries from vertebrate assemblages worldwide. Among them, new research on fossils and trackways from a sequence of Middle Jurassic sedimentary rocks found on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, stood out. Known as the Great Estuarine group, the rocks represent a series of coastal, lagoonal, and shallow marine environments deposited ~170–166 million years ago. 

Professor Richard Butler (University of Birmingham), meeting co-host, presented new fossils from vertebrate beds of the Kilmaluag Formation, a part of the Great Estuarine group. The formation has yielded a remarkable variety of fossils from the Middle Jurassic, including dinosaurs, pterosaurs, early mammals, amphibians, turtles, and crocodylomorphs. Such finds are particularly valuable because Middle Jurassic vertebrates are poorly sampled in the fossil record. The Middle Jurassic was an important period in animal evolution, during which many major groups diversified. By the Late Jurassic, this expansion had produced a wealth of new species that would continue into the Cretaceous. Skye’s exceptionally preserved fossils provide rare insights into this evolutionary burst, highlighting the island’s growing importance for understanding vertebrate evolution and ecosystems during this period. It was fascinating to hear Richard describe new field discoveries using multimodal imaging techniques. When asked about his personal highlights from the meeting, Richard said: “It was wonderful to be able to welcome the world’s vertebrate palaeontologists to Birmingham, for only the second time that SVP has visited the UK in 85 years. It was an amazing opportunity to share our exciting new discoveries from the Isle of Skye with the community and to showcase some of the UK’s incredible fossil heritage. We’ve had great feedback that will inspire further discoveries and new collaborations.” 

Another highlight came from Tone Blakesley (The Open University), who presented his research on theropod footprints from Skye. His study, recently published in Royal Society Open Science (DOI: 10.1098/rsos.251016), builds on decades of paleontological work on the island, describing and characterising 185 tracks from the Kilmaluag Formation and the Valtos Sandstone Formation. By categorising these into four main morphotypes, Tone established a new Hebridean theropod morphotype scheme. His findings reveal clear patterns in the distribution of specific morphotypes across contrasting environments—higher-energy coastal settings in the Valtos Sandstone versus more sheltered lagoonal conditions in the Kilmaluag Formation. While behavioural interpretations were necessarily cautious, a handful of multi-track-bearing slabs offered rare insights into the possible activities undertaken by dinosaurs of different sizes within these landscapes.

Tone paid tribute to his late colleague and mentor, Dugie Ross, who first identified dinosaur footprints on Skye in the mid-1960s and went on to found the Staffin Dinosaur Museum in 1976 at just 19 years old. Tone reflected, "Dugie was instrumental in inspiring a generation of palaeontologists who visited Skye, including myself. Being able to share Dugie’s legacy and enthusiasm for communicating the island’s prehistoric heritage was a major highlight, especially considering all he has done for me over the years.” He added, “The atmosphere at SVP was highly uplifting; everyone was positive about each other's work and expressed genuine interest. Sharing my research with various academics and learning about their projects has led me to initiate a few collaborations, particularly regarding a new footprint-related app we presented and will be publishing soon - where we are looking for new users.

This growing recognition of Skye’s paleontological importance aligns with recent work published in the 'Evolution of Vertebrate Flight' Collection in BMC Ecology and Evolution, which describes Dearc sgiathanach. This Middle Jurassic pterosaur hunted along Jurassic shorelines and lagoons 170 million years ago. Pterosaurs were the first vertebrates to evolve active flight. However, the limited number of well-preserved pterosaur fossils hampers our understanding of their functional anatomy and behaviour, particularly in the Middle Jurassic. By the Cretaceous (145.5–66 million years ago), some pterosaurs had developed enormous wingspans exceeding 10 meters (33 feet). Using photography and high-resolution X-ray microtomography, the study revealed scarring on the deltopectoral crest, indicating that Dearc sgiathanach had large pectoral muscles for flying and hunting. Compared to other recently discovered pterosaurs from Skye, Dearc represents an important ‘stepping stone’ in pterosaur evolution, illustrating a gradual transition towards larger, more land-capable, and morphologically diverse forms.

Reassessing the Paleoecology of the La Venta mammal assemblage

Juan Carrillo (Museum national d'Histoire naturelle) presented new work on the La Venta fossil site in Colombia. Its Middle–Late Miocene fauna captures a time when South America was still isolated, offering paleoenvironmental insights before the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) when South and North America became connected by a land bridge.

Juan discussed that most paleoenvironmental interpretations of La Venta have been based on material from a single, heavily sampled layer - the Monkey Beds (~12 Ma). New stratigraphic analyses, however, show that fossil-bearing layers span 16–10.5 Ma, revealing a more extensive fossil record and a richer picture of Miocene environments and biodiversity.

I recognised Juan’s name from a recent BMC Zoology paper, which described new litoptern fossils from La Venta. These finds provide new anatomical details for this extinct group of South American hoofed mammals and included a comparative analysis of North and South American herbivore faunas before and after GABI. The study showed that pre-interchange South American communities were more ecologically diverse, with small arboreal browsers and species with ever-growing teeth, than their North American counterparts.

Juan highlighted the importance of hosting SVP meetings outside the USA, stating that "palaeontology is truly international, so it provides an opportunity to meet palaeontologists who may not often get the chance to travel to the USA." This year's meeting marked only the third time in its 85-year history that it has been held in Europe, so I was personally delighted to be able to attend this year being based in the UK. He added, "Although I understand there are likely logistical challenges, I hope that someday the SVP meeting can be held in the Global South."

New Insights into Ichthyosaur Biology and Evolution

The call for broader international representation for future SVP meetings was underscored by some fantastic speakers from scientists based in the Global South. For example, Judith Pardo-Pérez, a palaeontologist at the University of Magallanes in Chile, delivered an engaging talk about her discovery of a rare, pregnant ichthyosaur, a Mesozoic marine reptile that gave birth to live young. Dr. Pardo-Pérez and her team unearthed “Fiona,” a nearly 4-meter-long specimen, from melting ice at the Tyndall Glacier's edge in Patagonia, located within Torres del Paine National Park. Dating back around 131 million years to the Early Cretaceous period, Fiona is the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton ever excavated in Chile. Notably, she retained fossilized remains of two foetuses, making her the only known example of a pregnant ichthyosaur from this time period. Her stomach even held her last meal, small fish bones preserved in her stomach. CT scans of Fiona revealed anatomical structures still encased within the rock, as well as signs of healed injuries on her bones. This discovery offers insights into ichthyosaur reproduction, diet, ecology, and even their health. Finally published after meticulous excavation under extreme weather conditions, Fiona’s findings illuminate the biology of marine reptiles in a region and time period that have been largely underexplored in the fossil record.  

Reflecting on her experience at SVP, Dr. Pardo-Pérez shared: "The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has played a defining role in my scientific career. At the 2011 SVP meeting, I met Dr. Erin Maxwell — now my long-term collaborator and one of the scientists who joined our expedition to excavate the pregnant ichthyosaur ‘Fiona’ in Patagonia. Although living at the end of the world makes it difficult for me to attend SVP every year, reconnecting with colleagues and friends in Birmingham was truly meaningful. It was inspiring to hear the talks, explore the posters, and see the diverse range of technologies being applied across paleontology. Receiving thorough feedback from colleagues on my student's poster was especially valuable. I hope that, in the future, SVP might also explore hosting a meeting in the Southern Hemisphere, where many wonderful research communities are making exciting discoveries."

I also had the pleasure of seeing Dr Feiko Meidema (University of Oslo) speak, a researcher who has published extensively on ichthyosaurs, including in BMC Ecology and Evolution. His paper, "Heads or tails first? Evolution of fetal orientation in ichthyosaurs, with a scrutiny of the prevailing hypothesis," investigates how ichthyosaur embryos were positioned in the womb. The prevailing theory had long been that fetuses were born tail-first as an adaptation to underwater birth, reducing the risk of asphyxiation. In his study, Meidema and colleagues examined three fossils: two showed tail-first fetal orientation, while one was head-first. By comparing ichthyosaurs to other viviparous reptiles, both living and extinct, as well as aquatic mammals, they concluded that asphyxiation risk was unlikely to drive fetal orientation. Instead, body shape, pelvic girdle width, and neck flexibility likely determined how embryos were positioned during birth.

At the meeting, Meidema shared insights from his ongoing research into how the pelvic girdle of ichthyosaurs adapted to multiple functions, including swimming and giving birth. He highlighted how subtle modifications in the pelvic bones allowed these reptiles to maintain hydrodynamic efficiency while accommodating live offspring. When asked about his personal highlights, he commented that “seeing the micro-CT scans of Fiona firsthand was incredible”.

With such an exceptional and diverse programme, it is impossible to include every highlight in this blog. What was clear, however, is that attendees left Birmingham inspired, full of new questions to explore, fresh ideas for future research, and strengthened connections across the global palaeontological community.