RANDALL B IRMIS portrait
  • Curator of Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Utah
  • Professor, Geology & Geophysics
801-581-6555

Research Statement

RESEARCH INTERESTS & PROJECTS • Early Mesozoic continental vertebrate ecosystems • Response of faunas to climate change in deep time • High-precision radio-isotopic age constraints for the Triassic timescale • Early Mesozoic tetrapod biogeography and paleoecology • Basal archosaur and basal dinosaur phylogeny • Taphonomic processes

Publications

  • Irmis, Randall B., Jeffrey W. Martz, William G. Parker, and Sterling J. Nesbitt. 2010. Re-evaluating the correlation between Late Triassic terrestrial vertebrate biostratigraphy and the GSSP-defined marine stages. Albertiana 38:40-52. Published, 04/2011.
  • Irmis, R.B., S. Lindström, M. Dunlavey, and J.H. Whiteside. 2010. Integrated record of terrestrial biotic change from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of northern New Mexico. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstract B51F-0407. Published, 12/2010.
  • Dunlavey, M., J.H. Whiteside, S. Lindström, and R.B. Irmis. 2010. Environmental fluctuations during the rise of dinosaurs in western North America. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstract B51F-0408. Published, 12/2010.
  • Irmis, Randall B. and Jessica H. Whiteside. 2010. Newly integrated approaches to studying Late Triassic terrestrial ecosystems. Palaios 25:689-691. Published, 11/2010.
  • Mundil, R., D.L. Kimbrough, R.B. Irmis, S.W. Denyszyn, and P.R. Renne. 2010. Time scale calibration benefitting from the Mattinson technique (CA-TIMS) applied to volcanic zircons. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 42(5):658. Published, 11/2010.
  • Dunlavey, M.G., J.H. Whiteside, and R.B. Irmis. 2010. Isotopic evidence for Late Cretaceous ecosystem variability in Campanian continental sediments of southern Utah. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 42(5):130. Published, 11/2010.
  • Whiteside, J.H., and R.B. Irmis. 2010. Terrestrial tetrapod vertebrate paleoecology across the Permian-Triassic boundary and its relationship to the global carbon cycle. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 42(5):174. Published, 11/2010.
  • Irmis, R.B., and R. Mundil. 2010. New U-Pb zircon ages from the Chinle Formation (western US) revise understanding of Late Triassic terrestrial vertebrate evolution. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 42(5):393. Published, 11/2010.
  • Pyenson, Nicholas D., Randall B. Irmis, and Jere H. Lipps. 2010. Comment on "Climate, critters, and cetaceans: Cenozoic drivers of the evolution of modern whales". Science 330:178-a. Published, 10/2010.
  • Werning, S., and R. Irmis. 2010. Reconstructing the ontogeny of the Triassic basal archosauromorph Trilophosaurus using bone histology and limb bone morphometrics. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):185A-186A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Thomson, T., and R. Irmis. 2010. First occurrence of a tyrannosaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Neslen Formation (Late Cretaceous), Book Cliffs area, Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):175A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Loewen, M., J. Sertich, R. Irmis, and S. Sampson. 2010. Tyrannosaurid evolution and intracontinental endemism in Laramidia: new evidence from the Campanian Wahweap Formation of Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):123A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Levitt, C., and R. Irmis. 2010. An articulated small juvenile hadrosaurid dinosaur (Ornithischia; Ornithopoda) from the Campanian Kaiparowits Formation, Utah. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):122A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Lee, A., R. Irmis, M. Wedel, S. Werning, and K. Padian. 2010. The universal temperature dependence model fails to predict body temperatures accurately for extant amniotes and extinct dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):121A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Burch, S., N. Smith, S. Nesbitt, R. Irmis, and A. Turner. 2010. Forelimb myology of the basal theropod dinosaur Tawa hallae from the Late Triassic Hayden Quarry of New Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):67A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Irmis, R., S. Nesbitt, N. Smith, A. Turner, and A. Downs. 2010. Anatomy of the basal theropod Tawa hallae and its implications for early dinosaur phylogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(Supplement to 3):110A. Published, 10/2010.
  • Brusatte, Stephen L., Sterling J. Nesbitt, Randall B. Irmis, Richard J. Butler, Michael J. Benton, and Mark A. Norell. 2010. The origin and early radiation of dinosaurs. Earth-Science Reviews 101:68-100. Published, 04/2010.
  • Nesbitt, Sterling J., Christian A. Sidor, Randall B. Irmis, Kenneth D. Angielczyk, Roger M.H. Smith, and Linda A. Tsuji. 2010. Ecologically distinct dinosaurian sister-group demonstrates early diversification of Ornithodira. Nature 464:95-98. Published, 03/2010.
  • Lee, A.H., K. Padian, M.T. Taylor, M.J. Wedel, R.B. Irmis, and S. Werning. 2010. The universal temperature dependence model fails to predict body temperatures of mammals and dinosaurs. Integrative and Comparative Biology 50 (Supplement to 1):E99. Published, 01/2010.
  • Nesbitt, Sterling J., Nathan D. Smith, Randall B. Irmis, Alan H. Turner, Alex Downs, and Mark A. Norell. 2009. A complete skeleton of a Late Triassic saurischian and the early evolution of dinosaurs. Science 326:1530-1533. Published, 2009.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1180350
  • Pyenson, Nicholas D., Randall B. Irmis, Jere H. Lipps, Lawrence G. Barnes, Edward D. Mitchell, Jr., and Samuel A. McLeod. 2009. Origin of a widespread marine bone bed deposited during the middle Miocene Climatic Optimum. Geology 37(6):519-522. Published, 2009.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/G25509A.1
  • Nesbitt, Sterling J., Randall B. Irmis, William G. Parker, Nathan D. Smith, Alan H. Turner, and Timothy Rowe. 2009. Hindlimb osteology and distribution of basal dinosauromorphs from the Late Triassic of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(2):498-516. Published, 2009.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1671/039.029.0218