Episode 124: Crocodylomorph disparity

Crocodiles are often referred to as "living fossils", but if we compare modern and ancient species, does that label hold up? What different kind of morphologies (shapes) did past crocs have and how did they live? How quickly did this past diversity arise and why are we left with so few species today? What's to stop them from diversifying again? In this episode, we speak to Dr Tom Stubbs, University of Bristol, about his recent work analysing changes in crocodylomorph disparity through time. We look at some of the weird and wonderful crocs of the past and work through his methods for calculating their rates of evolutionary innovation. Part 1 of 2