Research Projects
Fish Neuroanatomy
This project aims to describe in detail the neuroanatomy of extant fishes through dice-CT scanning and 3D modeling. Several groups of fishes lack detailed information on brain anatomy and associated nerves and other intracranial structures that could be informative for ecology and evolution. This morphological information can provide more accurate understanding of fish brain evolution and how brain morphology relates to both phylogeny and ecology.
Soft tissue preservation in vertebrate fossils
Using information from extant species it is possible to reconstruct soft tissue morphology of fossil taxa with limited information. However, without a better understanding of the preservation pathways to these exquisite fossils, our interpretations might be biased by variation in diagenetic processes. In this project I revise the variation in soft tissue preservation of fossil fishes and describe new soft-tissue occurrences. Considering the types of tissues, chemical composition (original and post-fossilization) as well as depositional environments it is possible to better understand how fossilization affects vertebrate soft tissues and our understanding of past fish diversity.
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Artwork of Coccocephalus wildi and its brain by Márcio L. Castro
Actinopterygian systematics
The phylogenetic relationship of ray-finned fishes have been focus of research for many decades, but the interrelationships of many taxa are still poorly understood, especially stem groups from the late Paleozoic. On this project I investigate the phylogenetic relationship early ray-finned fishes, commonly known as 'palaeoniscoids'. These relationships can be better understood through describing novel fossil occurrences and including these in a phylogenetic framework, as well as revising previously described taxa through CT-scanning.
Paleozoic fish fossils from South America
The knowledge of Paleozoic fish fossils from South America is considerably sparse and poorly understood in comparison to that of other important localities (e.g. North America, Europe, China, Australia). Thus, through field work and collection visits I've been working since 2014 on providing a better description of know Paleozoic fish taxa from South American localities, as well as the description of new taxa. Providing a better understanding of fossil faunas from neglected or poorly known localities is paramount for a better understanding of diversity through time and biogeographic patterns of Paleozoic fishes.
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Artwork of Austelliscus by Julio Lacerda @JuliotheArtist
Anatomical innovations of stem ray-finned fishes
Early ray-finned fishes are normally considered to be morphologicaly conservative and ecomorphologically restricted, with only a handful of disparous examples such as eurinotiforms and tarrassiforms. However, new approaches to the study of stem actinopterygians has demonstrated that they show a much wider set of morphological innovations, many of which are unique to the group and might be important for better undestanding their ecology and phylogeny. In this project I aim to describe these anatomical innovations and compare these to other fossil and modern examples to assess their use a characters in phylogeny and their potential to infer aspects of their ecology.
Video of jaw movement of the predatory actinopterygian Brazilichthys macrognathus. From Figueroa & Andrews (2022).
