Louis L. Jacobs
Ph.D., Arizona
Professor
Director of Shuler Museum of Paleontology
Phone 214-768-2773
Email jacobs@smu.edu
- Vertebrate Paleontology
- Evolution
Courses Taught
GEOL 1308 - Evolution and Life History
GEOL 3369 - Paleobiology
GEOL/BIOL 5366 - Vertebrate Origins and Evolution
Research Statement
Louis Jacobs is a vertebrate paleontologist who utilizes the fossil record to answer significant questions about Earth and life history. His fieldwork is currently focused in Angola, Antarctica, Alaska, and Mongolia. In the laboratory, his research utilizes advanced imaging and stable isotope techniques to investigate paleoenvironmental, biogeographic, and phylogenetic issues of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.
Selected Publications
Jacobs, L.L., 1993. Quest for the African Dinosaurs: Ancient Roots of the Modern World. Villard Books, New York, 330 pp.
Jacobs, L.L., Winkler, D.A., Downs, W.R., and Gomani, E.M. 1993. New material of an Early Cretaceous Titanosaurid Sauropod Dinosaur from Malawi. Palaeontology, 36(3): 523-534.
Jacobs, L.L., 1993. Cretaceous airport: the surprising story of real dinosaurs at DFW. Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, 24 pp.
Jacobs, L.L., and Downs, W.R. 1994. The evolution of murine rodents in Asia. In Yukimitsu Tomida, Chuankuei Li, and Takeshi Setoguchi (eds.), Rodent and Lagomorph Families of Asian Origins and Diversification, National Science Museum, Tokyo, Monograph Series, pp. 149-156.
Jacobs, L.L., 1995. Lone Star Dinosaurs. Texas A&M University Press, 160 pp.
Winkler, D.A., Murry, P.A., Jacobs, L.L., 1997. A. Primitive Tenontosaurus (Ornithopoda, Dinosauria) from the Early Cretaceous of Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 17(3), 330-348.
Jacobs, L.L., and D.A. Winkler. 1998. Mammals, archosaurs, and the early to late Cretaceous transition in north-central Texas. In Tomida, Y., L.J. Flynn, and L.L. Jacobs (eds.) Advances in Vertebrate Paleontology and Geochronology in honor of Everett H. Lindsay. National Science Museum, Tokyo, Monograph 14: 253-280.
Janis, C.M., K.M. Scott, and Louis L. Jacobs, (eds.). 1998. Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America. Volume I: Terrestrial carnivores, ungulates, and ungulatelike mammals. Cambridge University Press, 691 pp.
Jacobs, B.F., J. Kingston, and L.L. Jacobs. 1999. Origin of grass-dominated ecosystems. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 86: 590-643.
Polcyn, M.J., E. Tchernov, and L.L. Jacobs. 1999. The Cretaceous biogeography of the eastern Mediterranean with a description of a new basal mosasauroid from ‘Ein Yabrud, Israel. National Science Museum, Tokyo, Monograph 15: 259-290.
Tchernov, E., O. Rieppel, H. Zaher, M.J. Polcyn, L.L. Jacobs. 2000. A fossil snake with legs. Science, 287: 2010-2012.
Kobayashi, Y., D.A. Winker, L.L. Jacobs. 2002. Origin of the tooth replacement pattern in therian mammals: Evidence from a 110-million-year-old fossil. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 269: 369-373.
Polcyn, M.J., Jacobs, L.L., Rogers, J.V. II, and Kobayashi, Y. 2002. Computed Tomography of an Anolis lizard in Dominican amber: Systematic, taphonomic, biogeographic, and evolutionary implications. Paleontologica Electronica, 5(1):13pp, 5.6 MB, http://palaeo-electronica.org/paleo/2002_1/amber/issue1_02.htm.
Flynn, L.J., Winkler, A.J., Jacobs, L.L., and Downs, W.R. 2003. Tedford’s gerbils from Afghanistan. American Museum of Natural History Bulletin, 279:603-624.
Badgley, C., Flynn, L.J., Jacobs, L.L., and Taylor, L.H. 2004. A consideration of the paleontological contributions of Will Downs with a general correlation of Chinese Neogene localities. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 42: 340-344.
Polcyn, M.J., Jacobs, L.L., and Haber, A. 2005. A morphological model and CT assessment of the skull of Pachyrhachis problematicus (Squamata: Serpentes): A 98 million-year-old snake with legs from the Middle East. Palaeontologica Electronica, 8(1):http://palaeo-electronica.org.
Jacobs, L.L., Winkler, D.A., Newman, K.D., Gomani, E., and Deino, A. 2005. Therapsids from the Permian Chiweta Beds and the age of the Karoo Supergroup in Malawi. Palaeontologica Electronica, 8(1):http://palaeo-electronica.org.
Jacobs, L.L., Ferguson, K. Polcyn, M.J., and Rennison, C. 2005. Cretaceous d13C stratigraphy and the age of dolichosaurs and early mosasaurs. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 84: 257-268.
Jacobs, L.L., Polcyn, M.J., Taylor, L.H., and Ferguson, K. 2005. Sea-surface temperatures and palaeoenvironments of dolichosaurs and early mosasaurs. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 84: 269-281.
Jacobs, L.L., and Flynn, L.J. 2005. Of mice … again: The Siwalik rodent record, murine distribution, and molecular clocks. Pp. 63-80 in Leiberman, D.E., Smith, R.J., and Kelley, J. (editors), Interpreting the past: Essays on human, primate, and mammal evolution in honor of David Pilbeam. Brill Academic Publishers, Inc., Boston.
Jacobs, L.L., Mateus, O., Polcyn, M.J., Schulp, A.S., Antunes, M.T., Morais, M.L., and Tavares, T. da S. 2006. The occurrence and geological setting of Cretaceous dinosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, and turtles from Angola. Journal of the Paleontological Society of Korea, 22(1): 91-110.
Taylor, L. H., L.L. Jacobs, and William R. Downs. 2006. A review of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary in th Nanxiong Basin: Where is it? In Lü, J.C., Kobayashi, Y., Huang, D., and Lee, Y.N. (eds.), Papers from the 2005 Heyuan International Dinosaur Symposium. Geological Publishing House, Beijing, 39-59.
Jacobs, L.L., Fiorillo, A., Gangloff, R., and Pasch, A. 2007. Desmostylian remains from Unalaska Island, Aleutian Chain, Alaska. In Beard, C., and Luo, Zhe-Xi (eds.), Mammalian Paleontology on a Global Stage: Papers in Honor of Mary R. Dawson. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 39: 189-202.