Mitali Joshi

Although blindsnakes include many superlatives, such as the world’s smallest and most widespread living snake species they have largely been neglected in vertebrate research. Nonetheless, they tell a very interesting evolutionary story and – being of Gondwana origin - their relationships track place tectonics better than those of any other vertebrate group. With the help of micro-computer-tomography (µCT) and geometric morphometric analyses we aim to understand the evolution of several morphological characters (e.g. skull, cervical vertebrae, pelvic girdle).