Paleontology Division

Bill Mueller, Museum Collections Photographer; Paleontology Division, Collections Manager

Bachelor of Science (Geology), 1977, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX.

Master of Science (Geology) 1984, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX.

Consulting Petroleum Geologist, 1980 - present.

Museum Collections Photographer, Texas Tech University, 1999 - present.

Ph. D. Graduate Student, Geosciences, Texas Tech University.

Collections Manager, Paleontology Division, MOTTU, 2005 - present

Bill's interest in paleontology has always been varied. Starting when he was seven years old, he amassed an extensive invertebrate collection until about eight years ago, when he started disseminating his collection to various educational institutions. Bill's first serious involvement with vertebrate paleontology was during one spring when he was able to participate in an excavation of titanotheres with Dr. Wann Langston, U.T., in Big Bend National Park. He first collected Triassic vertebrates in Garza County as an under-graduate, and has been collecting from the Dockum ever since. Bill first met Dr. Sankar Chatterjee of the MOTT while on a West Texas Geological Society field trip and later participated in NOVA's filming of a program with Dr. Chatterjee at the Post Quarry.

Bill has been conducting research for the past eight years on the smaller vertebrates of the Dockum, such as the procolophonids, drepanosaurids, and trilophosaurids. He has also been researching the fauna and taphonomy of vertebrate locality MOTT VPL 3869. This research has lead to the discovery of many scientifically interesting specimens, including partial skulls of a new dicynodont, heterocoelous vertebrae, and several new taxa. Jeff Martz and Bryan Small are currently describing a new species of aetosaur from a locality Emmett Shedd and Bill excavated in 1988, that was also the source for the holotype of Libognathus sheddi Small 1997.

Selected Publications

Mueller, B.   2008.  Comments on the proposed conservation of Buettneria Case.  Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 65(3): 217.

Mueller, Bill D., Sankar Chatterjee, William Cornell, David Watkins, and Gretchen G¸rtler. 2008.  First mosasaur (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Llano Estacado of northwest Texas; pp. 115-122 in M. J. Everhart (ed.), Proceedings of the Second Mosasaur Meeting, Sternberg Museum of Natural History Special Issue 3. Fort Hays State University Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Hays.

Mueller, B. and Sankar Chatterjee   2007.  Dicynodonts (Synapsida: Therapsida) from the Late Triassic Dockum Group of Texas.  Abstract, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(3 supplement): 121A.

Mueller, Bill D., Sankar Chatterjee, William Cornell, David Watkins, and Gretchen G¸rtler. 2007.  First mosasaur (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Llano Estacado of northwest Texas; p. 28 in M. J. Everhart (ed.), Second Mosasaur Meeting Abstract Booklet and Field Guide. Fort Hays State University Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Hays.

Mueller, B.D.  2007.  Koskinonodon Branson and Mehl, 1929, a replacement name for preoccupied temnospondyl Buettneria Case, 1922.  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27 (1): 225.

Mueller, B.D. and W. Parker.  2006.  A New Species of Trilophosaurus (Archosauromopha) from Petrified Forest National Park.  Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 62: 119-125

Houle, M.O. and B. Mueller.  2004.  A New Occurrence of Buettneria bakeri (Temnospondyli: Metoposauridae) from the Norian (Cooper Canyon Formation, Dockum Group) of West Texas.  Abstract, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(3 supplement): 73A.

Martz, J. W., B. Mueller, and B. Small.  2003.  Two new aetosaurs (Archosauria, Stagonolepididae) from the Upper Triassic of Texas and Colorado, and problems in aetosaur identification and taxonomy.  Abstract, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (3 supplement): 76A.

Mueller, B. and S. Chatterjee.  2003.  Skull anatomy of Libognathus sheddi (Parareptilia: Procolophonia) from the Upper Triassic Cooper Canyon Formation of West Texas.  Abstract, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23 (3 supplement): 80A.