Maureen A. O'Leary
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
1997

maureen.oleary@stonybrook.edu
telephone: 1-631-444-3730
fax: 1-631-444-3947

Evolution and systematics of mammals, vertebrate evolution in sub-Saharan Africa, combined data phylogeny reconstruction, systematic biology, vertebrate paleontology.

Dr. O'Leary is interested in the origin, evolution and systematics of the major groups of mammals. Her research stems primarily from an interest in mammal evolution during the Early Cenozoic, a time when many of the modern orders of mammals first differentiated. Her recent research has focused on how cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) evolved from terrestrial land mammals. This research has emphasized the importance of fossils in phylogeny reconstruction and she is currently investigating why molecular and morphological data result in different phylogenetic trees for the relationships of whales and their terrestrial relatives. She has recently published descriptions of new fossil material and new species from North America and Pakistan, as well as phylogenetic and functional analyses these species.

Her interest in evolutionary transitions has resulted in a detailed study of the densest record of fossil primates where she applied multivariate morphometrics to describe anatomical changes in a clade of fossils for which there is excellent stratigraphic data.

Her research is field-oriented and she is currently conducting a project to collect vertebrate fossils from Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks of northeastern Mali. She is also collaborating on a separate project to collect and study fossil mammals from the Paleocene and Eocene of northwestern Colorado. She has participated in numerous other field projects in North America and in Egypt.

Dr. O'Leary currently has a postdoctoral research associate, the histologist, Dr. Amy Downing Meisner who is studying the male reproductive anatomy of whales and ungulates for use in phylogenetic analyses.

Recent Publications:

O'Leary, M. A., S. G. Lucas, and T. E. Williamson. In press. A new specimen of Ankalagon (Mammalia, Mesonychia) and evidence of sexual dimorphism in mesonychians Mesonychidae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

O'Leary, M. A. and M. D. Uhen. 1999. The time of origin of whales and the role of behavioral changes in the terrestrial-aquatic transition. Paleobiology. 25:534-556.

O'Leary, M. A. 1999. Parsimony analysis of total evidence from extinct and extant taxa, and the cetacean-artiodactyl question. Cladistics. 15:315-330.

O'Leary, M. A. and J. H. Geisler. 1999. The position of Cetacea within Mammalia: Phylogenetic analysis of morphological data from extinct and extant taxa. Systematic Biology. 48:455-490.

O'Leary, M. A. 1999. Whale origins. Science. 283:1641-1642.

O'Leary, M. A. 1998. Phylogenetic and morphometric reassessment of the dental evidence for a mesonychian and cetacean clade. Pp. 133-161. In (J. G. M. Thewissen, ed.) The Emergence of Whales. Plenum Press, New York.

O'Leary, M. A. 1998. Morphology of the humerus of Hapalodectes (Mammalia, Mesonychia). American Museum Novitates. 3242:1-6.

O'Leary, M. A. 1998. Phylogenetic and morphometric reassessment of the dental evidence for a mesoncyhian and cetacean clade. In J.G.M. Thewissen, The Emergence of Whales. Plenum Press, New York. Pp. 133-161.

O'Leary, M. A. 1997. Dental evolution in the early Eocene Notharctinae (Primates, Adapiformes) from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming: documentation of gradual evolution in the oldest true primates. Ph.D thesis (unpubl.), Johns Hopkins University.

Maas, M. C. and M. O'Leary. 1996. Evolution of enamel microstructure in North American Notharctidae (Primates). Journal of Human Evolution. 31:293-310.

Rose, K. D. and M. A. O'Leary. 1995. The manus of Pachyaena gigantea (Mammalia: Mesonychia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15:855-859.

O'Leary, M. A. and K. D. Rose. 1995. New mesonychian dentitions from the Paleocene and Eocene of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 64:147- 172.

O'Leary, M. A. and K. D. Rose. 1995. Postcranial skeleton of the early Eocene mesonychid Pachyaena (Mammalia:Mesonychia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 15:401-430.

Return to List of Faculty
Return to Anatomical Sciences Home Page