David B. Weishampel, PhD

David B. Weishampel, PhD

David B. Weishampel, PhD

Professor Emeritus

Dr. David Weishampel’s principal research area is dinosaur paleobiology, which includes island biogeography of the Late Cretaceous faunas of Europe, particularly that of western Romania. In addition, through his work on the jaw mechanics of ornithopod dinosaurs, he is interested in the broad overlay of the evolution of herbivory and contemporary plants throughout the Mesozoic. Finally, because of the historical richness of the field of vertebrate paleontology throughout the world, combined with my work in Romania, he is greatly interested in the role of central-European paleobiology during the first third of the 20th century, especially the works of Franz Baron Nopcsa.

 

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 1981
  • M.Sc. University of Toronto, 1978
  • B.Sc. The Ohio State University, 1975

Research Focuses

  • Dinosaur systematics
  • European dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous
  • Jaw mechanics and herbivory
  • Cladistics and heterochrony
  • History of evolutionary biology

Special Projects

Professor David B. Weishampel’s research focuses include dinosaur systematics, European dinosaurs of the Late Cretaceous, jaw mechanics and herbivory, cladistics and heterochrony and the history of evolutionary biology. Weishampel’s best known published work is The Dinosauria University of California Press; 2nd edition (December 1, 2004). He consulted for Jurassic Park, working with Steven Spielberg. He has received an Academy Scientific and Technical Award.

Selected Publications

Osi, A., Prondvai, E., Butler, R., and Weishampel, D. B. 2012. Phylogeny, histology and inferred body size evolution in a new rhabdodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary. PLoS ONE 7(9): e44318. (view from PLoS ONE page).

Weishampel, D. B. and Jianu, C. M. 2013. Franz Baron Nopcsa: a man out of time. Foreword to Weishampel & Kerscher. Historical Biology 25(4): 391-544. (view from Taylor & Francis).

Weishampel, D. B. and Reif, W. E. 2013. An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, ornithology, and evolutionary biology: Dominik von Kripp and his functional morphology studies. Historical Biology 25(2): 261-281. (view from Taylor and Francis).

Weishampel, D. B. and Kerscher, O. 2012. Franz Baron Nopcsa. [English translation of Tasnádi Kubacska, A. (1945)]. Historical Biology.

Stanford, R., Weishampel, D. B., and Deleon, V. B. 2011. The first hatchling dinosaur reported from the eastern United States: Propanoplosaurus marylandicus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Early Cretaceous of Maryland, U.S.A. J. Paleont. 85: 916-924.

Weishampel, D. B. and Jianu, C.-M. 2011. Transylvanian Dinosaurs. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Benton, M. J., Csiki, Z., Grigorescu, D., Redelstorff, R., Sander, P. M., Stein, K., and Weishampel, D. B. 2010. Dinosaurs and the island rule: the dwarfed dinosaurs from Hateg Island. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 293: 438-454.

Weishampel, D. B., Csiki, Z., Benton, M. J., Grigorescu, D., and Codrea, V. 2010. Paleobiogeographic relationships and evolution of the Hateg biota – between isolation and innovation. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 293: 419-437.

Stein, K., Csiki, Z., Curry Rogers, K., Weishampel, D. B., Redelstorff, Carballido, J. L., and Sander, P. M. 2010. Body size evolution in the smallest sauropod dinosaur: Insular dwarfism in Magyarosaurus dacus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 107: 9258-9263.

Osi, A., Butler, R., Weishampel, D. B. 2010. A Late Cretaceous ceratopsian dinosaur from Europe with Asian affinities. Nature 465: 466-468.

Fastovsky, D. E., Weishampel, D. B. 2009 Dinosaurs: a Concise Natural History. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.

Weishampel, D. B. 2007. La evolution de la dieta herbivora en dinosaurios: una aproximacion historica. In: Sanz, J. L. (ed.). Los Dinosaurios en el Siglo XXI. Metatemas, Barcelona. pp. 164-185.

News

FAE celebrates the holidays!

The FAE faculty, students, postdocs, and staff celebrated the 2023 holidays together on Thursday, December 14th at Hotel Revival's Topside Restaurant overlooking Mount Vernon and Baltimore city. Thanks to Revival for hosting a great party!

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Congrats Dr. Zana Sims!

Please join us in congratulating Zana Sims on her successful dissertation defense on Thursday, December 21st, 2023!  Zana presented her PhD thesis "Cervical Root Morphology and Diet in Extant Catarrhines: Implications for Dietary Reconstruction in Miocene Fossils",...

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Welcome Dr. Matteo Fabbri!

It is our immense pleasure to announce that Dr. Matteo Fabbri will be joining the FAE faculty on July 1, 2024.  Matteo is currently a Chicago Fellows postdoc in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago.  Previously, he was a...

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