Paul Callistus Sereno is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
paleontologistPaleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
from the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
who discovered several new
dinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
species on several continents. He has conducted excavations at sites as varied as Inner
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
,
ArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
,
MoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, and
NigerNiger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
.
He is a professor at the
University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and a National Geographic "explorer-in-residence." The son of a
milkmanA milkman is a person, traditionally male, who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver products other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt or soft drinks...
and an art teacher at Prairie Elementary, Paul grew up in
NapervilleNaperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...
,
IllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and graduated from
Naperville Central High SchoolNaperville Central High School is a public four-year comprehensive school ranked in the top 3% of high schools nationally by US News and World Report, covering grades nine through twelve in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in the United States...
. Sereno's most widely publicized discovery is that of a nearly complete specimen of
Sarcosuchus imperator (popularly known as SuperCroc) at
GadoufaouaGadoufaoua is a site in the Tenere desert of Niger known for its extensive fossil graveyard, where remains of Sarcosuchus imperator, popularly known as SuperCroc, have been found , including vertebrae, limb bones, armor plates, jaws, and a nearly complete 6-foot skull.Gadoufaoua is very hot...
in the
TenereThe Ténéré is a desert region in the south central Sahara. It comprises a vast plain of sand stretching from northeastern Niger into western Chad, occupying an area of over...
desert of Niger.
Fossils described by Sereno or his team include:
Dinosaurs
- Aerosteon
Aerosteon is a genus of allosauroid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Argentina. Its remains were discovered in 1996 in the Anacleto Formation, dating to the Santonian stage . The type and only known species is A. riocoloradensis...
- Afrovenator
Afrovenator is a genus of megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the mid Jurassic Period of northern Africa. It was a bipedal predator, with a mouthful of sharp teeth and three claws on each hand...
- Significant new material of Carcharodontosaurus
Carcharodontosaurus was a gigantic carnivorous carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 100 to 93 million years ago, during the late Albian to early Cenomanian stages of the mid-Cretaceous Period...
- Deltadromeus
Deltadromeus is a genus of large basal ceratosaurian theropod dinosaur from Northern Africa. It had long, unusually slender hind limbs for its size, suggesting that it was a swift runner. The skull is not known. Two fossil specimens of a single species Deltadromeus (meaning "delta runner") is a...
- Eocarcharia
Eocarcharia is a genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Elrhaz Formation that lived in the Sahara 112 million years ago, in what today is the country of Niger. It was discovered in 2000 on an expedition led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno. The...
- Eodromaeus
Eodromaeus is an extinct genus of basal theropod dinosaur known from the Late Triassic period of Argentina. It has been cited by Sereno as resembling a supposed common ancestor to all dinosaurs, the "Eve" of the dinosaurs....
- Eoraptor
Eoraptor was one of the world's earliest dinosaurs. It was a two-legged saurischian, close to the ancestry of theropods and sauropodomorphs. It lived ca. 231.4 million years ago, in what is now the northwestern region of Argentina...
- Erliansaurus
Erliansaurus is a genus of therizinosauroid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China.A fossil of Erliansaurus was found near Sanhangobi in Inner-Mongolia. The type species, Erliansaurus bellamanus, was described by Xu Xing, Zhang Xiaohong, Paul Sereno, Zhao Xijin, Kuang Xuewen, Han Jun...
- Graciliceratops
Graciliceratops is a Ceratopsian dinosaur first described by paleontologist Paul Sereno in 2000. It is known from the Late Cretaceous period and its fossils were found in Mongolia...
- Significant new material of Herrerasaurus
Herrerasaurus was one of the earliest dinosaurs. All known specimens of this carnivore have been discovered in rocks of late Ladinian age in northwestern Argentina...
- Jobaria
Jobaria was a sauropod dinosaur discovered in the Sahara Desert in 1997. It was named after "Jobar", a creature of local legends, and is thought to have been about 18 metres long. It was found in the Tiourarén Formation, originally thought to represent the Hauterivian to Barremian stages of the...
- Kryptops
Kryptops is a genus of abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Niger. It is known from a partial skeleton found at the Gadoufaoua locality in the western Ténéré Desert, in rocks of the Aptian-Albian age Elrhaz Formation...
- Neimongosaurus
Neimongosaurus is a genus of herbivorous therizinosaur theropod dinosaur known from the Upper Cretaceous of Nei Mongol, China....
- Nigersaurus
Nigersaurus is a genus of diplodocoid sauropod dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous period, about 119 to 99 million years ago during the Aptian or Albian age. This dinosaur was described by Paul Sereno and colleagues in 1999...
- Several new species of Psittacosaurus
Psittacosaurus is a genus of psittacosaurid ceratopsian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now Asia, about 130 to 100 million years ago. It is notable for being the most species-rich dinosaur genus...
- Rajasaurus
Rajasaurus is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurian theropod dinosaur with an unusual head crest. Between 1982 and 1984, its fossilized bones were discovered by Suresh Srivastava of the Geological Survey of India...
- Raptorex
Raptorex is a dubious genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur. Its fossil remains consist of a single juvenile specimen probably uncovered in Mongolia, or possibly northeastern China. The type species is R. kriegsteini, described in 2009 by Sereno and colleagues. The genus name is derived from Latin ,...
- Rugops
Rugops is a genus of theropod dinosaur which inhabited what is now Africa approximately 95 million years ago...
- Spinostropheus
Spinostropheus is a genus of small ceratosaurian dinosaur that lived in the late Jurassic period of Niger. Once thought to be a species closely related to the abelisaurs , subsequent studies have confirmed the original interpretation as a basal ceratosaur closely related to Elaphrosaurus...
- Suchomimus
Suchomimus is a genus of large spinosaurid dinosaur with a crocodile-like mouth that lived sometime between 121-112 million years ago, during the late Aptian stage of the Cretaceous period in Africa.-Description:...
Other Fossil Reptiles
- Marasuchus
Marasuchus is a genus of dinosaur-like ornithodiran from the middle Triassic Chañares Formation of Argentina. The species Marasuchus lilloensis was originally described as a second species of Lagosuchus, L. lilloensis...
, an early relative of dinosaurs
- "The African Pterosaur
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight...
"
- Sarcosuchus imperator or SuperCroc
- Anatosuchus minor or DuckCroc from Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
- Araripesuchus rattoides or RatCroc from Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
and MoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
- Kaprosuchus saharicus or BoarCroc from Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
and MoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
- Laganosuchus thaumastos or PancakeCroc from Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
and MoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
- Laganosuchus maghrebensis or PancakeCroc from Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
and MoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
On August 14, 2008, it was revealed that Sereno had uncovered the large Stone Age cemetery
GoberoThe Gobero archaeological site was discovered in 2000 and is the oldest known graveyard in the Sahara Desert, dating back to 8000 BCE.Located in the Ténéré desert of Niger, it is named after the Tuareg name for the region.-Archaeology:...
in the
NigerNiger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
ien
SaharaThe Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...
, and together with a team of archaeologists had worked on it the last eight years.
He has been named one of
PeopleIn 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People (1997).
Dr. Sereno and his wife, Gabrielle Lyon, founded
Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization to encourage city kids to pursue careers in science.
He appears in the 2009 DVD
Dinosaur Discoveries featuring classic segments of
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
anchorman
Walter CronkiteWalter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
as the host which aired on
A&EThe A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
in 1991. It was later re-shown on the
Disney ChannelDisney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
until the late 1990s.
External links