Team

My research programme focuses on the joint application of an array of state-of-the-art techniques in palaeobiology to elucidate the scenarios in which some of the major evolutionary transitions of animals took place.

I have particular interest in the emergence of vertebrates, the evolution of gigantism and endothermy, the establishment of coevolutionary relationships between flowering plants and modern pollinators, the colonization of land by animals, and the nature of organismal evolution (contingency vs determinism), among other topics. Currently, I hold a Ramon y Cajal fellowship in the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology in the University of Valencia (Spain).

Testing competing hypotheses about the agnathan-gnathostome Devonian turnover using biomechanical and phylogenetic comparative methods.

Working on Cenozoic shark faunas of the Mediterranean basin and their diversity patterns linked to key geological events.

Evaluating competing hypotheses on organismal evolution using marine tetrapods as a model system.

Evaluating selectivity in bass extinctions of Mollusca.

Evaluating Riedl’s Burden hypothesis through anatomical network analysis in turtles.

Investigating the macroevolutionary dynamics and trade-offs of tetrapodomorph hydrodynamics during the vertebrate transition from water to land.

Disentangling the early evolutionary history of bats through phylogenetically informed reconstruction of flight capabilities, habitat preferences, and the origin and diversification of echolocation using the fossil record.

Investigating major palaeobiogeographic patterns in pterosaur evolution through the vicariance–dispersal debate using the BioGeoBEARS R package.

Testing competing hypotheses of extinction risk associated with extreme morphologies using Fourier analysis, geometric morphometrics, and PyRate.

Investigating the evolutionary history and functional biomechanics of megatooth sharks using high-resolution 3D scanning and printing, compression experiments, and ballistic gel modeling to reconstruct dental performance through deep time.

Testing hypotheses on the Devonian decline of agnathan vertebrates in relation to eurypterid expansion using PyRate and DeepDive.

Exploring the interplay between specialization and taxon longevity in Paleozoic agnathans using simulation techniques.

(2024) The evolutionary origin of teeth

(2025) The aerodynamic role of scales in the wings of lepidopterans (in Spanish)

(2025) Mammalian evolution during the Miocene Climatic Optimum

(2024) Paleobiological implications of the first stylophoran (Echinodermata) from the Iberian Furongian (Cambrian) (in Spanish)

(2024) Computational fluid dynamics of theropod dinosaurs

(2023) Functional aspects of the headshield processes in Ostracoderms