K. Christopher Beard

K. Christopher Beard is an American paleontologist, an expert on the primate fossil record and a 2000 MacArthur Fellowship "Genius" Award Winner. Beard's research is reshaping critical debates about the evolutionary origins of mammals, including primates, routinely questioning current thinking about their geographical origins. ^[1] Dr. Beard is the former Curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, ^[2] and Mary R. Dawson Chair of Vertebrate Paleontology, at University of Pittsburgh. ^[3] He is currently Distinguished Foundation Professor, Senior Curator at the University of Kansas. ^[4] He was co-author with Dan Gebo about an extinct primate from China. ^[5] Dr. Beard also authored the book The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes and Humans. ^[1] Beard was also part of the research teams that discovered Teilhardina , the earliest primate ever found in North America, and Eosimias , one of the earliest higher primates yet discovered. ^[1] He worked with NASA to scan a Tyrannosaurus rex skull. ^[6] Beard received his PhD from the Functional Anatomy and Evolution Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1989. ^[1]

Below is a list of taxa that Beard has contributed to naming:

Year	Taxon	Authors
2024	Phenacolemur cavatus sp. nov.	Anemone, Jones, Van Regenmorter, & Beard [7]
2023	Palaeohodites naduensis gen. et sp. nov.	Rust, Ni, Tietjen, & Beard [8]
2023	Ignacius dawsonae sp. nov.	Miller, Tietjen, & Beard [9]
2023	Ignacius mckennai sp. nov.	Miller, Tietjen, & Beard [9]
2023	Ceutholestes acerbus sp. nov.	Jones & Beard [10]
2023	Plagioctenodon dawsonae sp. nov.	Jones & Beard [10]
2023	Plagioctenodon goliath sp. nov.	Jones & Beard [10]
2023	Plagioctenoides cryptos sp. nov.	Jones & Beard [10]
2021	Nesomomys bunodens gen. et sp. nov.	Beard, Métais, Ocakoğlu, & Licht [11]
2021	Altaynycteris aurora gen. et sp. nov.	Jones, Li, Ni, & Beard [12]
2021	Simonsius harujensis sp. nov.	Mattingly, Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger [13]
2020	Africtis sirtensis gen. et sp. nov.	Mattingly, Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger [14]
2018	Anatolianycteris insularis gen. et sp. nov.	Jones, Coster, Licht, Métais, Ocakoğlu, Taylor, & Beard [15]
2018	Carpolestes twelvemilensis sp. nov.	Mattingly, Sanisidro, & Beard [16]
2019	Chiromyoides kesiwah sp. nov.	Beard, Jones, Thurber, & Sanisidro [17]
2016	Apidium zuetina sp. nov.	Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger [18]
2007	Baataromomys ulaanus gen. et sp. nov.	Ni, Beard, Meng, Wang, & Gebo [19]
2004	Eosimias dawsonae sp. nov.	Beard & Wang [20]
2004	Phenacopithecus krishtalkai sp. nov.	Beard & Wang [20]
2004	Phenacopithecus xueshii gen. et sp. nov.	Beard & Wang [20]
1994	Macrotarsius macrorhysis sp. nov.	Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li [21]
1994	Adapoides troglodytes gen. et sp. nov.	Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li [21]
1994	Eosimias sinensis gen. et sp. nov.	Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li [21]

Awards

• 2000 MacArthur Fellows Program

Books

• The hunt for the dawn monkey: unearthing the origins of monkeys, apes, and humans, University of California Press, 2004, ISBN   978-0-520-23369-0
• "Mammalian Biogeography and Anthropoid Origins", Primate biogeography: progress and prospects, Editors Shawn M. Lehman, John G. Fleagle, Springer, 2006, ISBN   978-0-387-29871-9
• "Basal Anthropoids", The primate fossil record, Editor Walter Carl Hartwig, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN   978-0-521-66315-1
• "Early Wasatchian Mammals From the Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi", Eocene biodiversity: unusual occurrences and rarely sampled habitats, Editor Gregg F. Gunnell, Springer, 2001, ISBN   9780306465284

Papers

• Beard, Kenneth Christopher; Qi, Tao; Dawson, Mary R.; Wang, Banyue; Li, Chuankuei (14 April 1994). "A diverse new primate fauna from middle Eocene fissure-fillings in southeastern China" . Nature . 368 (6472): 604–609. Bibcode:1994Natur.368..604B. doi:10.1038/368604a0. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   8145845 . Retrieved 24 December 2024.

• Beard, Kenneth Christopher (11 March 2008). "The oldest North American primate and mammalian biogeography during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 105 (10): 3815–3818. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105.3815B. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0710180105 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   2268774 . PMID   18316721.

• Beard, Kenneth Christopher; Coster, Pauline M. C.; Ocakoğlu, Faruk; Licht, Alexis; Métais, Grégoire (4 December 2023). "Dental anatomy, phylogenetic relationships and paleoecology of Orhaniyeia nauta (Metatheria, Anatoliadelphyidae), a Gondwanan component of the insular Eocene mammal fauna of Balkanatolia (north-central Turkey)". Journal of Mammalian Evolution . 30 (4): 859–872. doi:10.1007/s10914-023-09680-6. ISSN   1064-7554 . Retrieved 14 December 2024– via Springer Nature Link.

• Métais, Grégoire; Coster, Pauline; Licht, Alexis; Ocakoglu, Faruk; Beard, Kenneth Christopher (11 December 2023). "Additions to the late Eocene Süngülü mammal fauna in Easternmost Anatolia and the Eocene-Oligocene transition at the periphery of Balkanatolia". Comptes Rendus Palevol . 22 (35): 711–727. Retrieved 1 July 2024.

References

1. Science
2. "CMNH Vertebrate Paleontology: K. Christopher Beard". Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
3. "People | Department of Geology and Environmental Science | University of Pittsburgh | University of Pittsburgh".
4. "K. Christopher Beard | Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology". eeb.ku.edu. Archived from the original on 2014-05-22.
5. "Newly discovered fossils from China shed light on common ancestry of monkeys, apes and humans". Archived from the original on 2010-04-10. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
6. "NASA - No Bones About It: NASA Analyzes Prehistoric Predator from the Past". Archived from the original on 2010-03-18. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
7. Anemone, Robert L.; and Beard, K. Christopher (2024-05-03). "A latest Paleocene mammal fauna from the Great Divide Basin in southern Wyoming and a revised biozonation of the Clarkforkian land mammal age" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 44 (3): e2424139. Bibcode:2024JVPal..44E4139A. doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2424139. ISSN   0272-4634.{{cite journal}}: |first2= missing |last2= (help); |first3= missing |last3= (help)
8. Rust, Kathleen; Ni, Xijun; Tietjen, Kristen; Beard, K. Christopher (2023-12-01). "Phylogeny and paleobiogeography of the enigmatic North American primate Ekgmowechashala illuminated by new fossils from Nebraska (USA) and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (China)". Journal of Human Evolution. 185 103452. Bibcode:2023JHumE.18503452R. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103452 . ISSN   0047-2484. PMID   37935595.
9. Miller, Kristen; Tietjen, Kristen; Beard, K. Christopher (2023-01-25). "Basal Primatomorpha colonized Ellesmere Island (Arctic Canada) during the hyperthermal conditions of the early Eocene climatic optimum". PLOS ONE. 18 (1): e0280114. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1880114M. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280114 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   9876366 . PMID   36696373.
10. Jones, Matthew F.; Beard, K. Christopher (2023-09-30). "Nyctitheriidae (Mammalia, ?Eulipotyphla) from the Late Paleocene of Big Multi Quarry, Southern Wyoming, and a Revision of the Subfamily Placentidentinae" . Annals of Carnegie Museum. 88 (2): 202. Bibcode:2023AnCM...88..202J. doi:10.2992/007.088.0202. ISSN   0097-4463.
11. Beard, K. Christopher; Métais, Grégoire; Ocakoğlu, Faruk; Licht, Alexis (July 2021). "An omomyid primate from the Pontide microcontinent of north-central Anatolia: Implications for sweepstakes dispersal of terrestrial mammals during the Eocene". Geobios . 66–67: 143–152. Bibcode:2021Geobi..66..143B. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2020.06.008 . Retrieved 2 January 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
12. Jones, Matthew F.; Li, Qiang; Ni, Xijun; Beard, K. Christopher (2021-06-30). "The earliest Asian bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) address major gaps in bat evolution". Biology Letters. 17 (6): 20210185. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2021.0185. PMC   8241488 . PMID   34186001.
13. Mattingly, Spencer G.; Beard, K. Christopher; Coster, Pauline M. C.; Salem, Mustafa J.; Chaimanee, Yaowalak; Jaeger, Jean-Jacques (2021-04-01). "A new parapithecine (Primates: Anthropoidea) from the early Oligocene of Libya supports parallel evolution of large body size among parapithecids". Journal of Human Evolution. 153 102957. Bibcode:2021JHumE.15302957M. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102957 . ISSN   0047-2484. PMID   33652264.
14. Mattingly, Spencer G.; Beard, Kenneth Christopher; Coster, Pauline M.C.; Salem, Mustafa J.; Chaimanee, Yaowalak; Jaeger, Jean-Jacques (December 2020). "A new carnivoraform from the early Oligocene of Libya: Oldest known record of Carnivoramorpha in Africa". Journal of African Earth Sciences . 172 103994. Bibcode:2020JAfES.17203994M. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2020.103994 .
15. Jones, Matthew F.; Coster, Pauline M. C.; Licht, Alexis; Métais, Grégoire; Ocakoğlu, Faruk; Taylor, Michael H.; Beard, K. Christopher (2019-06-01). "A stem bat (Chiroptera: Palaeochiropterygidae) from the late middle Eocene of northern Anatolia: implications for the dispersal and palaeobiology of early bats" . Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments. 99 (2): 261–269. Bibcode:2019PdPe...99..261J. doi:10.1007/s12549-018-0338-z. ISSN   1867-1608.
16. Mattingly, Spencer G.; Sanisidro, Oscar; Beard, Kenneth Christopher (17 November 2018). "A new species of Carpolestes (Mammalia, Plesiadapoidea) from the late Paleocene of southern Wyoming: assessing changes in size and shape during the evolution of a key anatomical feature" . Historical Biology . 30 (8): 1031–1042. Bibcode:2018HBio...30.1031M. doi:10.1080/08912963.2017.1328509. ISSN   0891-2963 . Retrieved 5 January 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
17. Beard, K. Christopher; Jones, Matthew F.; Thurber, Nicholas A.; Sanisidro, Oscar (2 November 2019). "Systematics and paleobiology of Chiromyoides (Mammalia, Plesiadapidae) from the upper Paleocene of western North America and western Europe" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 39 (6): e1730389. Bibcode:2019JVPal..39E0389B. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1730389. ISSN   0272-4634 . Retrieved 4 January 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
18. Beard, Kenneth Christopher; Coster, Pauline M.C.; Salem, Mustafa J.; Chaimanee, Yaowalak; Jaeger, Jean-Jacques (January 2016). "A new species of Apidium (Anthropoidea, Parapithecidae) from the Sirt Basin, central Libya: First record of Oligocene primates from Libya". Journal of Human Evolution . 90: 29–37. Bibcode:2016JHumE..90...29B. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.08.010 . PMID   26767957.
19. Ni, Xijun; Beard, K. Christopher; Meng, Jin; Wang, Yuanqing; Gebo, Daniel L. (16 May 2007). "Discovery of the First Early Cenozoic Euprimate (Mammalia) from Inner Mongolia". American Museum Novitates (3571): 1. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2007)528[1:DOTFEC]2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0003-0082 . Retrieved 2 January 2025– via BioOne Digital Library.
20. Beard, Kenneth Christopher; Wang, Jingwen (April 2004). "The eosimiid primates (Anthropoidea) of the Heti Formation, Yuanqu Basin, Shanxi and Henan Provinces, People's Republic of China" . Journal of Human Evolution . 46 (4): 401–432. Bibcode:2004JHumE..46..401B. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.01.002. PMID   15066378 . Retrieved 14 February 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
21. Beard, Kenneth Christopher; Qi, Tao; Dawson, Mary R.; Wang, Banyue; Li, Chuankuei (14 April 1994). "A diverse new primate fauna from middle Eocene fissure-fillings in southeastern China" . Nature . 368 (6472): 604–609. Bibcode:1994Natur.368..604B. doi:10.1038/368604a0. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   8145845 . Retrieved 14 February 2025.

External links

• "K. Christopher Beard" ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, Scientific Commons
• "Fossil May Represent New Branch of Primates' Family Tree", The Washington Post, Apr 5, 1996