Hilary Ketchum

Curatorial Associate, Invertebrate Paleontology

Email:

hketchumSPAMFILTER@amnh.org

Hilary coordinates and supervises the management of the invertebrate paleontology collection, which comprises over 5 million specimens from across the world.

Education

• Postgraduate Diploma, Museum Studies, University of Leicester, 2012
• Ph.D., Paleontology, University of Cambridge and Natural History Museum, London, 2007
• B.A. (Hons), Biological Sciences, University of Oxford, 2002

Research Interests

Hilary's PhD research focused on the anatomy, taxonomy and systematics of plesiosaurs, a group of marine reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. However, her career in museum collections has involved learning about a wide variety of different groups, including extant bivalves and gastropods, Pleistocene ('ice-age') mammals, fossil plants, reptiles, and invertebrates. She is also interested in the history of collections.

Publications

Ketchum HF & Benson RBJ. 2022. A new pliosaurid from the Oxford Clay Formation of Oxfordshire, UK. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 67: 297-315.

Ketchum HF & Benson RBJ. 2020. Plesiosaurs and pliosaurs. In DM Martill, S Etches & RF Loveridge (eds.). Fossils of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. The Palaeontological Association, Field Guides to Fossils Series, vol. 2, 91-99.

Fisher V, Benson RBJ, Druckenmiller PS, Ketchum HF, Bardet N. 2018. The evolutionary history of polycotylid plesiosaurians. Royal Society Open Science, 5, 172177.

Benson RBJ, Evans M, Smith AS, Sassoon J, Moore-Fay S, Ketchum HF and Forrest R. 2013. A giant pliosaurid skull from the Late Jurassic of England. PLOS ONE 8(5): e65989.

Benson RBJ, Ketchum HF, Naish D, Turner L. 2013. A new leptocleidid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Vectis Formation (early Barremian-early Aptian; Early Cretaceous) of the Isle of Wights and the evolution of Leptocleididae, a controversial clade. Journal of Systematic Paleontology, 11, 233-250.

Ketchum HF. 2012. Marine reptiles. In Batten DJ (ed.). English Wealden Fossils. The Palaeontological Association, Field Guides to Fossils Series, 285-294.

Benson RBJ, Ketchum HF, Noe LF, Gomez-Perez M. 2011. New information on Hauffiosaurus (Reptilia, Plesiosauria) based on a new species from the Alum Shale Member (Lower Toarcian: Lower Jurassic) of Yorkshire, UK. Palaeontology, 54, 547-571.

Ketchum HF, Benson RBJ. A new pliosaurid (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of England: evidence for a gracile, longirostrine grade of Early Jurassic pliosaurids. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 86, 109-129.

Ketchum HF, Benson RBJ. 2011. The cranial anatomy and taxonomy of Peloneustes philarchus (Sauropterygia, Pliosauride) from the Peterborough Member (Callovian, Middle Jurassic) of the UK, and the relationships of pliosaurids. Palaeontology, 54, 639-665.

Ketchum HF, Benson RBJ. 2010. Global interrelationships of Plesiosauria (Reptilia, Sauropterygia) and the pivotal role of taxon sampling in determining the outcome of phylogenetic analyses. Biological Reviews, 85, 361-392.

Ketchum HF, Smith AS. 2010. The anatomy and taxonomy of Macroplata tenuiceps (Sauropterygia, Plesiosauria) from the Hettangian (Lower Jurassic) of Warwickshire, UK. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30, 1069-1081.