Research & Projects

Ben-Salahuddin, A., & Weinbaum, J. (2025). From quarry to collection: Documenting the discovery, excavation, preparation, and study of two new aetosaur fossils. [Conference abstract]. Southern Connecticut State University 10th Annual Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference Program, p. 21. https://www.southernct.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/ugrc-program.pdf 

Ben-Salahuddin, A., & Weinbaum, J. (2024, December 6). From quarry to collection: Documenting the discovery, excavation, preparation, and study of two new aetosaur fossils. [Conference poster]. Southern Connecticut State University Fall 2024 Biology Research Symposium, New Haven, CT, USA.

Ben-Salahuddin, A. (2024). From quarry to collection: Documenting the discovery, excavation, preparation, and study of two new aetosaur fossils. Unpublished manuscript for BIO 499, Southern Connecticut State University. 

My first proper delve into original paleontological work brought me out to the Painted Desert of Dinétah in northeastern Arizona to excavate fossils with Drs. Weinbaum and Jeffrey Martz in July 2022. There we found and uncovered dozens of fossils of aetosaurs (including my first fossil find, a Typothorax osteoderm pictured above) and other Late Triassic animals. Two years later in beginning my master's degree, I was able to continue work on some of the fossils brought back to SCSU from that summer (including the osteoderm I found), developing my skills and knowledge of both fossil preparation and aetosaur osteoderm morphology and identification as I cleaned the remains and literally pieced them back together. In addition to the formal description paper, I also presented this work in poster form at both the SCSU Fall 2024 Biology Research Symposium and the SCSU 2025 Undergraduate Research and Creativity Conference, which you can view here.
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Ben-Salahuddin, A., Brinkman, D., & Hyatt, J.A. (2026, April 10). Two New Potential Sets of Aetosauriform Dermal Armor Impressions from the New Haven Formation (Upper Triassic: Norian–Rhaetian?) of New Haven, Connecticut. [Conference presentation]. 2026 NorthEast Regional Vertebrate Evolution Symposium, New York City, NY, USA.

Ben-Salahuddin, A., Brinkman, D., & Hyatt, J.A. (2026). Two new sets of aetosauriform dermal armor impressions from the New Haven Formation (Upper Triassic: Norian) of New Haven, Connecticut. [Conference abstract]. 2026 Northeastern Section Meeting Program, 58(2): https://gsameetings.secure-platform.com/ne26/solicitations/103009/sessiongallery/schedule/items/95892/application/12619

Ben-Salahuddin, A., Brinkman, D., & Hyatt, J.A. (2025). Two new sets of aetosauriform dermal armor impressions from the New Haven Formation (Upper Triassic: Norian) of New Haven, Connecticut [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department of Biology, Southern Connecticut State University.

A project unrelated to my thesis, in early 2025 I was offered to study and officially describe two potential aetosaur fossils that were discovered in 2013 in Fair Haven, Connecticut, by coauthor Daniel Brinkman and other members of the Peabody Museum's paleontology divisions. Aetosaurs are known to be present in the local Triassic rocks based on the 1895 discovery of the somewhat enigmatic Stegomus, a fairly complete natural cast of the dorsal carapace showing the rows of osteoderms that ran down the animal's back. These new specimens, if they are indeed fossils, could represent additional examples of this taxon, though whether they (or any remains assigned to Stegomus) are complete enough actually warrant a genus name remains to be seen.

Ben-Salahuddin, A., & Weinbaum, J. (2025, December 5). A northeastern Arizona bonebed of the Late Triassic archosaur Typothorax coccinarum provides an opportunity to test for ontogenetic and social dynamics. [Conference poster]. Southern Connecticut State University Fall 2025 Biology Research Symposium, New Haven, CT, USA.

Ben-Salahuddin, A., & Weinbaum, J. (2025, November 12–15). A northeastern Arizona bonebed of the Late Triassic archosaur Typothorax coccinarum provides an opportunity to test for ontogenetic and social dynamics. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2025, 115. https://vertpaleo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025_SVP_Program_Final_Final.pdf

Ben-Salahuddin, A., & Weinbaum, J. (2025, April 11). Elucidating ontogeny and diet from aetosaur osteoderms. [Conference presentation]. 2025 NorthEast Regional Vertebrate Evolution Symposium, Stony Brook, NY, USA.

The main goal of my thesis is to investigate the growth record of the Typothorax individuals represented by the fossils in SCSU's collection. This will be done by creating thin sections of the osteoderms and looking at the cortical growth marks preserved; similar to tree rings, the number of visible cortical marks and the spacing patterns between them can be used to respectively determine a minimal age of the animal and how fast it was growing throughout its life, which itself can be indicative of the animal's life stage at the time it died. Additionally, if osteoderm growth patterns are uniform across the entire animal, then any observed differences in growth between fossils could be used to determine how many individual Typothorax are represented in the collection and by extension, at the site.

Ben-Salahuddin, A., & Weinbaum, J. (2025, April 11). Elucidating ontogeny and diet from aetosaur osteoderms. [Conference presentation]. 2025 NorthEast Regional Vertebrate Evolution Symposium, Stony Brook, NY, USA.

A stretch goal of my thesis is to investigate the diet of Typothorax. Based on the rather ambiguous shape of their teeth and skulls, aetosaurs like Typothorax have long been inferred as omnivores or herbivores that descended from a carnivorous ancestor. To get a more detailed insight, I would like to examine the ratios of certain isotopes preserved in the animals' bones and compare these values to those of animals with known diets in similar ecosystems. While this likely wouldn't narrow it down to specific species being consumed, I do hope to see an indicated plant:animal ratio that could be used to apply more specific dietary categories (e.g. hyper- vs meso- vs hypocarnivory)* to Typothorax and even track potential dietary shifts during the individuals' lives, if possible. While this is best done using teeth, studies with modern crocodilians show that the technique can work with osteoderms as well.

*Hypercarnivory is defined as a dietary meat intake of >70%, whereas mesocarnivores consume 30-70% and hypocarnivores consume <30%.

Hendrickx, C., Núñez, M.S., Meso, J.G., Araújo, R., Maganuco, S., & Ben-Salahuddin, A. (2025). Isolated abelisaurid teeth from Gondwana and dental evolution of Abelisauridae and other ceratosaurs. Ameghiniana, 62(6): 407-451. doi: 10.5710/amgh.17.09.2025.3654

Abelisaurids are a group of mostly mid-sized to large theropods whose notable features include highly reduced arms and an often shortened boxy skull, with some taxa bearing prominent horns (e.g., Carnotaurus) and signs of other gnarly cranial ornamentation. The group is best known from the Cretaceous, with many authors considering them only having evolved after the Jurassic. This study used a combination of cladistic and machine learning analyses to examine a number of important* isolated teeth from across the Southern Hemisphere that have all been tentatively referred to Abelisauridae, with the goal of determining if they truly belong to the clade. These included teeth from formations representing Middle Jurassic Madagascar, Late Jurassic Uruguay, and Late Cretaceous India and northern Argentina. The results support an Early Jurassic origin and radiation of abelisaurids across Gondwana; much earlier than previously thought.

*Worth noting that these fossils include the oldest known or first collected theropod/dinosaur fossils from their respective regions.

While I myself didn't measure any abelisaur teeth, the measurements I took of Allosaurus teeth were used as a comparative outgroup in the identification and cladistic analyses.

Sargent, J.A, Ekstein, L., Fish, R.C., Garavito-Camacho, R., Suyom, D., Ben-Salahuddin, A., Stevens, M., Moore, J.H., King, L, Koeller, K.L. (2025, November 12–15). Convergence of sensory anatomy in fossorial, limbless lizards: olfactory bulb size correlates to ecology in squamates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Program and Abstracts, 2025, 548. https://vertpaleo.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025_SVP_Program_Final_Final.pdf

Limblessness has independently evolved multiple times in different groups of lizards (not including snakes), and the majority of them appear to have taken on a subterranian lifestyle with many of the same adaptations, including reduced eyes and an increased reliance on scent. However, it's not known exactly what anatomical changes occurred to result in this and if/how these changes are common to all burrowing limbless lizards. This ongoing project, which I was involved in during its earliest stages as a literature reviewer in early 2025, uses scanned 3D models of various lizard brains to determine how the proportions of different brain regions (controlling scent and vision) have changed to allow burrowing limbless lizards to do what they do. 

Nunez-Rosa, C.G., Ben-Salahuddin, A., Hill, D.N., & Brinkman, D.L. (2026, April 10). The Yale Anomoepus Project: Assessing a historic dinosaur trackway from the Massachusetts Deerfield Basin. [Conference presentation]. 2026 NorthEast Regional Vertebrate Evolution Symposium, New York City, NY, USA.
*Amended from the published version with the correct spelling of D. Brinkman's surname and the proper presentation title.

Ichnology is the study of trace fossils, which include burrows, dung, nests, and other marks or structures that are created by an animal's actions, essentially preserving a record of their behavior. The northeastern U.S. is dominated by these types of fossils rather than actual body parts, so as a paleontologist from Connecticut, it's only fitting that I work on a project about them. This newest project, offered to me once again by Daniel Brinkman in early 2026 and coauthored by some other local paleontology students, will describe a small trackway from Massachusetts that preserves a number of interesting environmental features aside from the fossilized footprints themselves that provide a multilayered glimpse into the Early Jurassic world.