DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogeny and Cretaceous Biogeography of Gondwanan Mesoeucrocodylia

论文研究：冈瓦纳中真鳄鱼的系统发育和白垩纪生物地理学

• 批准号: 1011302
• 负责人: David Krause
• 金额: $ 1.5万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1011302&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Phylogeny; Cretaceous; Biogeography

Crocodyliforms, ancestors of living crocodiles, were an incredibly diverse group of terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates that represent an ideal, but often overlooked, taxonomic group for biogeographic analyses. An abundance of new crocodyliform fossils from poorly sampled southern hemisphere landmasses promises to assist in addressing major gaps in knowledge concerning the biogeographic and plate tectonic history of the southern supercontinent Gondwana. Unfortunately, the evolutionary relationships of crocodyliforms are still unsettled, thus preventing meaningful biogeographic interpretation. This project seeks to clarify the evolutionary history of crocodyliforms through phylogenetic analysis; it involves critical reexamination of previously described crocodyliform species and the inclusion of new species in a comprehensive analysis.Given the accessibility of fossil vertebrates to the public, this study provides an engaging mechanism for relating evolutionary and biogeographic questions to a wider audience. Moreover, this study will contribute to future research through the production of fossil casts and detailed morphological descriptions, images, and CT scans to be made available to other researchers. The phylogenetic dataset produced for this project will form the foundation for future work in crocodyliform evolutionary relationships. This study will also critically compare competing methods in biogeographic analysis through a comparative analysis that will provide the groundwork for ongoing investigations.

鳄形动物是现存鳄鱼的祖先，是一个种类繁多的陆生和水生脊椎动物群体，是生物地理分析中一个理想的、但经常被忽视的分类群体。来自南半球大陆样本不足的大量新鳄鱼形化石有望帮助解决有关南部超大陆冈瓦纳的生物地理和板块构造历史的主要知识空白。不幸的是，鳄鱼形的进化关系仍然不确定，因此阻碍了有意义的生物地理学解释。该项目旨在通过系统发育分析阐明鳄鱼形动物的进化史；它涉及对先前描述的鳄鱼形物种进行批判性的重新检查，并在综合分析中纳入新物种。鉴于脊椎动物化石对公众的可访问性，本研究为将进化和生物地理问题与更广泛的受众联系起来提供了一个引人入胜的机制。此外，本研究将有助于未来的研究，通过生产化石模型和详细的形态描述，图像和CT扫描提供给其他研究人员。为这个项目产生的系统发育数据集将为鳄鱼形进化关系的未来工作奠定基础。本研究还将通过比较分析对生物地理分析中的竞争方法进行批判性比较，这将为正在进行的调查提供基础。