Our Upcoming Speaker
Note: Since October 2022, we have returned to in-person meetings at the Birmingham Zoo using a hybrid Zoom-In Person format with the in-person meeting at the Lodge at the Birmingham Zoo

Title: "Late Cretaceous mosasaurs, turtles, crocodilians, and plesiosaurs from the Alabama Museum of Natural History collection"

​​​

Speaker: Adiel Klompmaker, PhD, Curator of Paleontology, Alabama Museum of Natural History

​​

Abstract:

Alabama has an extensive Late Cretaceous fossil record, primarily found in the central part of Alabama. Extensive collecting by staff of the Alabama Museum of Natural History (ALMNH) and avocational paleontologists over the last century has resulted in a large collection of marine tetrapods.

There are well over 1,000 mosasaur records in the ALMNH collection, making it one of the largest mosasaur collections in the world. This collection includes adult and juvenile specimens, represented by individual bones and teeth to near complete specimens. Turtles are also well-represented by ~550 records, again consisting of individual bones to individuals with most bones present. Plesiosaurs and Crocodilia are represented by ~40 records each. Most material originates from the lower Campanian Mooreville Chalk Formation, in part because the University of Alabama owns the Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Dallas County.

This presentation will give an overview of the most spectacular specimens of these four groups. Furthermore, a part of the more recent finds from Harrell Station will be highlighted, some of which were found by APS members.

About the Speaker: 

At a young age, Adiel had the great pleasure of finding fossil plants and marine invertebrates close to his parents’ house. His passion for paleontology led to a master’s degree (Utrecht University), a PhD (Kent State University), and a couple of postdoctoral positions (University of Florida and UC Berkeley). Although he enjoys vertebrates and plants as well, he is primarily an invertebrate paleontologist. His research focuses mainly on biotic interactions among marine animals, but he also studies many aspects of the fossil record of crustaceans. Thus far, he has published ~75 scientific articles and supervised research of >15 students. Currently, he serves as an associate editor for the journal Paleobiology and as an associate guest editor for the Journal of Paleontology. Furthermore, he takes care of and enhances the UA Museums (ALMNH) paleontology collection. He also teaches a class (Paleontology & Society), is involved in various outreach activities (#FossilFriday posts on social media, Alabama’s National Fossil Day, etc.), helps the ALMNH staff with fossil exhibits, and manages the Harrell Station Paleontological Site.

.

​

​

​