Tridimensional modeling and locomotor biomechanics in extinct vertebrates

• Grant number: 22/03099-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Initial Project
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: January 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Paleozoology
• Principal Investigator: Fabiana Rodrigues Costa Nunes
• Grantee: Fabiana Rodrigues Costa Nunes
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alexander Wilhelm Armin Kellner ; ANDRE EDUARDO PIACENTINI PINHEIRO ; Borja Holgado Palacios ; Ivan Sergio Nunes Silva Filho ; John Richard Hutchinson ; Olavo Luppi Silva ; Oscar Rocha Barbosa ; Taissa Rodrigues Marques da Silva
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/23148-8 - Tridimensional reconstruction of pterosaurs Anhanguera piscator (Anhangueridae) and Tupuxuara longicristatus (Tapejaridae) from the Cretaceous of Brazil, BP.TT; 24/10657-1 - Comparison of locomotor posture in extinct crocodyliforms with modern counterparts, BP.DR; 24/03180-4 - Flight posture of Rhamphorhynchus muensteri (Pterosauria, Rhamphorhynchidae), BP.MS

Abstract

Inferring behavioral and ecological aspects of extinct organisms is always a challenging task. When it comes to lineages that still live so far, comparison between extinct groups and their modern analogs can be made under the principles of functional morphology. However, regarding groups that are completely extinct and left no descendants, function must be inferred by other means. Nevertheless, no matter the lineage still exists or not, shedding light on the life habits of extinct animals brings implications in many ways, particularly regarding movement range and locomotor behavior. These aspects can be studied under a biomechanical perspective, which is a cutting-edge method that brings several possibilities in Paleontology. Being so, the aim of this project is to overcome the challenges of three-dimensional reconstruction of skeletal parts of extinct organisms, which will enable us to retrieve substantial data on skeletal kinematics of extinct groups. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DA SILVA, JOAO LUCAS; BENTES, TABATA; PEGAS, RODRIGO V.; KELLNER, ALEXANDER W. A.; COSTA, FABIANA RODRIGUES. A new anhanguerid pterosaur specimen from the Romualdo Formation, Araripe Basin (Lower Cretaceous, Northeastern Brazil). HISTORICAL BIOLOGY, v. N/A, p. 22-pg., 2024-07-26. (19/10231-6, 22/03099-7, 23/11296-0)

GRIFFIN, BENJAMIN W.; MARTIN-SILVERSTONE, ELIZABETH; PEGAS, RODRIGO V.; MEILAK, ERIK ANTHONY; COSTA, FABIANA R.; PALMER, COLIN; RAYFIELD, EMILY J.. Modelling take-off moment arms in an ornithocheiraean pterosaur. PeerJ, v. 12, p. 25-pg., 2024-08-05. (19/10231-6, 22/03099-7, 23/11296-0)