Denise Sigogneau-Russell (born c. 1941/42) is a French palaeontologist who specialises in mammals from the Mesozoic, particularly from France and the UK. She is currently based at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle.
Background Denise Sigogneau-Russell completed her PhD in 1969 on therapsids - the forerunners of mammals - from South Africa, where she spent two years. In 1976 a Belgian amateur fossil hunter brought her a mammal tooth from a quarry in eastern France, and this inspired her to change direction and begin research on mammals from the Mesozoic.Kielan-Jaworowska, Z. 2013. In Pursuit of Early Mammals. Indiana University Press. She subsequently studied them in France, Portugal, Madagascar, Morocco, and England. Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska said that due to Sigogneau-Russell's "scholarship and diligence, she has contributed enormously to the knowledge of early mammal evolution.".
She was married to Donald E. Russell, also a palaeontologist specialising in mammals, with whom she carried out field projects and collaborated.
Research Sigogneau-Russell has published on many mammals and their predecessors, but she is best known for her work on Triassic triconodonts and morganucodontans, haramiyids and multituberculates, and British Cretaceous mammals with collaborator, Percy Butler. She has also written reviews of the anatomy and taxonomy of synapsidsSigogneau-Russell, D. and Sun, A.L., 1981. A brief review of Chinese synapsids. Geobios, 14(2), pp.275-279. and therapsids, as well as co-authoring papers on more recent fossil mammals.Gingerich, P.D., Russell, D.E., Sigogneau-Russell, D. and Hartenberger, J.L., 1979. Chorlakkia hassani, a new middle Eocene dichobunid (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from the Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan)MARSHALL L. G., MUIZON C. de & SIGOGNEAU-RUSSEL D. 1995. — Pucadelphys andinus (Marsupialia, Mammalia) from the Early Paleocene of Bolivia. Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, 164 p. (Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; 165).
In 1983 Sigogneau-Russell published her first review of the mammals from Rhaetian rocks in Saint-Nicholas-de-Port in Lorraine, France.Sigogneau-Russell, D., 1983. Nouveaux taxons de Mammifères rhétiens. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 28(1-2). She later published on more material from this area, including over 200 teeth obtained by screen-washing sediment. In 1991 she published a book on Mesozoic mammals, Les mammifères au temps des dinosaures Sigogneau-Russell, D., 1991. Les mammifères au temps des dinosaures. Masson.
She has authored over 56 research papers and contributed many more articles on palaeontology. She has named at least 3 orders and families, 5 genera, and 5 species of Mesozoic mammal from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
Scientific contributions Taxonomic names erected by Denise Sigogneau-Russell:
Haramiyidans: †Haramiyida Hahn, Sigogneau-Russell & Wouters, 1989 †Hahnodon Sigogneau-Russell, 1991Sigogneau-Russell (1991), "First evidence of Multituberculata (Mammalia) in the Mesozoic of Africa". Neues Jahrb Geol Paläontol, Monatshefte, p. 119-125. †Hahnodon taqueti Sigogneau-Russell, 1991 †Purbeckodon Butler, Sigogneau-Russell & Ensom, 2011P. M. Butler, D. Sigogneau-Russell and P. C. Ensom (2011). "Possible persistence of the morganucodontans in the Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group (Dorset, England)". Cretaceous Research. 33: 135–145. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2011.09.007. †Purbeckodon batei Butler, Sigogneau-Russell & Ensom, 2011 †Theroteinidae Sigogneau-Russell, Frank & Hammerle 1986D. Sigogneau-Russell, R. M. Frank, and J. Hemmerlé. 1986. A new family of mammals from the lower part of the French Rhaetic. The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs: Faunal Change Across the Triassic–Jurassic Boundary. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 99-108 †Theroteinus Sigogneau-Russell, Frank & Hammerle 1986 †Theroteinus nikolai Sigogneau-Russell, Frank & Hammerle 1986 Docodontans: †Borealestes mussettae (now Dorbunnodon) Sigogneau-Russell, 2003 Sigogneau-Russell D. 2003. Docodonts from the British Mesozoic. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 48(3) †Krusatodon Sigogneau-Russell, 2003 †Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis Sigogneau-Russell, 2003 Non-mammals: †Rubricacaecilia Evans & Sigogneau-Russell, 2003 †Rubricacaecilia monbaroni Evans & Sigogneau-Russell, 2003 †Tingitana Evans & Sigogneau-Russell, 1997 †Tingitana anoualae Evans & Sigogneau-Russell, 1997
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