ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0380-7347
Current Organisation
Flinders University
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Palaeontology (incl. Palynology) | Palaeoecology | Evolutionary biology | Ecology | Phylogeny and comparative analysis | Evolutionary impacts of climate change | Animal structure and function |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Environmentally Sustainable Commercial Services and Tourism not elsewhere classified | Environmental Education and Awareness | Conserving Collections and Movable Cultural Heritage |
Related Links
Publications
L’origine phylogénétique des doigts
Publisher: EDP Sciences
Date: 12-2020
Ten reasons why ICU patients should be mobilized early.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-08-2017
Neurocranial anatomy of an enigmatic Early Devonian fish sheds light on early osteichthyan evolution
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 29-05-2018
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.34349
Abstract: The skull of ‘Ligulalepis’ from the Early Devonian of Australia (AM-F101607) has significantly expanded our knowledge of early osteichthyan anatomy, but its phylogenetic position has remained uncertain. We herein describe a second skull of ‘Ligulalepis’ and present micro-CT data on both specimens to reveal novel anatomical features, including cranial endocasts. Several features previously considered to link ‘Ligulalepis’ with actinopterygians are now considered generalized osteichthyan characters or of uncertain polarity. The presence of a lateral cranial canal is shown to be variable in its development between specimens. Other notable new features include the presence of a pineal foramen, the some detail of skull roof sutures, the shape of the nasal capsules, a placoderm-like hypophysial vein, and a chondrichthyan-like labyrinth system. New phylogenetic analyses place ‘Ligulalepis’ as a stem osteichthyan, specifically as the sister taxon to ‘psarolepids’ plus crown osteichthyans. The precise position of ‘psarolepids’ differs between parsimony and Bayesian analyses.
A new method for reconstructing brain morphology: applying the brain-neurocranial spatial relationship in an extant lungfish to a fossil endocast
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-2016
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.160307
Abstract: Lungfish first appeared in the geological record over 410 million years ago and are the closest living group of fish to the tetrapods. Palaeoneurological investigations into the group show that unlike numerous other fishes—but more similar to those in tetrapods—lungfish appear to have had a close fit between the brain and the cranial cavity that housed it. As such, researchers can use the endocast of fossil taxa (an internal cast of the cranial cavity) both as a source of morphological data but also to aid in developing functional and phylogenetic implications about the group. Using fossil endocast data from a three-dimensional-preserved Late Devonian lungfish from the Gogo Formation, Rhinodipterus , and the brain-neurocranial relationship in the extant Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus , we herein present the first virtually reconstructed brain of a fossil lungfish. Computed tomographic data and a newly developed ‘brain-warping’ method are used in conjunction with our own distance map software tool to both analyse and present the data. The brain reconstruction is adequate, but we envisage that its accuracy and wider application in other taxonomic groups will grow with increasing availability of tomographic datasets.
A high latitude Devonian lungfish, from the Famennian of South Africa
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 04-12-2019
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.8073
Abstract: New fossil lungfish remains comprising two parasphenoids, tooth plates and scales from the Famennian Witpoort Formation of South Africa are described. From the parasphenoid material, which bears similarity to Oervigia and Sagenodus but is nevertheless unique, a new genus, Isityumzi mlomomde gen. et sp. nov. is erected. Tooth plates and scales from the same locality may be conspecific but are not yet assigned until further material becomes available. The tooth plates closely resemble those of some taxa in the Carboniferous genus Ctenodus . The new taxon is significant as only the second Devonian lungfish described from the African continent, and for hailing from the high-latitude (polar) Waterloo Farm environment situated close to 70° south during the Famennian.
A new species of long-snouted lungfish from the Late Devonian of Australia, and its functional and biogeographical implications
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2012
The dipnoan buccal pump reconstructed in 3D and implications for air breathing in Devonian lungfishes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 11-02-2016
DOI: 10.1017/PAB.2015.41
Abstract: Lungfishes are known for, and indeed take their name from, their bimodal respiratory abilities. All three extant genera can use their lungs to extract oxygen from the atmosphere, although their reliance upon this capability differs among taxa. Lungs are considered primitive for the Osteichthyes, however the distinctive buccal pump mode of air gulping exhibited by extant lungfishes appears to be a specialization. It is associated with a number of derived skeletal characters (cranial ribs, long parasphenoid stalk, midline gap between palatal tooth plates) that first appeared during the Devonian. These have been described in idually, but in no Devonian lungfish has their three-dimensional (3D) spatial relationship been reconstructed and analyzed. Here we present the 3D morphology of Rhinodipterus , a Mid-Late Devonian lungfish from Australia and Europe, based on synchrotron tomography and conventional microtomography scans. Unlike less crownward contemporaneous lungfishes such as Griphognathus and Chirodipterus , Rhinodipterus has a full set of skeletal buccal pump components that can be directly compared to those of extant lungfishes, suggesting that it made more extensive use of air breathing than other Gogo or Bergisch Gladbach genera. This is interesting in relation to the environmental context as Gogo and Bergisch Gladbach are both marine, contrasting with the frequently hypoxic tropical to subtropical fresh water environments inhabited by modern lungfishes. The evolution of buccal pump-supported lung ventilation was evidently not necessarily associated with a transition to non-marine habitats.
Morphometric analysis of lungfish endocasts elucidates early dipnoan palaeoneurological evolution
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 12-07-2022
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.73461
Abstract: The lobe-finned fish, lungfish (Dipnoi, Sarcoptergii), have persisted for ~400 million years from the Devonian Period to present day. The evolution of their dermal skull and dentition is relatively well understood, but this is not the case for the central nervous system. While the brain has poor preservation potential and is not currently known in any fossil lungfish, substantial indirect information about it and associated structures (e.g. labyrinths) can be obtained from the cranial endocast. However, before the recent development of X-ray tomography as a palaeontological tool, these endocasts could not be studied non-destructively, and few detailed studies were undertaken. Here, we describe and illustrate the endocasts of six Palaeozoic lungfish from tomographic scans. We combine these with six previously described digital lungfish endocasts (4 fossil and 2 recent taxa) into a 12-taxon dataset for multivariate morphometric analysis using 17 variables. We find that the olfactory region is more highly plastic than the hindbrain, and undergoes significant elongation in several taxa. Further, while the semicircular canals covary as an integrated module, the utriculus and sacculus vary independently of each other. Functional interpretation suggests that olfaction has remained a dominant sense throughout lungfish evolution, and changes in the labyrinth may potentially reflect a change from nektonic to near-shore environmental niches. Phylogenetic implications show that endocranial form fails to support monophyly of the ‘chirodipterids’. Those with elongated crania similarly fail to form a distinct clade, suggesting these two paraphyletic groups have converged towards either head elongation or truncation driven by non-phylogenetic constraints.
Author response: Neurocranial anatomy of an enigmatic Early Devonian fish sheds light on early osteichthyan evolution
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 18-04-2018
Author response: Morphometric analysis of lungfish endocasts elucidates early dipnoan palaeoneurological evolution
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 14-06-2022
Air-breathing adaptation in a marine Devonian lungfish
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-02-2010
Abstract: Recent discoveries of tetrapod trackways in 395 Myr old tidal zone deposits of Poland (Niedźwiedzki et al . 2010 Nature 463 , 43–48 ( doi:10.1038/nature.08623 )) indicate that vertebrates had already ventured out of the water and might already have developed some air-breathing capacity by the Middle Devonian. Air-breathing in lungfishes is not considered to be a shared specialization with tetrapods, but evolved independently. Air-breathing in lungfishes has been postulated as starting in Middle Devonian times ( ca 385 Ma) in freshwater habitats, based on a set of skeletal characters involved in air-breathing in extant lungfishes. New discoveries described herein of the lungfish Rhinodipterus from marine limestones of Australia identifies the node in dipnoan phylogeny where air-breathing begins, and confirms that lungfishes living in marine habitats had also developed specializations to breathe air by the start of the Late Devonian ( ca 375 Ma). While invasion of freshwater habitats from the marine realm was previously suggested to be the prime cause of aerial respiration developing in lungfishes, we believe that global decline in oxygen levels during the Middle Devonian combined with higher metabolic costs is a more likely driver of air-breathing ability, which developed in both marine and freshwater lungfishes and tetrapodomorph fishes such as Gogonasus .
Morphometric Analysis of Lungfish Endocasts Elucidates Early Dipnoan Palaeoneurological Evolution
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 15-09-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.09.13.460037
Abstract: Lungfish (Dipnoi) are lobe-finned fish (Sarcopterygii) that have persisted for over 400 million years from the Devonian Period to present day. They are the extant sister group to tetrapods and thus have the ability to provide unique insight into the condition of the earliest tetrapods as well as their own evolutionary history. The evolution of their dermal skull and dentition is relatively well understood, but this is not the case for the central nervous system. While the brain itself has very poor preservation potential and is not currently known in any fossil lungfish, substantial indirect information about it and associated structures such as the inner ears can be obtained from the cranial endocast. However, before the recent development of X-ray tomography as a palaeontological tool, these endocasts could not be studied non-destructively, and few detailed studies were undertaken. Here we describe and illustrate the endocasts of six Palaeozoic lungfishes ( Iowadipterus halli, Gogodipterus paddyensis, Pillararhynchus longi, Griphognathus whitei, Orlovichthys limnatis , and Rhinodipterus ulrichi ) from tomographic scans. We combine these with six previously described lungfish endocasts (4 fossil and 2 recent taxa), also based on tomographic studies, into a 12-taxon data set for multivariate morphometric analysis using 17 variables. We find that the olfactory region appears to be more highly plastic than the hindbrain, and undergoes significant elongation in several taxa. Further, while the semicircular canals covary as an integrated module, the utriculus and sacculus of the inner ear instead vary independently of each other. The functional and phylogenetic implications of our findings are discussed.
Author response: New light shed on the early evolution of limb-bone growth plate and bone marrow
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 10-12-2020
The First Virtual Cranial Endocast of a Lungfish (Sarcopterygii: Dipnoi)
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 26-11-2014
Sarcopterygian Fishes, the “Lobe-Fins”
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 2019
The cranial endocast of Dipnorhynchus sussmilchi (Sarcopterygii: Dipnoi) and the interrelationships of stem-group lungfishes
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 20-10-2016
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.2539
Abstract: The first virtual cranial endocast of a lungfish from the Early Devonian, Dipnorhynchus sussmilchi , is described. Dipnorhynchus, only the fourth Devonian lungfish for which a near complete cranial endocast is known, is a key taxon for clarifying primitive character states within the group. A ventrally-expanded telencephalic cavity is present in the endocast of Dipnorhynchus demonstrating that this is the primitive state for “true” Dipnoi. Dipnorhynchus also possesses a utricular recess differentiated from the sacculolagenar pouch like that seen in stratigraphically younger lungfish ( Dipterus, Chirodipterus, Rhinodipterus ), but absent from the dipnomorph Youngolepis . We do not find separate pineal and para-pineal canals in contrast to a reconstruction from previous authors. We conduct the first phylogenetic analysis of Dipnoi based purely on endocast characters, which supports a basal placement of Dipnorhynchus within the dipnoan stem group, in agreement with recent analyses. Our analysis demonstrates the value of endocast characters for inferring phylogenetic relationships.
Brain – Endocast Relationship in the Australian Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, Elucidated from Tomographic Data (Sarcopterygii: Dipnoi)
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 22-10-2015
Xeradipterus hatcheri, a new dipnoan from the Late Devonian (Frasnian) Gogo Formation, Western Australia, and other new holodontid material
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 18-05-2010
Cranial adaptations of the Night Parrot (Psittaculidae: Pezoporus occidentalis), a cryptic nocturnal bird
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-03-2023
Response to comment on “Exceptional preservation of organs in Devonian placoderms from the Gogo largerstätte”
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 12-05-2023
Abstract: Jensen et al . ( 1 ) question evidence presented of a chambered heart within placoderms, citing its small size and apparently ventral atrium. However, they fail to note the belly-up orientation of the placoderm within one nodule, and the variability of heart morphology within extant taxa. Thus, we remain confident in our interpretation of the mineralized organ as the heart.
Exceptional preservation of organs in Devonian placoderms from the Gogo lagerstätte
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 16-09-2022
Abstract: The origin and early ersification of jawed vertebrates involved major changes to skeletal and soft anatomy. Skeletal transformations can be examined directly by studying fossil stem gnathostomes however, preservation of soft anatomy is rare. We describe the only known ex le of a three-dimensionally mineralized heart, thick-walled stomach, and bilobed liver from arthrodire placoderms, stem gnathostomes from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation in Western Australia. The application of synchrotron and neutron microtomography to this material shows evidence of a flat S-shaped heart, which is well separated from the liver and other abdominal organs, and the absence of lungs. Arthrodires thus show the earliest phylogenetic evidence for repositioning of the gnathostome heart associated with the evolution of the complex neck region in jawed vertebrates.
The phylogenetic significance of the morphology of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx, of the southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius (Aves, Palaeognathae)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2019
DOI: 10.1186/S12862-019-1544-7
Abstract: Palaeognathae is a basal clade within Aves and include the large and flightless ratites and the smaller, volant tinamous. Although much research has been conducted on various aspects of palaeognath morphology, ecology, and evolutionary history, there are still areas which require investigation. This study aimed to fill gaps in our knowledge of the Southern Cassowary, Casuarius casuarius , for which information on the skeletal systems of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx is lacking - despite these structures having been recognised as performing key functional roles associated with vocalisation, respiration and feeding. Previous research into the syrinx and hyoid have also indicated these structures to be valuable for determining evolutionary relationships among neognath taxa, and thus suggest they would also be informative for palaeognath phylogenetic analyses, which still exhibits strong conflict between morphological and molecular trees. The morphology of the syrinx, hyoid and larynx of C. casuarius is described from CT scans. The syrinx is of the simple tracheo-bronchial syrinx type, lacking specialised elements such as the pessulus the hyoid is relatively short with longer ceratobranchials compared to epibranchials and the larynx is comprised of entirely cartilaginous, standard avian anatomical elements including a concave, basin-like cricoid and fused cricoid wings. As in the larynx, both the syrinx and hyoid lack ossification and all three structures were most similar to Dromaius. We documented substantial variation across palaeognaths in the skeletal character states of the syrinx, hyoid, and larynx, using both the literature and novel observations (e.g. of C. casuarius ). Notably, new synapomorphies linking Dinornithiformes and Tinamidae are identified, consistent with the molecular evidence for this clade. These shared morphological character traits include the ossification of the cricoid and arytenoid cartilages, and an additional cranial character, the articulation between the maxillary process of the nasal and the maxilla. Syrinx, hyoid and larynx characters of palaeognaths display greater concordance with molecular trees than do other morphological traits. These structures might therefore be less prone to homoplasy related to flightlessness and gigantism, compared to typical morphological traits emphasised in previous phylogenetic studies.
New light shed on the early evolution of limb-bone growth plate and bone marrow
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 02-03-2021
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.51581
Abstract: The production of blood cells (haematopoiesis) occurs in the limb bones of most tetrapods but is absent in the fin bones of ray-finned fish. When did long bones start producing blood cells? Recent hypotheses suggested that haematopoiesis migrated into long bones prior to the water-to-land transition and protected newly-produced blood cells from harsher environmental conditions. However, little fossil evidence to support these hypotheses has been provided so far. Observations of the humeral microarchitecture of stem-tetrapods, batrachians, and amniotes were performed using classical sectioning and three-dimensional synchrotron virtual histology. They show that Permian tetrapods seem to be among the first to exhibit a centralised marrow organisation, which allows haematopoiesis as in extant amniotes. Not only does our study demonstrate that long-bone haematopoiesis was probably not an exaptation to the water-to-land transition but it sheds light on the early evolution of limb-bone development and the sequence of bone-marrow functional acquisitions.
Cephalic muscle development in the Australian lungfish,Neoceratodus forsteri
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-12-2017
DOI: 10.1002/JMOR.20784
Abstract: Lungfishes are the extant sister group of tetrapods. As such, they are important for the study of evolutionary processes involved in the water to land transition of vertebrates. The evolution of a true neck, that is, the complete separation of the pectoral girdle from the cranium, is one of the most intriguing morphological transitions known among vertebrates. Other salient changes involve new adaptations for terrestrial feeding, which involves both the cranium and its associated musculature. Historically, the cranium has been extensively investigated, but the development of the cranial muscles much less so. Here, we present a detailed study of cephalic muscle development in the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, which is considered to be the sister taxon to all other extant lungfishes. Neoceratodus shows several developmental patterns previously described in other taxa the tendency of muscles to develop from anterior to posterior, from their region of origin toward insertion, and from lateral to ventral/medial (outside-in), at least in the branchial arches. The m.protractor pectoralis appears to develop as an extension of the most posterior m.levatores arcuum branchialium, supporting the hypothesis that the m.cucullaris and its derivatives (protractor pectoralis, levatores arcuum branchialium) are branchial muscles. We present a new hypothesis regarding the homology of the ventral branchial arch muscles (subarcualis recti and obliqui, transversi ventrales) in lungfishes and hibians. Moreover, the morphology and development of the cephalic muscles confirms that extant lungfishes are neotenic and have been strongly influenced via paedomorphosis during their evolutionary history.
Mandibular musculature constrains brain–endocast disparity between sarcopterygians
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 09-2020
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.200933
Abstract: The transition from water to land by the earliest tetrapods in the Devonian Period is seen as one of the greatest steps in evolution. However, little is understood concerning changes in brain morphology over this transition. Here, we determine the brain–braincase relationship in fishes and basal liss hibians as a proxy to elucidate the changes that occurred over the fish–tetrapod transition. We investigate six basal extant sarcopterygians spanning coelacanths to salamanders ( Latimeria chalumnae, Neoceratodus, Protopterus aethiopicus, P. dolloi, Cynops, Ambystoma mexicanum ) using micro-CT and MRI and quantify the brain–braincase relationship in these extant taxa. Our results show that regions of lowest brain–endocast disparity are associated with regions of bony reinforcement directly adjacent to masticatory musculature for the mandible except in Neoceratodus and Latimeria . In Latimeria this deviation from the trend can be accounted for by the possession of an intracranial joint and basicranial muscles, whereas in Neoceratodus difference is attributed to dermal bones contributing to the overall neurocranial reinforcement. Besides Neoceratodus and Latimeria, regions of low brain–endocast disparity occur where there is less reinforcement away from high mandibular muscle mass, where the trigeminal nerve complex exits the braincase and where endolymphatic sacs occupy space between the brain and braincase wall. Despite basal tetrapods possessing reduced adductor muscle mass and a different biting mechanism to piscine sarcopterygians, regions of the neurocranium lacking osteological reinforcement in the basal tetrapods Lethiscus and Brachydectes broadly correspond to regions of high brain–endocast disparity seen in extant taxa.
Related Organisations
Related Funding Activities
Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP220100825
Start Date: 10-2022
End Date: 09-2025
Amount: $507,060.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP230101438
Start Date: 05-2023
End Date: 05-2026
Amount: $430,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity