Dr Stephan Lautenschlager
@palaeostephan.bsky.social
Associate Professor in Palaeobiology @ University of Birmingham,
Research Lead @ Lapworth Museum of Geology,
vertebrate palaeontologist, dinosaurs, digital visualisation, biomechanics & functional morphology
🦕🐶🌱🇪🇺
Research Lead @ Lapworth Museum of Geology,
vertebrate palaeontologist, dinosaurs, digital visualisation, biomechanics & functional morphology
🦕🐶🌱🇪🇺
Honoured to have contributed to a new paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social led by Mario Bronzati and lots of excellent and brainy (yes, pun intended) colleagues, showing that pterosaurs and birds evolved flight-capable brains but in different ways. www.cell.com/current-biol...
November 27, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Honoured to have contributed to a new paper in @currentbiology.bsky.social led by Mario Bronzati and lots of excellent and brainy (yes, pun intended) colleagues, showing that pterosaurs and birds evolved flight-capable brains but in different ways. www.cell.com/current-biol...
#SVP2025 was finally an opportunity to show the excellent reconstructions of Dysalotosaurus created by @dragonsofwales.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
#SVP2025 was finally an opportunity to show the excellent reconstructions of Dysalotosaurus created by @dragonsofwales.bsky.social
If you are attending #SVP2025 #2025SVP make sure to visit the stall of the @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social for some exclusive merchandise featuring some jawless fish designs!
November 12, 2025 at 11:19 AM
If you are attending #SVP2025 #2025SVP make sure to visit the stall of the @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social for some exclusive merchandise featuring some jawless fish designs!
Attending #2025SVP #SVP2025? Interested in Palaeozoic fish and temnospondyls, dinosaurs old and new, sabre-tooth cats, biomechanics, biogeography, museum ethics, etc? Don't look any further, the Lautenschlager Lab got you covered - thanks to a lot of hard work by students, post-docs and colleagues!
November 10, 2025 at 12:32 PM
This study demonstrates that sabre-tooth canine shape is exceptionally diverse. A functional analysis of theoretical and actual tooth shapes shows that these canines represent a compromise between sharpness, curvature, and length vs. robustness and material investment.
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This study demonstrates that sabre-tooth canine shape is exceptionally diverse. A functional analysis of theoretical and actual tooth shapes shows that these canines represent a compromise between sharpness, curvature, and length vs. robustness and material investment.
The second paper (based on the 3rd-year project of former student Caitlin Shelbourne) explores the shape diversity of the eponymous canine teeth across different sabre-tooth groups.
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The second paper (based on the 3rd-year project of former student Caitlin Shelbourne) explores the shape diversity of the eponymous canine teeth across different sabre-tooth groups.
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Our results show that Barbourofelis was a force to be reckoned with and that its skull could withstand higher stresses than that of Smilodon hinting at a more generalist behaviour to subdue prey.
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Our results show that Barbourofelis was a force to be reckoned with and that its skull could withstand higher stresses than that of Smilodon hinting at a more generalist behaviour to subdue prey.
The first paper (with co-authors @bortxaf.bsky.social and Shane West) investigates the feeding biomechanics of the “false sabre-tooth cat” Barbourofelis and how it compares to the iconic Smilodon:
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The first paper (with co-authors @bortxaf.bsky.social and Shane West) investigates the feeding biomechanics of the “false sabre-tooth cat” Barbourofelis and how it compares to the iconic Smilodon:
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Very happy to have contributed two papers to this Special Issue on Sabertooths:
October 9, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Very happy to have contributed two papers to this Special Issue on Sabertooths:
The bite force is strong with this one!
Reposting our recent study by @taphonomist.bsky.social and myself investigating the biomechanics and bite of the Rancor. jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i... in @jgeekstudies.bsky.social
Happy May the 4th!!!!
#StarWarsDay #StarWars #MayThe4thBeWithYou
Reposting our recent study by @taphonomist.bsky.social and myself investigating the biomechanics and bite of the Rancor. jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i... in @jgeekstudies.bsky.social
Happy May the 4th!!!!
#StarWarsDay #StarWars #MayThe4thBeWithYou
May 4, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The bite force is strong with this one!
Reposting our recent study by @taphonomist.bsky.social and myself investigating the biomechanics and bite of the Rancor. jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i... in @jgeekstudies.bsky.social
Happy May the 4th!!!!
#StarWarsDay #StarWars #MayThe4thBeWithYou
Reposting our recent study by @taphonomist.bsky.social and myself investigating the biomechanics and bite of the Rancor. jgeekstudies.org/2025/03/08/i... in @jgeekstudies.bsky.social
Happy May the 4th!!!!
#StarWarsDay #StarWars #MayThe4thBeWithYou
An interesting change from reconstructing dinosaurs and other terrestrial animals... My digital restoration and reconstruction of the cyathaspid heterostracan Anglaspis heintzi from our new paper (see below). #FossilFish #DigitalReconstruction #Palaeontology
April 28, 2025 at 12:18 PM
An interesting change from reconstructing dinosaurs and other terrestrial animals... My digital restoration and reconstruction of the cyathaspid heterostracan Anglaspis heintzi from our new paper (see below). #FossilFish #DigitalReconstruction #Palaeontology
Results for the stress distribution of the Rancor's skull and lower jaw show that they only experience moderate stresses. The skeleton of the Rancor was therefore well equipped for biting through tough objects.
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Results for the stress distribution of the Rancor's skull and lower jaw show that they only experience moderate stresses. The skeleton of the Rancor was therefore well equipped for biting through tough objects.
But can the Rancor crush the bone? To test this, we used finite element analysis, an engineering technique that simulates what happens to objects under load. Stresses (shown in yellow and grey) are indeed high enough to exceed the yield strength of bone!
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
But can the Rancor crush the bone? To test this, we used finite element analysis, an engineering technique that simulates what happens to objects under load. Stresses (shown in yellow and grey) are indeed high enough to exceed the yield strength of bone!
To estimate the achievable jaw gape we can look at how far muscles can stretch. Muscles can extend a maximum of 170% of their resting length before they stop working (or tear). This leads to a gape of nearly 70 degrees and a jaw clearance of >1 m - enough to lodge a bone between the Rancor's jaws!
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
To estimate the achievable jaw gape we can look at how far muscles can stretch. Muscles can extend a maximum of 170% of their resting length before they stop working (or tear). This leads to a gape of nearly 70 degrees and a jaw clearance of >1 m - enough to lodge a bone between the Rancor's jaws!
However, is that force enough to crush a giant bone as used by Luke Skywalker to defend itself? And could the Rancor even open its jaws wide enough that such a bone could be used to keep it from biting down on the jedi knight?
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
However, is that force enough to crush a giant bone as used by Luke Skywalker to defend itself? And could the Rancor even open its jaws wide enough that such a bone could be used to keep it from biting down on the jedi knight?
Knowing how big the muscles are and where they attach allowed us to estimate the bite force of the Rancor. Our results show that a typical Rancor could bite with a force of 44,000 N. The only organism that comes close to that may have been a T. rex.
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Knowing how big the muscles are and where they attach allowed us to estimate the bite force of the Rancor. Our results show that a typical Rancor could bite with a force of 44,000 N. The only organism that comes close to that may have been a T. rex.
In a next step, we modelled the jaw closing muscles of the Rancor. We used the muscle attachments on the bones and the orientation of the skull and lower jaw as guides. Such digital muscle reconstructions are now often done in palaeontology to study skull function of fossil vertebrates.
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
In a next step, we modelled the jaw closing muscles of the Rancor. We used the muscle attachments on the bones and the orientation of the skull and lower jaw as guides. Such digital muscle reconstructions are now often done in palaeontology to study skull function of fossil vertebrates.
As the Rancor is a reptile-like organism we assumed that it would have a similar skull configuration and that the underlying skull is similar to the life appearance without extensive facial muscles and other soft-tissues obscuring the skull morphology too much.
March 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
As the Rancor is a reptile-like organism we assumed that it would have a similar skull configuration and that the underlying skull is similar to the life appearance without extensive facial muscles and other soft-tissues obscuring the skull morphology too much.