Gerald Mayr
Gerald Mayr is a German expert in paleornithology and ornithology .
Mayr received his doctorate in 1997 at the Humboldt University Berlin (" Coraciiforme " and " piciform " small birds from the Middle Eocene of the Messel pit (Hesse, Germany)) and is curator for ornithology at the Senckenberg Research Institute , where he has been since 1997.
He dealt in particular with the bird fauna of the Paleogene and is an expert on fossil birds from the Messel Pit .
His first descriptions include the extinct pseudo- toothed bird Pelagornis chilensis from Chile (with David Rubilar ), which lived on the coast of Chile in the Miocene 5 to 10 million years ago and had the largest wingspan of all fossil birds (17 feet, correspondingly over 5 m) .
He and colleagues also examined the eleventh Archeopteryx find (Thermopolis specimen) and found clear indications of a relationship to theropods (such as Deinonychosauria or Dromaeosauridae ). In addition, the find also lacked a clear bird feature that had previously been overlooked in the other specimens or was not so clearly visible: the rear toe is not pointing backwards, but rather spreading to the side.
Fonts
- Paleogene Fossil Birds, Springer Verlag 2009
- The flock of birds in front of finches and starlings: Palaeogene birds, Biology in our time, Volume 37, 2007, Issue 6, pp. 376–382.
- with Stefan Peters , Karin Böhm: Extinct and Endangered Birds in the Collections of the Research Institute and Nature Museum Senckenberg, Treatises of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society 560, 2004
Awards
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Courier Research Institute Senckenberg 205, 1998, 1-101
- ↑ Biggest fossil bird ever discovered
- ↑ Gerald Mayr, Burkhard Pohl, D. Stefan Peters: A Well-Preserved Archeopteryx Specimen with Theropod Features. In: Science. 310, 2005, No. 5753, pp. 1483-1486
- ↑ Primeval birds with dinosaur feet, Telopolis 2005
- ↑ German Ornithological Society: The Maria Koepcke Prize 2013 goes to Dr. Gerald Mayr
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Mayr, Gerald |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German ornithologist and paleontologist |
DATE OF BIRTH | 20th century |