Lizards and Amphibians at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary

Explore the fascinating world of lizards and amphibians during the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary in this 46-minute lecture from the Royal Tyrrell Museum Speaker Series. Delve into the various theories surrounding the mass extinction event, including extraterrestrial impacts, marine regression, volcanism, and climate change. Examine the importance of sampling and rock unit analysis in understanding fossil data. Investigate the vertebrate tree of life, focusing on salamander and albanerpetontid sample sizes and lissamphibian diversity. Learn about biostratigraphy and Lazarus taxa, and discover the diverse squamate species that existed during this period, including whiptail lizards, snakes, and Komodo dragon-like creatures. Gain insights into lizard and snake biostratigraphy, early Paleocene survivors, and the speaker's future research goals in this comprehensive exploration of prehistoric herpetology.

Intro
Extraterrestrial Cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction
Single cause and rapid mass extinction
Multiple cause extinction scenario
Marine regression
Volcanism: Deccan Traps
Climate change
Expected Patterns
Sampling matters
Latest Cretaceous rock units
Early Paleocene rock units
Types of fossil data collected
Types of data collected
Vertebrate tree of life
Salamander and albanerpetontid sample sizes
Lissamphibian diversity
BIOSTRATIGRAPHY-Lazarus taxa
Squamata: lizards and snakes
Whiptail or Tegu-like lizards: Chamopsiidae
Snakes & Komodo Dragon-like lizards
Lizard and snake biostratigraphy
Early Paleocene survivors
Summary of results
Future goals