Bruce Norman Runnegar (born 2 February 1941, Brisbane) is an Australian-born paleontologist and professor at UCLA. His research centers on using the fossil record to determine how, where, and when life originated and evolved. He has published on a wide variety of topics, including the phylogeny of molluscs, [1] Dickinsonia fossils and oxygen levels, [2] and molecular clock techniques. [3]
One of the earliest species of molluscs, Pojetaia runnegari , is named after him. [4]
Runnegar was educated at the University of Queensland, graduating with his B.Sc. with honours in 1964. He would go on to take his PhD at UQ in 1967, under supervisor, Palaeozoic coral palaeontologist Professor Dorothy Hill. He was a teaching fellow at the University from 1964-1967 as well as a demonstrator in 1967. Following his PhD he took up a lecturing position at the University of New England in 1968. He took his D.Sc. from UQ in 1978.
After a year at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., as a National Research Council Visiting Postdoctoral Research Associate, Runnegar returned to the University of New England in 1970. He would be promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1971 and Associate Professor 1974. He was Head of the Department of Geology and Geophysics from 1983 and became Professor of Geology and Geophysics (personal chair) in 1985.
In 1987, Runnegar took a position as Professor in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was Director of the IGPP Centre for Astrobiology (joint University of California/NASA Astrobiology Institute) from 1998 and Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute from 2002-2006. [5]
He was the Foundation editor of the Australian palaeontology journal, Alcheringa in 1974. He was President of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists from 1984-1985.
Runnegar is married to wife, Maria. [6] They have one daughter.
Monotrematum sudamericanum is an extinct monotreme species from the Paleocene (Peligran) Salamanca Formation in Patagonia, Argentina. It is one of only two monotremes found outside Oceania.
Steropodon is a genus of prehistoric platypus-like monotreme, or egg-laying mammal. It contains a single species, Steropodon galmani, that lived about 100.2–96.6 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, from early to middle Cenomanian. It is one of the oldest monotremes discovered, and is one of the oldest Australian mammal discoveries. Several other monotremes are known from the Griman Creek Formation, including Dharragarra, Kollikodon, Opalios, Parvopalus, and Stirtodon.
Tribosphenida is a group (infralegion) of mammals that includes the ancestor of Hypomylos, Aegialodontia and Theria. It belongs to the group Zatheria. The current definition of Tribosphenida is more or less synonymous with Boreosphenida.
Koolasuchus is an extinct genus of brachyopoid temnospondyl in the family Chigutisauridae. Fossils have been found from Victoria, Australia and date back 125-120 million years ago to Barremian-Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Koolasuchus is the youngest known temnospondyl. It is known from several fragments of the skull and other bones such as vertebrae, ribs, and pectoral elements. The type species Koolasuchus cleelandi was named in 1997. K. cleelandi was adopted as the fossil emblem for the state of Victoria, Australia on 13 January 2022.
Dipnorhynchus is an extinct genus of marine lungfish from the middle Devonian period (Emsian) of Australia.
The Australosphenida are a clade of mammals, containing mammals with tribosphenic molars, known from the Jurassic to Mid-Cretaceous of Gondwana. Although they have often been suggested to have acquired tribosphenic molars independently from those of Tribosphenida, this has been disputed. Fossils of australosphenidans have been found from the Jurassic of Madagascar and Argentina, and Cretaceous of Australia and Argentina. Monotremes have also been considered a part of this group in its original definition and in many subsequent studies, but its relationship with other members has been disputed by some scholars.
The Wonthaggi Formation is an informal geological formation in Victoria, Australia whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. It is part of the Strzelecki Group within the Gippsland Basin. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. It is partially equivalent to the Eumeralla Formation.
Anthoceras is a genus of straight, annulated, proterocamerioceratid molluscs from the Lower Ordovician, found in North America, North-Western Australia, and Siberia. The cross section is circular, the siphuncle moderately large, and marginal. Segments are constricted ; septal necks hemichoantici to subholochoantic ; connecting rings thick. Endocones are long and slightly asymmetric.
Bulgosuchus is an extinct genus of prehistoric amphibians, known from an incomplete mandible and a femur recovered from the Bulgo Sandstone at Long Reef in Sydney, Australia. The type species is Bulgosuchus gargantua, which was named in 1999.
Keratobrachyops is an extinct genus of trematosaurian temnospondyl found in the Arcadia Formation of Queensland, Australia. It had been thought to be a basal chigutisaurid but is now thought to be a basal brachyopomorph closely related to the genus Bothriceps, and may even be a synonym of it.
Plagiobatrachus is an extinct genus of plagiosaurid temnospondyl. It is known from the Rewan Formation, an Early Triassic formation in Australia.
Tirraturhinus is an extinct genus of trematosaurian temnospondyl within the family Trematosauridae. The type species is T. smisseni.
Chrotichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater ray-finned fish that lived in the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic epoch. It contains a single species, C. gregarius, known from the Terrigal Formation of New South Wales, Australia.
Tranodis is an extinct genus of lungfish known from fossils from the Lower Carboniferous of North America and Scotland.
Psilichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish from Eumeralla Formation, the Lower Cretaceous epoch of what is now Victoria, Australia, known from single species P. selwyni. This is the first Mesozoic fossil vertebrate named from Victoria.
Cavenderichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric freshwater ray-finned fish from the Late Jurassic. It contains a single species, C. talbragarensis from the Talbragar Fish beds of New South Wales, Australia.
Myoscolex is an early animal known from the Cambrian Emu Bay Shale in South Australia. It is of unknown affinity but has been interpreted as an annelid and as an arthropod close to Opabinia. Myoscolex is the earliest known example of phosphotized muscle tissue, and as to which shows distinct annulation.
Cyclodendron was a genus of lycophytes dating from the Permian. Plants were vascularized with reproduction by spores.
Sundrius is an extinct genus of probable monotreme mammal from the Late Cretaceous (Albian) Eumeralla Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, S. ziegleri, known from a broken molar.
Koonaspides is an extinct genus of fossil crustacean in the family Anaspidesidae, from Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Koonwarra Fossil Beds in eastern Victoria, Australia. The only known species within the genus is Koonaspides indistinctus. Along with the Triassic genus Anaspidites, this is one of two known fossil members of this family.
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