Rise and fall of the Rhynchocephalia: understanding rates of morphological change, dental evolution, and growth patterns using multi-resolut

Rhynchocephalia is the sister-group of Squamata (lizards and snakes). Originating in the earliest Triassic, their fossil record is very rich and diverse during the Mesozoic, but today they are represented only by the Tuatara of New Zealand. To understanding their unique evolutionary trajectory, including the interaction with peculiar traits like acrodont dentition and slow growth pattern, we aim to study a fossil of the basalmost confirmed species, Diphydontosaurus. Since a prior attempt to µCT scan the specimen failed, we propose a multi resolution PPC-SRµCT to image the whole specimen, teeth, and femur to gain access to its postcranial anatomy, dental morphology and bone microanatomy. We aim to provide new insights into the macroevolutionary patterns of rhynchocephalians, focusing on their initial abundance and subsequent decline.