Professor Richard Butler PhD

Richard is a vertebrate palaeontologist with expertise in the systematics, evolution and biogeography of late Palaeozoic to Mesozoic reptiles. His research addresses major patterns and drivers of biodiversity change through deep time, particularly as exemplified by four-limbed vertebrates (tetrapods), over the last 375 million years. He is also interested in the origin and dramatic evolutionary radiation of dinosaurs and closely related fossil groups in the aftermath of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, the largest extinction event in the history of life on Earth. In addition to research, he acts as Director of Research for the College of Life & Environmental Sciences.

• 2022–. Director of Research & Knowledge Transfer, College of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham.
• 2020–2022. Director of Global Engagement, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham.
• 2017–. Professor of Palaeobiology, University of Birmingham.
• 2015–2017. Senior Birmingham Fellow, University of Birmingham.
• 2013–2018. Academic Keeper of the Lapworth Museum of Geology, University of Birmingham.
• 2013–2015. Birmingham Fellow, University of Birmingham
• 2011–2013. Junior Research Group Leader, Emmy Noether Programme (DFG), GeoBio-Center, LMU, Munich, Germany. 
• 2009–2011. Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship. Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Munich, Germany
• 2006–2009. NERC Postdoctoral Researcher. Natural History Museum London. 

Recent publications

Article

Dunne, E, Farnsworth, A, Benson, RBJ, Godoy, P, Greene, S, Valdes, PJ, Lunt, DJ & Butler, R 2023, 'Climatic controls on the ecological ascendancy of dinosaurs', Current Biology, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 206-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.064

Benevento, G, Benson, RBJ, Close, R & Butler, R 2023, 'Early Cenozoic increases in mammal diversity cannot be explained solely by expansion into larger body sizes', Palaeontology. <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14754983>

Prondvai, E & Butler, R 2023, 'Radial porosity profiles are a powerful tool for tracing locomotor maturation in developing limb bones', Journal of Morphology, vol. 284, no. 4, e21567. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21567

Edgar, K, Haller, L, Cashmore, D, Dunne, E & Butler, R 2023, 'Stratigraphic and geographic distribution of dinosaur tracks in the UK', Journal of the Geological Society. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2023-003

Edgar, K, Meade, L, Jones, H, Haller, L, Scriven, S, Reedman, C & Butler, R 2023, 'The condition, use and future of the UK’s largest accessible dinosaur tracksite at Spyway Quarry, Dorset', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2023.01.001

Butler, R, Fernandez, V, Nesbitt, SJ, Leite, JV & Gower, D 2022, 'A new pseudosuchian archosaur, Mambawakale ruhuhu gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle Triassic Manda Beds of Tanzania', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 9, no. 2, 211622. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211622

Brown, E, Butler, R, Barrett, P & Maidment, S 2022, 'Assessing conflict between early neornithischian tree topologies', Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, vol. 19, no. 17, pp. 1183-1206. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2022.2032433

Rayner, R, Butler, R, Kammerer, C & Choiniere, J 2022, 'Guttigomphus avilionis gen. et sp. nov., a trirachodontid cynodont from the upper Cynognathus Assemblage Zone, Burgersdorp Formation of South Africa', PeerJ, vol. 10, e14355 . https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14355

Ma, WS, Pittman, M, Butler, R & Lautenschlager, S 2022, 'Macroevolutionary trends in theropod dinosaur feeding mechanics', Current Biology, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 677-686.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.060

Prondvai, E, Kocsis, AT, Abourachid, A, Adriaens, D, Godefroit, P, Hu, D-Y & Butler, R 2022, 'Radial porosity profiles: a new bone histological method for comparative developmental analysis of diametric limb bone growth', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 9, no. 5, 211893. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211893

Benson, RBJ, Godoy, P, Bronzati, M, Butler, R & Gearty, W 2022, 'Reconstructed evolutionary patterns for crocodile-line archosaurs demonstrate impact of failure to log-transform body size data', Communications Biology, vol. 5, no. 1, 171. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03071-y

Bestwick, J, Godoy, P, Maidment, S, Ezcurra, M, Wroe, M, Raven, T, Bonsor, J & Butler, R 2022, 'Relative skull size evolution in Mesozoic archosauromorphs: potential drivers and morphological uniqueness of erythrosuchid archosauriforms', Palaeontology, vol. 65, no. 3, e12599. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12599

Foffa, D, Dunne, E, Nesbitt, SJ, Butler, R, Fraser, N, Brusatte, S, Farnsworth, A, Lunt, DJ, Valdes, PJ, Walsh, S & Barrett, PM 2022, 'Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha', Nature, vol. 610, no. 7931, pp. 313-318. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05284-x

Schnetz, L, Butler, RJ, Coates, MI & Sansom, IJ 2022, 'Skeletal and soft tissue completeness of the acanthodian fossil record', Palaeontology, vol. 65, no. 4, e12616. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12616

Radermacher, V, Fernandez, V, Schachner, E, Butler, R, Bordy, E, Hudgins, M, de Klerk, W, Chapelle, K & Choiniere, J 2021, 'A new Heterodontosaurus specimen elucidates the unique ventilatory macroevolution of ornithischian dinosaurs', eLife, vol. 10, e66036. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66036

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