Joshua Gauweiler
My interests lie largely within palaeobiology, in the fields of evolution, morphology and ecology, especially regarding representatives of Ornithodira (pterosaurians and dinosauromorphs). My work often involves high resolution imaging of fossils and quantitative shape analysis via elliptic fourier analysis to better understand the functional morphology of certain animals. Ontogenetic development of prehistoric animals and comparing differences in the ontogeny of species is also a vital part of my research that can help to understand the evolution of larger phylogenetic groups as a whole.
Currently I am working on my PhD funded with the help of a scholarship of the Landesgraduiertenförderung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Right now I am researching the trophic interactions between representatives of Ornithodira and arthropods through time. Looking to shed more light on the strategy of insectivory as a whole, I am interested in how far this diet is related to size, shape, and age of the predators and prey.
Master thesis on ontogenetic changes in pterosaurs
Bachelor thesis on morphometrics of horned dinosaurs
Publications
Gauweiler, J., Amaral, A.P., Haug, C. & Haug, J.T. 2024. Armoured lepidopteran caterpillars preserved in non-fossil resins and what they tell us about the fossil preservation of caterpillars. Insects 15, 380. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15060380
Haug, C., Haug, J.T., Haug, G.T., Müller, P., Zippel, A., Kiesmüller, C., Gauweiler, J. & Hörnig, M.K. 2024. Fossils in Myanmar amber demonstrate the diversity of anti-predator strategies of Cretaceous holometabolan insect larvae. iScience 27, 108621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108621
Amaral, A.P., Gombos, D., Haug, G.T., Haug, C., Gauweiler, J., Hörnig, M.K. & Haug, J.T. 2023. Expanding the fossil record of soldier fly larvae—An important component of the Cretaceous amber forest. Diversity 15, 247. Free access PDF Supplement
Haug, C., Baranov, V.A., Hörnig, M.K., Gauweiler, J., Hammel, J.U., Perkovsky, E.E. & Haug, J.T. 2023. 35 million-year-old solid-wood-borer beetle larvae support the idea of stressed Eocene amber forests. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments 103, 521–530. Free access PDF
Gauweiler, J., Haug, C., Müller, P. & Haug, J.T. 2022. Lepidopteran caterpillars in the Cretaceous: were they a good food source for early birds? Palaeodiversity 15, 45–59. Free access PDF Supplement
Zippel, A., Haug, C., Gauweiler, J., Hörnig, M.K., Haug, G.T. & Haug, J.T. 2022. A small beetle larva preserved in 23-million-year-old Mexican amber: possible first fossil record of an immature variegated mud-loving beetle. Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana 74, A150322. Free access PDF
Grants and Awards
2022
Student Travel Grant for the fifth Internation Congress of Invertebrate Morphology (400 €); Granted for: "Please don't eat me - mechanical caterpillar defence through time" talk at the
ICIM5
Landesgraduiertenförderung Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Univesity of Greifswald (ongoing); PhD scholarship for the current project on insectivory in ornithodirans
2021
Young Scientist Award (1st Place, 500 €); Awarded for: "Peramorphosis in the pterosaurian neck vertebrae – Elliptic Fourier Analysis shows different patterns of shape change among the cervical
vertebrae between groups" talk at the annual meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Germany 2021
2019
Travel Grant for student members of the Palaeontological Association (115 €); Granted for: "Species or stage – resolving ontogeny in derived representatives of Chasmosaurinae using elliptic Fourier
analysis" poster at PalAss 2019
Young Scientist Award (1st Place, 500 €); Awarded for: "How to recognize a species – quantifying a case in horned dinosaurs" talk at the annual meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Germany
2019
2017
Lehre@LMU Advancement Award (2000 €); Awarded for: “Ontogenetic differences in the diversity of cranial morphology between “precocial” and “subcocial” birds – a morphometric approach” project as part of the Lehre@LMU program 2017
Conference contributions
2022
Annual meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Germany (PalGes) - Oral presentation; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug "A culinary tip off – pterosaurian skull and tooth shape and their bearing on
diet"
Annual meeting of the Society for Zoology of Germany (DZG) - Poster; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug "A look into early pterosaurian feeding ecology by quantifying head and tooth shape"
Fifth Internation Congress of Invertebrate Morphology (ICIM5) - Oral presentation; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug "Please don't eat me - mechanical caterpillar defence through time"
2021
Annual meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Germany 2021 (Vienna) - Oral Presentation; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug „Peramorphosis in the pterosaurian neck vertebrae – Elliptic Fourier
Analysis shows different patterns of shape change among the cervical vertebrae between groups”
2019
Annual meeting of the Palaeontological Association 2019 (Valencia) - Poster; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug „Species or stage – resolving ontogeny in derived representatives of Chasmosaurinae
using elliptic Fourier analysis”
Annual meeting of the Palaeontological Society of Germany 2019 (Munich) - Oral Presentation; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug „How to recognize a species – quantifying a case in horned
dinosaurs”
2018
International Palaeontological Congress 2018 (Paris) – Oral Presentation; Joshua Gauweiler, Joachim T. Haug „A morphometric approach to the diversity of marginocephalian dinosaurs including ontogenetic data”
Druckversion