The power of the neglected body: the importance of postcranial anatomy for our understanding of the ecology and evolution of the Rhynchocephalia (Lepidosauria)

被忽视的身体的力量：颅后解剖学对于我们理解喙头类（鳞龙类）的生态和进化的重要性

• 批准号: 425473090
• 负责人: Dr. Frank Glaw
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Sektion Paläontologie und Geobiologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/425473090?language=en
• 关键词: power; neglected; body; importance; postcranial

The Rhynchocephalia are one of the two main lineages of the Lepidosauria. They represent the sister taxon to the Squamata (lizards and snakes), one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates today. However, in contrast to squamates, rhynchocephalians are today represented by a single species, Sphenodon punctatus, the tuatara of New Zealand. In contrast, during the Mesozoic, rhynchocephalians were both taxonomically and ecologically diverse, and might have surpassed squamates in this respect, at least up to the Jurassic. The fossil record of rhynchocephalians is dominated by jaws and teeth, so that our interpretations of both rhynchocephalian phylogeny and ecology is largely based on characters of the jaws and teeth. However, recent squamates show that the postcranial skeleton can provide important insights into these aspects. In some exceptional fossil lagerstätten, such as the Late Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany, a rich rhynchocephalian fauna is found, with frequently preserved complete or almost complete postcranial remains. This fauna thus represents a unique opportunity to evaluate the importance of postcranial characters for our understanding of rhynchocephalian ecology, diversity and phylogeny. Thus, in this project, we plan to document the morphological diversity of the postcranial skeleton in rhynchocephalians and investigate the importance of postcranial characters for interpreting the ecology and phylogeny within this group. For this, we will use comparisons with modern squamate osteology and myology and apply modern methods of investigation (e.g. CT-scanning) and analysis (e.g. phylogenetic analysis using both parsimony and Bayesian methods). The project is focused on the rhynchocephalian material from the Late Jurassic limestones of southern Germany, but will also take data from postcranial remains of rhynchocephalians from other localities into account.

喙头龙目是鳞龙类的两个主要谱系之一。它们代表了有鳞目（蜥蜴和蛇）的姐妹分类群，有鳞目是当今陆生脊椎动物最多样化的分支之一。然而，与有鳞目动物不同，今天的喙头目动物只有一个物种，即新西兰的斑蜥蜴（Sphenodon punctatus）。相比之下，在中生代，喙头动物在分类学和生态学上都具有多样性，并且在这方面可能超过了有鳞动物​​，至少到了侏罗纪。喙头类的化石记录以颌和牙齿为主，因此我们对喙头类系统发育和生态学的解释很大程度上基于颌和牙齿的特征。然而，最近的鳞状细胞显示颅后骨骼可以为这些方面提供重要的见解。在一些特殊的化石储藏室，例如德国南部的晚侏罗世石版石灰岩中，发现了丰富的喙头动物群，经常保存完整或几乎完整的颅后遗骸。因此，该动物群提供了一个独特的机会来评估颅后特征对于我们理解喙头动物生态、多样性和系统发育的重要性。因此，在这个项目中，我们计划记录喙头动物颅后骨骼的形态多样性，并研究颅后特征对于解释该群体内的生态和系统发育的重要性。为此，我们将与现代鳞状骨学和肌肉学进行比较，并应用现代调查方法（例如 CT 扫描）和分析（例如使用简约法和贝叶斯方法的系统发育分析）。该项目的重点是来自德国南部晚侏罗世石灰岩的喙头动物材料，但也将考虑来自其他地区的喙头动物颅后遗骸的数据。