Christiane Denys

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Christiane Denys (born April 14, 1958 in Arras , France ) is a French mammal logon and paleontologist . Her research focus is on the African small mammals .

Life

In 1978 Denys obtained her license in geology . Her research then focused on fossil rodents of the Pliocene and Pleistocene , which were discovered in hominid sites in East and South Africa. In 1983 she received her dissertation Les rongeurs du Pliocène de Laetoli (Tanzanie): Evolution, paleoecologie et paleobiogeographie. Approche qualitative et quantitative. for Ph.D. PhD in paleontology . From 1989 to 1996 she was a research assistant at the Center national de la recherche scientifique . In 1990 she completed her habilitation on the subject of Implications paleoécologiques et paleobiogeographiques de l'étude de rongeurs plio-pléistocènes d'Afrique orientale et australe. In December 1996 she became a lecturer at the Laboratory for Mammals and Birds of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle . From September 1998 to December 2002 she was head of the laboratory for mammals and birds. In 1999 she became editor-in-chief of the mammalian journal Mammalia . Since December 2004 she has been curator for rodents in the mammal department of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Since 2006 she has been a professor at the Department of Systematics and Evolution at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.

Denys' research covers the systematics and evolution of African tropical rodents (especially from the Maghreb and tropical regions) with a special interest in species of the multi-teat mice , African soft rats and spiny mice , the combination of morphometric , cytogenetic and molecular methods (integrative taxonomy), the taxonomic identification of small mammals, the evolution of rodents on the islands of Equatorial Guinea , phylogenetic reconstructions of the African mouse distribution and comparison with paleontological data, the taphonomy and paleoecology of small mammals on the Plio / Pleistocene border, and the evolution of African small mammals. Since 2003 she has been studying the biodiversity of mammals in West Africa and the mountains of Cameroon .

In 1992, together with Jean-Jacques Jaeger , Denys described the fossil rodent species Paraphiomys shipmani from the Miocene . In 2002, she was one of the Erstbeschreibern of fossil ape species Sahelanthropus from Chad. In 2003 she described Petter's soft-haired mouse ( Praomys petteri ) together with Erik van der Straeten and Emilie Lecompte . In 2015 she published the book Rodents of Sub-Saharan Africa: A biogeographic and taxonomic synthesis together with Ara Monadjem , Peter J. Taylor and Fenton PD Cotterill . In 2017 she was involved in the chapter on old world mice (Muridae) in the seventh volume of the Handbook of the Mammals of the World , alongside Peter J. Taylor and Ken Aplin .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. Denys, JJ Jaeger: Rodents of the Miocene site Fort Ternan (Kenya), first part: phiomyids, bathyergids, sciurids and anomalurids. New Yearbook for Geology and Paleontology, Essays No. 185, 1992, pp. 63–84.
  2. ^ Michel Brunet et al .: A new hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad, Central Africa. In: Nature . Volume 418, 2002, pp. 145-151, doi : 10.1038 / nature00879
  3. ^ E. van der Straeten, C. Denys, E. Lecompte: Praomys petteri: une nouvelle espèce des Muridae africains (Mammalia, Rodentia). Bonn Zoological Contributions 50 (4), 2003, pp. 329-345.
personal data
SURNAME Denys, Christiane
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French mammal login and paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Arras , France