"April 2002" / Bibliography: leaves 154-193. / ix, 198 leaves : ill. (some col.), plates (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Environmental Biology, 2002

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

The Diadectomorpha is a central taxon in understanding the origin and early evolution of amniotes. It is considered a sister taxon to Amniota and is so similar to amniotes that some researchers have placed it within the Amniota itself. This group is composed of three families: the Limnoscelidae, the Tseajaiidae, and the Diadectidae. Being the most basal member of this group, the family Limnoscelidae is especially important in these studies.

Le remplacement dentaire consiste en la formation d'une nouvelle dent qui viendra prendre la place d'une ancienne dent, permettant ainsi un renouvellement des tissus dentaires ainsi que de leur environnement (parodonte). Pour comprendre l'évolution du remplacement dentaire, il est nécessaire de rechercher un modèle biologique pertinent. En raison du lien étroit qui existe entre le remplacement des dents et des tissus parodontaux, je me suis intéressé au remplacement, à l’implantation et à l’attache dentaire. Ce travail a été réalisé avec deux objectifs : clarifier la terminologie associée au remplacement, à l’implantation et à l’attache, et passer en revue les connaissances actuelles et les hypothèses concernant la diversité et l’évolution de ces trois caractères.Dans une seconde partie, j’ai étudié le remplacement continu des dents chez les archosauriens, qui présentait un remplacement dentaire continu. J'ai étudié les dents des derniers groupes d'oiseaux à dents. Pour étudier le dentaire continu, j'ai étudié les mécanismes de remplacement dentaire chez le crocodile du Nil, par le biais de la microtomographie à rayons X. Les embryons de crocodile du Nil présente deux types de dents. L'étude de l'expression génétique de la voie Notch a révélé que ces types de dent présentaient un développement très similaire, différant simplement par l’avortement des plus précoces. De plus, la voie Notch semble impliquée dans le remplacement dentaire chez le crocodile du Nil Dans une troisième partie, j'ai étudié une alternative au remplacement de dent dans le groupe ayant perdu le remplacement de dent continu. Pour ce faire, j’ai participé à l’étude du phacochère commun et les différentes adaptations de sa dentition à un régime alimentaire très abrasif. Je me suis principalement concentré sur le processus de dérive mésiale des dents; et tous les processus physiologiques associés à cette dérive pour comprendre et reconnaître ce phénomène / Dental replacement consists in the formation of a new tooth which will come take the place of a former tooth, allowing for a renewal of the dental tissues as well as their environment (periodontium). To understand the evolution and the dynamics of tooth replacement, it is necessary to search for a relevant biological model. Because of the strong link between the replacement of teeth and periodontal tissues, I searched the diversity and evolutionary history of tooth replacement, attachment and implantation in extant and fossil amniotes. This work presented two objectives: clarify the terminology associated with replacement, implantation and attachment and review the current knowledges and hypothesis concerning the diversity and the evolution of the three features. In a second part, I studied continuous tooth replacement in archosaurians which present a continuous tooth replacement. First I investigated the teeth of the last groups of toothed-birds. To study the developmental mechanisms of continuous replacement, I studied the mechanisms of dental replacement in the Nile crocodile, through X-ray MicroCT. Nile crocodile’s embryos present two type of teeth. The study of the genetic expression of the Notch pathway revealed that surface teeth and submerged teeth present a very similar development, and the main difference is the interruption of the development in the earliest. The Notch pathway also seems to be involved in tooth replacement in this species. In a third part, I studied one alternative to tooth replacement in group which lost the continuous tooth replacement. To do so, I studied the common warthog and the different adaptations of its dentition to highly abrasive diet. I mainly focused of the process of mesial drift, and all the physiological processes associated with drift to understand and recognize this phenomenon

This study has looked at an assemblage of fossilised teeth from Mesozoic marine amniotes from the Kristianstad basin in southern Sweden in order to make an estimate of the ecomorph diversity within said assemblage through looking at the morphology of the teeth. This was done as a pilot study to see if further studies would be able to produce worthwhile results. The assemblage consists largely of isolated tooth crowns, mostly from small- to medium sized mosasaurs such as Clidastes and Eonatator, but also contains larger mosasaurs, as well as a couple of plesiosaurs and one species of a marine crocodile. The analysis was performed on images of teeth using software developed for use in morphometrics. The resulting graphs imply a division into three guilds; the first represented by the short and blunt teeth of the crocodilian, the second by the elongated teeth of the plesiosaurs, and the third by the knife-like teeth of the mosasaurs. Since the mosasaurs overlap to a high degree in tooth shape, but also show quite diversity in size, it is possible the main dividing factor would have been size rather than type of prey. Further studies would be able to get a more accurate image of the ecology of this fauna by increasing the number of specimen in the analysis as well as taking into consideration more factors from other studies of similar taxa, such as jaw sizes, bite marks and gut contents. / Det här arbetet har studerat fossila tänder tillhörande Mesozoiska marina amnioter från Kristianstadsbassängen i södra Sverige, med avsikt att göra en uppskattning av den ekomorfa spridningen inom gruppen genom att studera tändernas form. Detta är enbart en pilotstudie för att se om fortsatta studier kan ge givande resultat. Det studerade materialet är en del av en samling till stor del bestående av enbart lösa tandkronor, mest från små till medelstora mosasaurier, såsom Clidastes och Eonatator, men även från större mosasaurier, så väl som ett par plesiosaurier och en marin krokodil-art. För analysen användes en programvara specifikt utvecklad för morfometri. De resulterande graferna antyder en indelning i tre “gillen”; det första representeras av de korta och trubbiga tänderna tillhörande krokodilen, det andra av de långsmala tänderna hos plesiosaurierna, och det tredje av de knivlika mosasaurietänderna. Eftersom mosasaurierna överlappar till stor grad gällande formen på tänderna, men skiljer sig mycket åt i storlek, så är det troligt att det snarare var storleken på bytesdjuren, och inte vilken typ, som skiljde dem åt. Framtida studier skulle kunna ge en bättre bild av den här faunans ekosystem dels genom att inkludera fler exemplar i analysen, och dels genom att inkludera andra faktorer från studier av liknande taxa, såsom käkstorlek, bitmärken och maginnehåll.

The major histocompatibility complex region (MHC) is a multi gene family present in all jawed vertebrates, with a fundamental role in vertebrate immunity. More than two decades of studies have resulted in the characterization of over a dozen MHC regions, and models of evolution explaining that the MHC has gradually increased in size and gene content since its origins without addressing their genomic context or the environmental selective forces. Furthermore, a compelling reconstruction of the evolutionary history of the MHC has been hampered due to phylogenetic gaps and the absence of comparative phylogenetic methods applied to comparative genomics. Here I reconstruct 320 MY of MHC evolution using 42 amniote genomes using improved gene annotations, genomic alignments and phylogenetic algorithms to reconstruct the evolution of the MHC at three levels of phylogenetic resolution. The first one describes 25 MY of evolution of the primate MHC using eight Human and four non-Human primate MHC haplotypes. Results suggests that highly dense gene segments have a strikingly conserved gene organization, and six conserved and highly rearranging segments overlap genes that are most commonly associated to disease. Phylogenomic analysis implies that the MHC has remained stable in gene content and size, with significantly increased duplication rates in the primate ancestors. The second one describes 280 MY of MHC evolution through the first characterization of reptilian MHC region, which combines mammalian, reptilian, Bird and amphibian characteristics, which favors the hypothesis of the existence of a primordial MHC in which natural killer receptors, CD1 and lectin genes co-exist. The Anolis MHC expands our understanding of the origins of the exceptionally small Bird MHC regions and provides further information about the organization and size of the ancestral amniote MHC. The third one compares 42 amniote MHC regions and map gene duplications and losses to further evaluate the mode and tempo of the evolution of the region. Comparative phylogenetic methods imply that the genomic and environmental factors affect the diversification of MHC during 320 My of evolution.

The cranial anatomy of the basal captorhinid reptile Captorhinikos parvus (Reptilia, Captorhinidae), is reinterpreted here based on analysis of a group of new specimens recovered subsequent to its original diagnosis as well as further analysis of the original specimens utilized in E.C. Olson's original characterization of the species. Structural features inconsistent with the generic description suggest the redefinition of C. parvus as a new genus, Rhodotheratus parvus. Analyses of basal members and selected derived members support the characterization of Rhodotheratus as a distinct taxon.

Mesosaurier, kleine Reptilien aus dem Unteren Perm, gelten als die frühesten aquatischen Reptilien. Trotz ihrer kurzen Existenz und begrenzten Verbreitung bieten sie wichtige Einblicke in die frühe Amnioten-Evolution. Diese Arbeit fasst vier Artikel zusammen, die Aspekte der Anatomie, Ontogenese und Ökologie von Mesosauridae beleuchten. Kapitel 1 behandelt die Knochenhistologie und Pachyosterosklerose in Mesosaurierknochen, was auf eine vollständig aquatische Lebensweise hinweist. Wir identifizieren auch eine große intraspezifische Variation, die möglicherweise durch unregelmäßige Probenahmeorte beeinflusst wird. Kapitel 2 untersucht die morpho¬logische Variation bei Mesosauriern und deren Umwelt-verteilung basierend auf ihrer Größe. Ontogenetische Veränderungen stehen im Zusammenhang mit dem Wechsel des Ablagerungsmilieus und deuten auf Veränderungen in Ernährung und Lebensraum mit dem Wachstum hin. In Kapitel 3 wird die kaudale Autotomie bei Mesosauriern überprüft und das Vorhandensein kaudaler Bruchebenen bestätigt. Wir schlagen eine stärker von den Extremitäten angetriebene Fortbewegung vor. Unsere Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass kaudale Autotomie ursprünglich in einer breiten Gruppe von Reptilien vorhanden war, anstatt konvergent in verschiedenen Linien entstanden zu sein. Kapitel 4 beschreibt auf Grundlage von Mesosaurier-Exemplaren vier grundlegende axiale Entwicklungs-modelle bei Amnioten und rekonstruiert ihren ursprünglichen Zustand in der Klade. Diese Muster bleiben im Laufe der Zeit relativ stabil, obwohl regionale Einflüsse möglich sind. Diese Erkenntnisse beleuchten wichtige Aspekte der Mesosaurier-Paläontologie und unterstreichen ihre Bedeutung für die Erforschung der Evolution früher Amnioten. / The enigmatic mesosaurs were small, reptiles that lived during the Lower Permian period and were the earliest known reptiles to return to living in water. Despite their short existence and restricted geographical distribution, mesosaurs can provide important evidence about the early evolution of amniotes and the colonization of aquatic environments. This thesis regroups four articles published in peer-reviewed journals that investigate aspects of the anatomy, ontogeny, and ecology of Mesosauridae. In Chapter 1, my co-authors and I study bone histology and pachyosterosclerosis in the long bones, vertebrae, and ribs of mesosaurs. Thin sections show a high degree of osteosclerosis in their bones, supporting a fully aquatic lifestyle. We also recover a large intraspecific variation in Mesosauridae, albeit possibly due to irregular sampling locations. In Chapter 2 we examine morphological variation in mesosaurs and the environmental distribution of individuals as a function of size. We highlight ontogenetic changes in mesosaurs associated with a transition across depositional environments, which suggest that mesosaurs underwent diet and life environment change with growth. In Chapter 3, we review the information on caudal autotomy in mesosaurs. We confirm the presence of caudal fracture planes in the clade and propose a more limb-driven propulsion than previously considered. Our results also suggest that caudal autotomy was ancestrally present in a large radiation of reptiles, rather than a feature evolved convergently in multiple lineages. In Chapter 4, based on data in mesosaur specimens, we describe four axial developmental patterns in amniotes and reconstruct their ancestral condition in the clade. We demonstrate that these patterns are relatively stable throughout time, albeit possibly affected by regionalization. These new elements reveal crucial aspects of mesosaur paleontology and substantiate their significance for studying the evolution of early amniotes.

To create a good scientific reconstruction is important artistic skills and knowledge of history painting of prehistoric animals, and also knowlages in the anatomy, zoology, palaeontology, palaeoecology and also biomechanics. Reconstruction It stands on the borderline between art and science. Our view on the fossil marine Amniotes change over time with advancing skeletal findings, and also changed a scientific reconstruction. Although the actual outputs, such as reconstruction and in particular 3D models can explain a number of new or unexplained informations about this group. A reconstruction expert can not only beautify their actions, but also enthance scientific knowledge, or even to outline a new direction for further research. Keywords: Scientific reconstruction, fossil marine amniotes, adaptation, anatomy, evolution, palaeoecology, biomechanice, 3D models, trends.