Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
Immense diversity exists across the animal kingdom. Even among animals that have already been classified, new discoveries and observations prompt continuous reevaluation in the pursuit of more accurate classification. This study looked at two species of lizards in the genus Oreosaurus—O. rhodogaster and O. luctuosus—to examine if significant osteological differences exist to justify the use of this character system in the systematics of this genus. The primary focus of this study was on the heads of these lizards. CT scans of the skulls were obtained and uploaded into Drishti, a modeling software. Drishti was used to construct models of the skulls that were scaled to an analyzable size and showed accurate topographical features of the bone structure. Results indicate that osteological analysis of this kind is a promising source for determining phylogenetically significant characters between species of Oreosaurus, and even within the gymnophthalmid family.
Publication Date
5-1-2021
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Mckee, Hayden, "CRANIAL OSTEOLOGY AND COMPARISON OF OREOSAURUS LUCTUOSUS AND OREOSAURUS RHODOGASTER" (2021). 2021 Spring Honors Capstone Projects. 61.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/honors_spring2021/61