Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP160103005

Funded Activity Summary

Integrating fossils and genomes to resolve the early evolution of snakes. This project aims to address a high-profile evolutionary controversy – the origin of snakes – by reconciling the anatomical and fossil evidence with the burgeoning genomic data. New genomic data surprisingly links snakes with the un-snakelike iguana, prompting claims that the genetic and the fossil/anatomical data are irreconcilable. The project aims to evaluate these key fossils, and reptile anatomy in general, in light of the new genomic tree. This has potential to greatly elucidate major evolutionary changes across the lizard-snake transition (for example, extensive mobility in the snake skull). The project also plans to assess the long-term evolutionary consequences of ‘snakiness’, such as the hypothesised irreversibility of limb loss, and increased resilience to mass extinction.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2016

End Date: 25-03-2019

Funding Scheme: Discovery Projects

Funding Amount: $351,100.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis | Animal Systematics and Taxonomy | Evolutionary Biology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences |

Other Keywords

Animal Systematics and Taxonomy | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Evolutionary Biology | Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences | Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) | Phylogeny and Comparative Analysis

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