Neil H. Landman

Curator Emeritus, Fossil Invertebrates, Division of Paleontology

Professor Emeritus, Richard Gilder Graduate School

Email:
landmanSPAMFILTER@amnh.org
Phone:
212-769-5712
Download Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Yale University, Ph.D., 1982
  • Yale University, M.Phil., 1977
  • Adelphi University, M.S., 1975
  • New York University, B.S., 1972

Research Interests

Dr. Landman’s interests include the evolution, life history, and systematics of externally shelled cephalopods, particularly the twin groups-the ammonoids and nautiloids. Both have a superb fossil record comprising about 10,000 species. His investigations have focused on the early ontogenetic development of ammonoids and nautiloids, and how this information can be used to reconstruct the phylogeny of these groups. He also studies the evolution and systematics of ammonoids from Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Northern Great Plains in the United States. Fieldwork in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming has resulted in an extensive collection of these ammonoids, which were plentiful in the seaway that once covered this part of North America during the Cretaceous Period. In addition to their systematics, he is concerned with the distribution of these species in time and space, and in relation to their paleoenvironment.

Recent work on the Atlantic Coastal Plain, including Maryland and New Jersey, has also yielded a surprising number of ammonite fossils. These fossils are very useful for biostratigraphic analysis, in correlating strata between the Western Interior and northern Europe. Of special interest is the study of Cretaceous/Tertiary  boundary sections in New Jersey, which are rich in ammonites. 

All of this research depends on field work and involves annual expeditions to the Northern Great Plains (Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana) and, in addition, the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains (New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Alabama, and Tennessee). More recently, these trips include parts of Western Europe (Poland). I have also collected Nautilus in Palau, Fiji, and New Caledonia, as part of a large study on the phylogeny of these cephalopods.

Recent Grant Support 
NSF EAR-125314 Collaborative Research: Soft Tissue and Membrane Preservation in Permian Cephalopods
NSF EAR-308926 Collaborative Research: Paleobiology, Paleoceanography, and Paleoclimatology of a Time Slice through the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway
NSF DBI-619599 Acquisition of a Variable Pressure SEM at the American Museum of Natural History
NSF Grant MR1-R2 Acquisition of a High Resolution CT-Scanner at the American Museum of Natural History
  New York State Innovation Economy Matching Grant for the Acquisition of a High Resolution CT Scanner 
NSF CSBR Natural History Collections: Support for the AMNH InvertebratePaleontology Collection; Addressing a critical need to conserve and digitize the Microfossil Collection

Links

Division of Paleontology

Richard Gilder Graduate School

Publications

  • Landman, N.H., J.K. Cochran, M. Slovacek, N.L. Larson, M.P. Garb, J. Brezina,, and J.D. Witts. 2018. Isotope sclerochronology of ammonites (Baculites compressus) from methane seep and non-seep sites in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, USA: implications for ammonite habitat and mode of life. American Journal of Science. 318: 603-639.
  • Witts, J.D., N.H. Landman, M.P. Garb, C. Boas, E. Larina,, R. Rovelli, L.E. Edwards, R. Sherrell, and J.K. Cochran. 2018. A fossiliferous spherule-rich bed at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary in Mississippi, USA: implications for the K–Pg mass extinction event in the Mississippi Embayment and Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. Cretaceous Research https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2018.06.002
  • Thuy, B., N.H. Landman, N.L. Larson., and L.D. Numberger-Thuy. 2018. Brittle star mass occurrence on a Late Cretaceous methane seep from South Dakota, USA. Scientific Reports 8-9617: 1-9.
  • Landman, N.H., B.R. Jicha, J.K. Cochran, M.P. Garb, S.K. Brophy, N.L. Larson, and J. Brezina. 2018. 40Ar/39Ar date of a bentonite associated with a methane seep deposit in the upper Campanian Baculites compressus Zone, Pierre Shale, South Dakota. Cretaceous Research 90: 90–96.
  • Linzmeier, B.J., N.H. Landman, S.E. Peters, R. Kozdon, K. Kitajima, and J.W. Valley. 2018. Ion microprobe stable isotope evidence for ammonite habitat and life mode during early ontogeny. Paleobiology 2018: 1–25.
  • Combosch, D.J., S.A. Lemer, P.D. Ward, N.H. Landman, and G. Giribet. 2017. Genetic signatures of evolution in Nautilus—An endangered living fossil. Molecular Ecology 26 (21): 5923–5938.  [DOI: 10.1111/mec.14344]
  • Landman, N.H., J.W. Grier, J.K, Cochran, J.C. Grier, J. Petersen, and W.H. Towbin. 2017. Nautilid nurseries: Hatchlings and juveniles of Eutrephoceras dekayi from the lower Maastrichtian (Upper Cretaceous) Pierre Shale of east-central Montana. Lethaia [DOI: 10.1111/let.1222]
  • Larson, N.L., and N.H. Landman. 2017. Description of the lower jaws of Baculites from the Upper Cretaceous U.S. Western Interior. Acta Geologica Polonica 67(1): 109–120.
  • Hunter, A., N.L. Larson, N.H. Landman, and T. Oji. 2016. A new crinoid from cold methane seep deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale. Journal of Paleontology 90(3): 506–524.
  • Kruta, I., I. Rouget, S. Charbonnier, J. Bardin, V. Fernandez, D. Germain, A. Brayard, and N.H. Landman. 2016. Proteroctopus ribeti in coleoid evolution. Palaeontology 59(6): 767–773.
  • Landman, N.H., A.G. Plint, and I. Walaszczyk. 2016. Scaphitid ammonites from the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian-Santonian) Western Canada Foreland Basin. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 414: 172 pp.
  • Landman, N.H., J.S. Slatterty, and P.J. Harries. 2016. Encrustation of inarticulate brachiopods on scaphitid ammonites and inoceramid bivalves from the Upper Cretaceous U.S. Western Interior. Acta Geologica Polonica 66(4): 645–662.
  • Landman, N.H., I. Kruta, J.S.S. Denton, and J.K. Cochran. 2016. Comment and response: Getting unhooked: comment on the hypothesis that heteromorph ammonites were attached to kelp branches on the sea floor, as proposed by Arkhipkin (2014). Journal of Molluscan Studies: 1–5. [doi: 10.1093/mollus/eyv067]
  • Larina, E., M. Garb, N.H. Landman, N. Dastas, N. Thibault, L. Edwards, G. Phillips, R. Rovelli, C. Myers, and J. Naujokaityte. 2016. Upper Maastrichtian ammonite biostratigraphy of the Gulf Coastal Plain (Mississippi Embayment, southern USA). Cretaceous Research 60: 128–151.
  • Knoll, K., N.H. Landman, J.K. Cochran, K. MacLeod, and J.A. Sessa. 2016. Microstructural preservation and the effects of diagenesis on the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of Late Cretaceous mollusks from the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Western Interior Seaway. American Journal of Science 316: 591-613.
  • McArthur, J.M., T. Steuber, K.N. Page, and N.H. Landman. 2016. Sr-isotope stratigraphy: the Campanian, Pliensbachian, Toarcian, and Valanginian. Journal of Geology 124 (5): 569–586.
  • Meehan, K., and N.H. Landman. 2016. Faunal associations in cold-methane seep deposits from the Upper Cretaceous Pierre Shale, South Dakota. Palaios 31(6): 291–301.
  • Takeda, Y., K. Tanabe, T. Sasaki, and N.H. Landman. 2016. Durophagous predation on scaphitid ammonoids in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway of North America. Lethaia 49(1): 28–42.
  • Cochran, J.K., N.H. Landman, N.L. Larson, K. Meehan, M. Garb, and J. Brezina. 2015. Geochemical evidence (C and Sr isotopes) for methane seeps as ammonite habitats in the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Western Interior Seaway. Swiss Journal of Paleontology 134(2): 153–165.
  • Landman, N.H., J.C. Grier, J. W. Grier, J.K. Cochran, and S. M. Klofak. 2015. 3-D orientation and distribution of ammonites in a concretion from the Upper Cretaceous Pierre shale of Montana. Swiss Journal of Paleontology 134(2): 257–279.
  • Sessa, J.A., E. Larina, K. Knoll, M. Garb, J. K. Cochran, B. T. Huber, K. G. MacLeod, and N.H. Landman. 2015. Ammonite habitat revealed via isotopic composition and comparisons with co-occurring benthic and planktonic organisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1507554112
  • Kruta, I. Landman, N.H., Mapes, R., and Pradel, A. 2013. New insights into the buccal apparatus of the Goniatitina: paleobiological and phylogenetic implications. Lethaia
  • Landman, N.H., Kennedy, W.J., Cobban, W.A., Larson, N.L., and Jorgensen, S.D. 2013. A new species of Hoploscaphites (Ammonoidea: Ancyloceratina) from cold methane seeps in the Upper Cretaceous of the U.S. Western Interior. American Museum Novitates
  • Dennis, K.J., Cochran, J.K., Landman, N.H., and Schrag, D.P. 2013. The climate of the Late Cretaceous: New insights from the application of the carbonate clumped isotope thermometer to Western Interior Seaway macrofossils. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 362, pp. 51-65.
  • Landman, N.H., Remin, Z., Garb, M.P., and Chamberlain, J.A., Jr. 2013. Cephalopods from the Badlands National Park area, South Dakota: Reassessment of the position of the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary. Cretaceous Research, v. 42, pp. 1-27.
  • Kruta, I., Landman, N., Rouget, I., Cecca, F., and Tafforeau, P. 2013. The radula of the Late Cretaceous scaphitid ammonite Rhaeboceras halli (Meek and Hayden, 1856). Palaeontology, v. 56, pp. 9-14.
  • Mapes, R.M., and Landman, N.H. 2012. An albino shell of Nautilus pompilius (Cephalopoda: Nautilidae) from the Philippines. The Nautilus, v. 126(3), pp. 113-116.
  • Landman, N. H., and Klofak, S.M. 2012.  Anatomy of a concretion: Life, death, and burial in the Western Interior Seaway, Palaios, v. 27, pp. 672-693.
  • Tanabe, K., Landman, N.H., and I. Kruta, 2012. Microstructure and mineralogy of the outer calcareous layer in the lower jaws of Cretaceous Tetragoniatoidea and Desmoceratoidea (Ammonoidea). Lethaia, v. 45, no. 2, p. 91-99.
  • Landman, N. H., J. K. Cochran, N. L. Larson, J. Brezina, M. Garb, and P. J. Harries, 2012. Methane seeps as ammonite habitats in the U.S. Western Interior Seaway revealed by isotopic analyses of well-preserved shell material. Geology, v. 40 (6), p. 507-510.
  • Landman, N. H., W. A., Cobban, and N. L. Larson, 2012.  Mode of life and habitat of scaphitid ammonites, In Neige, P., and I. Rouget (eds.), 8th International Symposium, Cephalopods- Present and Past, Dijon, Aug. 30- Sept. 2, 2010, Geobios, v. 45, pp. 87-98.
  • Landman, N.H., M.P. Garb, R. Rovelli, D.S. Ebel, and L.E. Edwards. 2012. Short-term survival of ammonites in New Jersey after the end-Cretaceous bolide impact. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica v. 57(4), p. 703-715.
  • Klofak, S. M., and N. H. Landman, 2012. Internal features of ammonitellas of tornoceratids from the Cherry Valley Limestone, New York State, U. S. A. In Neige, P., and I. Rouget (eds.), 8th International Symposium, Cephalopods- Present and Past, Dijon, Aug. 30- Sept. 2, 2010, Geobios, v. 45, pp. 49-56.
  • De Baets, K., C.Klug, D. Korn, and N. H. Landman, 2012.  Early evolutionary trends in ammonoid embryonic development. Evolution, v.66, pp. 1-19.
  • Palamarczuk, S., and N. H. Landman, 2011. Dinoflagellate cysts from the upper Campanian Pierre Shale and Bearpaw Shale of the U. S. Western Interior. Rocky Mountain Geology, v. 46 (2), pp. 137-164.
  • Bonacum, J., N.H. Landman, R.H. Mapes, M.W. White, A.J.White, and J. Irlam. 2011. Evolutionary radiation of Recent Nautilus and Allonautilus. American Malacological Bulletin 29:1-16.
  • Kruta, I., N.H. Landman, I. Rouget, F. Cecca, and P. Tafforeau. 2011. The role of ammonites in the Mesozoic marine food web revealed by jaw preservation. Science 331: 70-72.
  • Mapes, R.H., L.A. Doguzhaeva, H. Mutvei, N.H. Landman, and K. Tanabe. 2010. The oldest known (Lower Carboniferous-Namurian) protoconch of a rostrum-bearing coleoid (Cephalopoda) from Arkansas, USA: phylogenetic and paleobiologic implications. Ferrantia 59: 114-125.
  • Mapes, R.H., N.H. Landman, K. Cochran, C. Goiran, and B. Richer de Forges. 2010. Early taphonomy and significance of naturally submerged Nautilus shells from the New Caledonia region. Palaios. 25: 597-610.
  • Landman, N.H., W.J. Kennedy, W.A. Cobban, and N.L. Larson.2010. Scaphites of the “nodosus group” from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) of the Western Interior of North America. American Museum of Natural History Bulletin 342: 1-242.
  • Cochran, J.K., K. Kallenberg, N.H. Landman, P.J. Harries, D. Weinreb, K.K. Turekian, A.J. Beck, and W.A. Cobban. 2010. Effect of diagenesis on the Sr, O, and C isotope composition of Late Cretaceous mollusks from the Western Interior Seaway of North America. American Journal of Science 310: 69-88.
  • Kruta, I., N.H. Landman, I. Rouget, F. Cecca, and N.L.Larson. 2010. The jaw apparatus of the Late Cretaceous ammonite Didymoceras. Journal of Paleontology 84(3):556-560.
  • Tanabe, K., C .Kulicki, N.H. Landman, and A. Kaim. 2010. Tuberculate micro-ornamentation on embryonic shells of  Mesozoic ammonoids: Microstructure, taxonomic variation, and morphogenesis. Cephalopods-Present and Past, Tanabe, K., Y. Shigeta, Y. Sasaki, and H. Hirano (editors), Tokai University Press, Tokyo: 105-121.
  • Klofak, S.M. and N.H. Landman. 2010. Some exceptionally well preserved specimens of Agoniatites vanuxemi form the Middle Devonian Cherry Valley Limestone of New York State, USA. Cephalopods-Present and Past, Tanabe, K., Y. Shigeta, Y. Sasaki, and H. Hirano (editors), Tokai University Press, Tokyo: 93-103.
  • Landman, N.H., R.O. Johnson, M.P. Garb, L.E. Edwards, and F.T. Kyte. 2010. Ammonites from the Cretaceous/Tertiary Boundary, New Jersey, USA. Cephalopods-Present and Past, Tanabe, K., Y. Shigeta, Y. Sasaki, and H. Hirano(editors), Tokai University Press, Tokyo: 287-295.
  • Landman, N.H., R.H. Mapes, and C. Cruz. 2010. Soft tissues in ammonoid cephalopods from the Bear Gulch Lagerstätte (Lower Carboniferous), Montana, USA. Cephalopods-Present and Past, Tanabe, K., Y. Shigeta, Y. Sasaki, and H. Hirano(editors), Tokai University Press, Tokyo: 147-153.
  • Polizzotto, K. and N.H. Landman. 2010. Pseudosutures and siphuncular membranes in hollow Rhaeboceras (Scaphitidae): Implications for chamber formation and shell growth. Cephalopods-Present and Past, Tanabe, K., Y. Shigeta, Y. Sasaki, and H. Hirano (editors), Tokai University Press, Tokyo: 131-140.
  • Kruta, I., I. Rouget, N. H. Landman, K. Tanabe, and F. Cecca. 2009. Aptychus microstructure in three genera of Late Cretaceous Ancyloceratina (Ammonoidea): unexpected diversity. Lethaia 42(2): 312-321.
  • Machalski, M., J.W.M. Jagt, N.H. Landman, and J. Uberna. 2009. First record of the North American scaphitid ammonite Discoscaphites iris from the upper Maastrichtian of Libya. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontolologie Abhandlungen. 254/3: 373-378.

Teaching Experience

Faculty Appointments

  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, City College
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Geology, Brooklyn College

Courses Taught

Graduate Advisees

 

  • Susan Klofak, CUNY
  • Kimberly Handle, CUNY

Graduate Committees

  • Ekaterina Larina, Brooklyn College
  • Remy Rovelli, Brooklyn College
  • Joshua Slattery, Univ. of South Florida

Post-Doctoral Mentor

  • Jocelyn Sessa
  • Isabelle Kruta
  • Andrzej Kaim