Evangelos Vlachos

Summary

I have completed my primary studies on the School of Geology in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and soon I continued in the Master’s program on Tectonics & Stratigraphy. My primary focus is the study of fossil turtles, and my main field of research deals with the anatomy and evolution of terrestrial tortoises (Testudinidae). Testudinids form a clade with an almost worldwide distribution and an excellent, but not analyzed in detail fossil record. In my doctoral thesis I studied and described the entire fossil chelonian fauna of Greece, that is the most diverse and best preserved in the east Mediterranean. My research is expanded on the evolution of the large testudinid record of Europe.

This work has led me to pursue further research in Patagonia as a postdoctoral fellow in CONICET.

During my postdoctoral research in MEF, I focused on the origin and evolution of the extant and extinct testudinids of South America (clade Chelonoidis). These amazing turtles show an excellent fossil record, which I currently revise, and compare with similar forms in a global scale.

Now, my research focuses on the changes that happened in the biodiversity of turtles during their evolutionary history, and to discover previously unknown extinction events.

Paleontology Taxonomy Zoology