DrittmittelprojektThe Evolution of ornamentation of Cranial dermal bones in fossil and recent amphibians
The Evolution of ornamentation of Cranial dermal bones in fossil and recent amphibians
Why are the skull bones of some amphibians ornamented? We are investigating the development and evolution of these structures in fossil and modern amphibians.
How does the early chondrogenic ‘blueprint’ of the skull, as reflected in Sox9 expression, correlate with and differ from the skull structures that subsequently manifest through Runx2 expression during the skull development of amphibians? How does the histology of the dermal architecture in the skulls of modern batrachian taxa (the horned frog Ceratophrys and the crocodile newt Tylototriton) compare with the palaeohistological structures observed in the dermal skulls of Palaeozoic temnospondyls?
Funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
