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Skip to Search Results- 1Arbour, Victoria M
- 1Barr, Braden N.
- 1Bird, Heather M
- 1Buckley, Lisa G
- 1Croghan, Jasmine A.
- 1Dyer, Aaron David
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Fall 2014
With well over 3,400 described species, snakes undoubtedly represent one of the most successful groups of reptiles. Much has been written about their ecology, behavior, anatomy, relationships and evolution. However, despite the debate about the origin of this taxonomic group dating back to the...
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Fall 2018
A full understanding of the evolution of novel forms requires inference about their origins through the study of variation in extant taxa and clues from the fossil record. However, the origins of morphological diversity in many groups are obscured by the scarcity of transitional fossils or...
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Osteology, Taxonomy, Phylogeny, and Body Shape Changes of Eocene Catostomid and Problematic Catostomid Fishes
DownloadFall 2016
Extant catostomid fishes occupy diverse aquatic ecosystems and niches in North America (NA). Less than 3% of catostomid taxonomic richness, or two species, are found outside of NA in Asia. Such adjunct and unbalanced distribution pattern has been established since the late Oligocene, when...
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Fall 2013
The phylogenetic relationships of the destructive spruce budworm group of forest pests (Choristoneura fumiferana species complex) have previously been explored using allozymes, microsatellites, mitochondrial genes and a nuclear gene, but remain poorly resolved with conflicting topologies. I used...
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Fall 2017
Leafrollers moths are one of the most ecologically and economically important groups of herbivorous insects. These Lepidoptera are an ideal model for exploring the drivers that modulate the processes of diversification over time. This thesis analyzes the evolution of Choristoneura Lederer, a well...
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Preservation of Tissue Structures in Late Cretaceous Vertebrate Remains from Alberta, Canada
DownloadFall 2020
Here I investigate the rates of preserved original organic tissue and their quality within vertebrate bones that were preserved during the late Cretaceous of Alberta. Specimens recovered from the Dinosaur Park Formation provide a baseline for comparison to four other Alberta Formations (Brazeau,...
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Systematics of an Oligocene-Aged Fossil Snake Assemblage from the White River Formation, Wyoming
DownloadSpring 2014
Extinct snake taxa are primarily recognized from isolated vertebrae. A new specimen from the Oligocene of Wyoming provides a rare opportunity to examine four nearly complete and articulated fossil snakes. Informally assigned previously to the ‘erycine’ vertebral form taxa Ogmophis and...
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Fall 2012
Living platynotan lizards are represented by two families: Helodermatidae, consisting of two species limited to south-western North America and north-western Central America; and Varanidae, with 54 species distributed throughout Africa, south-east Asia and Australia. Modern members of Platynota,...
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Spring 2014
The Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous, quadrupedal, armoured dinosaurs subdivided into at least two major clades, the Ankylosauridae and the Nodosauridae. The most derived members of the Ankylosauridae had a unique tail club formed from modified, tightly interlocking distal caudal vertebrae...