On The Cranial Osteology of <em>Eremiascincus</em> and Its Use For Identification.

<p>A persistent problem for Australian paleontology has been a lack of diagnostic characters for identifying lizard fossils. <em>Eremiascincus</em> is one of the most widespread genera in Australia, so it was examined for distinguishing features and how it fits into a model of skink evolution. Skulls of <em>Eremiascincus</em> were examined within five separate contexts: 1) a description of the cranial osteology, 2) a qualitative comparison of individual cranial elements of <em>Eremiascincus</em> to closely related <em>Ctenotus</em>, 3) a description of the cranial allometry in <em>Eremiascincus</em> using linear morphometrics, 4) using cranial morphometrics of skinks to deduce their phylogeny, and 5) using geometric morphometrics to distinguish between individual elements of <em>Eremiascincus</em> and <em>Ctenotus</em>. Although linear morphometrics is adept at describing allometric changes to the skull during ontogeny, it only displayed a phylogenetic signal for small, closely related groups. Also, geometric morphometrics was just as capable distinguishing <em>Eremiascincus</em> from <em>Ctenotus</em> as qualitative characters.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS (Master of Science)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Gelnaw, William B.

• Squamata
• Scincidae
• Osteology
• Earth Sciences
• Paleontology
• Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1294

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2485