David Dilkes
Associate Professor

• Course Web Sites

  • Human Anatomy 211
    Comparative Anatomy 308/508

• Contact Information

• • Department of Biology and Microbiology
    800 Algoma Boulevard
    University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
    Oshkosh WI, 54901
  • Office: HS-158
    Phone: 920-424-3074
    Fax: 920-424-1101
    Email: dilkes@uwosh.edu

• Education

• Ph.D., 1993, University of Toronto (Zoology with primary research in vertebrate paleontology)
• M.Sc., 1986, University of Toronto (Zoology with primary research in vertebrate paleontology)
• B.Sc., 1984, University of Toronto (Zoology)

• Academic Appointments

• • 2009 - Associate Professor of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, WI
  • 2003- 2009 Assistant Professor of Anatomy, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, WI
  • 1999-2003 Lecturer and Faculty Advisor, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario Canada

• Research Appointments

• • 1997-1999 Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Palaeobiology, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario Canada and Biology Department, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Canada
  • 1994-1997 Postdoctoral Researcher and Research Associate, Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec Canada
  • 1993-1994 Postdoctoral Researcher, Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

• Courses Taught at UWO

• • BIO 211 Human Anatomy
  • BIO 308 Comparative Anatomy
  • BIO 446 Independent Study
  • BIO 766 Advanced Topics in Biology

• Research Interests

• I am a vertebrate paleontologist which means that I study the fossilized remains of animals with a backbone. My special area of interest is the paleobiology and phylogenetic relationships of early amphibians and amniotes (i.e. vertebrates that lay an amniotic egg for the developing embryo) during a time period of between 345 and 205 million years ago. During this period, the first terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods) appeared and diversified. While my primary research interests deal with very early amphibians and amniotes, I have also studied dinosaurs. A long awaited publication in the new edition of The Complete Dinosaur from Indiana University Press is finally nearing print.
• 
  My research has focused upon the two main lineages of amniotes: Reptilia and Synapsida. In the first group, I have described early reptiles from Oklahoma and South Africa and am currently involved in a project on hadrosaurian dinosaurs to document their anatomical diversity, investigate ontogenetic growth, biogeography, functional morphology and phylogenetic relationships. The other main group of amniotes, Synapsida, consists of mammals and their extinct relatives along a lineage that goes back at least 325 million years. I have collaborated with Professor Robert Reisz of the University of Toronto to describe the anatomy, analyze functional morphology, and determine phylogenetic relationships of early extinct members of this group from Kansas.
• 
  One particularly extraordinary period during the history of vertebrates was between 227 and 205 million years ago. Many, often bizarre, vertebrates evolved to inhabit the land, water and air. With the recent completion of a project on a unusual armored reptile from Virginia, I am working with a colleague Dr. Andrea Arcucci from Argentina on a new study of the uniquely South American Triassic reptiles called Proterochampsia and a phylogenetic study of archosauromorph reptiles. Our project on Proterochampsia has been accepted for publication.
• 
  While much of my research is currently concentrating on amniotes, I have not lost interest in early amphibians, especially those from approximately 290 million years ago that include some species well adapted to a terrestrial lifestyle and possibly included some distant relatives of modern amphibians. I am continuing my studies of the morphology and mechanics of the vertebrae and osteoderms of dissorophid amphibians, and a project on the morphology and evolution of the wrist and ankle morphology of early amphibians.  These studies will hopefully provide a clearer insight into the location of early amphibians on land.

• Recent Publications

• • Dilkes, D.W. and A. Arcucci. 2012. Proterochampsa barrionuevoi (Archosauriformes: Proterochampsia) from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of Argentina and a phylogenetic analysis of Proterochampsia. Palaeontology, 55:853-885.
  • Dilkes, D.W., Hutchinson, J.R., Holliday, C.M., and Witmer, L.M. 2012. Reconstructing the Musculature of Dinosaurs. The Complete Dinosaur (2nd edition). M.K. Brett-Surman. T.R. Holtz, Jr. and and J. Farlow (eds.), Indiana University Press, pages 151-190.
  • Dilkes, D.W. 2009. Comparison and biomechanical interpretations of the vertebrae and osteoderms of Cacops aspidephorus and Dissorophus multicinctus (Temnospondyli, Dissorophidae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29:1013-1021.
  • Dilkes, D. and H.-D. Sues. 2009. Redescription and phylogenetic relationships of Doswellia kaltenbachii (Diapsida: Archosauromorpha) from the Uppr Triassic of Virginia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2:58-79.
  • Dilkes, D. and L.E. Brown. 2007. Biomechanics of the vertebrae and associated osteoderms of the Early Permian amphibian Cacops aspidephorus. Journal of Zoology, 271: 396-407.
  • Reisz, R. and D. W. Dilkes. 2003. Archaeovenator hamiltonensis, a new varanopid (Eupelycosauria: Synapsida) from the Upper Carboniferous of Kansas. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 40: 667-678.
  • Kissel, R. A., Dilkes, D. W., and Reisz, R. R. 2002. Captorhinus magnus, a new captorhinid (Amniota: Eureptilia) from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma, with new evidence on the homology of the astragalus. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 39:1363-1372.
  • Dilkes, D.W. 2001. An ontogenetic perspective on locomotion in the Late Cretaceous dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 38:1205-1227.
  • Dilkes, D. W. 2000. Appendicular myology of the hadrosaurian dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Montana. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 90:87-125.
  • Reisz, R. R., D. W. Dilkes, and D. S Berman. 1998. Anatomy and relationships of Elliotsmithia longiceps Broom, a small varanopseid (Eupelycosauria: Varanopseidae) from the Late Permian of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 18:602-611.
  • Dilkes, D. W. 1998. The Early Triassic rhynchosaur Mesosuchus browni and the interrelationships of basal archosauromorph reptiles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 353:501-541.
  • Dilkes, D. W. and R. R. Reisz. 1996. First record of a basal synapsid ('mammal-like reptile') in Gondwana. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 263:1165-1170.
  • Dilkes, D. W. 1995. The rhynchosaur Howesia browni from the Early Triassic of South Africa. Palaeontology, 38:665-685.
  • Carpenter, C., D. Dilkes, and D. B. Weishampel. 1995. The dinosaurs of the Niobrara Chalk Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Kansas). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 15:275-297.

  For more information contact me
  last updated: August 22, 2012