SUBJECT
Title
Paleobiology in sauropsid reptiles
Type of instruction
lecture
Level
master
Faculty
Part of degree program
Credits
2
Recommended in
Semester 1
Typically offered in
Autumn semester
Course description
- General introduction to sauropsid reptiles, taxonomy, systematics,
- Skull in sauropsids: bones, joints, muscles,
- Jaws and dentition. Tooth morphology, tooth, replacement, dental wear, edetulous forms
- Jaw mechanisms, feeding types, cranial kinesis
- Vertebral column, vertebrate, ribs, tendons, osteoderms; types, forms, articulations
- Appendicular skeleton: girdle elements, limb bones, form and function, bone histology
- Moving on land, quadruped and biped animals, the significance and problems of footprints
- Swimming sauropsids: adaptation to aquatic habits, nothosaurs, turtles, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, crocodiles, aquatic birds
- Flying in pterosaurs and birds
- Integuments and reproduction in sauropsids
- Techniques and methods in vertebrate paleontology
Readings
Benton, M.J. (2015).Vertebrate Palaeontology. Blackwell, 506 p.