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This is an online event only. The Zoom link will be sent out a couple of hours before the start of the lecture.
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In the long evolutionary history of squamates, the reptile group encompassing all lizards and snakes, limb-reduced and snakelike body shapes have arisen multiple times independently from limbed, lizard-like lineages. These dramatic changes in body plans are achieved through deep modifications in the skeleton of these animals, however these have rarely been quantified beyond merely descriptive studies. In this talk, we will explore these alterations of internal anatomy, normally hidden to the naked eye but now made visible through modern imaging techniques.
Dr Camaiti will show what happens to limbs as they are diminished in both size and function, and the surprising repercussions this may have on other parts of their skeleton such as their skulls and girdles. Specifically, he will focus on skinks, one of the most diverse and widespread groups of lizards, known for successfully evolving limb-reduced forms more than 50 times across various lineages.
Dr Marco Camaiti is an evolutionary biologist specialised in the anatomy and morphology of vertebrates and how they track across deep time. For his PhD, he studied the evolution of limb-reduced body shapes in skinks, and their drivers and correlates in habitat, function and anatomy. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher in London’s Natural History Museum, working on quantifying the shapes of skull sutures in mammals and their synapsid ancestors.
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