Assistant Professor (post-doc) - Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw (WB-KG-14/2026)

About this position

Te position of Assistant professor in the project “ Long transoceanic dispersals or land bridges? Unravelling biogeographic patterns and the evolutionary success of the lizard superfamily Lacertoidea” . PI: Dr Mateusz Tałanda. Funding institution: National Science Centre.

Description of project:

Lacertoidea are one of the major groups of modern squamates occupying various habitats across most of the continents. Their members are often a model organisms in studies on ecological niches, limb reduction, Dollo’s law, long transoceanic dispersals, and extinction selectivity. Despite of that, they are underrepresented in many phylogenetic studies and little is known about their Mesozoic evolution.

This hampers not only our understanding of origins of its modern groups like teiids, amphisbaenians, and lacertids but also their sister group – Toxicofera (snakes, iguanians, anguimorphs). Here we will aim to fill this gap by gathering extensive 3D skeletal data from various modern representatives of the clade through computed tomography. Moreover, we will scan also Cretaceous lizards with potential affinities to the group.

Obtained diversity will be used to build a new phylogenetic framework that will allow testing the affinities of Cretaceous lizards with Lacertoidea, as well as performing ancestral state reconstructions to the root of the group and to its split with Toxicofera. The results will help solve phylogenetic conflicts between molecular and morphological data, revise current biogeographic hypotheses about past dispersal events, evaluate role of extinctions in shaping current diversity, and bring paleontological context (history) for ecomorphological and evo-devo studies.

The postdoctoral researcher will focus on:

• Visits in collections of other institutions.

• Participation in team and lab organisation.

• Preparing photographs and 3D models of bones of studied fossils and extant lizards.

• Phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses.

• Publication process and presenting results at conferences.