Michael Caldwell

I am an evolutionary biologist and systematist who uses data from the fossil record of squamate reptiles blended with data from the modern fauna to address questions on the deep evolution of these tetrapods. I am particularly interested in snake lizards and the marine lizard group known as mosasaurs and their extinct kin. However, my research questions are expanding to other clades of squamates as my grad students and postdoctoral fellows move forward on new research problems. I have also developed a long term research program on the evolution and development of teeth in squamates that has moved well beyond these animals and is now investigating the origins of teeth in vertebrates broadly speaking. I have published more than 140 peer reviewed papers and 1 book, plus 100's of conference abstracts, on the anatomy, palaeontology, and evolution of snakes and lizards.