• (Website)

PhD Topic: 

Evolution of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs with emphasis on specimens from Howe Ranch (Wyoming, USA)

Emanuel Tschopp received his MSc in paleontology 2008 at University of Zurich. In 2010, he started his PhD at the Department of Earth Sciences of the Faculdade de Ciência e Tecnologia of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, under the supervision of Prof. Octávio Mateus. His main research interests are the phylogeny and evolution of sauropod dinosaurs, in particular of the Late Jurassic faunas from the Morrison and the Lourinhã Formations in the USA and Portugal, respectively, where he also participated in various excavation campaigns.

Tschopp and Mateus recently described a new diplodocid sauropod, Kaatedocus siberi, and reported on probable sauropod interclavicles – which were previously thought to be absent in dinosaurs. Ongoing projects are a specimen-based phylogenetic analysis of diplodocid sauropods, a revision of Camarasaurus, and a 3D morphometric analysis of shape change within the vertebral column of sauropods.

Selected References:

Tschopp, E., & Dzemski, G. (2012). 3-dimensional reproduction techniques to preserve and spread paleontological material–a case study with a diplodocid sauropod neck. Journal of Paleontological Techniques, 10, 1-8.

Tschopp, E., & Mateus, O. (2012). The skull and neck of a new flagellicaudatan sauropod from the Morrison Formation and its implication for the evolution and ontogeny of diplodocid dinosaurs. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, (ahead-of-print), 1-36.

Tschopp, E., & Mateus, O. (2012). A sternal plate of a large-sized sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of Portugal. Fundamental, 20, 263-266.

Christiansen, N. A., & Tschopp, E. (2010). Exceptional stegosaur integument impressions from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming. Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 103(2), 163-171.

Tschopp, E., & Mateus, O. (2012). Clavicles, interclavicles, gastralia, and sternal ribs in sauropod dinosaurs: new reports from Diplodocidae and their morphological, functional and evolutionary implications. Journal of anatomy.

Tschopp, E., Russo, J., & Dzemski, G. (2013). Retrodeformation as a test for the validity of phylogenetic characters: an example from diplodocid sauropod vertebrae. Palaeontologia Electronica, 1998, 16.

http://unl-pt.academia.edu/EmanuelTschopp

http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7LV6rTYAAAAJ&hl=en