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Paleontology Division |
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Dr. Sankar Chatterjee, Curator of Paleontology
Paul Whitfield Horn Professor in Geosciences and Museum Science. Bachelor of Science (Geology), 1962, Jadavpur University, India. |
Dr. Chatterjee's work has focused on the origin, evolution, functional anatomy, and systematics of Mesozoic vertebrates, particularly basal archosaurs, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and birds. He has done important work on poorly known Late Triassic reptiles in India, including phytosaurs, rhynchosaurs, and prolacertiforms, but he is best known for his work on vertebrates recovered in the 1980s from the Post Quarry in the Late Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation (Dockum Group) of West Texas. This material includes the large rauisuchian Postosuchus (named for the nearby town of Post), and controversial specimens Chatterjee identified as being avian (Protoavis). The recognition of these specimens as avian pushes back the origin of birds at least 75 million years. Dr. Chatterjee continues to participate in Dockum vertebrate paleontology, and takes an active interest in the fieldwork and research being conducted by his students and other workers at Texas Tech. In recent years, his interests have focused on flying archosaurs. He has worked on the biomechanics of flight in birds and pterosaurs and cranial kinesis in birds, and has also delved into ontogenetic and evolutionary issues relating to heterochrony in birds. Dr. Chatterjee is also involved with explorations into the neuroanatomy of these archosaurs. Larger scale interests involve plate tectonics (his original specialty) and paleobiogeography. Recently, Dr. Chatterjee proposed the Shiva structure in India as an impact crater of the asteroid that caused the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction. |
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| Supervising the loading of two phytosaur skeletons in India, 1966. | With son Shuvo and Shuvosaurus. | Working in the field excavating in the Dockum. | With Dr. Lawrence Witmer and Anhanguera. |
2005 Trip to Lufeng, China. |
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| Dr. Chatterjee, Mr. Pan, and Dr. Wu in Lufeng, China. | Dr. Sankar Chatterjee with a new prosauropod. | Mr. Pan, Dr. Dong, Mr. Wang, and Dr. Chatterjee in Lufeng, China. | Dr. Chatterjee and Dr. Wu with the prosauropod. |
Selected Publications Chatterjee, S. and C. Scotese. 2007. Biogeography of the Mesozoic Lepidosaurs on the wandering Indian plate. In Paleontologia: Cenários de Vida (edited by Carvalho, I. S., Cassab, R. C. T., Schwanke, C., Carvalho, M. A., Fernandes, A. C. S., Rodrigues, M. A. C., Carvalho, M. S. S., Arai, M. and Oliveira, M. E. Q.), pp. 559-587. Editoria Interciência, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Kutty, T. S., Chatterjee, S., Galton, P. M., and Upchurch, P. 2007. Basal sauropodomorphs (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Lower Jurassic of India: their anatomy and relationships. Journal of Paleontology, 81: 1552-1574. Chatterjee, S., N. Guven, A. Yoshinobu, and R. Donofrio. 2006. Shiva Structure: a possible KT boundary impact crater on the western shelf of India. Museum of Texas Tech University Special Publications 50: 39pp. Meekangvan, P., A.A. Barhosrst, S. Chatterjee, and L. Schovanec. 2006. Nonlinear dynamical model of avian cranial kinesis. Journal of Theoretical Biology 240:32-47. Chatterjee, S. and Z. Zheng. 2005. Neuroanatomy and dentition of Camarasaurus lentus. pp. 99-211, In V. Tidwell and K. Carpenter (eds.), Thunder-lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs Indiana University Press, Bloomington. Lehman, T. M. and S. Chatterjee. 2005. Depositional setting and vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Triassic Dockum Group of Texas. Journal of Earth System Science 114 (3):325-351. Chatterjee, S. and R.J. Templin. 2004. Feathered coelurosaurs from China: new light on the arboreal origin of avian flight, pp. 251-281. In Feathered Dragons: Studies on the Transition from Dinosaurs to Birds (P. J. Currie, E. B. Koppelhus, M. A. Shugar, and J. L. Wright (eds.). Indiana University Press, Bloomington. Chatterjee, S. and R.J. Templin. 2004. Posture, Locomotion, and Paleoecology of Pterosaurs. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 376: 1-64. Witmer, L. M., Chatterjee, S., Franzosa, J., and Rowe, T. 2003. Neuroanatomy of flying reptiles: implications for flight, posture, and behavior patterns. Nature, 425: 950-953. Chatterjee, S. and Templin, R. J. 2003. The flight of Archaeopteryx. Naturwissenschaften, 90: 26-31. Stahl, B.J. and S. Chatterjee. 2003. A Late Cretaceous callorhynchid (Chondrichthyes, Holocephali) from Seymour Island, Antarctica. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22: 848-850. Chatterjee, S. and R.J. Templin. 2002. The flight of Archaeopteryx. Naturwissenschaften, 90: 26-31. Chatterjee, S. 2002. The morphology and systematics of Polarornis, a Cretaceous loon (Aves: Gaviidae) from Antarctica. Proceedings of the 5th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution (Eds. Z. Zhou and F. Zhang), Science Press, Beijing, pp. 125-155. Chatterjee, S., and Z. Zheng. 2002. Cranial anatomy of Shunosaurus, a basal sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of China. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 136: 145-169. Chatterjee, S., and C.R. Scotese. 2002. Evolution of Biogeography of the Indian plate since the Cretaceous. GSA Abstracts with programs, 34(6): 315. Witmer, L.M., S. Chatterjee, T. Rowe and J. Franzosa. 2002. Anatomy of the brain and vestibular apparatus in two pterosaurs: implications for flight, head posture, and behavior. Abstract, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22(3): 120A-121A. Chatterjee, S. and C.R. Scotese. 1999. The breakup of Gondwana and the evolution and biogeography of the Indian plate. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy, 65A: 397-425. Chatterjee, S. 1997. Multiple impacts at the KT boundary and the death of the dinosaurs. Proceedings of the 30th International Geological Congress 26: 31-54. Chatterjee, S. 1997. The Rise of Birds. Johns Hopkins University Presss, Baltimore, 312p. Chatterjee, S. 1991. Cranial anatomy and relationships of a new Triassic bird from Texas. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B 332: 277-342. |