Close
"To develop a new, illustrated phylogenetic dataset for early crocodylomorphs, incorporating novel data from the first-hand study of fossil specimens."
PhD project title:
Phylogenetic Relationships and Ecomorphological Diversification of Early Crocodylomorphs.
Project description:
Living crocodylians are the remnants of a once much more diverse clade, Crocodylomorpha, which first appeared in the late Triassic. Although the radiation of early crocodylomorphs is well documented, the evolutionary relationships among members of this group remain contentious. As a result of having an unresolved phylogeny, our ability to investigate the dynamics of the group’s evolutionary history is somewhat restricted.
As has recently been demonstrated by work on other parts of the crocodylomorph tree, many of the issues related to poorly resolved phylogenies are tractable through improved taxon and character sampling, including via standardized approaches to character construction. As such, a central goal of my work is to develop a new, illustrated phylogenetic dataset for early crocodylomorphs, incorporating novel data from the first-hand study of fossil specimens (inc. CT scans, revealing internal anatomy) to produce a new hypothesis for the group’s evolutionary relationships. This phylogeny will then be applied to address questions related to the ecomorphological diversification of the group.