|
If you feel this page is not displaying correctly, you may need to upgrade your browser. 
David GrimaldiCurator Ph.D., Cornell University, 1986 "Systematics and Biology of the Large Tropical Genus of Fruit Flies, Zygothrica (Diptera: Drosophilidae)" RESEARCHDr. Grimaldi analyzes the unparalleled success of insects as the most diverse organisms in the four-billion-year history of life on Earth. How did so many species evolve from the earliest land animals? How did they escape the mass extinctions that eradicated dinosaurs, ammonites, and other major groups of life? Dr. Grimaldi addresses questions like these as he studies the morphology, systematics, fossils, biogeography, and ecology of various groups of insects. Although his primary interest is the very diverse order Diptera, or true flies, Dr. Grimaldi's research ranges from species of Drosophila fruit flies to the entire 400-million-year history of insect evolution. His current focus is on insects from the Cretaceous period that existed 65-145 million years ago. An exquisitely preserved window to that world lies in amber from several deposits in the Northern Hemisphere. With cellular, even molecular fidelity, amber preserves small organisms that were mired and engulfed in tree resin when it was still sticky millions of years ago. Dr. Grimaldi is completing studies on an exceptionally diverse paleobiota in 90-million-year-old amber from central New Jersey, and undertaking another large project on a similar deposit from northern Myanmar. Amber from these sites has yielded hundreds of extinct species so far, including the oldest fossil mushrooms, ants, a bee, ticks, a mosquito, the orders Embiidina and Zoraptera (among myriad arthropods), and the oldest definitive fossils in the phyla Onychophora and Tardigrada. Dr. Grimaldi has traveled to five continents and nearly 40 countries in pursuit of new amber deposits and insect species, and published 120 monographs and articles on his discoveries. Among his works is the book, Amber: Window to the Past (Abrams/AMNH), which was based on the Museum's 1996-98 exhibition of the same title. Recent Significant PublicationsGrimaldi, D., M. S. Engel, and P. Nascimbene. "Fossiliferous Cretaceous Amber from Burma (Myanmar): Its Rediscovery, Biotic Diversity, and Paleontological Significance." American Museum Novitates (in press/2001). Grimaldi, D. "Insect Evolutionary History from Handlirsch to Hennig, and Beyond." Journal of Paleontology (in press/2001). Grimaldi, D., A. Shedrinsky, and T. Wampler. "A Remarkable Deposit of Fossiliferous Amber from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) of New Jersey." In Studies on Fossils in Amber, with Particular Reference to the Cretaceous of New Jersey, pp. 1-76. D. Grimaldi (ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: Backhuys, 2000. Grimaldi, D., J. Lillegraven, D. Bookwalter, T. P. Wampler, and A. Shedrinsky. "Amber from Upper Cretaceous Through Paleocene Strata of the Hanna Basin, Wyoming, with Evidence for Source and Taphonomy of Fossil Resins." Rocky Mountain Geology 35 (2000): 163-204. Grimaldi, D., and D. Agosti. "A Formicine in Cretaceous Amber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Early Evolution of the Ants." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 97 (2000): 13,678-13,683. Grimaldi, D. "The Co-Radiations of Oollinating Insects and Angiosperms in the Cretaceous." Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 86 (1999): 373-406. Grimaldi, D., and J. Cumming. "Brachycera Diptera in Cretaceous Ambers and Mesozoic Diversification of the Eremoneura." Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 239 (1999): 124 pp. Grimaldi, D., and T. Nguyen. "Monograph on the Spittlebug Flies, Genus Cladochaeta (Diptera: Drosophilidae: Cladochaetini). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 241 (1999): 326 pp. Adjunct Appointments
Postdoctoral Fellows, Graduate Students, and Scientific Assistants
 BACK TO TOP |
      
     |
