Evolutionary Diversification within Lepidosauromorpha: The Origins, Phylogeny, and Adaptive Radiations of Squamates

我的研究计划致力于加深我们对化石和现存蛇、蜥蜴和两栖动物(统称为鳞类)的起源、进化和系统发育关系的理解。与过去的研究一致，我的哲学和方法论方法将集中在所有化石和活着的鳞类动物中存在的比较解剖学数据集，重点是对基本上被忽视的化石分类群的观察。化石记录作为解剖学新颖性数据来源的重要性怎么强调都不为过，我的实验室致力于发现和传播这些数据集对我们理解进化模式和过程的价值和重要性。我的研究方法使用了化石的所有可用证据，例如它们的解剖学、生物地层学和古生物地理学等，来构建假设，以及所有可用的来自活的蛇和蜥蜴的数据(从解剖学到分子)。学生指导和培训是本提案中描述的每个研究项目的关键。我与我的学生和外部合作者的合作工作被分解为17个不同的研究项目：面向博士生(当前和未来)的10个主要项目；面向硕士生和博士后的3个较小项目，以及专注于最近发现的标本的4个小规模研究；描述这些新化石及其系统发育关系的出版物将对我们对鳞片动物进化的理解产生重大影响。主要项目考察了关于蛇的进化、镶嵌龙的进化和系统学的大问题，以及我的研究计划中的新方向，博里奥特龙、大头龙和鬣蜥的进化和系统学，特别是加拉帕戈斯群岛的海洋鬣蜥。蛇项目将建立在我之前对来自阿根廷的蛇化石、被称为脊椎蛇的盲穴蛇以及来自印度的一种新描述的白纹蛇的调查的基础上；镶嵌龙项目旨在详细研究分配给主要镶嵌龙和蟒蛇类群的分类群的多样性和差异性，并探索次生水生适应过程。这里提议的研究活动将继续我对各种鳞类及其衍生的较大群体之间的多样化和辐射的大规模模式的长期研究。此外，我的学生和外部合作者组成的研究小组将继续探索一个主要由我的实验室小组产生的研究领域，重点是灭绝和灭绝的羊膜四足动物的比较牙齿组织学和牙齿附着。一个拟议的项目将专注于蛇的牙齿个体发育，但长期目标是收集所有脊椎动物的牙齿植入和组织学数据。

My research program is dedicated to furthering our understanding of the origin, evolution, and phylogenetic relationships of fossil and living snakes, lizards and amphisbaenians, collectively known as the Squamata. Consistent with past research, my philosophical and methodological approach will focus on the dataset of comparative anatomy present in all fossil and living squamates, with an emphasis on observations from largely ignored fossil taxa. The importance of the fossil record as a source of data on anatomical novelty cannot be overstated, and my lab is dedicated to discovering and disseminating the value and importance of that data set to our understanding of evolutionary patterns and processes. My research approach uses all available evidence from fossils, for example, their anatomy, biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeography, etc., in the construction of hypotheses, along with all available data from living snakes and lizards (anatomy through to molecules). Student mentoring and training is key to each research project described in this proposal. My collaborative work with my students and external collaborators is broken down into seventeen distinct research projects: ten major projects for Doctoral students (current and future); three smaller projects for Masters students and a Postdoctoral Fellow, and four small scale studies focused on recently discovered specimens; publications describing these new fossils and their phylogenetic relationships will have a significant impact on our understanding of squamate evolution. Major projects examine big picture questions on snake evolution, the evolution and systematics of mosasaurs, and new directions in my research program, the evolution and systematics of borioteioids, macrocephalosaurs, and iguanian lizards, specifically the marine iguana from the Galapagos Islands. Snake projects will build on my previous investigations of fossil snakes from Argentina, blind burrowing snakes known as scolecophidians, and a newly described Cretacous snake from India; mosasaur projects are designed to examine in detail the diversity and disparity of taxa assigned to major groups of mosasaurs and pythonomorphs, and explore processes of secondary aquatic adaptation. The research activities proposed here will continue my long term study of the large scale patterns of diversification and radiation between various groups of squamates and the larger group they are derived from. In addition, my research group of students and external collaborators will continue to explore a research field, largely generated within my lab group, focused on comparative dental histology and tooth attachment in extinct and extant amniote tetrapods. A proposed project will focus on snake dental ontogeny, but the long term goal is to collect data on tooth implantation and histology in all vertebrates.