Deep-time ecomorphology: can neuroanatomy inform palaeobiology in turtles?

• Applicant: Dr. Gabriel de Souza Ferreira
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 563376897

Palaeoneuroanatomy promises to provide invaluable information about the biology of extinct animals, through the analysis of the cavities surrounding the sensorial and nervous systems. This subdiscipline has gained a strong impulse in recent years by the increased accessibility to micro-computed tomography and the related easiness to collect and analyse large amounts of data in a statistical framework. Yet, in non-mammalian and non-avian groups, the brain does not completely fill the cranial cavity, so the accuracy of using endocasts (i.e., digitally filled brain and other organ cavities) for palaeobiological inference needs to be assessed for each analysed group before making reliable interpretations. In this project, I aim to explore the neuroanatomical evolution of turtles. Turtles offer a great model for ecomorphological analyses due to their long and unusually rich fossil record, dating back to the Late Triassic, and the availability of a relatively rich extant diversity, which enables testing correlations between form and function and then projecting those results to extinct species. I will rely on a heavy digitization scheme of collection specimens (particularly skulls of extinct and extant turtles) based on micro-computed tomography imaging to collect the necessary data that will then be post-processed to create 3D digital models of brains, sensorial organs and their endocasts. These data will then be analysed under a quantitative statistical framework using phylogenetic comparative methods. By quantifying the morphological disparity of such organs in turtles, I will test their correlation to different ecological aspects, such as diet and locomotion. More specifically, with this project, I aim to provide answers to the following questions: (1) does the turtle brain (organ and endocast) change through ontogeny in a similar way to other reptiles? (2) how accurate are endocasts as proxies for the morphology of different brain regions and the olfactory organ? (3) are the brain and olfactory organ morphological disparity in extinct turtles similar to that in extant species? and (4) can we infer the ecology of extinct turtles using palaeoneuroanatomical data?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants