Ashley Bales

Catarrhine evolution and the fossil record, morphology and phylogenetic methods, diversification

PhD. Biological Anthropology
Entered 2008

I am a broadly trained morphologist with expertise in systematics, mammalian paleontology and geometric morphometric methods.  My primary research interests concern using morphology to understand lineage diversification and niche separation.  While much research is focused on either functional or phylogenetic signals in morphology, I am interested in the intersection between the two and inferring evolutionary scenarios incorporating both.  Additionally, I am interested in exploring rates of morphological evolution in functional complexes and developing robust evolutionary models incorporating speciation modeling.

My dissertation research is focused on the Miocene East African primate Proconsul.  I applied a combination of morphometric systematics, geometric morphometrics and divergence analyses to infer a comprehensive evolutionary scenario for the origination of crown catarrhines and the locomotor adaptations that gave rise to and subsequently diverged within them. 

Bales, A.D. (2014) The phylogenetic position of Proconsul and the importance of mosaic evolution in the origination of crown catarrhine lineages.  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Suppl. 85.

Bales, A.D. (2013) Proconsul's basicranial morphology and its implications for understanding Catarrhine evolution.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 72.

Bales, A.D. (2009) A 3D geometric morphometric study of the morphology of the TMJ complex in hylobatids.  Darwin’s Legacy: Early Human Evolution in Africa.

Bales, A.D. (2008) Variation in the lateral corpus of the mandible in hominins extant from 3-1.8 Ma.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology Suppl. 63.