Paleontology

PaleontologyThe objective of paleontological studies at SMU is to apply fossils to understanding significant issues in Earth and life history. Students are encouraged to take a global perspective. Interdisciplinary and international studies are encouraged. Particular strengths lie in the biostratigraphy, systematics, taphonomy, and paleoecology of terrestrial ecosystems, especially the vertebrate and plant components of the Cretaceous and Tertiary. Students utilize innovative approaches and benefit from departmental strengths in stable isotope geochemistry. Field areas include Texas, Arizona, China, Mongolia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guyana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Pakistan, Israel, and Alaska. The program is supported by the facilities of the Shuler Museum of Paleontology including laboratories for fossil preparation, molding and casting, pollen extraction and analysis, and morphometric analysis.

Our program in paleontology leads to MS and PhD degrees in Geological Sciences.

Current Research

Projects currently underway include early evolution of sea turtles, origins and evolution of snakes and mosasaurs, the sauropod dinosaurs of the Early Cretaceous of Texas, Late Cretaceous faunas of Mexico, oviraptosaur and ornithomimosaur dinosaur systematics, floral and faunal studies of the Texas Cretaceous, Tertiary paleoclimates, and small mammals of Africa. Two recent peer-reviewed publications have resulted from graduate student class projects.

Recent Theses and Dissertations

Biasatti, Dana M. Stable isotopic profiles of sea turtle humeri and epozoic barnacles and their implications for ecology and migration reconstruction (MS, August 2002).

Gomani, Elizabeth. Dinosaurs of the Cretaceous Sediments of Northern Malawi, Africa (PhD, December 1999).

Harris, Jerry D. A Reanalysis of Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, Its Phylogenetic Status, and paleobiogeographic implications, based on a new specimen from Texas (MS, December 1997).

Head, Jason J. A Primitive Hadrosaurid (Dinosauria, Ornithischia) from the Cretaceous of Texas (MS, May 1997). Snake paleontology of the Siwalik Group (Miocene of Pakistan): Correlation of a rich fossil record to environmental histories (PhD, May 2002).

Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu. A new Crocodyliform from the Kitadani Formation (Aptian-Albian), Fukui Prefectrue, Japan (MS, May 1998).

Lee, Yuong-Nam. Mid-Cretaceous Archosaurs from the Paw Paw and Woodbine Formations, Texas (PhD, May 1995).

Rogers, Jack V. Vertebrate Paleontology of the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Glen Rose Formation: An Analysis of a Bonebed in Erath County, North Central Texas (MS, December 2000).

Whittles, Jack. Ordovician Phosphatic Pseudo-Vertebrates from Oklahoma (MS, December 1997).

Xu, Xiaofeng. Phylogeny of Beavers (Family Castoridae): Applications to Faunal Dynamics and Biochronology since the Eocene (PhD, May 1995).

Paleo Faculty/Staff

Anthony Fiorillo, Curator of Paleontology, Dallas Museum of Natural History
Bonnie F. Jacobs, Assistant Professor, Chair, Environmental Science Program
Louis L. Jacobs, Professor, President, Institute for the Study of Earth and Man (ISEM)
Deborah L. Nixon, Chief Preparator, Shuler Museum of Paleontology
Michael J. Polcyn, Research Associate
Alisa J. Winkler, Adjunct Professor
Dale A. Winkler, Adjunct Professor, Director, Shuler Museum of Paleontology

Current Students

MS Candidates
Thomas Adams
Carolina Aguillon
Yosuke Nishida
Christopher Strganac

PhD Candidates
Juan Leandro Garcia Massini
Timothy Myers
Aaron Pan

Recent Publications

Gomani, Elizabeth M., Louis L. Jacobs, Dale A. Winkler. 1999. Comparison of the African Titanosaurian, Malawisaurus, with a North American Early Cretaceous Sauropod. In Y. Tomida T.H. Rich, and P. Vicker-Rich (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Synmposium. National Science Museum Monographs, No. 15:223-233.

Harrison, Terry, Charles P. Msuya, Alison M. Murray, Bonnie F. Jacobs, Ana Maria Baez, Roland Mundil, Kenneth R. Ludwig. Paleontological investigations at the Eocene locality of Mahenge in North-Central Tanzania, East Africa. In Gregg F. Gunnell (ed.), Eocence Biodiverstiy: Unusual Occurrences and Rarely Sampled Habitats. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.

Herendeen, Patrick S. and Bonnie F. Jacobs. 2000. Fossil legumes from the Middle Eocene (46.0 Ma) Mahenge flora of Singida, Tanzania. American Journal of Botany, 87(9):1356-1366.

Jacobs, Bonnie F., John D. Kingston, Louis L. Jacobs. 1999. The origin of grass-dominated ecosystems. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 86:590-643.

Jacobs, Bonnie F. 1999. Estimation of rainfall variables from leaf characters in tropical Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 145:231-250.

Jacobs, Louis L. and Dale A. Winkler. 1998. Mammals, Archosaurs, and the Early to Late Cretaceous transition in North-Central Texas. In Y. Tomida, L.J. Flynn, and L.L. Jacobs (eds.), Advances in Vertebrate Paleontology and Geochronology. National Science Museum Monographs, No. 14:253-280.

Flynn, L.J., and Jacobs, L.L. 1999. Late Miocene small mammal faunal dynamics: the crossroads of the Arabian Peninsula, In Whybrow, P.J., and Hill, A. (eds.), Fossil Vertebrates of Arabia. Yale University Press, pp. 412-419.

Jacobs, L.L., Murry, P.A., Downs, W.R., and El-Nakhal, H.A. 1999. A dinosaur from the Republic of Yemen. In Whybrow, P.J., and Hill, A. (eds.), Fossil vertebrates of Arabia. Yale University Press, pp. 454-459.

Kirkland, James I. and Martha Carolina Aguillon-Martinez. 2002. Schizorhiza: a unique sawfish paradigm from the Difunta Group, Coahuila, Mexico. Revista mexicana de Ciencias Geologicas, 19(1):16-24.

Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu, Dale A. Winkler, Louis L. Jacobs. 2002. Origin of the tooth-replacement pattern in therian mammals: evidence from a 110 Myr old fossil. Proc. R. Soc. Lond., 269:369-373.

Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu, Jun-Chang Lu, Zhi-Ming Dong, Rinchen Barsbold, Yoichi, Asuma, Yukimitsu Tomida. 1999. Herbivorous diet in the ornithomimid dinosaur. Nature, 402:480-481.

Polcyn, Michael J., Eitan Tchernov, Louis L. Jacobs. 1999. The Cretaceous biogeography of the Eastern Mediterranean with a description of a new basal Mosasauroid from 'Ein Yabrud, Israel. In Y. Tomida, T.H. Rich., P. Vickers-Rich (eds.), Proceedings of the Second Gondwanan Dinosaur Symposium. National Science Museum Monographs, No. 15:259-290.

Rogers, Jack V., II. 2002. Theropod dinosaur trackways in the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Glen Rose Formation, Kinney County, Texas. Texas J. Sci. 54(2):133-142.

Rogers, Jack V., II. 2000. A complete crocodiloid egg from the Lower Cretacesou (Albian) Glen Rose Formation, Central Texas. Journal of Vetebrate Paleontology 20(4):780-783.

Tchernov, Eitan, Olivier Rieppel, Hussam Zhaer, Michael J. Polcyn, Louis L. Jacobs. 2000. A fossil snake with limbs. Science, 287:2010-2012.

Vineyard, Diana. 2000. One hundred million years of sea turtles in Texas. In H.J. Kalb and T. Wibbels (comps), Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC, No. 443:140-142.

Winkler, Alisa J. 2001. Neogene paleobiogeography and East African paleoenvironments: contributions from the Tugen Hills rodents and lagomorphs. Journal of Human Evolution, 42:237-256.

Winkler, Alisa J. 1998. A new dendromurine (Rodentia: Muridae) from the Middle Miocene of Western Kenya. In Y. Tomida, L.J. Flynn and L.L. Jacobs (eds.), Advances in Vertebrate Paleontology and Geochronology. National Science Museum Monographs, No. 14:91-104.

Winkler, Dale A., Elizabeth M. Gomani, Louis L. Jacobs. 2000. Comparative taphonomy of an Early Cretaceous sauropod quarry, Malawi, Africa. Paleont. Soc. Korea Special Publication, No. 4:99-114.