Michael Benton

Michael Benton OBE FRS FRSE
Benton in 2014
Born	Michael James Benton (1956-04-08) 8 April 1956 (age 68) [1] Scotland
Nationality	British
Education	Robert Gordon's College
Alma mater	University of Aberdeen (BSc) [1] Newcastle University (PhD)
Known for	Bentonyx
Awards	Lyell Medal (2005) Lapworth Medal (2024)
Scientific career
Fields	Palaeobiology Palaeontology Macroevolution [2]
Institutions	University of Bristol
Thesis	The Triassic reptile Hyperodapedon from Elgin, functional morphology and relationships  (1981)
Website	www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/people/mike-j-benton

Michael James Benton (born 8 April 1956 ^[1] ) is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. ^{[3] [4] [5]} His published work has mostly concentrated on the evolution of Triassic reptiles but he has also worked on extinction events and faunal changes in the fossil record. ^{[2] [6] [7]}

Education

Benton was educated at Robert Gordon's College, ^{[ citation needed ]} the University of Aberdeen ^[1] and Newcastle University where he was awarded a PhD in 1981. ^{[8] [9]}

Research and career

Benton's research investigates palaeobiology, palaeontology, and macroevolution. ^{[2] [10] [11]} His research interests include: diversification of life, quality of the fossil record, shapes of phylogenies, age-clade congruence, mass extinctions, ^[12] Triassic ecosystem evolution, basal diapsid phylogeny, basal archosaurs, and the origin of the dinosaurs. He has made fundamental contributions to understanding the history of life, particularly concerning how biodiversity changes through time. ^[13] He has led in integrating data from living and fossil organisms to generate phylogenies – solutions to the question of how major groups originated and diversified through time. ^[13] This approach has revolutionised the understanding of major questions, including the relative roles of internal and external drivers on the history of life, whether diversity reaches saturation, the significance of mass extinctions, and how major clades radiate. ^[13] A key theme is the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the largest mass extinction of all time, which took place over 250 million years ago, where he investigates how life was able to recover from such a devastating event. ^[13]

Benton is the author of several palaeontology text books (e.g. Vertebrate Palaeontology ) and children's books on the theme of dinosaurs. ^[14] His work has been published in a variety of journals. ^{[2] [15] [16] [17] [18]} Benton has also advised on many media productions including BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs and was a programme consultant for Paleoworld on Discovery Science. He also contributed to the 2002 BBC programme The Day The Earth Nearly Died , which featured scientists and dealt with the mysteries of the Permian extinction.

In December 2010, Benton had a rhynchosaur ( Bentonyx ) named in his honour. ^[19]

Benton founded the Master of Science degree programme in Palaeobiology at Bristol in 1996, from which more than 300 students have graduated. ^[13] He has supervised more than 50 PhD students. ^[13]

As the Initiator of the Bristol Dinosaur Project Benton was also involved with creating and designing the website for the project. ^[20]

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

Year	Taxon	Authors
2023	Chusaurus xiangensis gen. et sp. nov.	Liu, Cheng, Stubbs, Moon, Benton, Yan, & Tian [21]
2022	Guangyuanolimulus shangsiensis gen. et sp. nov.	Hu, Feldmann, Schweitzer, Benton, Huang, Wen, Min, Zhang, Zhou, & Ma [22]
2022	Parvodus huizodus sp. nov.	Wen, Kriwet, Zhang, Benton, Duffin, Huang, Zhou, Hu, & Ma [23]
2021	Microsphenodon bonapartei gen. et sp. nov.	Chambi-Trowell, Martinelli, Whiteside, Vivar, Soares, Schultz, Gill, Benton, & Rayfield [24]
2020	Feralisaurus corami gen. et sp. nov.	Cavicchini, Zaher, & Benton [25]
2019	Aenigmaspina pantyffynnonensis gen. et sp. nov.	Patrick, Whiteside, & Benton [26]
2014	Camarillasaurus cirugedae gen. et sp. nov.	Sánchez-Hernández & Benton [27]
2013	Luopingcoelacanthus eurylacrimalis gen. et sp. nov.	Wen, Zhang, Hu, Benton, Zhou, Tao, Huang, & Chen [28]
2013	Yunnancoelacanthus acrotuberculatus gen. et sp. nov.	Wen, Zhang, Hu, Benton, Zhou, Tao, Huang, & Chen [28]
2011	Goniopholis kiplingi sp. nov.	De Andrade, Edmonds, Benton, & Schouten [29]
1999	Saturnalia tupiniquim gen. et sp. nov.	Langer, Abdala, Richter, & Benton [30]

Publications

• Dinosaurs an A-Z Guide (1988, Kingfisher) ISBN   978-0862723859
• The phylogeny and classification of the tetrapods (1998, ed. Volumes 1 and 2)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• Prehistoric Animals (1989, Kingfisher) ISBN   978-0862724580
• Vertebrate Palaeontology (4th edition, 2014, Wiley-Blackwell) ISBN   978-1118407554
• On the trail of the dinosaur (1989, Quarto Publishing) ISBN   0-517-67976-0
• The reign of the reptiles (1991)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• The rise of the mammals (1991)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• The fossil record 2 (1993, ed.)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• Dinosaur and Other Prehistoric Animal Fact Finder (1993)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• Fossil reptiles of Great Britain (1995, with P. S. Spencer)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• The Viking atlas of evolution (1997, with R. Osborne)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• The Penguin historical atlas of the dinosaurs (1997)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• Basic Palaeontology (1997, with D. A. T. Harper) ISBN   0-582-22857-3
• Walking with dinosaurs: the facts (2000) ISBN   0-563-53744-2
• The age of dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia (2000, ed., with D. M. Unwin, M. A. Shishkin and E. N. Kurochkin)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• Permian and Triassic red beds and the Penarth Group of Great Britain (2002, with E. Cook and P. J. Turner)^{[ ISBN missing ]}
• When life nearly died: the greatest mass extinction of all time (1st edition, 2003; 2nd edition, 2008) ^[31]
• Mesozoic and Tertiary fossil mammals and birds of Great Britain (2005, with L. Cook, D. Schreve, A Currant, and J. J. Hooker) ISBN   9781861074805
• Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record (2009, with David A.T Harper) ISBN   9781405141574
• The first four billion years Benton, Michael J. (2009). "Paleontology and the History of Life" . In Michael Ruse; Joseph Travis (eds.). Evolution: The First Four Billion Years. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp.  80–104. ISBN   978-0-674-03175-3.
• The Dinosaurs Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution is Rewriting History, (2019) ISBN   978-0500052006
• Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World (2021) ISBN   9780500052198
• Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves (2023) ISBN   9780500025468
• Dinosaur Behavior: An Illustrated Guide (2023) ISBN   9780691244297

Honours and awards

Benton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2014 for "substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge" ^[13] and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).^{[ when? ]}

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to palaeontology and community engagement. ^[32]

In 2024 he was awarded the Lapworth Medal from the Palaeontological Association. ^[33]

References

1. Anon (2015). "Benton, Prof. Michael James" . Who's Who (online Oxford University Press  ed.). A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U43387.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. Michael Benton publications indexed by Google Scholar
3. Liz Loeffler. "People: Earth Sciences: University of Bristol". bris.ac.uk.
4. Official website
5. "Professor Mike Benton – School of Earth Sciences". Bristol.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
6. Benton, M. J. (2009). "The Red Queen and the Court Jester: Species diversity and the role of biotic and abiotic factors through time". Science. 323 (5915): 728–32. Bibcode:2009Sci...323..728B. doi:10.1126/science.1157719. PMID   19197051. S2CID   206512702.
7. Lloyd, G. T.; Davis, K. E.; Pisani, D.; Tarver, J. E.; Ruta, M.; Sakamoto, M.; Hone, D. W. E.; Jennings, R.; Benton, M. J. (2008). "Dinosaurs and the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 275 (1650): 2483–90. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0715. PMC   2603200 . PMID   18647715.
8. Benton, Michael James (1981). The Triassic reptile Hyperodapedon from Elgin, functional morphology and relationships. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Newcastle upon Tyne. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.238091.
9. Benton, Michael James (1983). "The Triassic Reptile Hyperodapedon from Elgin: Functional Morphology and Relationships". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 302 (1112): 605–718. Bibcode:1983RSPTB.302..605B. doi:10.1098/rstb.1983.0079. ISSN   0962-8436.
10. Benton, M. J.; Emerson, B. C. (2007). "How Did Life Become So Diverse? The Dynamics of Diversification According to the Fossil Record and Molecular Phylogenetics". Palaeontology. 50 (1): 23–40. Bibcode:2007Palgy..50...23B. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00612.x.
11. Benton, M. J.; Donoghue, P. C. J. (2006). "Paleontological Evidence to Date the Tree of Life". Molecular Biology and Evolution . 24 (1): 26–53. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msl150 . PMID   17047029.
12. World Archipelago. "Macmillan". macmillan.com.
13. Anon (2014). "Professor Michael Benton FRS". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

    "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” --Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-11-11)

14. "Thames & Hudson Publishers – Essential illustrated art books – Michael J. Benton". thamesandhudson.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010.
15. Sahney, S.; Benton, Michael James; Falcon-Lang, H. J. (2010). "Rainforest collapse triggered Carboniferous tetrapod diversification in Euramerica". Geology. 38 (12): 1079–1082. Bibcode:2010Geo....38.1079S. doi:10.1130/G31182.1.
16. Sahney, S.; Benton, M. J.; Ferry, P. A. (2010). "Links between global taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity and the expansion of vertebrates on land". Biology Letters . 6 (4): 544–7. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.1024. PMC   2936204 . PMID   20106856.
17. Sahney, S.; Benton, Michael James (2008). "Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 275 (1636): 759–65. doi:10.1098/rspb.2007.1370. PMC   2596898 . PMID   18198148.
18. "Search". Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
19. "Bristol University – Alumni and friends – 2011: Introducing Bentonyx". bristol.ac.uk. 15 January 2024.
20. "The Bristol Dinosaur Project - Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol". 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
21. Liu, Qi-Ling; Cheng, Long; Stubbs, Thomas L.; Moon, Benjamin C.; Benton, Michael James; Yan, Chun-Bo; Tian, Li (31 August 2023). "Rapid neck elongation in Sauropterygia (Reptilia: Diapsida) revealed by a new basal pachypleurosaur from the Lower Triassic of China". BMC Ecology and Evolution . 23 (1): 44. doi: 10.1186/s12862-023-02150-w . ISSN   2730-7182. PMC   10469986 . PMID   37648992.
22. Hu, Shixue; Feldmann, Rodney M.; Schweitzer, Carrie E.; Benton, Michael James; Huang, Jinyuan; Wen, Wen; Min, Xiao; Zhang, Qiyue; Zhou, Changyong; Ma, Zhixin (15 September 2022). "A new horseshoe crab from the Permian-Triassic transition of South China: Xiphosurids as key components of post-extinction trophic webs". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology . 602: 111178. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111178 . Retrieved 28 March 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
23. Wen, Wen; Kriwet, Jürgen; Zhang, Qiyue; Benton, Michael James; Duffin, Christopher J.; Huang, Jingyuan; Zhou, Changyong; Hu, Shixue; Ma, Zhixin (30 June 2022). "Hybodontiform shark remains (Chondrichthyes, Elasmobranchii) from the Lower Triassic of Yunnan Province, China, with comments on hybodontiform diversity across the PTB". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 42 (1). doi:10.1080/02724634.2022.2108712. ISSN   0272-4634 . Retrieved 26 March 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
24. Chambi-Trowell, Sofia A. V.; Martinelli, Agustín G.; Whiteside, David I.; Vivar, Paulo R. Romo de; Soares, Marina Bento; Schultz, Cesar L.; Gill, Pamela G.; Benton, Michael James; Rayfield, Emily J. (3 June 2021). "The diversity of Triassic South American sphenodontians: a new basal form, clevosaurs, and a revision of rhynchocephalian phylogeny". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 19 (11): 787–820. doi:10.1080/14772019.2021.1976292. hdl: 1983/af14affc-a26e-426b-83ca-e1833e355882 . ISSN   1477-2019 . Retrieved 3 April 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
25. Cavicchini, Iacopo; Zaher, Marta; Benton, Michael James (3 May 2020). "An Enigmatic Neodiapsid Reptile from the Middle Triassic of England". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 40 (3). doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1781143. ISSN   0272-4634 . Retrieved 6 April 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
26. Patrick, Erin L.; Whiteside, David I.; Benton, Michael James (4 May 2019). "A new crurotarsan archosaur from the Late Triassic of South Wales". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 39 (3): e1645147. Bibcode:2019JVPal..39E5147P. doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1645147. ISSN   0272-4634 . Retrieved 24 March 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
27. Sánchez-Hernández, Bárbara; Benton, Michael James (2014). "Filling the ceratosaur gap: A new ceratosaurian theropod from the Early Cretaceous of Spain". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . doi: 10.4202/app.2011.0144 . Retrieved 27 March 2025.
28. Wen, Wen; Zhang, Qi-Yue; Hu, Shi-Xue; Benton, Michael James; Zhou, Chang-Yong; Tao, Xie; Huang, Jin-Yuan; Chen, Zhong-Qiang (2013). "Coelacanths from the Middle Triassic Luoping Biota, Yunnan, South China, with the earliest evidence of ovoviviparity". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica . doi: 10.4202/app.2011.0066 . Retrieved 25 March 2025.
29. De Andrade, Marco Brandalise; Edmonds, Richard; Benton, Michael James; Schouten, Remmert (December 2011). "A new Berriasian species of Goniopholis (Mesoeucrocodylia, Neosuchia) from England, and a review of the genus: NEW GONIOPHOLIS FROM ENGLAND". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 163: S66 –S108. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00709.x . Retrieved 23 March 2025– via Oxford Academic.
30. Langer, Max C.; Abdala, Fernando; Richter, Martha; Benton, Michael James (15 October 1999). "A sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Upper Triassic (Carman) of southern Brazil". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science. 329 (7): 511–517. Bibcode:1999CRASE.329..511L. doi:10.1016/S1251-8050(00)80025-7 . Retrieved 23 March 2025– via Elsevier Science Direct.
31. Bowler, P. J. (2003). "Suffocated or shot?". Nature. 423 (6938): 384. Bibcode:2003Natur.423..384B. doi: 10.1038/423384a . Review of When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time
32. "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B11.
33. "Medal and Award Winners List | The Palaeontological Association". www.palass.org. Retrieved 26 March 2025.

 This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.