Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES)

Profile

A review of British Middle and Upper Jurassic pterosaurs

General

I developed an interest in vertebrate palaeontology early in my life, beginning like many children, with a fascination for dinosaurs. I read for my bachelors degree in Palaeobiology at Portsmouth University, where I developed an interest in pterosaurs; the subject of my research.  It is my hope to enter the world of academia as a lecturer and researcher in vertebrate palaeontology

Career

• 2011-Present: PhD in vertebrate palaeontology, University of Portsmouth at University Portsmouth
• 2008-2011: BSc (Upper Second Class Hons) Palaeobiology and Evolution at Univeristy Portsmouth.
• In the summer of 2009, I volunteered on a pterosaur project helping Drs. David Martill, Mark Witton, Bob Loveridge and other student volunteers constructing a number of life size models and busts of various pterosaurs to be displayed as part of the Royal Society’s 350^th anniversary celebrations on London’s Southbank in the Summer of 2010. In addition to the building and installation of the models, I also spent the duration of the exhibition demonstrating aspects of pterosaur palaeontology to the public.

Project

Pterosaurs, the flying reptiles of the Mesozoic have a very patchy fossil record. Their remains are known from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous when they became extinct. Their origins remain obscure, and all that is known of their biology comes from the fossil record. In Britain, pterosaurs are known form the Jurassic and Cretaceous, but most remains are very scrappy, usually comprising isolated bones and teeth; the only articulated coming from the very base of the Jurassic of Lyme Regis.

Recent discoveries (over the last 20 years) in Brazil and China, now provides an opportunity to re-evaluate the fragmentary material from the UK.

The middle and later parts of the Jurassic of Britain have a seemingly low diversity of pterosaurs. The forms documented so far include the rhamphorhynchids Rhamphocephalus and Rhamphorhynchus and the possible dsungaripterid Germanodactylus. It is possible that some poorly dated pterosaurs from the Purbeck Formation of Dorset may also be of Late Jurassic age (e.g. Plateleorhynchchus). This is in marked contrast to the Jurassic of Germany which has yielded numerous pterosaurs, often in a remarkable state of preservation.

Most of the UK material collected was gathered in the 1800s and is highly fragmentary. This material was placed in collections across the country and has largely sat undescribed ever since. However, some recent work by Lorna Steel of the BMNH and Eric Buffetaut of the Centre National de la recherché Scientifique has suggested that the pterosaur assemblage of this time is more diverse than previously indicated. New material has recently been discovered in the Kimmeridge Clay of Dorset. My project will attempt to track down all pterosaur material within the UK of this age, describe (and in some cases redescribe) the material, attempting to identify which pterosaur groups are represented, and establish as reliably as possible the true pterosaurian taxonomic diversity of Jurassic Britain. One of the major questions to answer is the reliability of the classification of the material within the Stonesfield Slate as Rhamphocephalus, an animal thought to contain at least two discrete species and hundreds of highly fragmentary referred specimens. With many of these specimens of questionable referral to Rhamphocephalus, I intend to review the entire inventory of this pterosaur to ascertain what can be reliably discerned about its anatomy and taxonomy. Assessing the pterosaur record of these sites may only be the first step in a long line of projects in this vein: many other reptile groups from these deposits in the Stonesfield Slate, for instance, could do with similar reappraisals.

Research Interests

My interests focus around vertebrate palaeontology. While I am generally interested in most vertebrates, I am admittedly more drawn to dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Other animals groups which intrigue me include enteldonts, phorusrachids and I occasionally find myself reading up on a handful of basal synapsids. I am also interested in modern zoology, particularly modern mammals. In broader terms, I am fascinated in studying both palaeontological and modern ethology.