Research Interest
Harrie (she/elle/sie) is a Postdoctoral Researcher, with a PhD in Palaeobiology from the University of Oxford (2019), and a Master’s degree in Palaeobiology with first-class honours from University College London (2014). Between her PhD and postdoc positions, she spent three years working in science education publishing for Oxford University Press, lastly as a Commissioning Editor. She is highly involved in palaeontological society work, as an elected member of The Palaeontological Association Council and the SCNAT Commission, and is an Associate Editor for the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. Her research can be divided into two main strands, united in reconstructing the ecologies and behaviours of extinct euarthropods, and their contribution to the group’s modern-day dominance. Firstly, she works on understanding the evolution and importance of euarthropod moulting behaviours, with an emphasis on the Palaeozoic fossil record, and is working towards the development of a database with public user interface recording all known euarthropod moulting data. This work is highly multidisciplinary, incorporating genomics, transcriptomics, and evo-devo techniques with fossil data. Secondly, she applies digital engineering methods to reconstruct the ecologies and behaviours of extinct euarthropods, including application of fluid dynamics simulations, laboratory groundtruthing studies, and planned development of novel methods integrating wave physics. Her work requires extensive collections work, specimen model digitisation, statistical analysis, coding, and database design. Get in touch if you’re interested in any of these topics!
Keywords
Euarthropoda, moulting, behaviour, Trilobita, Cambrian, Ordovician, morphometry, Computational Fluid Dynamics
Publications
Drage, H.B., Holmes, J.D., García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R. 2023. Associations between trilobite intraspecific moulting variability and body proportions: Estaingia bilobata from the Cambrian Emu Bay Shale, Australia. Palaeontology, 66 (6). doi: 10.1111/pala.12651
Laibl, L., Drage, H.B., Pérez-Peris, F., Schöder, S., Saleh, F. & Daley, A.C. Babies from the Fezouata: adaptations to high latitudes in the early developmental trilobite stages. Geobios. doi: 10.1016/j.geobios.2023.06.005
Drage, H.B. 2022. Trilobite moulting behaviour variability had little association with morphometry. BioRxiv preprint. doi: 10.1101/2022.12.12.520015
Feldsman, W.P., Campli, G., Dind, S., Rach de la Vale, V., Drage, H.B., Chipman, A.D., Waterhouse, R.M. & Robinson-Rechavi, M. 2022. Taxonbridge: an algorithm for the creation and analysis of custom taxonomies. R package. BioRxiv preprint. doi: 10.1101/2022.05.02.490269
Drage, H.B. 2019. Quantifying intra- and interspecific variability in trilobite moulting behaviour across the Palaeozoic. Palaeontologia Electronica 22. doi: 10.26879/940
Drage, H.B., Vandenbroucke, T., Van Roy, P. & Daley, A.C. 2019. Sequence of post-moult hardening preserved in a trilobite mass moult assemblage from the Lower Ordovician Fezouata Konservat-Lagerstätte, Morocco. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 64. doi: 10.4202/app.00582.2018
Drage, H.B., Laibl, L. & Budil, P. 2018. Post-embryonic development of Dalmanitina, and the evolution of facial suture fusion in Phacopina. Paleobiology 44. doi: 10.1017/pab.2018.31
Daley, A.C., Antcliffe, J.B., Drage, H.B. & Pates, S. 2018. The early fossil record of Euarthropoda, and the Cambrian Explosion. PNAS 115:21. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1719962115
Drage, H.B., Holmes, J.D., Garcia-Bellido, D.C. & Daley, A.C. 2018. Exceptionally variable trilobite moulting behaviour preserved in the Emu Bay Shale, South Australia. Lethaia 51. doi: 10.1111/let.12266
Daley, A.C. & Drage, H.B. 2016. The fossil record of ecdysis, and trends in the moulting behaviour of trilobites. Arthropod Structure & Development 45:2. doi: 10.1016/j.asd.2015.09.004