Lab Head

Professor

Al's research involves almost anything related to teeth - how they are made, how they work, and how they evolve. More about Al here.

Contact: alistair.evans@monash.edu 

Postdoctoral researchers

Travis is an ARC DECRA Fellow. His current research is investigating macroevolutionary patterns of feeding in marine mammals using adaptive landscapes. He is also studying the diversification dynamics of cetaceans as well as continuing his work on marine mammal sensory biology.

Tahlia examined the form and function of carnivore canines through shape analysis and biomechanics.

Co-supervised by David Hocking

PhD 2022, Honours 2016

PhD students

Billy is investigating tooth elemental composition in Australian marsupials.

Co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams

Honours 2017

Kate is examining the influence of the power cascade growth rule on the development and evolution of bird and dinosaur beaks.

Co-supervised by Olga Panagiotopoulou

Ruairidh is investigating the systematics and palaeobiology of fossil whales.

Co-supervised by Erich Fitzgerald, Museums Victoria

Jake is investigating the evolution and distribution of the non-avian theropod dinosaur group Megaraptoridae across the Cretaceous of Australia. Additionally, Jake has been working to reappraise the record of theropods from the Cretaceous of Victoria.

Co-supervised by Steve Poropat.

Lachlan’s project covers Australian Cenozoic amber palaeontology, fossil preparation, and advanced micro-photography. He is primarily studying arthropod and plant bioinclusions in fossil tree resin from the Surf Coast of Victoria, Australia.

Co-supervised by Jeff Stilwell.

Alyssa is studying marine arthropods from the Cambrian Period (540 - 485 mya). Her primary focus is growth patterns in trunk segmentation, but her prior work has included morphological descriptions of other early marine invertebrates.

Ammresh is investigating the Pleistocene fossil record of snakes in eastern Australia, using shape analysis to identify snake fossils.

Riya is investigating the morphology of dasyurid marsupials.

Main supervisor Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams

Astrid is investigating the relationships between the morphological forms and functions of flippers across all extant and most extinct marine tetrapods.

Maria is examining bioinclusions in Victorian fossil amber.

Juan is studying the change in reptile communities from the Pleistocene to the present using ecological niche modelling.

Lochie is investigating the feeding behaviour and diet of the extinct whale Janjucetus through comparisons to extant and extinct seals.

Honours 2023

Honours students

Maddy is examining elasmobranch communities from the warm Miocene period of southern Victoria.

Undergraduate 2023

Max investigated the power cascade rule of tooth growth in primates.

Undergraduate 2022

Chris studied the palaeoecology of a unique freshwater dolphin species found in the middle of South Australia 29 million years ago.

Jon investigated how the form and growth of horns vary throughout life, with an eye on applying learnings to extinct creatures. Jon also worked on Cretaceous termite fossils while in the lab, and continues on in Vertebrate Palaeontology.

Undergraduate 2021

Undergraduate students

Former Lab Members and Visitors

PhD 2023

Marco’s project investigated the evolution of limblessness in skinks.

Main supervisor Dave Chapple

Contact: marco.camaiti@monash.edu

Undergraduate 2015, Honours 2015-2016

Alex has a broad interest in mammal evolution and morphology. He has worked to uncover more information about the little known pig-footed bandicoot.

Main supervisor Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams

Honours 2022

Tash investigated the effect of simulated stresses on the cranial morphology of Zygomaturus to test horn hypotheses and built a framework for exhibition design.

PhD 2022

Hazel's PhD project investigated functional morphology of the world's largest (extinct) marsupials, the diprotodontids.

Co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams and Dr Erich Fitzgerald

Contact: hazel.richards@monash.edu

PhD 2022

Silke examined snake fang functional morphology and strike behaviour.

Co-supervised by David Hocking and Olga Panagiotopoulou

Postdoc 2021, PhD 2020

Douglass examined the morphological adaptations of the recently extinct thylacine.

Main supervisor Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams

Postdoc 2022, PhD 2021, Honours 2016, Undergraduate 2015

James is a Research Affiliate studying the evolution of marine mammals and their adaptations to aquatic life. His current research focuses on the origins of underwater hearing, and feeding adaptations, in seals.

Main supervisor Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams

Honours 2020

Lucy’s project investigated high resolution diceCT imaging of muscles in marsupials.

Co-supervised by Assoc. Prof. Justin Adams

Postdoc 2017-2021, PhD 2017, Honours 2012

David spends his time hanging out with seals to see what they can teach us about how aquatic feeding evolved in tetrapods. His PhD focused on establishing how pinnipeds vary their prey capture and processing behaviours when faced with different foraging scenarios. This involved performing feeding trials with fur seals and sea lions at Melbourne and Taronga Zoos, as well as working with animal mounted sensors on wild seals at the Phillip Island and Lady Julia Percy Island Australian fur seal colonies.

David is now the Curator of Vertebrate Zoology and Palaeontology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Contact: david@dphocking.com
www.dphocking.com 

Postdoc 2015, 2018

Felix was both a EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow and ARC DECRA Felow. His main interest are the evolutionary relationships, functional morphology, macroevolution and general palaeobiology of cetaceans, with a particular focus on baleen whales (Mysticeti). Current research projects focus on (1) the earliest phase of baleen whale evolution, based on new fossil specimens from Australia and North America; (2) collecting new data on fossil cetaceans in the Southern Hemisphere, which has traditionally been undersampled; (3) the evolution of marine mammal feeding; and (4) the palaeobiology of a mostly extinct group of mysticetes known as Cetotheriidae, which likely includes the enigmatic pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata.

Felix is now a curator of palaeontology at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

PhD 2018

Qamariya aspires to unravel the evolutionary history of marsupials; in particular the macropods (kangaroos and wallabies). Previously she has looked at macropod phylogenetics and morphological adaptation. Currently she is studying the development and evolution of teeth in mammals with a focus on identifying controls that dictate tooth number, size and shape as well as tooth replacement abilities such as molar progression and polyphydonty. This involves 3D scans and histology of wallaby embryos, as well as tissue culturing and genetic analyses of mice.

Co-supervised by Eddy McGlinn

Honours 2019, Undergraduate 2018

Rachael is investigating tooth complexity and diet in African artiodactyls and the relationship with physical properties of plant leaves.

Co-supervised by Gordon Sanson

Honours 2018

Chan looked at tooth size and complexity in murine rodents.

Honours 2017

Mark has a particular interest in understanding evolutionary relationships and morphology in the context of evolution. He investigated whether the Inhibitory Cascade - a rule that predicts the development of segmented structures in vertebrates - applies to trilobites and insects in a hope to better understand the evolution and development of segmentation.

PhD 2017

Matt is driven by an interest in better understanding the relationship between the morphology of animals and their ecology. His PhD work examined the evolution of morphological diversity in aquatic tetrapods using a combination of morphometric and biomechanical techniques, and is postdoc work examined the evolution and function of fossil baleen whales.

Matt is now Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Australian Museum.

PhD 2017

Travis is interested in the evolutionary history of marine tetrapods and what their fossils can tell us about their palaeobiology, ecology and environment. He completed a BSc (Hons) at Deakin University in 2012, where his Honours research looked at fossil penguins from Victoria. He has co-authored peer-reviewed articles, the first on the discovery of an Australian representative of an extinct group of giant flying birds known as the Pelagornithidae, the second on the oldest known Victorian occurrence of a group of giant flightless birds known as dromornithids, the third reviewing the fossil record of penguins in Australia and the fourth re-describing the holotype of an Australian fossil penguin.

Travis completed his PhD at Monash University, investigating the evolution of hearing in fossil cetaceans (whales and dolphins). His research involves many different analytical techniques, including microCT scanning, Finite Element Analysis, Geometric Morphometrics and comparative anatomy. He is currently a postdoc at the Natural History Museum in London, UK.

Co-supervised by Erich Fitzgerald

https://travisparkpalaeo.com/
twitter.com/Blogozoic

Lab Technician 2013-2017 and Honours 2012

Lap is interested in new technologies and techniques for science research. He takes care of laboratory equipment, manages databases, administrates this website, and assists researchers with the use of 3D scanning equipment, computer software and data collection. He completed a BSc (Hons) at Monash University in 2012, where his research looked into predicting the 3D shapes of undiscovered fossil teeth from their known opposing correlate.

Honours 2016-2017

Steff's Honours project examined the cetacean diversity of Pliocene Victoria.

Honours 2015-2016

Alex has a keen interest in the evolution and morphology of marine mammals. His honours project focused on the bizarre squalodontids (shark-toothed dolphins), so-called because of their characteristically serrated triangular teeth, which are completely unlike the teeth of any living whale or dolphin. The squalodontids were the dominant group of dolphins for 20 million years, before going extinct about 10 million years ago. Alex spends his time studying the serrations on the teeth of modern sharks and their ability cut food, to try and better understand how the serrations present on Squalodontidae teeth may affect their cutting performance.

Undergraduate Research 2015

Karina is interested in anything to do with seals, particularly how the pinnipeds evolved to become specifically adapted to life in the oceans. Her third year project involved comparing the morphological structures of the forelimbs of pinnipeds from the different phylogenetic groups and how these flipper structures relate to their locomotion and feeding behaviours. 

Honours 2013-2014

Roysul is interested in studying the evolution of diverse physiological forms and functions within the marine tetrapod groups. He aspires to integrate both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods into his research. He has finished his B.EnvSci (Hons) from Monash University in 2014. His research looked into the diversity of baleen whales from Upper Miocene–Early Pliocene in the Greater Southwest Pacific. He researched into both fossil and living baleen whale Tympano-Periotic earbones by applying comparative anatomy method.

Jess Li, BSc 2020

Robin Yong, BSc(Hons) 2017 - University of Adelaide

Aidan Couzens, PhD 2017 - Flinders University

Peter Trusler, PhD 2016, Palaeontological Artist

Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD 2016 - Macquarie University

Laura Murphy, BSc(Hons) 2014

Ai-Ling Khoo, BSc 2014

Angela Olah, BSc(Hons) 2013-2014

Kaitlyn Hart, BSc(Hons) 2013-2014

Alana Sharp, PhD 2011-2014: Alana's personal website

Peter Smits, Masters 2010-2012

Harini Epa, BSc(Hons) 2012

Jesse Vitacca, BSc 2012

David Jones, Marie Curie International Outgoing Postdoctoral Fellow, 2009-2011: University of Bristol page

Anastasia Courtney, BSc(Hons) 2011

Roger Close, PhD 2008-2011

Daniela Winkler, MSc student, University of Hamburg 2009

Michael Treadwell, BSc(Hons) 2008-2009

Karlena Proctor, BSc(Hons) 2008-2009