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

Butler, R, Meade, L, Cleary, T, McWhirter, K, Brown, E, Kemp, T, Benito, J & Fraser, N 2023, 'Hwiccewyrm trispiculum gen. et sp. nov., a new leptopleuronine procolophonid from the Late Triassic of southwest England', The Anatomical Record. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25316

Ezcurra, MD, Bandyopadhyay, S, Sengupta, DP, Sen, K, Sennikov, AG, Sookias, RB, Nesbitt, SJ & Butler, RJ 2023, 'A new archosauriform species from the Panchet Formation of India and the diversification of Proterosuchidae after the end-Permian mass extinction', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 10, no. 10, 230387. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230387

Spiekman, SNF, Fernandez, V, Butler, RJ, Dollman, KN & Maidment, SCR 2023, 'A taxonomic revision and cranial description of Terrestrisuchus gracilis (Archosauria, Crocodylomorpha) from the Upper Triassic of Pant‐y‐Ffynnon Quarry (southern Wales)', Papers in Palaeontology, vol. 9, no. 6, e1534. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1534

Spiekman, SNF, Fernandez, V, Butler, R, Dollman, KN & Maidment, S 2023, 'A taxonomic revision and cranial description of Terrestrisuchus gracilis (Archosauria, Crocodylomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry (southern Wales)', Papers in Palaeontology.

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, vol. 66, no. 3, e12653. https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12653

Fawcett, MJ, Lautenschlager, S, Bestwick, J & Butler, RJ 2023, 'Functional morphology of the Triassic apex predator Saurosuchus galilei (Pseudosuchia: Loricata) and convergence with a post‐Triassic theropod dinosaur', The Anatomical Record. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25299

Dunne, E, Thompson, S, Butler, R, Rosindell, J & Close, R 2023, 'Mechanistic neutral models show that sampling biases drive the apparent explosion of early tetrapod diversity', Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. 1480-1489. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02128-3

Oussou, A, Falkingham, PL, Butler, RJ, Boumir, K, Ouarhache, D, Ech-charay, K, Charrière, A & Maidment, SCR 2023, 'New Middle to? Late Jurassic dinosaur tracksites in the Central High Atlas Mountains, Morocco', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 10, no. 9, 231091. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231091

Foffa, D, Nesbitt, SJ, Kligman, BT, Butler, RJ & Stocker, MR 2023, 'New specimen and redescription of Anisodontosaurus greeri (Moenkopi Formation: Middle Triassic) and the spatiotemporal origins of Trilophosauridae', Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2023.2220015

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

Foffa, D, Nesbitt, SJ, Butler, RJ, Brusatte, SL, Walsh, S, Fraser, NC & Barrett, PM 2023, 'The osteology of the Late Triassic reptile Scleromochlus taylori from μCT data', The Anatomical Record. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25335

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

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