Dr Martha Richter

Dr Martha Richter

Principal Curator, Vertebrates

Department: Earth Sciences
Division: ES Vertebrates and Anthropology Palaeobiology
Specialisms: Coaching (Leadership), Collections Management, Vertebrate Palaeontology (scientific research)
  • Phone: 79426008 6008

Summary

My professional career currently has two main components, collections management and scientific research. Since 2006, I manage the fossil vertebrates and anthropology collections, which comprise c. 1M fossils. I also line-manage their curators, whose work is essential to guarantee the long-term care, accessibility, documentation and development of these collections.

My research focuses on fossil fishes and other vertebrates, especially those from the Palaeozoic of Gondwana, but I also worked on fish fossils from Antarctica and other continents. I study their anatomy and histology, phylogenetic interrelationships and the geological context of the places where the fossils are found. Through extensive, internationally collaborative fieldwork in the Paraná and the Parnaíba sedimentary basins in Brazil we have discovered a wealth of new aquatic faunas, both marine and non-marine. The Permian period is of special interest, because these basins have been yielding important fossils that are filling our knowledge gap about how vertebrate faunas on that old continent lived and thrived, survived or perished during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event.

Qualifications

Degrees

  • PhD, Kings College London (KCL), United Kingdom, 1987 - 1991
  • Master of Science, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil, 1978 - 1981
  • Biology Full Licentiate degree (undergradute), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 1974 - 1977

Certifications

  • PRINCE2 Practitioner, Maven, London

Postgraduate training

  • Post-doctorate, Eberhard-Karl Universität Tübingen, Germany, 1998 - 1999

Academic

  • Visiting Researcher CNPq 1F, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Geology, Brazil, 2001 - 2004
  • Associated Lecturer and Post-Graduate Supervisor, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, Brazil, 2001 - 2004
  • Associated Professor, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Zoology, Brazil, 1991 - 1993
  • Assistent Professor, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Zoology, Brazil, 1991 - 1993
  • Assistent Reader, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Zoology, Brazil, 1986 - 1986
  • Visiting Professor, Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), Geology, Brazil, 1982 - 1982
  • Visiting Professor, Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Geology, Brazil, 1978 - 1978

Non-academic

  • Collections Manager (Vertebrates, Anthropology, Micropalaeontology), Natural History Museum, Earth Sciences, 2006 - ongoing
  • Head of the Laboratory of Paleontology, Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Museum of Sciences and Technology, 1985 - 2000
  • Curator of Fossil Fishes, Natural History Museum, Palaeontology, 2004 - 2006

Highlighted publications

  • RICHTER M, BOSETTI EP, HORODYSKI RS (2017) Early Devonian (Late Emsian) shark fin remains (Chondrichthyes) from the Paraná Basin, southern Brazil. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 89, 103 - 118. doi: 10.1590/0001-3765201720160458

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