Rachel KeeffeMount Holyoke College | MHC · Department of Biological Sciences
Rachel Keeffe
Doctor of Philosophy
About
16
Publications
7,421
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144
Citations
Introduction
My research focuses on the functional morphology and evolution of reptiles and amphibians. My ongoing work leverages techniques such as geometric morphometrics, XROMM, finite element analysis, and phylogenetic comparative methods to better understand the evolutionary patterns of vertebrate animals.
Additional affiliations
August 2017 - present
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- Teaching experience includes creating, organizing, and leading lab lessons for vertebrate biodiversity and herpetology courses. Lessons involve hands-on dissections, digital models, museum specimens and oral lecture. For these lessons, I also created resources for future use including worksheets, powerpoints, and Sketchfab 3D model collections.
Education
September 2013 - May 2017
Publications
Publications (16)
What is the vagina? This seemingly simple question has a rather complex answer, depending on whether we use a functional or a developmental definition. The terminal portion of the female reproductive tract that opens to the environment initially served as a conduit for eggs to be laid, and in species with external fertilization the distal oviduct m...
The Neotropical microhylid genus Synapturanus was represented by only three species for almost five decades and remains poorly known. Recently two new species were described from the Eastern Guyana Shield, one from Peru, and one from Brazil. We describe three new species related to the S. rabus species complex with known distribution only in wester...
Synopsis
During feeding in many terrestrial vertebrates, the tongue acts in concert with the hyoid and pectoral girdle. In frogs, these three elements are interconnected by musculature. While the feeding mechanics of the anuran tongue are well-studied, little is known of how the motions of the tongue relate to the movements of the skeleton or how b...
In tetrapods, fusion between elements of the appendicular skeleton is thought to facilitate rapid movements during running, flying, and jumping. Although such fusion is widespread, frogs stand out because adults of all living species exhibit fusion of the zeugopod elements (radius and ulna, tibia and fibula), regardless of jumping ability or locomo...
Teeth are present in most clades of vertebrates but have been lost completely several times in actinopterygian fishes and amniotes. Using phenotypic data collected from over 500 genera via micro-computed tomography, we provide the first rigorous assessment of the evolutionary history of dentition across all major lineages of amphibians. We demonstr...
Teeth have been broadly maintained across most clades of vertebrates but have been lost completely at least once in actinopterygian fishes and several times in amniotes. Using phenotypic data collected from over 500 genera via micro-computed tomography, we provide the first rigorous assessment of the evolutionary history of dentition across all maj...
Burrowing is one of the many locomotor modes of frogs (order Anura) and is found within many clades. Burrowing is generally categorized into two groups: forward-burrowing and backward-burrowing. While forward-burrowing is more rare than backward-burrowing, we show that it has evolved independently at least eight times across anurans and is correlat...
Burrowing is one of the many locomotor modes of frogs (order Anura) and is found within many clades. Burrowing is generally categorized into two groups: forward-burrowing and backward-burrowing. While forward-burrowing is more rare than backward-burrowing, we show that it has evolved independently at least eight times across anurans and is correlat...
The nearly 200 species of direct-developing frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus (the Caribbean landfrogs, which include the coquís) comprise an important lineage for understanding the evolution and historical biogeography of the Caribbean. Time-calibrated molecular phylogenies provide indirect evidence for the processes that shaped the modern anur...
A broad difference in the frequencies of plant and animal polyploidy (whole‐genome duplication, WGD) has been recognized since the early 20th century (e.g., Gates, 1924; Dobzhansky, 1937; Stebbins, 1950), and is generally supported by numerous studies of plant and animal karyotypes, genome sizes, and phylogenies (Otto & Whitton, 2000; Gregory & Mab...
Synopsis
The evolution of novel functional traits can contribute substantially to the diversification of lineages. Older functional traits might show greater variation than more recently evolved novelties, due to the accrual of evolutionary changes through time. However, functional complexity and many-to-one mapping of structure to function could c...
Sexual dimorphism of the snout has evolved independently in at least four separate clades of the gymnotiform family Apteronotidae. This phenomenon may help identify sex, except in the absence of mature individuals, and has led to confused taxonomy for several species. We examined a large collection of Compsaraia samueli collected during the breedin...
