Stig Walsh
National Museums Scotland, Department of Natural Sciences, Faculty Member
- Paleobiology, Taphonomy, Epistemology of natural sciences, Neuroscience, Zoology, Biogeography, and 10 moreSystematics (Taxonomy), Herpetology, Taxonomy, Aegean Bronze Age (Bronze Age Archaeology), Minoan Archaeology, Functional Anatomy, Evolutionary Biology, Paleontology, Minoan Pottery (Ceramic Analysis), and Barefoot Runningedit
The evolution of the avian brain is of crucial importance to studies of the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to modern birds, but very few avian fossils provide information on brain morphological development during the Mesozoic. An... more
The evolution of the avian brain is of crucial importance to studies of the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to modern birds, but very few avian fossils provide information on brain morphological development during the Mesozoic. An isolated specimen from the Cenomanian of Melovatka in Russia was described by Kurochkin and others as a fossilized brain, designated the holotype of Cerebavis cenomanica Kurochkin and Saveliev and tentatively referred to Enantiornithes. We have previously highlighted that this specimen is an incomplete skull, rendering the diagnostic characters invalid and Cerebavis cenomanica a nomen dubium. We provide here a revised diagnosis of Cerebavis cenomanica based on osteological characters, and a reconstruction of the endocranial morphology (= brain shape) based on μCT investigation of the braincase. Absence of temporal fenestrae indicates an ornithurine affinity for Cerebavis. The brain of this taxon was clearly closer to that of modern birds than to Archae...
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The rapidly expanding interest in, and availability of, digital tomography data to visualize casts of the vertebrate endocranial cavity housing the brain (endocasts) presents new opportunities and challenges to the field of comparative... more
The rapidly expanding interest in, and availability of, digital tomography data to visualize casts of the vertebrate endocranial cavity housing the brain (endocasts) presents new opportunities and challenges to the field of comparative neuroanatomy. The opportunities are many, ranging from the relatively rapid acquisition of data to the unprecedented ability to integrate critically important fossil taxa. The challenges consist of navigating the logistical barriers that often separate a researcher from high-quality data and minimizing the amount of non- biological variation expressed in endocasts – variation that may confound meaningful and synthetic results. Our purpose here is to outline preferred approaches for acquiring digital tomographic data, converting those data to an endocast, and making those endocasts as meaningful as possible when considered in a comparative context. This review is intended to benefit those just getting started in the field but also serves to initiate further discussion between active endocast researchers regarding the best practices for advancing the discipline. Congruent with the theme of this volume, we draw our examples from birds and the highly encephalized non- avian dinosaurs that comprise closely related outgroups along their phylogenetic stem lineage.
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Ferreira-Cardoso, S., Araújo, R., Castanhinha, R., Walsh, S., Martins, R.M.S., Martins, G.G. (2014). The Floccular Complex: neuroanatomy as a tool to unveil paleoecology. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2014,... more
Ferreira-Cardoso, S., Araújo, R., Castanhinha, R., Walsh, S., Martins, R.M.S., Martins, G.G. (2014). The Floccular Complex: neuroanatomy as a tool to unveil paleoecology. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2014, p.128.
This study evaluated the relative functions of pitch contours in infant-directed speech (IDS) by comparing it with adult- (ADS) and foreigner-directed speech (FDS). The shape of pitch contours derived from target words in speech samples... more
This study evaluated the relative functions of pitch contours in infant-directed speech (IDS) by comparing it with adult- (ADS) and foreigner-directed speech (FDS). The shape of pitch contours derived from target words in speech samples was analysed using two novel algorithmic methods and a standard qualitative approach. Our findings indicate that IDS is very distinct from ADS and FDS, whilst
ABSTRACT
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Research Interests:
... Stig Walsh works primarily on the systematics, evolution and distribution of Tertiary seabirds in the Southern Hemisphere, focusing on Sphenisciformes and Pelecaniformes. Editor: Brett Riddle. Get PDF (356K). More content like this. ...