Welcome to the Coates Lab!

We sit at the crossroads of evolutionary developmental biology, paleobiology, and anatomy. Our research interests are wide-ranging, and broadly fall under the evolution and diversity of early vertebrates, as well as adding paleontological and comparative anatomy perspectives to evo-devo. We are also very interested in the use of new imaging and visualization technologies in our work, such as CT scanning and 3D printing.

NEWS

Tetsuto presents at SICB 2020!

Tetsuto presents at SICB 2020!

The Coates lab postdoc Tetsuto Miyashita traveled to Austin, TX for the annual meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), where he delivered a talk "The evolutionary origin of the filter-feeding larval phase in lampreys."  When Chicago...

“Great” trip to Great Lakes Student Paleoconference!

“Great” trip to Great Lakes Student Paleoconference!

Members of the Coates Lab traveled to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to present at the Great Lakes Student Paleoconference which hosted students from 7 institutions. Talks ranged from topics including reconstructing ecological communities, applying geometric...

Coates Lab attends SVP 2019!

Coates Lab attends SVP 2019!

We had a successful and fun trip to SVP in Brisbane this year! Ben Otoo presented a poster, "New Diversity in Early Tetrapod Hind Limbs" and Mike enraptured audiences with his talk, "Rethinking the Assembly of Chimaeroid Fishes." Rumor has it that both presentations...

Recent Publications

 

The postcranial anatomy of Whatcheeria deltae and its implications for the family Whatcheeriidae

Benjamin K A Otoo, John R Bolt, R Eric Lombard, Kenneth D Angielczyk, Michael I Coates. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2021; https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa182

The early elasmobranch Phoebodus: phylogenetic relationships, ecomorphology and a new time-scale for shark evolution.

Frey L, Coates M, Ginter M, Hairapetian V, Rücklin M, Jerjen I, Klug C. The early elasmobranch Phoebodus: phylogenetic relationships, ecomorphology and a new time-scale for shark evolution. Proc Biol Sci. 2019 Oct 09; 286(1912):20191336. PMID: 31575362

High-performance suction feeding in an early elasmobranch.

Coates MI, Tietjen K, Olsen AM, Finarelli JA. High-performance suction feeding in an early elasmobranch. Sci Adv. 2019 09; 5(9):eaax2742. PMID: 31535026

Hagfish from the Cretaceous Tethys Sea and a reconciliation of the morphological-molecular conflict in early vertebrate phylogeny.

Miyashita T, Coates MI, Farrar R, Larson P, Manning PL, Wogelius RA, Edwards NP, Anné J, Bergmann U, Palmer AR, Currie PJ. Hagfish from the Cretaceous Tethys Sea and a reconciliation of the morphological-molecular conflict in early vertebrate phylogeny. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 02 05; 116(6):2146-215. PMID: 30670644