K. Christopher Beard is an American paleontologist, an expert on the primate fossil record and a 2000 MacArthur Fellowship "Genius" Award Winner. Beard's research is reshaping critical debates about the evolutionary origins of mammals, including primates, routinely questioning current thinking about their geographical origins. Dr. Beard is the former Curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Mary R. Dawson Chair of Vertebrate Paleontology, at University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Distinguished Foundation Professor, Senior Curator at the University of Kansas. He was co-author with Dan Gebo about an extinct primate from China. Dr. Beard also authored the book The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes and Humans.Science Beard was also part of the research teams that discovered Teilhardina, the earliest primate ever found in North America, and Eosimias, one of the earliest higher primates yet discovered. He worked with NASA to scan a Tyrannosaurus rex skull. Beard received his PhD from the Functional Anatomy and Evolution Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1989.
Below is a list of taxa that Beard has contributed to naming:
YearTaxonAuthors2026Saharopithecus salemi gen. et sp. nov.Jaeger, Chaimanee, Benammi, Marivaux, Chavasseau, Beard, Valentin, Hlal, Bilal, Coster, & Brunet2024Phenacolemur cavatus sp. nov.Anemone, Jones, Van Regenmorter, & Beard2023Palaeohodites naduensis gen. et sp. nov.Rust, Ni, Tietjen, & Beard2023Ignacius dawsonae sp. nov.Miller, Tietjen, & Beard2023Ignacius mckennai sp. nov.Miller, Tietjen, & Beard2023Ceutholestes acerbus sp. nov.Jones & Beard2023Plagioctenodon dawsonae sp. nov.Jones & Beard2023Plagioctenodon goliath sp. nov.Jones & Beard2023Plagioctenoides cryptos sp. nov.Jones & Beard2021Nesomomys bunodens gen. et sp. nov.Beard, Métais, Ocakoğlu, & Licht2021Altaynycteris aurora gen. et sp. nov.Jones, Li, Ni, & Beard2021Simonsius harujensis sp. nov.Mattingly, Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger2020Africtis sirtensis gen. et sp. nov.Mattingly, Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger2018Anatolianycteris insularis gen. et sp. nov.Jones, Coster, Licht, Métais, Ocakoğlu, Taylor, & Beard2018Carpolestes twelvemilensis sp. nov.Mattingly, Sanisidro, & Beard2019Chiromyoides kesiwah sp. nov.Beard, Jones, Thurber, & Sanisidro2016Apidium zuetina sp. nov.Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger2008Teilhardina magnoliana sp. nov.Beard2007Baataromomys ulaanus gen. et sp. nov.Ni, Beard, Meng, Wang, & Gebo2004Eosimias dawsonae sp. nov.Beard & Wang2004Phenacopithecus krishtalkai sp. nov.Beard & Wang2004Phenacopithecus xueshii gen. et sp. nov.Beard & Wang1996Eosimias centennicus sp. nov.Beard, Tong, Dawson, Wang, & Huang1994Macrotarsius macrorhysis sp. nov.Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li1994Adapoides troglodytes gen. et sp. nov.Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li1994Eosimias sinensis gen. et sp. nov.Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li1988Smilodectes gingerichi sp. nov.Beard1988Copelemur australotutus sp. nov.Beard
Awards 2000 MacArthur Fellows Program
Books The hunt for the dawn monkey: unearthing the origins of monkeys, apes, and humans, University of California Press, 2004, "Mammalian Biogeography and Anthropoid Origins", Primate biogeography: progress and prospects, Editors Shawn M. Lehman, John G. Fleagle, Springer, 2006, "Basal Anthropoids", The primate fossil record, Editor Walter Carl Hartwig, Cambridge University Press, 2002, "Early Wasatchian Mammals From the Gulf Coastal Plain of Mississippi", Eocene biodiversity: unusual occurrences and rarely sampled habitats, Editor Gregg F. Gunnell, Springer, 2001,
Papers
References
External links "K. Christopher Beard", Scientific Commons , The Washington Post, Apr 5, 1996