Favorite articles of 2017

 2017 is nearing its end and its time to release our favorite articles of the year. Clearly my list is a personal one which is mostly focused on invertebrates (with some exceptions) as this is where my heart lies. It also is not necessarily exhaustive as I was quite busy this year with teaching and supervising leaving less time to be up-to-date with the literature.This being said these are the articles I enjoyed reading most this year:
 
 
Favorite Articles of the year
 
1) Dunn, F. S., Liu, A. G., & Donoghue, P. C.  J. (2017). Ediacaran developmental biology. Biological Reviews; doi: 10.1111/brv.12379
 
2) Hautmann, M., Ware, D., & Bucher, H. (2017). Geologically oldest oysters were epizoans on Early Triassic ammonoids. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 83(3), 253-260; doi: 10.1093/mollus/eyx018
 
3) Puttick, M. N., Kriwet, J., Wen, W., Hu, S., Thomas, G. H., & Benton, M. J. (2017). Body length of bony fishes was not a selective factor during the biggest mass extinction of all time. Palaeontology, 60(5), 727-741; doi: 10.1111/pala.12309
 
4) Eriksson, M. E., Parry, L. A. & Rudkin, D. M. (2017). Earth’s oldest ‘Bobbit worm’ – gigantism in a Devonian eunicidan polychaete. Scientific Reports 7, 43061; doi: 10.1038/srep43061
 
5) Ferrón, H. G., Martínez-Pérez, C. & Botella, H. (2017). Ecomorphological inferences in early vertebrates: reconstructing Dunkleosteus terrelli (Arthrodira, Placodermi) caudal fin from palaeoecological data. PeerJ, 5:e4081; doi:  10.7717/peerj.4081
 
6) Trenchard, H., Brett, C. E. & Perc, M. (2017). Trilobite ‘pelotons’: possible hydrodynamic drag effects between leading and following trilobites in trilobite queues. Palaeontology, 60, 557–569; doi: 10.1111/pala.12301
 
7) Tanner, A. R., Fuchs, D., Winkelmann, I. E., Gilbert, M. T. P., Pankey, M. S., Ribeiro, Â. M., Kocot, K. M., Halanych, K. M., Oakley, T. H. & Pisani, D. (2017). Molecular clocks indicate turnover and diversification of modern coleoid cephalopods during the Mesozoic Marine Revolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284 (1850), 20162818; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2818
 
8) Bomfleur B, Grimm GW, McLoughlin S. (2017) The fossil Osmundales (Royal Ferns)—a phylogenetic network analysis, revised taxonomy, and evolutionary classification of anatomically preserved trunks and rhizomes. PeerJ, 5:e3433; doi: 10.7717/peerj.3433
 
9) Herrera-Flores, J. A., Stubbs, T. L. & Benton, M. J. (2017). Macroevolutionary patterns in Rhynchocephalia: is the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) a living fossil? Palaeontology, 60, 319–328; doi: 10.1111/pala.12284
 
10) Hannisdal, B., Haaga, K. A., Reitan, T., Diego, D., & Liow, L. H. (2017, July). Common species link global ecosystems to climate change: dynamical evidence in the planktonic fossil record. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 284 (1858), 20170722; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0722
 
My favorite articles I handled for PeerJ this year:

Cau A. (2017). Specimen-level phylogenetics in paleontology using the Fossilized Birth-Death model with sampled ancestors. PeerJ, 5:e3055; doi: 10.7717/peerj.3055

Brocklehurst N. (2017). Rates of morphological evolution in Captorhinidae: an adaptive radiation of Permian herbivores. PeerJ, 5:e3200; doi: 10.7717/peerj.3200
 
 
2017 for my lab:
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We managed to publish 5 articles this year. I am particularly proud of my former bachelor students (Benjamin Gügel, Julia Stilkerich) and former master student (Thomas Clements) which managed to get their research published this year.

• Clements, T., Colleary, C., De Baets, K., Vinther, J. 2017. Buoyancy mechanisms limit preservation of coleoid cephalopod soft tissues in Mesozoic Lagerstätten. Palaeontology 60: 1–14. doi: 10.1111/pala.12267​
  
• Gügel, B., De Baets, K., Jerjen, I., Schütz, P., Klug, C. 2017. A new subdisarticulated machaeridian from the Middle Devonian of China: Insights into taphonomy and taxonomy using X-ray Microtomography and 3D-Analysis. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 62 (2): 237–247. doi: 10.4202/app.00346.2017. Editor´s Choice.
• Stilkerich, J., Smrecak, T. A., De Baets, K. 2017. 3D-Analysis of a non-planispiral ammonoid from the Hunsrück Slate: natural or pathological variation? PeerJ 5:e3526. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3526
  

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My own personal favorite is the paper where we demonstrate that at least two lineages of orthoconic nautiloids had a bimineralic calcitic-aragonitic shell like several lineages of bivalves and gastropods. This is quite unexpected as it is commonly assumed that all cephalopods had an aragonitic phragmocone wall, which has even been seen as an evolutionary advantage. It was quite a surprise to me, when co-author Axel Munnecke showed me some of the material of Dawsonoceras he discovered for the first time. However, it also explains the better preservation of the shell of Spyroceras (compared to other cephalopods) which I collected during my PhD in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco. 

• De Baets, K., Munnecke, A. 2017. Evidence for Paleozoic orthoconic cephalopods with bimineralic shells. Palaeontology. doi: 10.1111/pala.12343
• Klug, C., Frey, L., Pohle, A., De Baets, K., Korn, D. 2017. Palaeozoic Evolution of Animal Mouthparts. Bulletin of Geosciences. doi:  10.3140/bull.geosci.1648