Sterling Nesbitt (born March 25, 1982, in Mesa, Arizona) is an American paleontologist best known for his work on the origin and early evolutionary patterns of archosaurs. He is currently an associate professor at Virginia Tech in the Department of Geosciences. [1]
Sterling Nesbitt received his B.A. in integrative biology with a minor in geology from the University of California Berkeley in 2004. He received his PhD from Columbia University in 2009, completing the majority of his research at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. [2] He subsequently held postdoctoral researcher positions at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Washington, and the Field Museum. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He is also a research associate/affiliate of the American Museum of Natural History, the Vertebrate Paleontology Lab at The University of Texas at Austin, the Virginia Museum of Natural History, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and the National Museum of Natural History.
Nesbitt appears in the 2007 IMAX movie Dinosaurs Alive! and the re-worked 2008 version of Walking With Dinosaurs on the Discovery Channel.
Nesbitt has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals with over 7,700 citations (per Google Scholar [3] ) and numerous papers in high-profile scientific journals, including Current Biology , Earth-Science Reviews , Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, Royal Society Open Science , Science, and Scientific Reports .
Below is a list of taxa that Nesbitt has contributed to naming:
Year | Taxon | Authors |
---|---|---|
2024 | Microzemiotes sonselaensis gen. et sp. nov. | Burch, Eddins, Stocker, Kligman, Marsh, Parker, & Nesbitt [4] |
2023 | Samsarasuchus pamelae gen. et sp. nov. | Ezcurra, Bandyopadhyay, Sengupta, Sen, Sennikov, Sookias, Nesbitt, & Butler [5] |
2023 | Mambachiton fiandohana gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Patellos, Kammerer, Ranivoharimanana, Wyss, & Flynn [6] |
2022 | Mbiresaurus raathi gen. et sp. nov. | Griffin, Wynd, Munyikwa, Broderick, Zondo, Tolan, Langer, Nesbitt, & Taruvinga [7] |
2022 | Mambawakale ruhuhu gen. et sp. nov. | Butler, Fernandez, Nesbitt, Leite, & Gower [8] |
2022 | Puercosuchus traverorum gen. et sp. nov. | Marsh, Parker, Nesbitt, Kligman, & Stocker [9] |
2021 | Syntomiprosopus sucherorum gen. et sp. nov. | Heckert, Nesbitt, Stocker, Schneider, Hoffman, & Zimmer [10] |
2020 | Kongonaphon kely gen. et sp. nov. | Kammerer, Nesbitt, Flynn, Ranivoharimanana, & Wyss [11] |
2020 | Dynamosuchus collisensis gen. et sp. nov. | Müller, Von Bacsko, Desoko, & Nesbitt [12] |
2019 | Suskityrannus hazelae gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Denton, Loewen, Brusatte, Smith, Turner, Kirkland, McDonald, & Wolfe [13] |
2018 | Mandasuchus tanyauchen gen. et sp. nov. | Butler, Nesbitt, Charig, Gower, & Barrett [14] |
2017 | Avicranium renestoi gen. et sp. nov. | Pritchard & Nesbitt [15] |
2017 | Teleocrater rhadinus gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt et al. [16] |
2016 | Litorosuchus somnii gen. et sp. nov. | Li, Wu, Zhao, Nesbitt, Stocker, & Wang [17] |
2016 | Triopticus primus gen. et sp. nov. | Stocker, Nesbitt, Criswell, Parker, Witmer, Rowe, Ridgely, & Brown [18] |
2016 | Vivaron haydeni gen. et sp. nov. | Lessner, Stocker, Smith, Turner, Irmis, & Nesbitt [19] |
2016 | Calciavis grandei gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt & Clarke [20] |
2015 | Lepidus praecisio gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt & Ezcurra [21] |
2015 | Carnufex carolinensis gen. et sp. nov. | Zanno, Drymala, Nesbitt, & Schneider [22] |
2014 | Nundasuchus songeaensis gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Sidor, Angielczyk, Smith, & Tsuji [23] |
2013 | Lutungutali sitwensis gen. et sp. nov. | Peecook, Sidor, Nesbitt, Smith, Steyer, & Angielczyk [24] |
2013 | Asperoris mnyama gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Butler, & Gower [25] |
2012 | Nyasasaurus parringtoni gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Barrett, Werning, Sidor, & Charig [26] |
2011 | Diodorus scytobrachion gen. et sp. nov. | Kammerer, Nesbitt, & Shubin [27] |
2011 | Albinykus baatar gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Clarke, Turner, & Norell [28] |
2011 | Daemonosaurus chauliodus gen. et sp. nov. | Sues, Nesbitt, Berman, & Henrici [29] |
2010 | Azendohsaurus madagaskarensis sp. nov. | Flynn, Nesbitt, Parrish, Ranivoharimanana, & Wyss [30] |
2010 | Aisilisaurus kongwe gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Sidor, Irmis, Angielczyk, Smith, & Tsuji [31] |
2009 | Limusaurus inextricabilis gen. et sp. nov. | Xu et al. [32] |
2009 | Kol ghuva gen. et sp. nov. | Turner, Nesbitt, & Norell [33] |
2009 | Tawa hallae gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Smith, Irmis, Turner, Downs, & Norell [34] |
2007 | Effigia okeeffeae gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt & Norell [35] |
2005 | Redondavenator quayensis gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt, Irmis, Lucas, & Hunt [36] |
2004 | Ammorhynchus navajoi gen. et sp. nov. | Nesbitt & Whatley [37] |
Archosauria or archosaurs is a clade of diapsid sauropsid tetrapods, with birds and crocodilians being the only extant representatives. Although broadly classified as reptiles, which traditionally exclude birds, the cladistic sense of the term includes all living and extinct relatives of birds and crocodilians such as non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs, phytosaurs, aetosaurs and rauisuchians as well as many Mesozoic marine reptiles. Modern paleontologists define Archosauria as a crown group that includes the most recent common ancestor of living birds and crocodilians, and all of its descendants.
Archosauriformes is a clade of diapsid reptiles encompassing archosaurs and some of their close relatives. It was defined by Jacques Gauthier (1994) as the clade stemming from the last common ancestor of Proterosuchidae and Archosauria. Phil Senter (2005) defined it as the most exclusive clade containing Proterosuchus and Archosauria. Gauthier as part of the Phylonyms (2020) defined the clade as the last common ancestor and all descendants of Gallus, Alligator, and Proterosuchus. Archosauriforms are a branch of archosauromorphs which originated in the Late Permian and persist to the present day as the two surviving archosaur groups: crocodilians and birds.
Archosauromorpha is a clade of diapsid reptiles containing all reptiles more closely related to archosaurs rather than lepidosaurs. Archosauromorphs first appeared during the late Middle Permian or Late Permian, though they became much more common and diverse during the Triassic period.
Phytosaurs are an extinct group of large, mostly semiaquatic Late Triassic archosauriform reptiles. Phytosaurs belong to the order Phytosauria and are sometimes referred to as parasuchians. Phytosauria, Parasuchia, Parasuchidae, and Phytosauridae have often been considered equivalent groupings containing the same species. Some recent studies have offered a more nuanced approach, defining Parasuchidae and Phytosauridae as nested clades within Phytosauria as a whole. The clade Phytosauria was defined by Paul Sereno in 2005 as Rutiodon carolinensis and all taxa more closely related to it than to Aetosaurus ferratus, Rauisuchus tiradentes, Prestosuchus chiniquensis, Ornithosuchus woodwardi, or Crocodylus niloticus. Phytosaurs were long-snouted and heavily armoured, bearing a remarkable resemblance to modern crocodilians in size, appearance, and lifestyle, as an example of convergence or parallel evolution.
Euparkeria is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile from the Triassic of South Africa. Euparkeria is close to the ancestry of Archosauria, the reptile group that includes crocodilians, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs.
Prestosuchidae is a polyphyletic grouping of carnivorous archosaurs that lived during the Triassic. They were large active terrestrial apex predators, ranging from around 2.5 to 7 metres in length. They succeeded the Erythrosuchidae as the largest archosaurs of their time. While resembling erythrosuchids in size and some features of the skull and skeleton, they were more advanced in their erect posture and crocodile-like ankle, indicating more efficient gait. "Prestosuchids" flourished throughout the whole of the middle, and the early part of the late Triassic, and fossils are so far known from Europe, India, Africa (Tanzania), Argentina, and Paleorrota in Brazil. However, for a long time experts disagree regarding the phylogenetic relationships of the group, what genera should be included, and whether indeed the "Prestosuchidae" constitute a distinct family.
Dinosauromorpha is a clade of avemetatarsalians that includes the Dinosauria (dinosaurs) and some of their close relatives. It was originally defined to include dinosauriforms and lagerpetids, with later formulations specifically excluding pterosaurs from the group. Birds are the only dinosauromorphs which survive to the present day.
Avemetatarsalia is a clade of diapsid reptiles containing all archosaurs more closely related to birds than to crocodilians. The two most successful groups of avemetatarsalians were the dinosaurs and pterosaurs. Dinosaurs were the largest terrestrial animals for much of the Mesozoic Era, and one group of small feathered dinosaurs has survived up to the present day. Pterosaurs were the first flying vertebrates and persisted through the Mesozoic before dying out at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction event. Both dinosaurs and pterosaurs appeared in the Triassic Period, shortly after avemetatarsalians as a whole. The name Avemetatarsalia was first established by British palaeontologist Michael Benton in 1999. An alternate name is Pan-Aves, or "all birds", in reference to its definition containing all animals, living or extinct, which are more closely related to birds than to crocodilians.
Pterosauromorpha is one of the two basic divisions of Ornithodira that includes pterosaurs and all taxa that are closer to them than to dinosaurs and their close relatives. In addition to pterosaurs, Pterosauromorpha also includes the basal clade Lagerpetidae and some other Late Triassic ornithodirans.
The Santa Maria Formation is a sedimentary rock formation found in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is primarily Carnian in age, and is notable for its fossils of cynodonts, "rauisuchian" pseudosuchians, and early dinosaurs and other dinosauromorphs, including the herrerasaurid Staurikosaurus, the basal sauropodomorphs Buriolestes and Saturnalia, and the lagerpetid Ixalerpeton. The formation is named after the city of Santa Maria in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul, where outcrops were first studied.
Archosaurus is an extinct genus of carnivorous proterosuchid archosauriform reptile. Its fossils are dated to the latest Permian of Russia and Poland, it is one of the earliest known archosauriforms. The type and only species is Archosaurus rossicus, known from several fragmentary specimens which cumulatively represent parts of the skull and cervical vertebrae. It would have been 3 metres (9.8 ft) long when fully grown.
The Chinle Formation is an extensive geological unit in the southwestern United States, preserving a very diverse fauna of Late Triassic animals and plants. This is a list of fossilized organisms recovered from the formation.
Silesauridae is an extinct family of Triassic dinosauriforms. It is most commonly considered to be a clade of non-dinosaur dinosauriforms, and the sister group of dinosaurs. Some studies have instead suggested that most or all silesaurids comprised an early diverging clade or a paraphyletic grade within ornithischian dinosaurs. Silesaurids have a consistent general body plan, with a fairly long neck and legs and possibly quadrupedal habits, but most silesaurids are heavily fragmentary nonetheless. Furthermore, they occupied a variety of ecological niches, with early silesaurids being carnivorous and later taxa having adaptations for specialized herbivory. As indicated by the contents of referred coprolites, Silesaurus may have been insectivorous, feeding selectively on small beetles and other arthropods.
Lagerpetidae is a family of basal avemetatarsalians. Though traditionally considered the earliest-diverging dinosauromorphs, fossils described in 2020 suggest that lagerpetids may instead be pterosauromorphs. Lagerpetid fossils are known from the Triassic of San Juan (Argentina), Arizona (USA), Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), Madagascar, New Mexico (USA), and Texas (USA). They were typically small, although some lagerpetids, like Dromomeron gigas and a specimen from the Santa Rosa Formation attributed to Dromomeron sp., were able to get quite large. Lagerpetid fossils are rare; the most common finds are bones of the hindlimbs, which possessed a number of unique features.
Stagonosuchus is an extinct genus of paracrocodylomorph, possibly a loricatan synonymous with Prestosuchus or a poposauroid. Fossils have been found from the Late Triassic Manda Formation in Tanzania that are Anisian in age.
Poposauroidea is a clade of advanced pseudosuchians. It includes poposaurids, shuvosaurids, ctenosauriscids, and other unusual pseudosuchians such as Qianosuchus and Lotosaurus. It excludes most large predatory quadrupedal "rauisuchians" such as rauisuchids and "prestosuchids". Those reptiles are now allied with crocodylomorphs in a clade known as Loricata, which is the sister taxon to the poposauroids in the clade Paracrocodylomorpha. Although it was first formally defined in 2007, the name "Poposauroidea" has been used for many years. The group has been referred to as Poposauridae by some authors, although this name is often used more narrowly to refer to the family that includes Poposaurus and its close relatives. It was phylogenetically defined in 2011 by Sterling Nesbitt as Poposaurus gracilis and all taxa more closely related to it than to Postosuchus kirkpatricki, Crocodylus niloticus, Ornithosuchus woodwardi, or Aetosaurus ferratus.
The Manda Formation is a Middle Triassic (Anisian?) or possibly Late Triassic (Carnian?) geologic formation in Tanzania. It preserves fossils of many terrestrial vertebrates from the Triassic, including some of the earliest dinosauromorph archosaurs. The formation is often considered to be Anisian in age according to general tetrapod biochronology hypotheses and correlations to the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of South Africa. However, some recent studies cast doubt to this age, suggesting that parts deposits may actually be younger (Carnian) in age.
Asperoris is an extinct genus of archosauriform reptile known from the Middle Triassic Manda Beds of southwestern Tanzania. It is the first archosauriform known from the Manda Beds that is not an archosaur. However, its relationships with other non-archosaurian archosauriforms are uncertain. It was first named by Sterling J. Nesbitt, Richard J. Butler and David J. Gower in 2013 and the type species is Asperoris mnyama. Asperoris means "rough face" in Latin, referring to the distinctive rough texture of its skull bones.
Azendohsauridae is a family of allokotosaurian archosauromorphs that lived during the Middle to Late Triassic period, around 242-216 million years ago. The family was originally named solely for the eponymous Azendohsaurus, marking out its distinctiveness from other allokotosaurs, but as of 2022 the family now includes four other genera: the basal genus Pamelaria, the large horned herbivore Shringasaurus, and two carnivorous genera grouped into the subfamily-level subclade Malerisaurinae, Malerisaurus and Puercosuchus, and potentially also the dubious genus Otischalkia. Most fossils of azendohsaurids have a Gondwanan distribution, with multiple species known across Morocco and Madagascar in Africa as well as India, although fossils of malerisaurine azendohsaurids have also been found in the southwestern United States of North America.
Isalo II, also known as the Makay Formation, is an informal Triassic geological unit in Madagascar.
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