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Paleontological Services

Field Guide

CONTACT:
Tom Deméré, Ph.D.
619.255.0232
fax: 619.232.0248
paleo@sdnhm.org

Our region has a natural history that extends back millions of years and encompasses many past physical "stages" and biological "players." Even the slightest glimpse into this dynamic past leaves me with a profound sense of wonder.

As Curator of Paleontology, Dr. Deméré has occupied the Joshua L. Baily, Jr. Chair of Paleontology at the Museum since 1994. Tom's research focuses on the evolutionary history and paleobiology of pinnipeds and cetaceans. He is also keenly interested in the geology and paleontology of southern California and Baja California and has published numerous scientific and popular articles on these subjects.

Tom also serves as Director of PaleoServices, a consulting arm of the BRCC that provides paleontological resource assessment and impact mitigation services to public and private developers. This work has been responsible for the discovery, salvage, and conservation of thousands of significant fossils from construction sites in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside counties.

Publications: (In *PDF)

Mihlbachler, M.C. and T.A. Deméré 2009 .
A New Species of Brontotheriidae (Perissodactyla, Mammalia) from the Santiago Formation (Duchesnean, Middle Eocene) of Southern California. Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History 41:1-36.

Deméré, T.A. 1983.
The Neogene San Diego Basin: A review of the marine Pliocene San Diego Formation. In Larue, D.K. and R.J. Steel (eds.), Cenozoic Marine Sedimentation Pacific margin, U.S.A. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Pacific Section. Pp. 187-195.

Deméré, T.A. 2006.
Chapter 2, The Imperial Sea: Marine Geology and Paleontology, Pp. 29-41. In G.T. Jefferson and L. Lindsay (eds.) Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert. Sunbelt Publications, Inc., San Diego, CA

Deméré, T.A. and A. Berta. 2001.
A re-evaluation of Proneotherium repenningi from the middle Miocene Astoria Formation of Oregon and its position as a basal odobenid (Pinnipedia: Mammalia). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21(2): 279-310

Deméré, T.A. and A. Berta. 2002.
The Miocene pinniped Desmatophoca oregonensis Condon, 1906 (Mammalia: Carnivora) from the Astoria Formation, Oregon. In Emry, R.J. (ed.), Cenozoic Mammals of Land and Sea: Tributes to the Career of Clayton E. Ray. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 93:113-147.

Deméré, T.A., A. Berta, and P.J. Adam. 2003.
Pinnipedimorph evolutionary biogeography. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 13(279):32-76.*

Deméré, T.A. and A. Berta. 2005.
New skeletal material of Thalassoleon (Otariidae:Pinnipedia) from the late Miocene-Early Pliocene (Hemphillian) of California. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History 45(4): 379-411.

Deméré, T.A. and A. Berta. 2008.
Skull anatomy of the Oligocene toothed mysticete Aetiocetus weltoni (Mammalia; Cetacea): implications for mysticete evolution and functional anatomy. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 108:308-352.

Deméré, T.A., A. Berta, and P.J. Adam. 2003.
Pinnipedimorph evolutionary biogeography. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 13(279):32-76.

Deméré, T.A., A. Berta, and M.R. McGowen. 2005.
The taxonomic and evolutionary history of fossil and modern balaenopteroid mysticetes. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 12:99-143.

Deméré, T.A., M.R. McGowen, A. Berta, and J. Gatesy. 2008.
Morphological and molecular evidence for a stepwise evolutionary transition from teeth to baleen in mysticete cetaceans. Systematic Biology 57:15-37.

Deméré, T.A. and N.S. Rugh. 2006.
Chapter 3, Invertebrates of the Imperial Sea, Pp. 43-69. In G.T. Jefferson and L. Lindsay (eds.) Fossil Treasures of the Anza-Borrego Desert. Sunbelt Publications, Inc., San Diego, CA .

Coombs, W.P., Jr. and T.A. Deméré. 1996.
A late Cretaceous nodosaurid ankylosaur (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from marine sediments of coastal California. Journal of Paleontology 70:311-326.

Johnston, C., T.A. Deméré, A. Berta, J. Yonas, and J. St.Leger. 2010.
Observations on the musculoskeletal anatomy of the head of a neonate gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), Marine Mammal Science 26:186-194.

Squires, R.L. and T.A. Deméré. 1991.
A middle Eocene marine molluscan assemblage from the usually non-marine Friars Formation, San Diego County, California. In P.L Abbott and J.A. May (eds.), Eocene Geologic History, San Diego Region. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Pacific Section, Vol. 68:181-187.

Wagner, H.M., B.O. Riney, T.A. Deméré, and D.R. Prothero. 2001.
Magnetic stratigraphy and land mammal biochronology of a nonmarine facies of the Pliocene San Diego Formation, San Diego County, California. In Prothero, D.R. (ed.), Magnetic Stratigraphy of the Pacific Coast Cenozoic. SEPM Pacific Section Book 91: 359-368.

Walsh, S. L., and T. A. Deméré. 1991.
Age and stratigraphy of the Sweetwater and Otay formations, San Diego County, California. In P. L. Abbott and J. A. May (eds.), Eocene Geologic History San Diego Region. Pacific Section SEPM Volume 68:131-148.

*If unable to open the PDF document, please download Adobe Acrobat Reader.