Foster, at the Walcott Quarry, Burgess Shale in 2007
Education
Education
Occidental College, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, University of Colorado
Philosophical work
Institutions
Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum
John Russell Foster (born November 3,1966) is an American paleontologist. Foster has worked with dinosaur and other fossil vertebrate remains from the Late Jurassic of the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains.[1][2] Foster is also working on Cambrian age trilobite faunas in the southwest region of the American West.[3][4][5] He named the crocodyliform trace fossilHatcherichnus sanjuanensis in 1997[6] and identified the first known occurrence of the theropod trace fossil Hispanosauropus in North America in 2015.[7] He was a member of the research team that named the Early Cretaceous North American turiasaurian sauropod Mierasaurus[8],and he also named the atoposaurid crocodilian Theriosuchus morrisonensis and the dryolestid mammal Amblotherium megistodon,both from the Morrison Formation.
He served for thirteen years as Curator of Paleontology at the Museum of Western Colorado from 2001 to 2014,and had previously worked at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science,Utah Geological Survey,and University of Wyoming. He was adjunct faculty of geology at Colorado Mesa University,Grand Junction,Colorado during much of his time at the Museum of Western Colorado. From 2014 to 2018 he was the Director of the Museum of Moab. He is currently a curator at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum in Vernal,Utah.
Professional work
An expert on the Late Jurassic,he has spent more than thirty years excavating fossils across the western United States,authoring and coauthoring more than 90 professional papers,on topics ranging from Triassic to Cretaceous in age,with a few Cambrian and Cenozoic studies appearing as well. In addition to dinosaurs,he has spent over a decade working in the Cambrian shales of the western United States.
Triassic
In December 2017,he and coauthors Xavier A. Jenkins of Arizona State University and Robert J. Gay of Colorado Canyons Association formally published their study on the oldest known dinosaur from Utah,a neotheropod that is likely an animal similar to Coelophysis.[9]
Jurassic
His researches in the Late Jurassic of the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountains includes the geographic and environmental distributions of microvertebrates and dinosaurs. He served as the lead researcher at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry in western Colorado for 14 years,and continues to work in the Late Jurassic of eastern Utah and western Colorado. His current work includes the excavation of the first known dinosaur from the western United States,Dystrophaeus,on Bureau of Land Management lands in San Juan County,Utah,along with development of recently discovered fossil plant localities in the Morrison Formation.[10] Foster had a ceratosauridceratosaur theropod dinosaur,Fosterovenator, named after him in 2014[11]
Foster is the author of Jurassic West:The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World[12][13] in 2007,followed by a second edition in 2020.[14][15] The first edition of Jurassic West was followed by his second book Cambrian Ocean World in 2014.[16][17][18] Most recently he released Beast Companions:The Unsung Animals of the Dinosaurs' World in 2024.[19]
References
↑Foster, J.R., 2007, Jurassic West: the Dsinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 389 p.
↑Foster, J.R., 2020, Jurassic West: the Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World, 2nd Edition. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 531 p.
↑Foster, J.R., Sundberg, F.A., and Hagadorn, J.W., 2024, Cambrian trilobites and associated fossils from the Uinta Mountains of Utah (USA). Journal of Paleontology, 97:452-459.
↑Foster, J.R., 2022, Continuous character variation within the Glossopleura-Anoria-Sonoraspis plexus: dolichometopid trilobites from the Cadiz Formation (Cambrian: Miaolingian, Wuliuan), California. Palaeontologica Electronica, 25.2.a18, https://DOI.org/10.26879/1173.
↑Sundberg, F., Foster, J.R., Webster, M., Miller, A., and Hagadorn, J., 2025, Cambrian trilobites and biostratigraphy of the Grand Canyon and vicinity, USA. Journal of Paleontology, 1-95, https://DOI.org/10.1017/jpa.2025.10114.
↑Royo-Torres, R., Upchurch, P., Kirkland, J.I., DeBlieux, D.D., Foster, J.R., Cobos, A., and Alcala, L., 2017, Descendants of the Jurassic turiasaurs from Iberia found refuge in the Early Cretaceous of Western USA. Scientific Reports 7(1), 14311.
↑JENKINS, Xavier A.; FOSTER, John R.; GAY, Robert J.. First unambiguous dinosaur specimen from the Upper Triassic Chinle formation in Utah. Geology of the Intermountain West, [S.l.], v. 4, p. 231-242, dec. 2017. ISSN 2380-7601. Available at: <https://www.utahgeology.org/openjournal/index.php/GIW/article/view/22%5B%5D>.
↑Foster, J.R., Gee, C.T., Ash, S.R., and Kirkland, J.I., 2023, Preliminary observations on the Jurassic Salad Bar, a new ginkgophyte-dominated flora from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in southeastern Utah, USA. The Anatomical Record, 306(S1):96-99.
↑Foster, J.R. (2007). "Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University". Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 387 p.'.
Lockley, M. G., Gierlinski, G., Matthews, N. A., Xing, L., Foster, J. R., and Cart, K. 2017. New dinosaur track occurrences from the Upper Jurassic Salt Wash Member (Morrison Formation) of southeastern Utah: Implications for thyreophoran trackmaker distribution and diversity. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 470:116–121.
Foster, J. R., and Peterson, J. E. 2016. First report of Apatosaurus (Diplodocidae: Apatosaurinae) from the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Utah: Abundance, distribution, paleoecology, and taphonomy of an endemic North American sauropod clade. Palaeoworld 25:431–443.
Foster, J. R., and Gaines, R. R. 2016. Taphonomy and paleoecology of the “Middle” Cambrian (Series 3) formations in Utah's West Desert: Recent finds and new data. Utah Geological Association Publication 45:291–336.
Foster, J. R., McHugh, J. B., Peterson, J. E., and Leschin, M. F. 2016. Major bonebeds in mudrocks of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), northern Colorado Plateau of Utah and Colorado. Geology of the Intermountain West 3:33–66.
D’Emic, M. D., and Foster, J. R. 2016. The oldest Cretaceous North American sauropod dinosaur. Historical Biology 28:470–478.
Hunt-Foster, R. K., Lockley, M. G., Milner, A. R. C., Foster, J. R., Matthews, N. A., Breithaupt, B. H., and Smith, J. A. 2016. Tracking dinosaurs in BLM Canyon Country, Utah. Geology of the Intermountain West 3:67– 100.
Foster, J. R. 2015. Theropod dinosaur ichnogenus Hispanosauropus identified from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic), western North America. Ichnos 22:183–191.
Foster, J. R., and Hunt-Foster, R. K. 2015. First report of a giant neosuchian (Crocodyliformes) in the Williams Fork Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Campanian) of Colorado. Cretaceous Research 55:66–73.
Foster, J. R., Trujillo, K. C., Frost, F., and Mims, A. L. 2015. Summary of vertebrate fossils from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) at Curecanti National Recreation Area, central Colorado. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 67:77–84.
Foster, J. R. 2014. Cambrian Ocean World: Ancient Sea Life of North America. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 416 p.
Foster, J. R., and Wedel, M. J. 2014. Haplocanthosaurus (Saurischia: Sauropoda) from the lower Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) near Snowmass, Colorado. Volumina Jurassica 12(2):197–210.
Woodruff, D. C., and Foster, J. R. 2014. The fragile legacy of Amphicoelias fragillimus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda; Morrison Formation – latest Jurassic). Volumina Jurassica 12(2):211–220.
Trujillo, K. C., Foster, J. R., Hunt-Foster, R. K., and Chamberlain, K. R. 2014. A U/Pb age for the Mygatt-Moore Quarry, Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, Mesa County, Colorado. Volumina Jurassica 12(2):107–114.
Lockley, M. G., Buckley, L. G., Foster, J. R., Kirkland, J. I., and Deblieux, D. D. 2014. First report of bird tracks (Aquatilavipes) from the Cedar Mountain Formation (Lower Cretaceous), eastern Utah. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 420:150–162.
Lockley, M. G., Hunt-Foster, R. K., Foster, J. R., Cart, K., and Gerwe, D. S. 2014. Early Jurassic track assemblages from the Granite Creek area of eastern Utah. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 62:205–210.
Foster, J. R. 2013. Ecological segregation of the Late Jurassic stegosaurian and iguanodontian dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation in North America: pronounced or subtle? PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 10(3):1–11.
Foster, J. R. 2011. Trilobite taphonomy of the Latham Shale (Lower Cambrian; Dyeran), Mojave Desert, California: an inner detrital belt Burgess Shale-type deposit of western Laurentia. In Johnston, P. A., and Johnston, K. J., eds., International Conference on the Cambrian Explosion, Proceedings, Palaeontographica Canadiana 31:119–140.
Foster, J. R. 2011. Bonnima sp. (Trilobita; Corynexochida) from the Chambless Limestone (Lower Cambrian) of the Marble Mountains, California: first Dorypygidae in a cratonic region of the southern Cordillera. PaleoBios 30:45–49.
Foster, J. R. 2011. Trilobites and other fauna from two quarries in the Bright Angel Shale (Middle Cambrian, Series 3; Delamaran), Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. In Hollingsworth, J. S., Sundberg, F. A., and Foster, J. R., eds., Cambrian Stratigraphy and Paleontology of Northern Arizona and Southern Nevada: The 16th Field Conference of the Cambrian Stage Subdivision Working Group, International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy, Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 67:99–120.
Foster, J. R. 2011. Trilobite taphonomy in the lower Pioche Formation (Dyeran; Global Stage 4) at Frenchman Mountain, Nevada. In Hollingsworth, J. S., Sundberg, F. A., and Foster, J. R., eds., Cambrian Stratigraphy and Paleontology of Northern Arizona and Southern Nevada: The 16th Field Conference of the Cambrian Stage Subdivision Working Group, International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy, Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 67:282–283.
Foster, J. R., and Heckert, A. B. 2011. Ichthyoliths and other microvertebrate remains from the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of northeastern Wyoming: a screen-washed sample indicates a significant aquatic component to the fauna. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 305:264–279.
Foster, J. R., and Hunt-Foster, R. K. 2011. New occurrences of dinosaur skin of two types (Sauropoda? and Dinosauria indet.) from the Late Jurassic of North America (Mygatt-Moore Quarry, Morrison Formation). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31:717–721.
Lockley, M. G., and Foster, J. R. 2010. An assemblage of probable crocodylian traces and associated dinosaur tracks from the lower Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic) of eastern Utah. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 51:93–97.
Farlow, J. O., Coroian, I. D., and Foster, J. R. 2010. Giants on the landscape: modeling the abundance of megaherbivorous dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic, western USA). Historical Biology 22:403–429.
Foster, J. R. 2009. Preliminary body mass estimates for mammalian genera of the Morrison Formation (Upper Jurassic, North America). PaleoBios 28:114–122.
Foster, J. R. 2009. Taphonomic characteristics of a quarry in the Bright Angel Shale (Middle Cambrian), Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona: a preliminary look. In Baltzer, E., ed., American Institute of Professional Geologists, Conference Proceedings, Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau: Canyons, Resources, and Hazards, p.77–80.
Foster, J. R., and Chure, D. J. 2006. Hindlimb allometry in the Late Jurassic theropod dinosaur Allosaurus, with comments on its abundance and distribution. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 36:119–122.
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