K. Christopher Beard Lab
Mammalian Paleontology & Evolution
In the Beard Lab in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas, we’re interested in big ideas and nitty gritty details related to mammalian evolution. We focus on empirical data (fossils & associated data) from the Paleogene to address mammal phylogeny, biogeography, paleoecology and macroevolution on a dynamically changing planet.
Lab News
Kat Rust and Colleagues Shed Light on North America’s Last (Non-human) Primate
A team of paleontologists, led by the Beard Lab’s PhD student, Kat Rust, published an article in the December 2023 volume of the Journal of Human Evolution describing new material from the enigmatic primate genus, Ekgmowechashala. Meaning “little cat man” in Sioux, Ekgmowechashala was perhaps the last primate to inhabit North America until the arrival…
Beard Lab Students Find Success at 2023 Conferences
Beard Lab graduate and undergraduate students had a busy conference season in 2023. Kat Rust, Kristen Miller, Parker Rhinehart, and Kevin Mulcahy all attended the 83rd annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Cincinnati. Kristen presented a Colbert Prize poster about new Paleocene metatherians from Big Bend National Park and Kat talked about…
Arctic Monkeys?? Kristen Miller and Colleagues Describe Primate Relatives from the High Arctic
If you were searching for the relatives of primates, where would you look? Chances are, the Canadian High Arctic wouldn’t be your first guess, but we now know that primate relatives made it there at least once! In their January 2023 PLOS ONE article, Kristen Miller, Chris Beard, and Kristen Tietjen describe two new species…
Beard Lab 