A reassessment of Permian parareptiles using 3D imaging technologies, and their importance for early amniote evolution and ecology

使用 3D 成像技术重新评估二叠纪爬行动物及其对早期羊膜动物进化和生态学的重要性

• 批准号: 429616738
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Jörg Fröbisch, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Paleontological Institute
• 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/429616738?language=en
• 关键词: reassessment; Permian; parareptiles; using; 3D

The Permian period was a time in Earth’s history in which modern terrestrial ecosystems were taking form, a major component of these ecosystems were amniotes (fully terrestrial tetrapods). Amniotes are traditionally divided into the sister-clades Synapsida (the evolutionary lineage of modern mammals) and Sauropsida (the evolutionary lineage of modern reptiles and birds). One of the early amniote groups that was diversifying during the Permian was Parareptilia, with this clade gaining a cosmopolitan distribution by the end of the Permian and surviving the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history at the Permian-Triassic boundary. However, there is still much that is not known regarding parareptilian evolution and ecology, especially prior to the late Permian. The Russian parareptiles represent an extensive and understudied component of Permian localities, as there are major gaps in our knowledge of their anatomy, phylogenetic interrelationships, palaeoecology, and biogeography. Moreover, the intra- and interrelationships of parareptiles and early amniotes as a whole, are far from resolved and several traditional hypotheses have recently been challenged. To resolve some of these issues, we propose an in-depth collaborative German-Russian research project to re-evaluate selected members of the unique Russian parareptile fauna (including the clades Nycteroleteridae, Bolosauridae, Nyctiphruretidae, Lanthanosuchoidea) using modern approaches. In order to accomplish this our proposed research will utilize state-of-the-art 3D-imaging technologies, specifically synchrotron and micro-CT scanning and 3D segmentation of Russian parareptile taxa, especially their skulls, in order to elucidate new details regarding their anatomy. The information obtained from this new data will be used for revised and updated descriptions, expanded and revised phylogenetic analyses, quantitative analyses, and macroevolutionary interpretations. Overall, this research aims to provide a better understanding of Russian parareptiles and to facilitate the integration of these taxa into the bigger picture of amniote evolution during the late Palaeozoic. Re-evaluating these Russian parareptile clades will also be instrumental for testing the monophyly of Parareptilia, which has never been adequately assessed since the inception of the clade.

二叠纪是地球历史上现代陆地生态系统形成的时期，这些生态系统的主要组成部分是羊膜动物（全陆生四足动物）。羊膜动物传统上被分为姐妹分支新孔门（现代哺乳动物的进化谱系）和蜥脚类（现代爬行动物和鸟类的进化谱系）。在二叠纪时期，羊膜动物的早期种群之一是Parareptilia，这个分支在二叠纪末期获得了世界性的分布，并在二叠纪-三叠纪边界的地球历史上最大规模的物种灭绝中幸存下来。然而，关于准爬虫类动物的进化和生态，特别是在二叠纪晚期之前，仍然有很多不为人知的地方。由于我们在其解剖学、系统发育相互关系、古生态学和生物地理学方面的知识存在重大空白，俄罗斯副石甲代表了二叠纪地区广泛而未被充分研究的组成部分。此外，副乳头和早期羊膜作为一个整体的内部和相互关系远未得到解决，一些传统的假设最近受到挑战。为了解决这些问题，我们提出了一个深入的德国-俄罗斯合作研究项目，使用现代方法重新评估俄罗斯独特的副纲动物群（包括Nycteroleteridae， Bolosauridae, nyctiphrutidae, Lanthanosuchoidea）的成员。为了实现这一目标，我们提出的研究将利用最先进的3D成像技术，特别是同步加速器和微ct扫描和俄罗斯旁肢分类群的3D分割，特别是它们的头骨，以阐明有关其解剖结构的新细节。从这些新数据中获得的信息将用于修订和更新描述、扩展和修订系统发育分析、定量分析和宏观进化解释。总的来说，本研究旨在更好地了解俄罗斯的羊膜类，并促进将这些类群整合到晚古生代羊膜动物进化的更大图景中。重新评估这些俄罗斯旁肢类分支也将有助于测试旁肢类的单系性，自该分支开始以来，从未对其进行过充分评估。