Locomotor function and phylogeny: Implications for interpreting the hominoid fossil record

Thomas Rein
Tom Rein currently serves as a post-doc in Prof. Dr. Katerina Harvati's geometric morphometric research lab at the University of Tübingen under the auspices of German Academic Exchange (DAAD) research fellowship. His research focuses on the interplay of function, evolutionary history, and development as influences on extant primate postcranial morphology using phylogenetically informed comparative methods and geometric morphometrics. He applies this work to inferring locomotor function from the Micoene catarrhine and early hominin fossil record. His future research plans include investigating morphological trait integration using a 3D geometric morphometric approach and building predictive models for locomotor behavior based on hind limb bones, which should provide a clearer picture of the locomotor repertoire of habitually bipedal early hominins.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Central Connecticut State University