Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology
& Head of Section

General Research Interests

• Mammalian Paleontology and Evolution
• Primate Paleontology and Evolution
• Phylogeny Reconstruction
• Paleobiogeography
• Functional Anatomy

Research Emphases

• Early Cenozoic Primate Evolution in Asia: Phylogenetic, paleobiogeographic, and functional studies of Paleocene and Eocene primates from the People's Republic of China.
• Anthropoid Origins: Reconstructing anthropoid phylogeny, character evolution, and paleobiogeography.
• Evolution of North American Mammals across the Paleocene–Eocene Boundary: Biostratigraphy and faunal change during the Clarkforkian and Wasatchian North American Land Mammal Ages.

Click here for a complete Bibliography

Recent Publications

• Beard, K. C. 2008. The oldest North American primate and mammalian biogeography during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105: 3815-3818. E-print (741 Kb PDF)

• Marivaux, L., Beard, K. C., Chaimanee, Y., Jaeger, J.-J., Marandat, B., Aung Naing Soe, Soe Thura Tun, Htun Htun Aung, and Wanna Htoon. 2008. Anatomy of the bony pelvis of a relatively large-bodied strepsirrhine primate from the late middle Eocene Pondaung Formation (central Myanmar). Journal of Human Evolution 54: 391-404. E-print (826 Kb PDF)

• Meng, J., Ni, X., Li, C., Beard, K. C., Gebo, D. L., Wang, Y., and Wang, H.
  2007. New material of Alagomyidae (Mammalia, Glires) from the late Paleocene Subeng locality, Inner Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 3597: 1-29.

• Gebo, D. L., Dagosto, M., Beard, K. C., Ni, X., and Qi, T. 2007. Primate humeral remains from the middle Eocene of China. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 39: 77-82. E-print (130 Kb PDF)

• Beard, K. C., Marivaux, L., Soe Thura Tun, Aung Naing Soe, Chaimanee, Y., Wanna Htoon, Marandat, B., Htun Htun Aung, and Jaeger, J.J. 2007. New sivaladapid primates from the Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar and the anthropoid status of Amphipithecidae. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 39: 67-76. E-print (964 Kb PDF)

• Dawson, M. R., and Beard, K. C. 2007. Rodents of the family Cylindrodontidae
  (Mammalia) from the earliest Eocene of the Tuscahoma Formation, Mississippi.
  Annals of Carnegie Museum 76: 135-144. E-print (2.1 Mb PDF)

• Ni, X., Beard, K. C., Meng, J., Wang, Y., and Gebo, D. L. 2007. Discovery of the first early Cenozoic euprimate (Mammalia) from Inner Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 3571: 1-11. E-print (512 Kb PDF)

• Meng, J., Wang, Y., Ni, X., Beard, K. C., Sun, C., Li, Q., Jin, X., and Bai, B. 2007. New stratigraphic data from the Erlian Basin: Implications for the division, correlation, and definition of Paleogene lithological units in Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia). American Museum Novitates 3570: 1-31. E-print (3.3 Mb PDF)

• Meng, J., Li, C., Ni, X., Wang, Y., and Beard, K. C. 2007. A new Eocene rodent from the lower Arshanto Formation in the Nuhetingboerhe (Camp Margetts) area, Inner Mongolia. American Museum Novitates 3569: 1-18. E-print (2.8 Mb PDF)

• Dawson, M. R., Marivaux, L., Li, C.-K., Beard, K. C., and Métais, G. 2006.
  Laonastes and the "Lazarus Effect" in Recent mammals. Science 311:
  1456-1458. E-print (493 Kb PDF)

• Rossie, J. B., Ni, X.-J., and Beard, K. C. 2006. Cranial remains of an
  Eocene tarsier. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:
  4381-4385. E-print (788 Kb PDF)

• Beard, K. C., Jaeger, J.-J., Chaimanee, Y., Rossie, J. B., Aung Naing Soe,
  Soe Thura Tun, Marivaux, L., and Marandat, B. 2005. Taxonomic status of
  purported primate frontal bones from the Eocene Pondaung Formation of
  Myanmar. Journal of Human Evolution 49: 468-481. E-print (1.2 Mb PDF)

• Métais, G., Qi, T., Guo, J.-W., and Beard, K. C. 2005. A new bunoselenodont
  artiodactyl from the middle Eocene of China and the early record of
  selenodont artiodactyls in Asia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25:
  994-997.

• Beard, K. C., and Wang, J. 2004. The eosimiid primates (Anthropoidea) of the Heti Formation, Yuanqu Basin, Shanxi and Henan Provinces, People's Republic of China. Journal of Human Evolution 46: 401-432. E-print (1.9 Mb PDF)

• Beard, K. C. 2004. The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey. The University of California Press, Berkeley, 348 pp. Click for publication information.

• Beard, K. C. 2002. Basal anthropoids. Pp. 133-149 in The Primate Fossil Record (W. C. Hartwig, ed.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

• Beard, K. C., and Dawson, M. R. 2001. Early Wasatchian mammals from the Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi: Biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic implications. Pp. 75-94 in Eocene Biodiversity: Unusual Occurrences and Rarely Sampled Habitats (G. F. Gunnell, ed.). Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.

• Gebo, D. L., Dagosto, M., Beard, K. C., and Qi, T. 2001. Middle Eocene primate tarsals from China: Implications for haplorhine evolution. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 116: 83-107. E-print (709 Kb PDF)

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