RUI: Osteology and Phylogeny of Early Tertiary Perissodactyls (Mammalia) of Eurasia

欧亚大陆早第三纪亲趾龙（哺乳类）的骨骼学与系统发育罗文大学的Holbrook博士获得了一项研究基金，以研究不同类群的亲趾龙之间的关系。异趾龙是一组哺乳动物，包括现存的马、犀牛和貘，以及许多可以追溯到5500万年前的化石。虽然人们对前趾龙很熟悉，但对它们的起源和进化模式却知之甚少。其中一个原因是，我们在全球许多地方都发现了异趾龙化石，很少有研究试图在他们的调查中涵盖这种广泛的地理分布。另一个原因是，多年来，牙齿是大多数前趾龙化石中已知的唯一标本，所以大多数分析都局限于研究牙齿特征。因此，这项研究将实现两个目标。首先，它将提供最广泛的来自北美和欧亚异趾趾类的数据组合，涵盖早期异趾趾类多样化的两个最重要的领域。其次，它将包括以前被忽视的背趾解剖学领域的数据，特别是头骨和颅后骨骼。在这项研究的过程中，霍尔布鲁克博士和他的学生将研究在北美和欧亚大陆的博物馆中发现的化石和活的异趾龙标本，包括美国、英国、法国、比利时、德国、俄罗斯和中国的收藏。他们将检查这些标本的牙齿、头骨和骨骼的其他元素，寻找不同的前趾类共有的特征，这将有助于阐明它们之间的关系。最终，这些数据将由计算机进行分析，以确定最佳支持的关系假设。一旦研究了准指龙的进化模式，霍尔布鲁克博士和他的同事们将利用这些信息来研究有关准指龙进化的其他问题，特别是通过地质时期，准指龙是如何分布在各个大陆上的。在整个研究过程中，本科生将与霍尔布鲁克博士一起工作，并学习大量关于脊椎动物古生物学的科学过程和技术。这个背景将为学生的研究生学习做准备，包括作为科学家的学术训练。这项工作的结果最终将在国家和国际科学会议上提出，并在科学期刊上发表。

ABSTRACTOsteology and Phylogeny of Early Tertiary Perissodactyls (Mammalia) of Eurasia A grant has been awarded to Dr. Holbrook at Rowan University to study how different groups of perissodactyls are related to one another. Perissodactyls are a group of mammals that includes the living horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs, as well as a host of fossils that date back to as early as about 55 million years ago. Although perissodactyls are well known, their origins and the pattern of their evolution is not well understood. One reason for this is that fossil perissodactyls are known from many parts of the globe, and few studies have even attempted to cover this broad geographic distribution in their investigations. Another reason is that, for many years, teeth were the only specimens known for most fossil perissodactyls, so most analyses limited themselves to studying tooth characteristics. This study will therefore accomplish two goals. First, it will provide the most extensive combination of data from North American and Eurasian perissodactyls, covering the two most important areas of early perissodactyl diversification. Second, it will include data from previous neglected areas of perissodactyl anatomy, specifically the skull and the postcranial skeleton. During the course of this study, Dr. Holbrook and his students will examine specimens of fossil and living perissodactyls found in museums throughout North America and Eurasia, including collections in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia, and China. They will examine teeth, skulls, and other elements of the skeletons of these specimens looking for features shared by different perissodactyls that will help elucidate their relationships. Ultimately, these data will be analyzed by computer in order to determine the best supported hypothesis of relationships. Once the pattern of perissodactyl evolution has been investigated, Dr. Holbrook and his colleagues will use this information to investigate other questions regarding perissodactyl evolution, in particular how perissodactyls came to be distributed on the various continents through geologic time. Throughout the course of this study, undergraduate students will be working with Dr. Holbrook and learning a great deal about the process of science and the techniques of vertebrate paleontology. This background will prepare the students for postgraduate study, including academic training as scientists. The results of this work will ultimately be presented at national and international scientific meetings and published in scientific journals.