Timothy Rowe
J. Nalle Gregory Regents Professor In Geological Sciences
Curator of the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory of the Texas Memorial Museum
The University of Texas at Austin

B.S. Geology, Occidental College (1975)
M.S. Anatomy, University of Chicago (1981)
Ph.D. Paleontology, University of California at Berkeley (1986)

DigiMorph Contributions

I first became interested in starting an NSF digital libraries project in 1999 when I recognized the revolutionary importance to science and education of pioneering informatics enterprises such as GenBank and the Visible Human. This project is an outgrowth of a 'Digital Methods' class that I teach at the University of Texas. I currently direct the DigiMorph project, overseeing this growing digital library of unique information on comparative organismal morphology.

I am also the Curator of the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory of the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History, a branch of the University of Texas. This collection consists of 250,000 cataloged specimens and ranks highly among the top 10 vertebrate fossil collections in North America. Many of the specimens that appear on this site are from the TMM collections.

Research Interests

My primary research focuses on the evolution and development of the vertebrate skeleton. In this work, I use phylogenetic systematics to study the evolution of skeletal form as well as the evolution of skeletal development in the ontogeny of living species. This work is directed mostly at the early history of mammals and their extinct relatives among Synapsida, and on the history of birds and their extinct relatives among Dinosauria, and on other amniotes. An important tool for this research is high-resolution X-ray computed tomography, which has become a secondary research focus. This breakthrough technology permits the non-destructive inspection of internal structure in even the smallest and most delicate of vertebrate specimens. In collaborative research with scientists from many countries, I am scanning and studying the anatomy of the some of the world’s most significant fossils. An interest in publishing these exquisite digital datasets has also carried me into the realm of informatics. I maintain an active program in field paleontology that explores Mesozoic terrestrial sediments of Texas and the American Southwest.

Publications

I. Books:

Dingus, L., and T. Rowe. 1997. The Mistaken Extinction - Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds. New York, W. H. Freeman & Co., 322 pp. ISBN 0-7167-2944-X, ISBN 0-7167-3227-0 (academic version).

II. CD-ROMs:

Rowe, T., C. A. Brochu, K. Kishi, M. Colbert, J. W. Merck, Jr., E. Saglamer, and S. Warren. 1999. Alligator: Digital Altas of the Skull. Interactive Multimedia on CD-ROM for Macintosh and PC computers. in: T. Rowe, C. A. Brochu, and K. Kishi (eds.). Cranial morphology of Alligator and phylogeny of Alligatoroidae. Memoir 6, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Rowe, T., K. Kishi, J. Merck, Jr., and M. Colbert. 1998. The Age of Dinosaurs. Educational Interactive Multimedia on CD-ROM for Macintosh and PC computers. Third Edition. W. H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-3378-1, and packaged in ISBN 0-7167-3227-0

Rowe, T., K. Kishi, and J. Merck, Jr., 1995. The Age of Dinosaurs. Educational Interactive Multimedia on CD-ROM for Macintosh and PC computers. Second Edition Beta Test 2.0, September 1995.

Rowe, T., W. Carlson, and W. Bottorff. 1995. Thrinaxodon: Digital Atlas of the Skull. CD-ROM (Second Edition, for Windows and Macintosh platforms), University of Texas Press, 547 megabytes.

Rowe, T., K. Kishi, and J. Merck, Jr., 1994. The Age of Dinosaurs. Educational Interactive Multimedia on CD-ROM for Macintosh and PC computers. First Edition, Beta Test 1.0, October 1994.

Rowe, T., W. Carlson, and W. Bottorff. 1993. Thrinaxodon: Digital Atlas of the Skull. CD-ROM (First edition, for MS-DOS platform), University of Texas Press, 623 megabytes.

III. Scientific Articles:

Rowe, T., R. Ketcham, C. Denison, M. Colbert, X. Xu, and P. J. Currie. 2001. The Archaeoraptor Forgery. Nature 410 539-540.

Rowe, T., E. F. McBride, and P. C. Sereno, 2001. Dinosaur with a heart of stone. Science 291: 783a.

Rowe, T. 1999. At the roots of the mammalian tree. Nature 398:283-284.

Rowe, T., C. A. Brochu, and K. Kishi (eds.). 1999. Cranial morphology of Alligator and phylogeny of Alligatoroidae. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 6, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19, supplement to number 2.

Rowe, T., C. A. Brochu, K. Kishi, M. Colbert, and J. W. Merck. 1999 Introduction to Alligator: Digital Altas of the Skull. Pp. 1-8 In: T. Rowe, C. A. Brochu, and K. Kishi (eds.). Cranial morphology of Alligator and phylogeny of Alligatoroidae. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir 6, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19, supplement to number 2.

Cifelli, R. L., T. R. Lipka, C. R. Schaff, and T. B. Rowe. 1999. First Early Cretaceous Mammal from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19(2): 199-203.

Rowe, T. 1997. Comparative rates of development in Monodelphis and Didelphis. Science 275: 684.

Rowe, T., J. Kappelman, W. D. Carlson, R. A. Ketcham, and C. Denison 1997. High-Resolution Computed Tomography: a breakthrough technology for Earth scientists. Geotimes, 42: 23-27.

Rowe, T., R. Tykoski, and J. Hutchinson, 1997. Ceratorauria. Pp. 106-110 in: K. Padian and P. E. Currie (eds.) Encylopedia of Dinosaurs. New York, Acadedmic Press.

Rowe, T. 1996. Coevolution of the Mammalian Middle Ear and Neocortex. Science 273: 651-654.

Rowe, T. 1996. Brain heterochrony and evolution of the mammalian middle ear. Pp. 71-96 In: New Perspectives on the History of Life. M. Ghiselin and G. Pinna (eds.), California Academy of Sciences, Memoir 20.

Cifelli, R. L., Rowe, T., Luckett, W. P., Banta, J., Reyes, R., and Howes, R. I. 1996. Fossil evidence for the origin of the marsupial pattern of tooth replacement. Nature, 379:715-718.

Rowe, T., and E. L. Lundelius 1994. At the beginning: computer technology and the early history of mammals. Discover, The University of Texas at Austin, vol. 13(4): 22-28.

Rowe, T. 1993. Phylogenetic systematics and the early history of mammals. Pp: 129-145 In: Mammalian Phylogeny (F. S. Szalay, M. J. Novacek, and M. C. McKenna, eds.), Springer-Verlag, New York.

Forster, C. A., P. C. Sereno, T. W. Evans, and T. Rowe 1993. A complete skull of Chasmosaurus mariscalensis (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) from the Aguja Formation (Late Campanian) of west Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 13(2): 161-170.

Rowe, T., R. L. Cifelli, T. M. Lehman, and A. Weil 1992. The Campanian Terlingua local fauna, with a summary of other vertebrates from the Aguja Formation, Trans-Pecos, Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 12(4):405-427.

Rowe, T., and J. Gauthier 1992. Ancestry, paleontology, and definition of the name Mammalia. Systematic Biology, 41(3): 372-378.

Rowe, T., and J. Gauthier 1990. Ceratosauria. Pp. 151-168, In: D. Weishampel, H. H. Osmolska, and P. Dodson (eds.), The Dinosauria. Los Angeles, University of California Press.

Rowe, T. 1989. A new species of the theropod dinosaur Syntarsus from the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 9(2): 125-136.

Rowe, T. 1989. Origin and early evolution of theropods. Pp. 100-112 In: K. Padian (ed.), Dinosaurs. Short Courses in Paleontology, No. 2. Published by the Paleontological Society and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Bottorff, W., and T. Rowe 1989. Images for natural history. Cadence, May, 1989: 105-108.

Gauthier, J. A., D. Cannatella, K. de Queiroz, A. G. Kluge, and T. Rowe 1989. Tetrapod phylogeny. Pp. 337-353 In: The Hierarchy of Life [Nobel Symposium], B. Fernholm, H. Bremer, H. Jornvall (eds.), Nobel Symposium 70, Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam.

Donoghue, M. J., J. Doyle, J. A. Gauthier, A. G. Kluge, T. Rowe 1989. Importance of fossils in phylogeny reconstruction. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 20: 431-460.

Rowe, T. 1988. Definition, diagnosis and origin of Mammalia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 8(3): 241-264.

Gauthier, J., A. G. Kluge, and T. Rowe 1988. Amniote phylogeny and the importance of fossils. Cladistics, 4: 105-209.

Gauthier, J., A. G. Kluge, and T. Rowe 1988. The early evolution of the Amniota. Pp. 103-155 In: M. Benton (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, Vol. 1: Amphibians, Reptiles and Birds. Systematics Association Special Volume No. 35a. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Rowe, T. 1987. Definition and diagnosis in the phylogenetic system. Systematic Zoology, 36(2): 208-211.

Rowe, T. 1986. Homology and evolution of the deep dorsal thigh musculature in birds and other Reptilia. Journal of Morphology, 198: 327-346.

Rowe, T., and J. van den Heever 1986. The hand of Anteosaurus magnificus (Therapsida, Dinocephalia) and Its bearing on the origin of the mammalian manual phalangeal formula. South African Journal of Science, 82(11): 641-645.

Rowe, T., R. L. Cifelli, and B. Kues 1982. The instrumental role of paleontology in the funding and development of a major new natural history museum. Journal of Paleontology, 56(4): 839-842.

Rowe, T., E. H. Colbert, and J. D. Nations 1981. On the occurrence of Pentaceratops (Reptilia, Ceratopsia), with a description of its frill. Pp. 29-48 In: S. Lucas, J. K. Rigby, and B. Kues (eds.), Advances in San Juan Basin Paleontology. Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press.

Rowe, T. 1980. The morphology, affinities, and age of the dicynodont reptile Geikia elginensis. Pp. 269-294 In: L. L. Jacobs (ed.), Aspects of Vertebrate History: Essays in Honor of Dr. Edwin Harris Colbert. Flagstaff, Museum of Northern Arizona Press.

Rowe, T. 1979. Placerias: an unusual reptile from the Chinle Formation. Plateau, 51(4): 30-32.