Skull shape, function and evolution in the earliest dinosaurs

Dinosaurs are one of the most successful groups of organisms to have ever lived - they dominated terrestrial ecosystems for approximately 170 million years. Despite the long history of dinosaur palaeontology, the roots of their success are still not entirely understood. Their origins in the Triassic remain difficult to fully illustrate, as the fossil record for that period remains elusive. Several theories have attempted to outline possible explanations for dinosaur success, but none have conclusively demonstrated a critical factor. One area that has not yet been explored is the feeding ecology of the earliest dinosaurs. Although previous work has described the gross anatomy and dentition of these animals, quantitative comparative analysis of the functional optimality of early dinosaur feeding biomechanics has yet to been undertaken. By exploring this, it may be possible to demonstrate whether innovations relating to feeding played a role in dinosaur diversification during and after the Triassic. Furthermore, by understanding the functional capacity of feeding in early dinosaur evolution, we can develop a model study that can aid in understanding general patterns of functional and phenotypic evolution across vertebrate evolution. The sheer success of dinosaurs makes them a model clade to test hypotheses relating to form and function in a macroevolutionary context.