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Carly Manz, GDCB assistant teaching professor

Carly Manz

Position
  • Assistant Chair for Teaching and Associate Teaching Professor

Contact Info

413 Bessey Hall
Ames
,
IA
50011-4009

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Florida, Gainesville
  • B.S., Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2008

More Information

Dr. Carly Manz received her Ph.D. in Geology in 2015 from the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Her Ph.D. adviser was Dr. Jonathan Bloch. Dr. Manz joined GDCB as a Lecturer for Biology 255L and 256L in August 2015.

Research

I study the early origins of modern placental mammal groups using the fossils of extinct mammals. Following the extinction of the dinosaurs, there was an enormous radiation of placental mammals, as well as the first appearances of recognizable members of modern clades such as primates, horses, artiodactyls, hedgehogs, and bats. However, in many cases it is not clear from which archaic placentals these first representatives of modern clades evolved from and therefore much about their earliest evolutionary history is unknown. Much of my research has been focused on the phylogenetic affinities and functional morphology of one promising group of primitive mammals, Nyctitheriidae, which have been alternately hypothesized to be early primates, bats, or eulipotyphlans (the group containing shrews, hedgehogs, and moles). Due to this range of suggested affinities, nyctitheriids may be critical taxa to unraveling the early evolutionary history of clades within crown Placentalia.

Courses

Biology 212 - Principles of Biology II

Biology 212L - Principles of Biology II Lab (Faculty-in-charge)

Biology 255 - Fundamentals of Human Anatomy

Biology 255L - Fundamentals of Human Anatomy Lab (Faculty-in-charge)

Anthropology 319/519 - Skeletal Biology

Publications – PubMed

  • Manz CL, Bloch JI (2015) Systematics and Phylogeny of Paleocene-Eocene Nyctitheriidae (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla?) with description of a new species from the late Paleocene of the Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming, USA. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 22(3): 307-342.
  • Manz CL, Chester SGB, Bloch JI, Silcox MT, Sargis EJ (2015) New partial skeletons of Palaeocene Nyctitheriidae and evaluation of proposed euarchontan affinities. Biology Letters, 11: 20140911.
  • Wood AR, Bebej RM, Manz CL, Begun DL, Gingerich PD (2011) Postcranial functional morphology of Hyracotherium (Equidae, Perissodactyla) and locomotion in the earliest horses. Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 18: 1-32.