Organiser: Kate Trinajstic & Zerina Johanson
The vertebrates comprise a clade of animals originating in the Cambrian period (over 530 million years ago), whose phylogenetically basal nodes are dominated by fossil taxa. The vertebrate clade can be divided into jawless and jawed vertebrates, and the origin of novel characters associated with the jawed vertebrates (including jaws, two sets of paired fins and girdles, complex, regionalised vertebral column and an internal skeleton of bone) represents one of the most significant episodes in animal evolution. To elucidate the evolution of these characters, and evolution of characters within the vertebrate clade as a whole, we need a better understanding of the morphology of taxa occupying more basal nodes. Although these nodes are often represented by fossil taxa, new techniques are now available that will allow us to examine soft tissue characters and internal features previously hidden beneath scale or dermal bone covering.
This workshop will include talks followed by a short discussion session.