Robert R. Reisz – Renaissance paleontologist

Robert R. Reisz has published some 157 papers over 40 years, mostly on Permo-Carboniferous stegocephalians (sensu Laurin; “tetrapods” in traditional usage), especially amniotes, but also on other taxa and periods, from Devonian dipnoans to Neogene primates. He has been a leader in the study of early amniote phylogeny, publishing one of the first cladograms of these taxa in 1980. His work has proposed new hypotheses about the origin of turtles, extant amphibians and therapsids. His classical work on Paleozoic synapsids provided the basis for currently accepted taxonomies. He has also tackled several major evolutionary innovations, such as the origin of herbivory among tetrapods and the use of venom in mammals. Finally, he has proposed new calibration constraints for molecular dating. He has trained a number of postdoctoral fellows, doctoral and masters’ students.