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

Foffa, D, Dunne, EM, Chiarenza, AA, Wynd, B, Farnsworth, A, Lunt, DJ, Valdes, PJ, Nesbitt, SJ, Kligman, BT, Marsh, A, Parker, WG, Butler, R, Fraser, NC, Brusatte, SL & Barrett, PM 2025, 'Climate drivers and palaeobiogeography of lagerpetids and early pterosaurs', Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 9, pp. 1359–1372. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02767-8

Edgar, K, Butler, R, Larwood, J & Smith, J 2025, 'Determining the relative scientific and cultural “value” of the UK’s in-situ dinosaur track sites', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2024.12.003

Maidment, SCR, Ouarhache, D, Ech-charay, K, Oussou, A, Boumir, K, El Khanchoufi, A, Park, A, Meade, L, Woodruff, DC, Wills, S, Smith, M, Barrett, PM & Butler, RJ 2025, 'Extreme armour in the world’s oldest ankylosaur', Nature. https://doi.org/0.1038/s41586-025-09453-6

Markovic, Z, Milivojević, M, Butler, RJ, Barrett, PM, Wills, S, van de Weerd, AA, Wessels, W & Radovic, P 2025, 'First dinosaur remains from Serbia: Sauropod and theropod material from the uppermost Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Osmakovo', Cretaceous Research, vol. 176, 106177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106177

Smyth, RSH, Breithaupt, BH, Butler, RJ, Falkingham, PL & Unwin, DM 2025, 'Identifying pterosaur trackmakers provides critical insights into mid-Mesozoic ground invasion', Current Biology, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 2337-2353.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.017

Maidment, S & Butler, RJ 2025, 'New frontiers in dinosaur exploration', Biology Letters, vol. 21, no. 4, 20250045. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0045

Marsden, MK, Gunn, J, Maidment, SCR, Nichols, G, Wheeley, JR, Russell, CE, Boomer, I, Stukins, S & Butler, RJ 2025, 'Palaeoenvironment and taphonomy of the Hypsilophodon Bed, Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation, Isle of Wight', Journal of the Geological Society. https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2024-046

Panciroli, E, Funston, GF, Maidment, SCR, Butler, R, Benson, RBJ, Crawford, BL, Fair, M, Fraser, NC & Walsh, S 2025, 'The First and Most Complete Dinosaur Skeleton from the Middle Jurassic of Scotland', Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691024000148

Dean, CD, Chiarenza, AA, Doser, JW, Farnsworth, A, Jones, LA, Lyster, SJ, Outhwaite, CL, Valdes, PJ, Butler, RJ & Mannion, PD 2025, 'The structure of the end-Cretaceous dinosaur fossil record in North America', Current Biology, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 1973-1988.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.03.025

Maidment, S, Ouarhache, D, Butler, RJ, Boumir, K, Oussou, A, Ech-charay, K, El Khanchoufi, A & Barrett, PM 2025, 'The world’s oldest cerapodan ornithischian dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Morocco', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 12, no. 3, 241624. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241624

Meade, LE, Butler, RJ, Jones, MEH & Fraser, NC 2024, 'A new procolophonid with complex dentition from the Late Triassic of southwest England', Papers in Palaeontology, vol. 10, no. 6, e1605. https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1605

Fawcett, MJ, Lautenschlager, S, Bestwick, J & Butler, RJ 2024, '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

Smyth, RSH, Breithaupt, BH, Butler, RJ, Falkingham, PL & Unwin, DM 2024, 'Hand and foot morphology maps invasion of terrestrial environments by pterosaurs in the mid-Mesozoic', Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.09.014

Butler, R, Meade, L, Cleary, T, McWhirter, K, Brown, E, Kemp, T, Benito, J & Fraser, N 2024, '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

Schnetz, L, Dunne, EM, Feichtinger, I, Butler, RJ, Coates, MI & Sansom, IJ 2024, 'Rise and diversification of chondrichthyans in the Paleozoic', Paleobiology, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2024.1

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