School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Lecturer in Anatomy

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences.

Room VBS 1.004

Phone: +61 8 9360 7658

Email: N.Warburton@murdoch.edu.au

Research Summary:

My major research interests focus on the functional morphology and evolution of vertebrates, in particular (but not limited to) Australian marsupials, with the following broad aims:

• Broaden knowledge of the anatomy and biology of marsupials;
  
• Investigare the vastly understudied "other 95%" of the marsupial body: the post-cranium;
• Resolve the respective roles of extrinsic versus intrinsic drivers shaping vertebrate evolution in Australia compared with the vastly better understood mammal radiations on other continents;
• Utilise techniques of comparative anatomy, including new technological advancements in morphometric analyses.

Broad Research Interests (Keywords):

• Comparative Anatomy
• Evolutionary History of Marsupials
• Functional vertebrate Morphology
• Locomotion
• Musculoskeletal Systems
• Skull Shape and Masticatory Anatomy

 Publications

Warburton, N., Wood, C., Lloyd, C., Song, S. and Withers, P. 2003. The 3-dimensional anatomy of the North-Western Marsupial Moles (Notoryctes caurinus Thomas 1920) using computed tomography, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging. Records of the Western Australian Museum 22: 1-7.

Warburton, N. 2006. Functional morphology of marsupial moles (Marsupialia; Notoryctidae). Verh. Naturwiss. Ver. Hamburg 42: 39-149.

Prideaux, G., Long, J., Ayliffe, L., Hellstrom, J., Pillans, B., Boles, W., Hutchinson, M., Roberts, R., Cupper, M., Arnold, L., Devine, P., Warburton, N. 2007. An arid-adapted middle Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from south-central Australia Nature 445: 422-425.

Prideaux, G.J. and Warburton, N.M. 2008. New fossil tree-kangaroo Bohra illuminata (Diprotodontia: Macropodidae) from the Nullarbor Plain of South-Central Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(2): 463-478.

Warburton, N. M. 2009. Comparative jaw muscle anatomy in kangaroos, wallabies and rat-kangaroos (Marsupialia: Macropodoidea) The Anatomical Record 292:875–884.

Prideaux, G.J. and Warburton, N.M. 2009. Bohra nullabora sp. nov., a second tree-kangaroo (Marsupialia: Macropodidae) from the Pleistocene of the Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25: 165-179.

Warburton, N.M. and Prideaux, G.J. In press. Functional pedal morphology of the extinct tree-kangaroo Bohra (Diprotodontia: Macropodidae) Kangaroos, Wallabies and Rat-Kangaroos vol.3.

Prideaux, G.J. and Warburton, N.M. In press An osteology based appraisal of the phylogeny and evolution of kangaroos and wallabies (Macropodidae, Marsupialia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.