NAME: Nicholas Gardner

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PROJECT TITLE: Digital Morphology of the skull of the basal diapsid reptile Youngina capensis:an anatomical foundation for the study of the reptilian head

Reptiles are a diverse and important group of vertebrates. However, our present understanding of the morphology of the most archaic reptiles is surprisingly poor. Improving this understanding is critical to testing structural, functional, and evolutionary hypotheses relevant to today’s vast reptilian diversity. The ancient reptile Youngina is uniquely suited to this task, being well-represented by 250 million year old fossils from South Africa. While fossils of this taxon are available, older methods of exploring the internal anatomy of the skull are not viable given that these methods are typically destructive. New advances in computed tomography (CT) data processing allow us to peer into the skull of Youngina for the first time, and will allow us to construct a 3D model of the skull and endocranium that will form the anatomical foundation necessary for testing hypotheses of reptilian head structure, function, and evolution.