Evolution and Paleobiology of Early Cretaceous Terrestrial Vertebrates from Texas

早白垩纪是一段地质时期，见证了哺乳动物和开花植物的多样化，以及导致恐龙消失的第一次灭绝。这个时代的脊椎动物化石在北美并不常见，戴尔·温克勒博士建议从德克萨斯州中北部挖掘并准备一批重要的早白垩纪化石。这些恐龙标本保存得非常完好，代表了不同生长阶段的各种分类群。在项目的收集和管理阶段之后，将对发展进行定量分析。两栖动物、其他爬行动物和哺乳动物也在目标地点有代表。这项提议的研究有可能填补我们在脊椎动物进化知识方面的一个重要空白。该地区保存完好的脊椎动物将阐明几种恐龙的生长细节和脊椎动物群落的整体多样性。这项工作的结果将引起古生物学家、古生态学家和进化生物学家的兴趣。

The early Cretaceous was an interval of geologic time that witnessed the diversification of mammals and flowering plants, and the first extinctions leading to the disappearance of dinosaurs. Vertebrate fossils of this age are not common in North America, and Dr. Dale Winkler proposes to excavate and prepare an important collection of early Cretaceous fossils from north-central Texas. The specimens of dinosaurs are extraordinarily well-preserved, representing a variety of taxa in a range of growth stages. Quantitative analysis of development will be pursued following the collection and curation phases of the project. Amphibians, other reptiles, and mammals are also represented at the targeted localities. The proposed research has the potential to fill an important gap in our knowledge of vertebrate evolution. The excellent preservation of the vertebrates in this area will illuminate both the details of growth in several dinosaurs and the diversity of the vertebrate assemblage as a whole. The results of this work will be of interest to paleontologists, paleoecologists, and evolutionary biologists in general.