Michael J. Benton

Michael J. Benton is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. His published work has mostly concentrated on the evolution of Triassic reptiles but he has also worked on extinction events and faunal changes in the fossil record.

He is the author of several palaeontology text books (e.g. Vertebrate Palaeontology) and children's books. He has also advised on many media productions including BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs.

Research Interests

 * Diversification of life
 * Quality of the fossil record
 * Shapes of phylogenies
 * Age-clade congruence
 * Mass extinctions
 * Triassic ecosystem evolution
 * Basal diapsid phylogeny
 * Basal archosaurs
 * The origin of the dinosaurs

Journal Publications
Benton, M. J. and Emerson, B. C. 2007. How did life become so diverse? The dynamics of diversification according to the fossil record and molecular phylogenetics. Palaeontology 50: 23-40.

Books
2005 Mesozoic and Tertiary fossil mammals and birds of Great Britain by M. J. Benton, L. Cook, D. Schreve, A Currant, and J. J. Hooker Mesozoic and Tertiary fossil mammals and birds of Great Britain by M. J. Benton, L. Cook, D. Schreve, A Currant, and J. J. Hooker Vertebrate palaeontology (Third edition) by M. J. Benton

2003 When life nearly died: the greatest mass extinction of all time by M. J. Benton

2002 Permian and Triassic red beds and the Penarth Group of Great Britain by M. J. Benton, E. Cook, and P. J. Turner

2000 The age of dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, edited by M. J. Benton, D. M. Unwin, M. A. Shishkin, and E. N. Kurochkin Walking with dinosaurs: the facts by M. J. Benton

1997 Basic palaeontology by M. J. Benton and D. A. T. Harper Vertebrate palaeontology (Second edition) by M. J. Benton

1996 The Penguin historical atlas of the dinosaurs by M. J. Benton The Viking atlas of evolution by R. Osborne and M. J. Benton

1995 Fossil reptiles of Great Britain by M. J. Benton and P. S. Spencer

1993 The fossil record 2 edited by M. J. Benton

1991 The rise of the mammals by M. J. Benton The reign of the reptiles by M. J. Benton

1990 On the trail of the dinosaurs by M. J. Benton Vertebrate palaeontology by M. J. Benton

1989 Prehistoric Animals by M. J. Benton

1988 The phylogeny and classification of the tetrapods, Volumes 1 and 2 edited by M. J. Benton