STEPHEN BRUSATTE

Thanks for surfing over to my website. I created the Official Dino Land Website in 1999 when I was a freshman at Ottawa Township High School in Ottawa, Illinois. Currently I am a PhD student at the University of Columbia in New York. I am also a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. I have two MSc degrees from the University of Bristol in the UK: one in palaeobiology (2007) and one in earth sciences (2008). My undergraduate degree is a BS in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago (2006).

Although I am interested in a broad range of paleontological topics, my primary focus is on the anatomy and phylogeny of archosaurs, a group of vertebrates that includes dinosaurs, crocodiles, birds, and several lesser known extinct forms. Other research interests include systematic methods and quantitative morphological and macroevolutionary analysis. In particular, I utilize phylogenetic systematics (cladistics) and quantitative measures of morphological disparity (morphospace occupation) to study the systematics, evolutionary relationships, and macroevolution of extant vertebrates.

Tangentially, I am also interested in Paleozoic chondrichthyans and Pennsylvanian brachiopods. While in high school I completed a study of a brachiopod assemblage discovered near my hometown in central Illinois. Since that time I have diverted my attention to the vertebrate fossils of this Pennsylvanian unit, which has led to further wanderings into extant chondrichthyan anatomy and biomechanics.

At Chicago I worked closely with vertebrate paleontologist Paul Sereno. With Dr. Sereno and Dr. Mark Webster as advisors, I completed a senior honors thesis on allosauroid dinosaur phylogeny. I have also studied several theropod specimens discovered by Dr. Sereno in Niger, Africa, and have recently published several papers on the results. This work includes the description and naming of several new theropods: Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, Eocarcharia dinops, and Kryptops palaios. Also, under the guidance of Dr. Sereno I have aided in the creation of two databases, TaxonSearch and CharacaterSearch, that organize taxonomic and phylogenetic information.

After graduating from Chicago I was awarded a Marshall Scholarship for graduate study in the United Kingdom. I enrolled in the MSc course at the University of Bristol, where I worked with Professor Michael Benton on the higher-level phylogeny of archosaurs. At Bristol I also worked on several projects involving theropod dinosaurs, including redescriptions and monographs of the British theropod Neovenator and the Chinese theropod Monolophosaurus, as well as descriptive work on dinosaurs from the Wealden (Early Cretaceous) of England and the Hell Creek (Late Cretaceous) of the USA. More interestingly, I wandered into the realm of macroevolution and morphospace, and worked with Professor Benton, Dr. Marcello Ruta, and Graeme Lloyd on several large-scale projects on the macroevolutionary pattern of the early radiation of dinosaurs and Triassic terrestrial ecosystems.

My fieldwork experience includes several fossil collecting trips across the globe. My dinosaur fieldwork has included trips to Wyoming (Morrison Formation), South Dakota (Hell Creek Formation), Montana (Hell Creek Formation), and a one-month trip to Tibet in May 2006. Since 1999 I have lead a small field project focusing on the Upper Pennsylvanian LaSalle Limestone Member (Bond Formation) of central Illinois. I have also hunted for fossils across the state of Illinois, and have gone on field courses to Death Valley, the Gulf of California, and the Apennine Mountains of Italy.

One of my aims as a student, and eventually as a professional paleontologist, is paleontological outreach. I frequently author general-interest articles on fossils for a variety of publications, most prominently Fossil News and Prehistoric Times. Over the past six years I have authored over 150 non-technical articles for these publications and others. In 2002 I published a book, Stately Fossils, that discusses the scientific and cultural importance of the official U.S. state fossils. In the autum of 2008 my second book, simply titlted Dinosaurs, was published by Quercus Publishing in London. This is a 220+ page coffee table book, using CGI images to tell the evolutionary story of dinosaurs. I also take a keen interest in the enduring evolution-creationism controversy, a topic that is especially relevant to me as a practicing Catholic who studies evolution.

As I continue my studies I am also beginning to write and publish more technical articles. Below is a brief listing of my publications. Please contact me for .pdf files or further information on these papers.

TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS

Peer-reviewed Papers

Brusatte, S.L. 2004. A preliminary paleoecological investigation of Late Pennsylvanian brachiopods from the LaSalle Limestone, LaSalle County, Illinois. The Mosasaur: Journal of the Delaware Valley Paleontological Society, 7: 19-34.

Sereno, P.C., S. McAllister, and S.L. Brusatte. 2005. TaxonSearch: a relational database for suprageneric taxa and phylogenetic definitions. PhyloInformatics 8: 1-21.

Brusatte, S.L. 2007. Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) chondrichthyans from the LaSalle Limestone Member (Bond Formation) of Illinois, USA . Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 244: 1-8.

Brusatte, S.L., R.B.J. Benson, T.D. Carr, T.E. Williamson, and P.C. Sereno. 2007. The systematic utility of theropod enamel wrinkles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24: 1052-1056.

Brusatte, S.L., and P.C. Sereno. 2007. A new species of Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Niger and a revision of the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24: 902-916.

Brusatte, S.L., and P.C. Sereno. 2008. Phylogeny of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria: Theropoda): comparative analysis and resolution. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 6: 155-182.

Sereno, P.C., and S.L. Brusatte. 2008. Basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the Elrhaz Formation (Aptian-Albian) of Niger. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 53: 15-46.

Brusatte, S.L., R.B.J. Benson, and S. Hutt. In press-2008. The osteology of Neovenator salerii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. Palaeontographical Society Monograph Series.

Brusatte, S.L., M.J. Benton, M. Ruta, and G. Lloyd. In press-2008. Superiority, competition, and opportunism in the evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs. Science.

Benson, R.B.J., S.L. Brusatte, S. Hutt, and D. Naish. In press-2008. A new large basal tetanuran (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Wessex Formation (Barremian) of the Isle of Wight, England. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Mathews, J.C., S.L. Brusatte, S.A. Williams, and M.D. Henderson. In press-2008. The first Triceratops bonebed and its implications for gregarious behavior. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Submitted Manuscripts

I currently have several manuscripts under review, including descriptions of the cranial and postcranial skeleton of Monolophosaurus (with R. Benson, P. Currie, and X. Zhao), a higher-level phylogeny of Archosauria (with M. Benton, J. Desojo, and M. Langer), a review of tyrannosauroid phylogeny and a comparison of published cladistic analyses (with P. Sereno), and a macroevolutionary analysis of the early dinosaur radiation (with M. Benton, M. Ruta, and G. Lloyd).

Abstracts

Brusatte, S.L. 2002. A paleoecological investigation of a Late Pennsylvanian LaSalle County outcrop using a newly-described macroinvertebrate fossil fauna. Abstracts of the Research Finalits. National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, San Diego.

Brusatte, S., and P. Sereno. 2004. TaxonSearch: online database for taxa, definitions, and authorship. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(3): 42A.

Brusatte, S., and P. Sereno. 2005. A new species of Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosauria:Theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Niger and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(3): 40A.

Sereno, P.C, and S.L. Brusatte. 2005. Tracing the tyrannosaur tree. The Origins, Systematics, and Paleobiology of Tyrannosauridae, A Symposium Hosted by Burpee Museum of Natural History and Northern Illinois University, p. 34.

Brusatte, S., and P. Sereno. 2006. Basal abelisaurid and carcharodontosaurid theropods from the Elrhaz Formation (Aptian-Albian) of Niger. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3): 46A.

Brusatte, S.L., R.B.J. Benson, and S. Hutt. 2007. Redescription of Neovenator salerii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for theropod evolution and phylogeny. 55th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, Glasgow, p. 9.

Brusatte, S., and P. Sereno. 2007. Phylogeny of Allosauroidea (Dinosauria: Theropoda): new analysis,comparisons, and sources of disagreement. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(3): 54A.

Brusatte, S.L., and M.J. Benton. 2007. The higher-level phylogeny of Archosauria (Tetrapoda: Diapsida).The Palaeontological Association Newsletter 66: 26.

Books

Brusatte, S.L. 2002. Stately Fossils: A Comprehensive Look at the State Fossils and Other Official Fossils. Fossil News, Boulder, Colorado, 234 p.

Brusatte, S. 2008. Dinosaurs. Quercus Publishing, London, 224 p.

© 2000 brusatte@theramp.net