Catie Strong

Catie completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the University of Alberta, with her Master’s research (supervised by Dr Michael Caldwell) focussing on skull evolution in burrowing snakes. She is interested in using quantitative techniques to explore the interplay between morphology, function, and macroevolution, particularly regarding how various components of the skeleton evolve during the conquest of land by early tetrapods.

Selected Publications

• Strong CRC, Scherz MD, Caldwell MW. 2022. Convergence, divergence, and macroevolutionary constraint as revealed by anatomical network analysis of the squamate skull, with an emphasis on snakes. Scientific Reports 12:14469. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18649-z 

• Strong CRC, Scherz MD, Caldwell MW. 2021. Deconstructing the Gestalt: new concepts and tests of homology, as exemplified by a re-conceptualization of "microstomy" in squamates. The Anatomical Record 304(10):2303–2351. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24630 

• Strong CRC, Palci A, Caldwell MW. 2021. Insights into skull evolution in fossorial snakes, as revealed by the cranial morphology of Atractaspis irregularis (Serpentes: Colubroidea). Journal of Anatomy 238(1):146–172. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13295.

• Strong CRC, Caldwell MW, Konishi T, Palci A. 2020. A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon ‘Platecarpus’ ptychodon. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 18(21):1769–1804. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2020.1818322.