Dinosaur Lab

Research

Our lab’s research focuses on the evolution of Gondwanan continental vertebrates, in particular dinosaurs and crocodilians. We are also interested in vertebrate biomechanics and using extant animals to better understand the anatomy, behaviour and evolution of extinct ones.

Research areas
Dinosaurs
Australasian Cretaceous dinosaurian faunas; evolution of Australasian ornithopods thyreophorans, sauropods and theropods; Gondwanan dinosaur palaeobiogeography; dinosaur trackways and locomotion
Crocodilians
Evolution of Australasian crocodilians; origin of modern crocodilians; diversification of Neosuchia; crocodilian locomotion; crocodilian lung ventilation; crocodilian growth dynamics
Biomechanics and evolution
Locomotor evolution of dinosaurs and crocodilians; vertebral bracing in archosaurs; feeding behaviour in crocodilians and dinosaurs
Other research
Evolution of Australian Cretaceous fishes; evolution of Australian pterosaurs; geology and taphonomy of Australian Cretaceous dinosaur localities; experimental taphonomy; palaeopathology in fossil archosaurs; palaeoecology and palaeoclimate


Fieldwork

Our research regularly finds us conducting expeditions to Cretaceous vertebrate localities in central-western Queensland, the Kimberley, and, when we can, Antarctica and what's left of Zealandia.