- Project title
- Accessing the inner ear of historical fossil Perissodactyla skulls
- Description of the project
- The Rhinocerotoidea (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) have appeared in North America or Asia during the Early Eocene and were at some point one of the predominant lineage of large herbivorous mammals, especially in Europe. Six families have been recognized, but their relationships are still poorly resolved. Although some European Rhinocerotidae have been revised during my PhD thesis, their relationships with other Rhinocerotoid families remain unresolved.
The objective of this project will be to investigate new characters from the petrosal bone never studied in a phylogenetic context on perissodactyls. This bone found in all mammals’ skulls protects the inner ear, and bears numerous morphological characters, that can be used to infer phylogenetic relationships. However, this bone, and particularly its inner anatomy, can only be investigated (without destruction) through tomography.
In addition, the cranial and dental morphology of those specimens will also be coded in a morphological data matrix, as well as their postcranial anatomy. The resulting phylogenies from both datasets (from the petrosal and from classical characters) will be compared to the results of the analysis comprising both sets, to assess the impact of the petrosal bone.
The study of holotype will permit to better resolve the phylogeny of the Rhinocerotoidea.
Works done by the platform AST-RX
