L. Witmer

Publications137
h-index43
Citations6,123
Highly Influential Citations684
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The Evolution of the Antorbital Cavity of Archosaurs: A Study in Soft-Tissue Reconstruction in the Fossil Record with an Analysis of the Function of Pneumaticity
TLDR
Resolution of the antorbital cavity is correctly viewed as a “soft-tissue problem,” and is addressed within the context of the extant phylogenetic bracket (EPB) approach for reconstructing the unpreserved features of fossil organisms.
Using CT to Peer into the Past: 3D Visualization of the Brain and Ear Regions of Birds, Crocodiles, and Nonavian Dinosaurs
TLDR
Until relatively recently, information on the internal skull structures of fossil taxa relied on fortuitous breaks, aggressive removal of rock matrix, sectioning with a saw, or serial ground thin-sectioning, all of which potentially risk damage to the fossil specimen.
Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur
TLDR
Skeletal and dental evidence suggests that Nigersaurus was a ground-level herbivore that gathered and sliced relatively soft vegetation, the culmination of a low-browsing feeding strategy first established among diplodocoids during the Jurassic.
CRANIOFACIAL ANATOMY OF MAJUNGASAURUS CRENATISSIMUS (THEROPODA: ABELISAURIDAE) FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF MADAGASCAR
Abstract Recent fieldwork in the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Maevarano Formation, northwest Madagascar, has yielded important new skull material of the abelisaurid theropod, Majungasaurus…
2 The Extant Phylogenetic Bracket and the importance of reconstructing soft tissues in fossils
  • L. Witmer
  • Geography, Environmental Science
  • 2007
Fossils usually provide paleontologists with little more than bones and teeth as primary data. Because the broad aim of functional morphological analyses of extinct organisms is to breathe life into…
Homology of facial structures in extant archosaurs (birds and crocodilians), with special reference to paranasal pneumaticity and nasal conchae
  • L. Witmer
  • Medicine
    Journal of morphology
  • 1 September 1995
TLDR
The facial anatomy of extant birds and crocodilians is examined in detail to provide background and to discover those apomorphic aspects that contribute to the divergent specialization of these two groups and thus obscure homologies.
Archosaur adductor chamber evolution: Integration of musculoskeletal and topological criteria in jaw muscle homology
TLDR
A new and robust view of jaw muscle homology is provided and the first synthesized nomenclature of sauropsid musculature is introduced using multiple lines of evidence, indicating multiple topological criteria are necessary for interpretations of soft‐tissue homology and warrant further investigation into character congruence and developmental connectivity.
New Insights Into the Brain, Braincase, and Ear Region of Tyrannosaurs (Dinosauria, Theropoda), with Implications for Sensory Organization and Behavior
TLDR
Tyrannosaur sensory biology is consistent with their predatory coelurosaurian heritage, with emphasis on relatively quick, coordinated eye and head movements, and probably sensitive low‐frequency hearing; tyrannosaurs apomorphically enhanced their olfactory apparatus.
The craniofacial air sac system of Mesozoic birds (Aves)
TLDR
Four derived pneumatic characters suggest that the Palaeognathae (ratites and tinamous) is monophyletic within Neornithes, and within avian phylogeny, Ornithurae and Neorn ithes are well–supported by pNEumatic synapomorphies.
Neuroanatomy of flying reptiles and implications for flight, posture and behaviour
TLDR
The brain and vestibular apparatus in two pterosaurs are compared based on high-resolution computed tomographic (CT) scans from which they were constructed digital endocasts to shed light on adaptation to an aerial lifestyle.
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