PALAEONTOLOGY[online]

Tag: Stephen F. Poropat

Stephen has worked at Uppsala University (Sweden) since October 2011, in conjunction with the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum (Winton, Queensland, Australia). His recent research has focused mostly on sauropod dinosaurs, with the primary interest being the phylogenetic relationships and palaeobiogeographic implications of Australian Cretaceous sauropods. Stephen has also worked on Chinese sauropod and theropod specimens held in the Palaeontological Collections at the Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University. Stephen completed his PhD in May 2011 at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) under the supervision of Jeffrey Stilwell and Michael Hall, working on the biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental implications of late Early Cretaceous non-marine ostracod faunas from the South Atlantic Ocean. You can read more about his work at: http://www.stephenporopat.weebly.com

Contact Details:

Dr. Stephen F. Poropat, Palaeobiology Programme, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, and Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum, Winton, Queensland, Australia.

by Stephen F. Poropat*1,2 Introduction: Ask the average person in the street to name an Australian dinosaur, and you will be lucky if you get a correct answer. If they say crocodile, they are in the right postcode but have the wrong address. If they say emu, then they are correct, strictly speaking, but they are either lucky or being smart. If they say kangaroo, back away slowly and avoid eye contact. If they say koala bear, run home and take a few Panadol. I could forgive most people for not being able to identify any Australian dinosaurs. First and foremost, there are not many to know: only 18 Australian dinosaurs (including one bird, Nanantius) from the Mesozoic era (251 million to 66 million years ago) have been officially named. And yet, the first discovery of Mesozoic dinosaur r...