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Dr Michael Day

Dr Mike Day

Curator, Non-Mammalian Tetrapods

Department: Earth Sciences
Division: ES Vertebrates and Anthropology Palaeobiology
Phone: 02079425130 5130

Summary

I am the curator of part of the fossil reptile collections here at the NHM, including the non-mammalian synapsids, parareptiles, mesozoic mammaliaformes, and pterosaurus. In this role, my duties involve ensuring that collections are well maintained, improving their digital records and storage, accessioning new material, working with the outreach branches of the Museum, and facilitating scientific visitors.

I also pursue my own research: I spent 8 years in South Africa and consequently my main area of interest centres on the evolution of vertebrate ecosystems in the Middle Permian (265-259 million years ago) of the South African Karoo Basin. In particular, this time period encompasses a relatively poorly-understood mass extinction event, the late Capitanian mass extinction, and much of my work involves understanding how this proceeded, its effects on terrestrial vertebrate life, and its potential causes. I am helping lead a project aiming to provide better temporal constraints on this Permian Karoo fossil record, and thus provide a better understanding of the tempo of evolutionary events. I collaborate on many other projects studying footprints, floras and sedimentology from the Middle Permian of South Africa. I have spent a lot of time collecting fossils in South Africa and am continuing to do so.

Qualifications

    Degrees

  • PhD in Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2010 - 2013
  • MSc in Palaeoanthropology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, 2007 - 2008
  • BSc in Geology and Biology, University of Bristol, Bristol, 2003 - 2006

Employment history

    Academic

  • Associate Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand, Evolutionary Studies Institute, South Africa, 2018 - ongoing
  • Curator, Non-Mammalian Tetrapods, The Natural History Museum, Earth Sciences, United Kingdom, 2018 - ongoing
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand, Evolutionary Studies Institute, South Africa, 2013 - 2018

Fieldwork

South Africa
2018 - 2018.

Publications

Day MO, Ramezani J, Frazer RE, Rubidge BS (2022) U-Pb zircon age constraints on the vertebrate assemblages and palaeomagnetic record of the Guadalupian Abrahamskraal Formation, Karoo Basin, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 186 : 104435 - 104435. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2021.104435

Groenewald DP, Day MO, Penn-Clarke CR, Rubidge BS (2022) Stepping out across the Karoo retro-foreland basin: Improved constraints on the Ecca-Beaufort shoreline along the northern margin. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 185 : 104389 - 104389. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2021.104389

Van den Brandt MJ, Abdala F, Benoit J, Day MO, Groenewald DP, Rubidge BS (2021) Taxonomy, phylogeny and stratigraphical ranges of middle Permian pareiasaurs from the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 19 (19) : 1367 - 1393. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2022.2035440

Rey K, Day MO, Amiot R, Fourel F, Luyt J, Lécuyer C, Rubidge BS (2020) Stable isotopes (δ18O and δ13C) give new perspective on the ecology and diet of Endothiodon bathystoma (Therapsida, Dicynodontia) from the late Permian of the South African Karoo Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 556 : 109882 - 109882. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109882

Day MO, Rubidge BS (2020) Biostratigraphy of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 149 - 164. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0012

Day MO, Smith RMH (2020) Biostratigraphy of the Endothiodon Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 165 - 180. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0011

Rubidge BS, Day MO (2020) Biostratigraphy of the Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 141 - 148. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0010

Schneider JW, Lucas SG, Scholze F, Voigt S, Marchetti L, Klein H, Opluštil S, Werneburg R, Golubev VK, Barrick JE, Nemyrovska T, Ronchi A, Day MO, Silantiev VV, Rößler R, Saber H, Linnemann U, Zharinova V, Shen S-Z (2020) Late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic continental biostratigraphy — Links to the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale. Palaeoworld, 29 (2) : 186 - 238. doi: 10.1016/j.palwor.2019.09.001

Smith RMH, Rubidge BS, Day MO, Botha J (2020) Introduction to the tetrapod biozonation of the Karoo Supergroup. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 131 - 140. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0009

CISNEROS JC, DAY MO, GROENEWALD J, RUBIDGE BS (2020) SMALL FOOTPRINTS EXPAND MIDDLE PERMIAN AMPHIBIAN DIVERSITY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN KAROO. PALAIOS, 35 (1) : 1 - 11. doi: 10.2110/palo.2018.098

Rey K, Day MO, Amiot R, Fourel F, Luyt J, Van den Brandt MJ, Lécuyer C, Rubidge BS (2020) Oxygen isotopes and ecological inferences of Permian (Guadalupian) tetrapods from the main Karoo Basin of South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 538 : 109485 - 109485. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109485

Groenewald DP, Day MO, Rubidge BS (2019) Vertebrate assemblages from the north‐central Main Karoo Basin, South Africa, and their implications for mid‐Permian biogeography. Lethaia, 52 (4) : 486 - 501. doi: 10.1111/let.12326

Day M, Rubidge BS (2019) Biesiespoort revisited: a case study on the relationship between tetrapod assemblage zones and Beaufort lithostratigraphy south of Victoria West. Palaeontologia Africana, 53 : 51 - 65.

Day MO, Benson RBJ, Kammerer CF, Rubidge BS (2018) Evolutionary rates of mid-Permian tetrapods from South Africa and the role of temporal resolution in turnover reconstruction. Paleobiology, 44 (3) : 347 - 367. doi: 10.1017/pab.2018.17

Rey K, Day MO, Amiot R, Goedert J, Lécuyer C, Sealy J, Rubidge BS (2018) Stable isotope record implicates aridification without warming during the late Capitanian mass extinction. Gondwana Research, 59 : 1 - 8. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2018.02.017

Brocklehurst N, Day MO, Fröbisch J (2018) Accounting for differences in species frequency distributions when calculating beta diversity in the fossil record. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9 (6) : 1409 - 1420. doi: 10.1111/2041-210x.13007

Day MO, Smith RMH, Benoit J, Fernandez V, Rubidge BS (2018) A new species of burnetiid (Therapsida, Burnetiamorpha) from the early Wuchiapingian of South Africa and implications for the evolutionary ecology of the family Burnetiidae. Papers in Palaeontology, 4 (3) : 453 - 475. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1114

Roopnarine PD, Angielczyk KD, Olroyd SL, Nesbitt SJ, Botha-brink J, Peecook BR, Day MO, Smith RMH (2017) Comparative ecological dynamics of Permian-Triassic communities from the Karoo, Luangwa, and Ruhuhu Basins of southern Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 37 (sup1) : 254 - 272. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1424714

Brocklehurst N, Day MO, Rubidge BS, Fröbisch J (2017) Olson's Extinction and the latitudinal biodiversity gradient of tetrapods in the Permian. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1852) : 20170231 - 20170231. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0231

Rey K, Amiot R, Fourel F, Rigaudier T, Abdala F, Day MO, Fernandez V, Fluteau F, France-Lanord C, Rubidge BS, Smith RM, Viglietti PA, Zipfel B, Lécuyer C (2016) Global climate perturbations during the Permo-Triassic mass extinctions recorded by continental tetrapods from South Africa. Gondwana Research, 37 : 384 - 396. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2015.09.008

Cole DI, Johnson MR, Day MO (2016) Lithostratigraphy of the Abrahamskraal Formation (Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 119 (2) : 415 - 424. doi: 10.2113/gssajg.119.2.415

Angielczyk KD, Rubidge BS, Day MO, Lin F (2016) A reevaluation ofBrachyprosopus broomiandChelydontops altidentalis, dicynodonts (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the middle PermianTapinocephalusAssemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 36 (2) : e1078342 - e1078342. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2016.1078342

Day M, Rubidge B, Abdala F (null) A new mid-Permian burnetiamorph therapsid from the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa and a phylogenetic review of Burnetiamorpha.. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 61 : doi: 10.4202/app.00296.2016

Day MO, Ramezani J, Bowring SA, Sadler PM, Erwin DH, Abdala F, Rubidge BS (2015) When and how did the terrestrial mid-Permian mass extinction occur? Evidence from the tetrapod record of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282 (1811) : 20150834 - 20150834. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0834

Kammerer CF, Smith RMH, Day MO, Rubidge BS (2015) New information on the morphology and stratigraphic range of the mid-Permian gorgonopsianEriphostoma microdonBroom, 1911. Papers in Palaeontology, 1 (2) : 201 - 221. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1012

Day MO, Güven S, Abdala F, Jirah S, Rubidge B, Almond J (null) Youngest dinocephalian fossils extend the Tapinocephalus Zone, Karoo Basin, South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 111 (3/4) : 1 - 5. doi: 10.17159/sajs.2015/20140309

Day MO, Rubidge BS (2014) A brief lithostratigraphic review of the Abrahamskraal and Koonap formations of the Beaufort Group, South Africa: Towards a basin-wide stratigraphic scheme for the Middle Permian Karoo. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 100 : 227 - 242. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.07.001

Day MO, Rubidge BS (null) The Late Capitanian Mass Extinction of Terrestrial Vertebrates in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 : doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.631198

Day M, Rubidge BS (null) Biesiespoort revisited: a case study on the relationship between tetrapod assemblage zones and Beaufort lithostratigraphy south of Victoria West. Palaeontologia Africana, 53 : 51 - 65.

Duhamel A, Benoit J, Day M, Rubidge B, Fernandez V (null) Computed Tomography elucidates ontogeny within the basal therapsid clade Biarmosuchia. PeerJ, 9 : e11866 - e11866. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11866

Rubidge BS, Day MO, Benoit J (null) New Specimen of the Enigmatic Dicynodont Lanthanostegus mohoii (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Southwestern Karoo Basin of South Africa, and its Implications for Middle Permian Biostratigraphy. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 : doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.668143

Introduction

Summary

I am the curator of part of the fossil reptile collections here at the NHM, including the non-mammalian synapsids, parareptiles, mesozoic mammaliaformes, and pterosaurus. In this role, my duties involve ensuring that collections are well maintained, improving their digital records and storage, accessioning new material, working with the outreach branches of the Museum, and facilitating scientific visitors.

I also pursue my own research: I spent 8 years in South Africa and consequently my main area of interest centres on the evolution of vertebrate ecosystems in the Middle Permian (265-259 million years ago) of the South African Karoo Basin. In particular, this time period encompasses a relatively poorly-understood mass extinction event, the late Capitanian mass extinction, and much of my work involves understanding how this proceeded, its effects on terrestrial vertebrate life, and its potential causes. I am helping lead a project aiming to provide better temporal constraints on this Permian Karoo fossil record, and thus provide a better understanding of the tempo of evolutionary events. I collaborate on many other projects studying footprints, floras and sedimentology from the Middle Permian of South Africa. I have spent a lot of time collecting fossils in South Africa and am continuing to do so.

Qualifications

    Degrees

  • PhD in Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2010 - 2013
  • MSc in Palaeoanthropology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, 2007 - 2008
  • BSc in Geology and Biology, University of Bristol, Bristol, 2003 - 2006

Employment history

    Academic

  • Associate Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand, Evolutionary Studies Institute, South Africa, 2018 - ongoing
  • Curator, Non-Mammalian Tetrapods, The Natural History Museum, Earth Sciences, United Kingdom, 2018 - ongoing
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of the Witwatersrand, Evolutionary Studies Institute, South Africa, 2013 - 2018
Projects

Fieldwork

South Africa
2018 - 2018.

Publications

Publications

Day MO, Ramezani J, Frazer RE, Rubidge BS (2022) U-Pb zircon age constraints on the vertebrate assemblages and palaeomagnetic record of the Guadalupian Abrahamskraal Formation, Karoo Basin, South Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 186 : 104435 - 104435. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2021.104435

Groenewald DP, Day MO, Penn-Clarke CR, Rubidge BS (2022) Stepping out across the Karoo retro-foreland basin: Improved constraints on the Ecca-Beaufort shoreline along the northern margin. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 185 : 104389 - 104389. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2021.104389

Van den Brandt MJ, Abdala F, Benoit J, Day MO, Groenewald DP, Rubidge BS (2021) Taxonomy, phylogeny and stratigraphical ranges of middle Permian pareiasaurs from the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 19 (19) : 1367 - 1393. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2022.2035440

Rey K, Day MO, Amiot R, Fourel F, Luyt J, Lécuyer C, Rubidge BS (2020) Stable isotopes (δ18O and δ13C) give new perspective on the ecology and diet of Endothiodon bathystoma (Therapsida, Dicynodontia) from the late Permian of the South African Karoo Basin. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 556 : 109882 - 109882. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109882

Day MO, Rubidge BS (2020) Biostratigraphy of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 149 - 164. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0012

Day MO, Smith RMH (2020) Biostratigraphy of the Endothiodon Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 165 - 180. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0011

Rubidge BS, Day MO (2020) Biostratigraphy of the Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 141 - 148. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0010

Schneider JW, Lucas SG, Scholze F, Voigt S, Marchetti L, Klein H, Opluštil S, Werneburg R, Golubev VK, Barrick JE, Nemyrovska T, Ronchi A, Day MO, Silantiev VV, Rößler R, Saber H, Linnemann U, Zharinova V, Shen S-Z (2020) Late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic continental biostratigraphy — Links to the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale. Palaeoworld, 29 (2) : 186 - 238. doi: 10.1016/j.palwor.2019.09.001

Smith RMH, Rubidge BS, Day MO, Botha J (2020) Introduction to the tetrapod biozonation of the Karoo Supergroup. South African Journal of Geology, 123 (2) : 131 - 140. doi: 10.25131/sajg.123.0009

CISNEROS JC, DAY MO, GROENEWALD J, RUBIDGE BS (2020) SMALL FOOTPRINTS EXPAND MIDDLE PERMIAN AMPHIBIAN DIVERSITY IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN KAROO. PALAIOS, 35 (1) : 1 - 11. doi: 10.2110/palo.2018.098

Rey K, Day MO, Amiot R, Fourel F, Luyt J, Van den Brandt MJ, Lécuyer C, Rubidge BS (2020) Oxygen isotopes and ecological inferences of Permian (Guadalupian) tetrapods from the main Karoo Basin of South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 538 : 109485 - 109485. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109485

Groenewald DP, Day MO, Rubidge BS (2019) Vertebrate assemblages from the north‐central Main Karoo Basin, South Africa, and their implications for mid‐Permian biogeography. Lethaia, 52 (4) : 486 - 501. doi: 10.1111/let.12326

Day M, Rubidge BS (2019) Biesiespoort revisited: a case study on the relationship between tetrapod assemblage zones and Beaufort lithostratigraphy south of Victoria West. Palaeontologia Africana, 53 : 51 - 65.

Day MO, Benson RBJ, Kammerer CF, Rubidge BS (2018) Evolutionary rates of mid-Permian tetrapods from South Africa and the role of temporal resolution in turnover reconstruction. Paleobiology, 44 (3) : 347 - 367. doi: 10.1017/pab.2018.17

Rey K, Day MO, Amiot R, Goedert J, Lécuyer C, Sealy J, Rubidge BS (2018) Stable isotope record implicates aridification without warming during the late Capitanian mass extinction. Gondwana Research, 59 : 1 - 8. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2018.02.017

Brocklehurst N, Day MO, Fröbisch J (2018) Accounting for differences in species frequency distributions when calculating beta diversity in the fossil record. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9 (6) : 1409 - 1420. doi: 10.1111/2041-210x.13007

Day MO, Smith RMH, Benoit J, Fernandez V, Rubidge BS (2018) A new species of burnetiid (Therapsida, Burnetiamorpha) from the early Wuchiapingian of South Africa and implications for the evolutionary ecology of the family Burnetiidae. Papers in Palaeontology, 4 (3) : 453 - 475. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1114

Roopnarine PD, Angielczyk KD, Olroyd SL, Nesbitt SJ, Botha-brink J, Peecook BR, Day MO, Smith RMH (2017) Comparative ecological dynamics of Permian-Triassic communities from the Karoo, Luangwa, and Ruhuhu Basins of southern Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 37 (sup1) : 254 - 272. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1424714

Brocklehurst N, Day MO, Rubidge BS, Fröbisch J (2017) Olson's Extinction and the latitudinal biodiversity gradient of tetrapods in the Permian. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284 (1852) : 20170231 - 20170231. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0231

Rey K, Amiot R, Fourel F, Rigaudier T, Abdala F, Day MO, Fernandez V, Fluteau F, France-Lanord C, Rubidge BS, Smith RM, Viglietti PA, Zipfel B, Lécuyer C (2016) Global climate perturbations during the Permo-Triassic mass extinctions recorded by continental tetrapods from South Africa. Gondwana Research, 37 : 384 - 396. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2015.09.008

Cole DI, Johnson MR, Day MO (2016) Lithostratigraphy of the Abrahamskraal Formation (Karoo Supergroup), South Africa. South African Journal of Geology, 119 (2) : 415 - 424. doi: 10.2113/gssajg.119.2.415

Angielczyk KD, Rubidge BS, Day MO, Lin F (2016) A reevaluation ofBrachyprosopus broomiandChelydontops altidentalis, dicynodonts (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the middle PermianTapinocephalusAssemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 36 (2) : e1078342 - e1078342. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2016.1078342

Day M, Rubidge B, Abdala F (null) A new mid-Permian burnetiamorph therapsid from the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa and a phylogenetic review of Burnetiamorpha.. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 61 : doi: 10.4202/app.00296.2016

Day MO, Ramezani J, Bowring SA, Sadler PM, Erwin DH, Abdala F, Rubidge BS (2015) When and how did the terrestrial mid-Permian mass extinction occur? Evidence from the tetrapod record of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282 (1811) : 20150834 - 20150834. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0834

Kammerer CF, Smith RMH, Day MO, Rubidge BS (2015) New information on the morphology and stratigraphic range of the mid-Permian gorgonopsianEriphostoma microdonBroom, 1911. Papers in Palaeontology, 1 (2) : 201 - 221. doi: 10.1002/spp2.1012

Day MO, Güven S, Abdala F, Jirah S, Rubidge B, Almond J (null) Youngest dinocephalian fossils extend the Tapinocephalus Zone, Karoo Basin, South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 111 (3/4) : 1 - 5. doi: 10.17159/sajs.2015/20140309

Day MO, Rubidge BS (2014) A brief lithostratigraphic review of the Abrahamskraal and Koonap formations of the Beaufort Group, South Africa: Towards a basin-wide stratigraphic scheme for the Middle Permian Karoo. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 100 : 227 - 242. doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.07.001

Day MO, Rubidge BS (null) The Late Capitanian Mass Extinction of Terrestrial Vertebrates in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 : doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.631198

Day M, Rubidge BS (null) Biesiespoort revisited: a case study on the relationship between tetrapod assemblage zones and Beaufort lithostratigraphy south of Victoria West. Palaeontologia Africana, 53 : 51 - 65.

Duhamel A, Benoit J, Day M, Rubidge B, Fernandez V (null) Computed Tomography elucidates ontogeny within the basal therapsid clade Biarmosuchia. PeerJ, 9 : e11866 - e11866. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11866

Rubidge BS, Day MO, Benoit J (null) New Specimen of the Enigmatic Dicynodont Lanthanostegus mohoii (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Southwestern Karoo Basin of South Africa, and its Implications for Middle Permian Biostratigraphy. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9 : doi: 10.3389/feart.2021.668143