Diego Pol
Principal Researcher
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Bio
I did my undergraduate studies in Biology at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, with a major in Paleontology. In 1999 I started grad school at the joint program of the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University (Nueva York, USA), where I got my Ph.D. In 2005 I did a postdoc at the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (Ohio State University) on method for phylogenetic reconstruction for the study of evolutionary relationships of organisms. Since 2006 I am a researcher of CONICET at the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio.
The main focus of my research is centered on understanding the evolution of archosaur reptiles (dinosaurs, crocodiles) using a phylogenetic approach. In the last few years I have focused my work on the dinosaurs and crocodiles that lived in Patagonia in the Mesozoic. Most of these studies are being conducted on new specimens that were recently found during the field expeditions we organize in collaboration with other colleagues of the MEF and other institutions. The study of new species of reptiles, and their interpretation from an evolutionary perspective is the main component of my recent publications.
My interest for these issues is to understand the origin and evolution of the amazing diversity of reptiles that lived in Patagonia (and other regions of the world) during the Mesozoic, between 230 million years ago and the massive extinction at the end of the Cretaceous (65 million years ago). In this period reptiles were the most abundant vertebrates of terrestrial ecosystems, and they diversified and evolved in multiple lineages that we can discover today studying the fossil record.
Current Projects
- Evolution of archosaur reptiles in the Jurassic of Patagonia
- Phylogenetic relationships of Cretaceous and Paleogene Crocodyliformes from Gondwana
- Phylogeny and evolution of sauropodomorph dinosaurs
Publications
- BECERRA, M., POL, D., WHITLOCK, J.A., PORRO, L.B. 2020. Tooth replacement in Manidens condorensis : baseline study to address the replacement pattern in dentitions of early ornithischians. Special Papers in Palaeontology DOI 10.1002/spp2.1337
- ZAHER, H., POL, D., NAVARRO, B. A., DELCOURT, R., & CARVALHO, A. B. 2020. An Early Cretaceous theropod dinosaur from Brazil sheds light on the cranial evolution of the Abelisauridae. Comptes Rendus Palevol 19: 101–115.
- LEARDI, J. M., YÁÑEZ, I., & POL, D. 2020. South American Crocodylomorphs (Archosauria; Crocodylomorpha): A review of the early fossil record in the continent and its relevance on understanding the origins of the clade. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 104: 102780.
- POL, D., RAMEZANI, J., GOMEZ, K., CARBALLIDO, J. L., CARABAJAL, A. P., RAUHUT, O. W. M., ESCAPA, I. H. & CÚNEO, N. R. 2020. Extinction of herbivorous dinosaurs linked to Early Jurassic global warming event. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287: 20202310.
- NORELL, M.A., WIEMANN, J., FABBRI, M., YU, C., MARSICANO, C.A., MOORE-NALL, A., VARRICCHIO, D.J., POL, D., ZELENITSKY, D.K. 2020. The first dinosaur egg was soft. Nature 583 : 406–410.
- POL, D. & GOLOBOFF, P.A. 2020. The Impact of unstable taxa in Coelurosaurian phylogeny and resampling support measures for parsimony analyses. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 440: 98–115.
- FERNANDEZ DUMONT, M.L., BONA, P., POL, D., & APESTEGUIA, S. 2020. New anatomical information on Araripesuchus buitreraensis with implications for the systematics of Uruguaysuchidae (Crocodyliforms, Notosuchia). Cretaceous Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104494
- LEARDI, J.M., POL, D. & CLARK, J.M. 2020. Braincase anatomy of Almadasuchus figarii (Archosauria, Crocodylomorpha) and a review of the cranial pneumaticity in the origins of Crocodylomorpha. Journal of Anatomy DOI: 10.1111/joa.13171
- BECERRA, M.G. & POL, D. 2020. The enamel miscrostructure of Manidens condorensis: new hypotheses on the ancestral state and evolution of enamel in Ornithischia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 65: 1–12
- FELICE, R.N., WATANABE, A., CUFF, A., NOIRAULT, E., POL, D., WITMER, L.M., NORELL, M.A., O'CONNOR, P.M., GOSWAMI, A. 2019. Evolutionary integration and modularity in the archosaur cranium. Integrative and Comparative Biology 59: 371–382.
- RAUHUT, O.W.M., POL, D. 2019. Probable basal allosauroid from the early Middle Jurassic Cañadón Asfalto Formation of Argentina highlights phylogenetic uncertainty in tetanuran theropod dinosaurs. Scientific Reports 9: 1–9.
- KRAUSE, M., RAMEZANI, J., UMAZANO, A.M., POL, D., CARBALLIDO, J.L., STERLI, J., PUERTA, P., CUNEO, N.R., BELLOSI, E.S. 2019. High-resolution chronostratigraphy of the Cerro Barcino Formation (Patagonia): Paleobiologic implications for the mid-cretaceous dinosaur-rich fauna of South America. Gondwana Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2019.10.005
- OTERO, A., CUFF, A.R., ALLEN, V., SUMMER-ROONEY, L., POL, D., & HUTCHINSON, J.R. 2019. Ontogenetic changes in the body plan of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Mussaurus patagonicus reveal shifts of locomotor stance during growth. Scientific Reports 9 : 7614. DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-44037-1
- MARTINEZ, R., ALCOBER, O. & POL, D.2019. A new protosuchid crocodyliform (Pseudosuchia, Crocodyliformes) from the Norian Los Colorados Formation, northwestern Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology38 : 1–12. DOI 10.1080/02724634.2018.1491047
- GOLOBOFF, P.A., PITTMAN, M., POL, D. & XU, X. 2019. Morphological datasets fit a common mechanism much more poorly than DNA sequences and call into question the Mkv model. Systematic Biology 68: 494-504.
- HOLWERDA, F. & POL, D. 2018. Phylogenetic analysis of Gondwanan basal eusauropods from the Early–Middle Jurassic of Patagonia. Spanish Journal of Paleontology 33 : 289-298.
- KRUPANDAN, E., CHINSAMY-TURAN, A., POL, D. 2018. The long bone histology of the sauropodomorph Antetonitrus ingenipes. The Anatomical Record 301 : 1506-1518.
- APALDETTI, C. A., MARTINEZ, R. N., CERDA, I. A.,POL, D., & ALCOBER, O. 2018. An early trend towards gigantism in Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs. Nature Ecology and Evolution1-6. DOI 10.1038/s41559-018-0599-y
- BECERRA, POL, D., RÖSSNER, G. E. & RAUHUT, O. W. M.2018. Heterodonty and double occlusion in Manidens condorensis: a unique adaptation in an Early Jurassic ornithischian improving masticatory efficiency. Naturwissenschaften 105:41. DOI 10.1007/s00114-018-1569-6.
- LEARDI, J. M., POL, D., & GASPARINI, Z. 2018.New Patagonian baurusuchids (Crocodylomorpha; Notosuchia) from the Bajo de la Carpa Formation (Upper Cretaceous; Neuquén, Argentina): New evidences of the early sebecosuchian diversification in Gondwana. Comptes Rendus Palevol; DOI 10.1016/j.crpv.2018.02.002
- LANGER, M.C., EZCURRA, M.D., RAUHUT, O.W.M., BENTON, M.J., KNOLL, F., MCPHEE, B.W., NOVAS, F.E., POL, D., & STEPHEN L BRUSATTE. 2017. Untangling the dinosaur family tree. Nature551: E1-E3.
Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
2005 Ph.D., Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, USA.
2004 Master of Philosophy, Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, USA.
2001 Masters in Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, USA.
1999 Licenciado en Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
POSITIONS
2015-present CONICET, Principal Researcher.
Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
2011-2014 CONICET, Independient Researcher.
Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
2006-2010 CONICET, Adjunct Researcher.
Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
2004-2005 Mathematical Biosciences Institute, Ohio State University, Postdoctoral Fellow
Additional Files
- Data matrices
- Coloradisuchus (Martinez et al., 2018)
- Sauropodomorpha (Pol et al., 2021)
- Scripts for TNT
- Bremer support (bremsup.run)
- IterPCR (iterpcr.run)
- PCRJak (pcrjak.run)
- Swap a taxon (swaptaxon.run)
- Compare trees (compare.run)