The Origins, Phylogeny and Evolution of Squamates within Lepidosauromorpha: Macroevolution and Megaevolutionary Dynamics

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My research program investigates the macroevolutionary patterns and processes that shaped the origins, relationships, adaptive radiations, diversity, and morphological disparity of fossil and living lepidosauromorph reptiles. Living forms include a single species of sphenodontian, the Tuatara, and ~11,000 species of lizards and snakes, and a collective fossil record that is ~260 million years old. This fossil record is a key source of data on anatomical novelty to be combined with all available data from living forms (anatomy through to molecules) in the construction of both small and large-scale phylogenetic hypotheses as the foundation for macroevolutionary studies. For this research proposal I have two Short Term Goals that are subdivided into four Research Program Themes and twelve HQP/collaborative topics. Short-Term Goal 1 is to increase the taxonomic breadth of my data set on fossil and modern snakes and lizards with a corresponding increase in my use of relevant and novel, molecular and morphological datasets. Short-Term Goal 2 revolves around new approaches and techniques to combined datasets developed by Short-Term Goal 1. Achieving Short-Term Goal 1 will produce new data from numerous fossil and living snakes and lizards (in particular, fossils from Gondwanan Africa and South America), expand our anatomical understanding of mosasaurian lizards, result in new combined data sets of morphological and molecular characters from fossil and living lepidosaurs, and will collect new data on dental histology across all snakes and lizards and other key vertebrate groups. Achieving Short-Term Goal 2 will be demonstrated by results arising from innovative synthetic analyses of new datasets developed from the successful achievement of Short-Term Goal 1. New phylogenetic hypotheses will serve as the ground plan for developing higher order hypotheses on macroevolutionary patterns and processes through deep time. 3D geometric morphometric investigations will explore new aspects of cranial evolution, and innovative new analyses of dental histological data will provide impactful insights on dental evolution in jawed vertebrates. The innovation and impacts of this research cycle, as a component of my research program and its vision, will be measured by synthetic, "big picture" studies arising from the approach taken under Short-Term Goal 2. Equally important indices of impact will be the publication of high quality descriptive, data-heavy studies of the anatomy and morphology of living and fossil lepidosauromorphs conducted to establish primary homology concepts, the empirical foundation of phylogenetic hypotheses. The training of HQP and their leadership roles in achieving all goals, themes and topics are key to this proposal's success.