Evolution, Biogeographie und Fossilgeschichte der Amphisbaenia (Reptilia, Squamata).

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Johannes Müller
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Paläontologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2012 bis 2018
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 224206714

The Amphisbaenia is an enigmatic clade of body-elongated fossorial squamates mainly distributed in (sub)tropical Africa and America, whose origin and evolutionary history are among the least understood of modern reptiles. Nearly all of its members are limbless and have undergone extensive morphological modifications and geographical radiations since diverging from their closest relatives, lacertid lizards. Understanding the timing and sequence of evolutionary events leading to the specialized morphology and distribution of amphisbaenians requires knowledge of their fossil history and interrelationships, which are so far uncertain. Although amphisbaenians are relatively well represented throughout the Cenozoic, their fossils have rarely been considered in phylogenetic investigations of the clade, and have never been included in an integrative analysis of character evolution and biogeography. In the present project, the aim is to investigate and reconstruct amphisbaenian evolutionary history encompassing both fossil and extant taxa using the following approaches: 1) A thorough assessment of the amphisbaenian fossil record within a comparative framework, including new morphological studies of modern amphisbaenian osteology as revealed by micro-Computed Tomography; 2) Generation of a new morphological character matrix for fossil and extant Amphisbaenia to be combined with genetic information in a total-evidence phylogenetic analysis; 3) Identification of new phylogenetically placed fossil amphisbaenians as reliable calibration points for molecular divergence estimates of the major lineages; and 4) Inference of amphisbaenian character evolution and biogeographic history based on the time-calibrated phylogeny and revised knowledge of the fossil record.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen
• Internationaler Bezug: Brasilien
• Partnerorganisation: Fundaçao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo - FAPESP
• Beteiligte Person: Professor Dr. Hussam Zaher