VSU Guest Lecturer Talks Dinosaur Teeth Sept. 19

VALDOSTA — Dr. Greg Erickson from the Department of Biology at Florida State University will present “Complex Dental Structure and Biomechanics in Non-Avian Dinosaurs” at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19, in Hugh C. Bailey Science Center Room 1023.

Erickson is a professor of anatomy and vertebrate paleobiology and curator of the Biological Science Museum at Florida State University, co-director of the Paleo-Arctic Research Consortium, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Sponsored by the Department of Biology at Valdosta State University, Erickson’s guest lecture is free of charge and open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni, retirees, and friends of the university.

Erickson provided this synopsis: “Feeding in reptiles is simplistic. Their teeth typically are cone- or leaf-shaped, composed of just two tissues, and lack occlusion for chewing (mastication). As a consequence, their dietary diversity pales in comparison to mammals. Dinosaurs are the exception, with four lineages showing mammal-like feeding, including horse-like grinding dentitions. My research program has shown that the teeth in these animals are actually architecturally more complex than those of mammals, and the biomechanical properties of the dental tissues are remarkably preserved in 70-million-year-old fossils. From this we have developed means to determine how they evolved and functioned.”

Please contact the Department of Biology at VSU at (229) 333-5759 to learn more.