In biological sciences, morphology is the branch that studies the form, external structure, and macroscopic organization of organisms and their parts, independent of function. It encompasses comparative morphology, which analyzes homologous structures across taxa; functional morphology, which relates structural features to mechanical or biomechanical constraints; and developmental morphology, which examines changes in form during ontogeny. Morphological data, including body plans, organ systems, and patterning of tissues, are central to systematics, phylogenetic inference, and taxonomy, and are integrated with molecular and genetic information to elucidate evolutionary relationships, phenotypic variation, and constraints on organismal design.
European brown bears are masters of survival: These animals have weathered Pleistocene climate fluctuations and survived the cycles of ice ages and interglacial periods to the present day. Zoologists have now investigated ...
Evolution
Jul 1, 2026
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Over 300 million years ago, a minnow-sized fish died and fell to the bottom of a prehistoric swamp near the village of Trawden, Lancashire, in northwest England. The remains of this tiny fish—known as Trawdenia planti—became ...
Evolution
Jun 30, 2026
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Although modern crocodiles, alligators, caimans and gharials are restricted to the tropics, their fossil record tells a very different story. Ancient crocodylians once inhabited much of the globe and exhibited a remarkable ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 29, 2026
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The tight fit of a baby's head through a mother's birth canal, which causes great difficulty in childbirth, is not unique to humans, as previously understood. Instead, some small-bodied primate babies have heads almost twice ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 29, 2026
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A new Cornell University study helps deepen the understanding of skull shapes in dogs of different sizes and draws a link between cranial and facial shapes, body weight, and the risk of syringomyelia, a spinal condition common ...
Veterinary medicine
Jun 25, 2026
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Cells can spontaneously change shape even without external signals, but the underlying mechanisms behind this form of self-organization have remained unclear. Now, researchers from Japan have discovered self-propelled treadmilling ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 25, 2026
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Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to fly, would have had more diverse wing shapes than current scientific reconstructions suggest, according to new University of Bristol-led research. The study is published in the journal ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 23, 2026
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For her doctoral dissertation, Yale's Nathalie Alomar decided to study a small amphibian that appeared to have eluded the forces of evolution. She found that there is more to its evolution than meets the eye.
Plants & Animals
Jun 23, 2026
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Many animals exhibit fascinating collective behaviors, which allow them to move, search for food, reproduce and avoid threats more effectively than they would alone. One of these behaviors is queuing migration, which essentially ...
The body size, morphology and associated behavioral traits of flower-visiting insects strongly influence the quantity of pollen they transport. Thus, pollinators with similar appearances are often assumed to exert similar ...
Evolution
Jun 16, 2026
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