Frederick S. Szalay

Professor, Department of Anthropology, Hunter College and the Graduate School, City University of New York Professor, C. U. N. Y. Graduate Program in Biology Ph. D., Biology, Columbia University,1967

Fields of Study

Mammalian paleontology, with an emphasis on primates and relatives, marsupials, and a number of other mammalian groups; evolutionary morphology, particularly in making connections between naturalistic behavior and functional anatomy; evolutionary theory and systematics.

Current Research Interests

My basic interest is in the unraveling the origins of various mammalian higher categories (families to orders), particularly of marsupials, primates and relatives, early eutherians, and various groups of ‹edentates.Š I have active theoretical interests in the various methodological approaches for the understanding of evolutionary history, particularly through the analysis of the skeletal system, primarily to bridge the gap between the living and the fossil record of mammals. Currently I am engaged in a number of independent and cooperative projects that deal with: an examination of macroevolutionary analysis; morphological evidence of various primate relatives, the Archonta; of various European fossil ‹edentates;Š and the description of new collections of Paleocene marsupial and Cretaceous therian mammal postcranials. Efforts are under way towards a revision, with Eric Delson, of our joint book on primate evolution.

Selected Publications

Szalay, F. S., and B. A. Trofimov (in press) The Mongolian Late Cretaceous Asiatherium, and the early phylogeny and paleobiogeography of Metatheria; Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

Szalay, F. S.1994, Evolutionary history of the marsupials and an analysis of osteological characters; Cambridge University Press, New York, 481 pp.

Szalay, F. S., M. J. Novacek, and M. C. McKenna, eds. (1993) Mammal phylogeny: Mesozoic differentiation, Monotremes, Therians, and Marsupials (vol 1), 249 pp, and Mammal Phylogeny: Placentals (vol 2), 341 pp. Springer Verlag, New York

Szalay, F. S. (1993) Species concepts: the tested, the untestable and the redundant; In: Species, evolutionary theory, and primate evolution (Kimbel, B., and L. Martin, eds.), pp. 21-41, Plenum Press, New York

Szalay, F. S. and S. G. Lucas (1993), Cranioskeletal morphology of archontans, and diagnoses of Chiroptera, Volitantia, and Archonta; In: Primates and their relatives in phylogenetic perspective (Ross D. E. MacPhee, ed), pp. 187-226, Plenum Press, New York.

Szalay, F. S. & R. K Costello (1991) Evolution of permanent estrus displays in hominids; Jour. Human Evol. 20:439-464.

Szalay, F. S. & W. J. Bock (1991) Evolutionary theory and sytematics: relationships between process and patterns; Z. zool. Syst. Evolut.-forsch. 29:1-39.

Szalay, F. S. & Delson, E. (1979). Evolutionary History of the Primates.New York: Academic Press (2nd edition in preparation).

Szalay, F. S. (1977) Phylogenetic relationships and a classification of the eutherian Mammalia; In: Patterns of Vertebrate Evolution (Hecht, M.K., P.C. Goody, and B.M. Hecht, eds.), Plenum Press, pp. 315-374, New York.

Luckett, W.P. & F.S. Szalay, eds. (1975) Phylogeny of the Primates: a multi-disciplinary approach; New York: Plenum Press.

PhD Program in Anthropology - The CUNY Graduate Center
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