Michael Woodburne

Last updated

Michael Osgood Woodburne (born 1937) is an American geologist currently Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. [1] [2] [3]

Woodburne earned B.S. and Master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. [3]

Woodburne undertook a major career of collecting and studying Neogene fossil mammals from Australia, North America, South America, and Europe. Perhaps his most memorable discovery was the first fossil land mammal from the Eocene of Seymour Island of the Antarctic Peninsula (Woodburne and Zinsmeister, 1982 (Science 218, pp. 284-286). This and subsequent work by him and Argentine colleagues demonstrated the strong Eocene mammal continuity between the Antarctic Peninsula and mainland South America on the one hand, and the faunal separation at that time between the Antarctic Peninsula and Australia on the other.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cenozoic</span> Third era of the Phanerozoic Eon

The Cenozoic is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66 million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds, and angiosperms. It is the latest of three geological eras, preceded by the Mesozoic and Paleozoic. The Cenozoic started with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, when many species, including the non-avian dinosaurs, became extinct in an event attributed by most experts to the impact of a large asteroid or other celestial body, the Chicxulub impactor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eocene</span> Second epoch of the Paleogene Period

The Eocene is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς and καινός and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch.

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from the Ancient Greek ὀλίγος and καινός, and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gondwanatheria</span> Extinct group of Mammaliaformes that lived during the Upper Cretaceous through the Miocene

Gondwanatheria is an extinct group of mammaliaforms that lived in parts of Gondwana, including Madagascar, India, South America, Africa and Antarctica during the Upper Cretaceous through the Paleogene. Until recently, they were known only from fragmentary remains. They are generally considered to be closely related to the multituberculates and likely the euharamiyidians, well known from the Northern Hemisphere, with which they form the clade Allotheria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metatheria</span> Clade of marsupials and close relatives

Metatheria is a mammalian clade that includes all mammals more closely related to marsupials than to placentals. First proposed by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1880, it is a more inclusive group than the marsupials; it contains all marsupials as well as many extinct non-marsupial relatives. It is one of two groups placed in the clade Theria alongside Eutheria, which contains the placentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctic Peninsula</span> Peninsula located in northern Antarctica

The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica.

Victorlemoinea is an extinct litoptern genus of the family Sparnotheriodontidae, that lived from the Early to Middle Eocene. Fossils of Victorlemoinea have been found in the Las Flores, Sarmiento and Koluel Kaike Formations of Argentina, the Itaboraí Formation of Brazil and La Meseta Formation, Antarctica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seymour Island</span> Island in Antarctica

Seymour Island or Marambio Island, is an island in the chain of 16 major islands around the tip of the Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula. Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. It lies within the section of the island chain that resides off the west side of the peninsula's northernmost tip. Within that section, it is separated from Snow Hill Island by Picnic Passage, and sits just east of the larger key, James Ross Island, and its smaller, neighboring island, Vega Island.

Tingamarra is a species of early placenta bearing mammal.

In paleontology, biochronology is the correlation in time of biological events using fossils. In its strict sense, it refers to the use of assemblages of fossils that are not tied to stratigraphic sections. Collections of land mammal ages have been defined for every continent except Antarctica, and most are correlated with each other indirectly through known evolutionary lineages. A combination of argon–argon dating and magnetic stratigraphy allows a direct temporal comparison of terrestrial events with climate variations and mass extinctions.

The natural history of New Zealand began when the landmass Zealandia broke away from the supercontinent Gondwana in the Cretaceous period. Before this time, Zealandia shared its past with Australia and Antarctica. Since this separation, the New Zealand landscape has evolved in physical isolation, although much of its current biota has more recent connections with species on other landmasses. The exclusively natural history of the country ended in about 1300 AD, when humans first settled, and the country's environmental history began. The period from 1300 AD to today coincides with the extinction of many of New Zealand's unique species that had evolved there.

The Divisaderan age is a South American land mammal age, covering a period of geologic time within the Middle and Late Eocene epochs of the Paleogene. It follows the Mustersan age and is followed by the Tinguirirican age.

Appearance event ordination or AEO is a scientific method for biochronology through the ordering of the appearance of fossil mammal genera by multivariate analysis, using conjunctional (overlapping) and disconjunctional (nonoverlapping) range distributions in large sets of data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Meseta Formation</span>

The La Meseta Formation is a sedimentary sequence deposited during the Eocene on Seymour Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. It is noted for its fossils, which include both marine organisms and the only terrestrial vertebrate fossils from the Cenozoic of Antarctica.

Cocatherium is an extinct genus of marsupial mammals of uncertain family placement, from the earliest Paleocene of South America, predating the Tiupampan South American land mammal age. The genus was described based on a fossil molar that was found in the Danian part of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Lefipán Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin in north-central Patagonia, Argentina. The type species of the genus is C. lefipanum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Itaboraí Formation</span> Geologic formation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Itaboraí Formation is a highly fossiliferous geologic formation and Lagerstätte of the Itaboraí Basin in Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. The formation reaching a thickness of 100 metres (330 ft) is the defining unit for the Itaboraian South American land mammal age (SALMA), dating to the Early Eocene, approximately 53 to 50 Ma.

Woodburnodon is an extinct genus of microbiotherian marsupial whose fossils have been found on Seymour Island, Antarctica. It lived during the Eocene epoch.

Sparnotheriodontidae is an enigmatic extinct family of litopterns known primarily from teeth. Sparnotheriodontids are one of two South American native ungulate clades known to have reached Antarctica, the other being astrapotheres.

Shecenia is an extinct genus of mammal, probably belonging to the order Astrapotheria. It lived between the Late Paleocene and the Early Eocene, and its fossilized remains were found in South America.

<i>Anisolambda</i> Extinct genus of litopterns

Anisolambda is an extinct genus of litoptern. It lived from the Late Paleocene to the Middle Eocene in what is now Argentina.

References

  1. "Michael O. Woodburne". aaas.org. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  2. "Michael O. Woodburne". amnh.org. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Michael O. Woodburne". Paleo Electronica. Retrieved 20 December 2019.