Tetrapod Zoology

About

Darren Naish - me - is, or was, a vertebrate palaeontologist, formerly based at the University of Portsmouth, UK. They still host my homepage, but have usefully deleted all the links to the pdfs I so lovingly uploaded (if you want pdfs of any of the papers listed there don't hesitate to email me and ask: eotyrannus at gmail dot com). From 1997 to 2006 I worked on the predatory dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous of southern England, focusing for my phd on the basal tyrannosauroid Eotyrannus. A full monographic description of Eotyrannus will be published one day. Between April and August 2007 I worked for Impossible Pictures, the TV company that produced Walking With Dinosaurs and other such projects, and right now (July 2008) I work as a technical editor and freelance author.

I like dinosaurs very much, but they're far from the only animals that I find interesting. I'm fascinated by all tetrapods and have some practical and research experience with Mesozoic marine reptiles, marine mammals, flightless birds and pterosaurs. I spend as much time in the field as possible, looking at real live tetrapods. I'm married and have a 6-year-old son.

Publications

For as long as I've been able, I have been writing and publishing popular, semi-technical and technical articles on the animals that interest me. My technical research on the Lower Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs of southern England led to my first efforts in the peer-reviewed literature: namely, a series of papers on isolated limb bones and vertebrae, and on historical taxonomy. In 2001 Dave Martill and I produced Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight, a large, comprehensive overview to the dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous rocks of the Isle of Wight (and certainly not a field guide as suggested by the title of the series it belongs to). Though one reviewer described this work as over-indulgent and essentially over-detailed, it has generally been well received, and I know that I would be happy if other workers were to produce volumes like this on the dinosaurs (or other vertebrates) of their local geological units. Partly because it was produced in a tremendous rush (it had to be published prior to the 2001 opening of the dinosaur museum at Sandown on the Isle of Wight), Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight contains numerous errors and is also now out of date in many places. A second edition may be produced in the future: certainly the sections on iguanodonts and sauropods will be completely different. More to be added soon.

Note: this page is a work in progress and will be expanded over time.

Current research interests and future plans

The origin and evolution of tyrant dinosaurs; Yaverlandia; Becklespinax and Valdoraptor; Lower Cretaceous pliosaurs and ornithocheiroid pterosaurs; British dinosaur diversity (see Naish & Martill 2007 and this blog article); basal coelurosaur evolution; the palaeobiology of azhdarchoid pterosaurs (see Witton & Naish 2008 and this blog article) [adjacent Eotyrannus image provided by Luis Rey].

The history of Tetrapod Zoology

Tetrapod Zoology started its life on Saturday 21st January 2006 when, entirely on a whim, I decided to start blogging. For a review of TZ's first year in operation, go here. During December 2006 I was invited to join the scienceblogs network: this was finalized on 22nd January 2007, and I first posted on sb here. Unlike many bloggers, I sort of blog to a plan. Sure, I write about things that I bump into during the course of research, and I also write about brand-new discoveries that grab my interest. Anyway, the list of topics that I plan to cover is now horribly long and getting longer. Rest assured that, if something is promised it will appear one day.

Select publications [pdfs to be added over time]

Fielding, S., Martill, D. M. & Naish, D. 2005. Solnhofen-style soft-tissue preservation in a new species of turtle from the Crato Formation (Early Cretaceous, Aptian) of north-east Brazil. Palaeontology 48, 1301-1310. [free pdf here]

Hutt, S., Naish, D., Martill, D. M., Barker, M. J. & Newbery, P. 2001. A preliminary account of a new tyrannosauroid theropod from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous) of southern England. Cretaceous Research 22, 227-242. [abstract here]

Martill, D. M. & Naish, D. 2006. Cranial crest development in the azhdarchoid pterosaur Tupuxuara, with a review of the genus and tapejarid monophyly. Palaeontology 49, 925-941. [abstract here]

- ., Naish, D. & Earland, S. 2006. Dinosaurs in marine strata: evidence from the British Jurassic, including a review of the allochthonous vertebrate assemblage from the marine Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Great Britain. In Colectivo Arqueologico-Paleontologico Salense (ed) Actas de las III Jornadas sobre Dinosaurios y su Entorno. Salas de los Infantes (Burgos, Espana), pp. 47-83.

Naish, D. 1999. Theropod dinosaur diversity and palaeobiology in the Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous) of England: evidence from a previously undescribed tibia. Geologie en Mijnbouw 78, 367-373. [abstract here]

- . 1999. Fossil Explained 27: Theropod dinosaurs. Geology Today 15, 234-239.

- . 2000. Theropod dinosaurs in the trees: a historical review of arboreal habits amongst nonavian theropods. Archaeopteryx 18, 35-41.

- . 2000. 130 years of tree-climbing dinosaurs: Archaeopteryx, 'arbrosaurs' and the origin of avian flight. The Quarterly Journal of the Dinosaur Society 4 (1), 20-23.

- . 2000. A small, unusual theropod (Dinosauria) femur from the Wealden Group (Lower Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wight, England. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 2000, 217-234.

- . 2001. Fossils explained 34: Crocodilians. Geology Today 17 (2), 71-77.

- . 2002. The historical taxonomy of the Lower Cretaceous theropods (Dinosauria) Calamospondylus and Aristosuchus from the Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 113, 153-163.

- . 2003. A definitive allosauroid (Dinosauria; Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of East Sussex. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 114, 319-326.

- . 2004. [Review of] African Dinosaurs Unearthed: the Tendaguru Expeditions. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 115, 379-380.

- . 2004. Fossils explained 46. Ancient toothed whales. Geology Today 20 (2), 72-77.

- . 2004. Fossils explained 48. Placodonts. Geology Today 20 (4), 153-158.

- . 2004. New Zealand's giant gecko: a review of current knowledge of Hoplodactylus delcourti and the kawekaweau of legend. The Cryptozoology Review 4 (2), 17-21.

- . 2007. Turtles of the Crato Formation. In Martill, D. M., Bechly, G. & Loveridge, R. F. (eds) The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge), pp. 452-457.

- . & Dyke, G. J. 2004. Heptasteornis was no ornithomimid, troodontid, dromaeosaurid or owl: the first alvarezsaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from Europe. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatshefte 2004, 385-401.

- . & Martill, D. M. 2002. A reappraisal of Thecocoelurus daviesi (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 113, 23-30.

- . & Martill, D. M. 2003. Pterosaurs - a successful invasion of prehistoric skies. Biologist 50 (5), 213-216.

- . & Martill, D. M. 2007. Dinosaurs of Great Britain and the role of the Geological Society of London in their discovery: basal Dinosauria and Saurischia. Journal of the Geological Society, London 164, 493-510. [pdf here]

- ., Martill, D. M., Cooper, D. & Stevens, K. A. 2004. Europe's largest dinosaur? A giant brachiosaurid cervical vertebra from the Wessex Formation (Early Cretaceous) of southern England. Cretaceous Research 25, 787-795. [free pdf here]

- ., Martill, D. M. & Frey, E. 2004. Ecology, systematics and biogeographical relationships of dinosaurs, including a new theropod, from the Santana Formation (?Albian, Early Cretaceous) of Brazil. Historical Biology 16, 57-70. [abstract here]

- ., Martill, D. M. & Merrick, I. 2007. Birds of the Crato Formation. In Martill, D. M., Bechly, G. & Loveridge, R. F. (eds) The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil: Window into an Ancient World. Cambridge University Press (Cambridge), pp. 525-533.

Sánchez-Hernández, B., Benton, M. J. & Naish, D. 2007. Dinosaurs and other fossil vertebrates from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of the Galve area, NE Spain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 249, 180-215.

Taylor, M. P. & Naish, D. 2005. The phylogenetic taxonomy of Diplodocoidea (Dinosauria: Sauropoda). PaleoBios 25, 1-7. [free pdf here]

- . & Naish, D. 2007. An unusual new neosauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Hastings Beds Group of East Sussex, England. Palaeontology 50, 1547-1564. [free pdf here]

Walsh, S. A. & Naish, D. 2002. Fossil seals from late Neogene deposits in South America: a new pinniped (Carnivora, Mammalia) assemblage from Chile. Palaeontology 45, 821-842. [abstract here]

Witton, M. P. & Naish, D. 2008. A reappraisal of azhdarchid pterosaur functional morphology and paleoecology. PLoS ONE 3(5): e2271. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002271 [free pdf here]