Dr Susannah Maidment
Senior Researcher
Division: ES Vertebrates and Anthropology Palaeobiology
Summary
My research interests can be split into three broad themes:
(1) Taxonomy and systematics of the ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs. I have worked on the systematics, anatomy and taxonomy of all major ornithischian dinosaur groups, with a particular focus on the armoured dinosaurs. My current work includes description of four new ornithischian dinosaurs, re-description of historic material, and the systematics of the armoured dinosaurs, the ornithopods, and the ceratopsians.
(2) Geological context of dinosaur evolution. I seek to characterize the environments in which dinosaur fossils are found in order to better understand the tempo and mode of dinosaur evolution, and I built the first chronostratigraphic framework for the Morrison Formation, western USA. Current projects include examining niche partitioning and evolution through time in Morrison dinosaurs, the stratigraphy, sedimentology and dinosaurs of the Wealden Supergroup, UK, and Middle Jurassic environments in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
(3) Dinosaurian biodiversity. The fossil record is pervasively biased by geological and human factors. In this research programme, I examine and quantify sources of fossil record bias with the aim of assessing the quality of the fossil record and whether it can reveal true biodiversity patterns of the past. Current projects include a new method for quantifying spatial bias, how taxonomic sampling affects palaeobiodiversity, and biodiversity patterns in the Late Cretaceous Western Interior region, USA.
I'm also the curator of the dinosaur, fossil crocodylomorph and basal archosauromorph collections.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Cambridge, Department of Earth Sciences, 2003 - 2007
- MSci, Imperial College London, London, 1999 - 2003
Degrees
Employment history
- Senior Lecturer, University of Brighton, School of Environment and Technology, United Kingdom, 2016 - 2018
- Imperial College Research Fellow, Imperial College London, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, United Kingdom, 2012 - 2016
- Researcher Co-Investigator, The Natural History Museum, Department of Palaeontology, United Kingdom, 2009 - 2012
Academic
Non-academic
Exploration Geologist, Talisman Energy, Viet Nam, 2008 - 2009
Committees
Member, Wood Award Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2019 - on going.
Member, Romer Prize Committee of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2017 - on going.
Secretary, Symposium on Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, 2016 - on going.
Memberships
Member, The Geologists' Association, 2016 - on going.
Member, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2003 - on going.
Member, The Palaeontological Association, 2001 - on going.
Fellow, The Geological Society, 2000 - on going.
Editorships
Editor in chief, Papers in Palaeontology, The Palaeontological Association, 2020 - on going.
Editor in chief, Palaeontology, The Palaeontological Association, 2020 - on going.
Associate editor, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, Taylor & Francis, 2011 - on going.
Publications
Maher AE, Burin G, Cox PG, Maddox TW, Maidment SCR, Cooper N, Schachner ER, Bates KT (null) Body size, shape and ecology in tetrapods. Nature Communications, 13 (1) : doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32028-2
Bestwick J, Godoy PL, Maidment SCR, Ezcurra MD, Wroe M, Raven TJ, Bonsor JA, Butler RJ (2022) Relative skull size evolution in Mesozoic archosauromorphs: potential drivers and morphological uniqueness of erythrosuchid archosauriforms. Palaeontology, 65 (3) : doi: 10.1111/pala.12599
Falkingham PL, Maidment SCR, Lallensack JN, Martin JE, Suan G, Cherns L, Howells C, Barrett PM (2022) Late Triassic dinosaur tracks from Penarth, south Wales. Geological Magazine, 159 (6) : 821 - 832. doi: 10.1017/s0016756821001308
Lockwood JAF, Martill DM, Maidment SCR (2021) A new hadrosauriform dinosaur from the Wessex Formation, Wealden Group (Early Cretaceous), of the Isle of Wight, southern England. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 19 (12) : 847 - 888. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2021.1978005
Spiekman SNF, Ezcurra MD, Butler RJ, Fraser NC, Maidment SCR (2021) Pendraig milnerae , a new small-sized coelophysoid theropod from the Late Triassic of Wales. Royal Society Open Science, 8 (10) : doi: 10.1098/rsos.210915
Brown EE, Butler RJ, Barrett PM, Maidment SCR (2021) Assessing conflict between early neornithischian tree topologies. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 19 (17) : 1183 - 1206. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2022.2032433
Breeden BT, Raven TJ, Butler RJ, Rowe TB, Maidment SCR (2021) The anatomy and palaeobiology of the early armoured dinosaur Scutellosaurus lawleri (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Kayenta Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Arizona. Royal Society Open Science, 8 (7) : 201676 - 201676. doi: 10.1098/rsos.201676
Cashmore DD, Butler RJ, Maidment SCR (2021) Taxonomic identification bias does not drive patterns of abundance and diversity in theropod dinosaurs. Biology Letters, 17 (7) : doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0168
Maidment SCR, Dean CD, Mansergh RI, Butler RJ (2021) Deep-time biodiversity patterns and the dinosaurian fossil record of the Late Cretaceous Western Interior, North America. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288 (1953) : 20210692 - 20210692. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0692
Maidment SCR, Sennikov AG, Ezcurra MD, Dunne EM, Gower DJ, Hedrick BP, Meade LE, Raven TJ, Paschchenko DI, Butler RJ (2020) The postcranial skeleton of the erythrosuchid archosauriformGarjainia primafrom the Early Triassic of European Russia. Royal Society Open Science, 7 (12) : 201089 - 201089. doi: 10.1098/rsos.201089
Dean CD, Chiarenza AA, Maidment SCR (2020) Formation binning: a new method for increased temporal resolution in regional studies, applied to the Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossil record of North America. Palaeontology, 63 (6) : 881 - 901. doi: 10.1111/pala.12492
Maidment SCR, Raven TJ, Ouarhache D, Barrett PM (2020) North Africa's first stegosaur: Implications for Gondwanan thyreophoran dinosaur diversity. Gondwana Research, 77 : 82 - 97. doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2019.07.007
Tschopp E, Maidment SCR, Lamanna MC, Norell MA (2019) Reassessment of a Historical Collection of Sauropod Dinosaurs from the Northern Morrison Formation of Wyoming, with Implications for Sauropod Biogeography. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 2019 (437) : 1 - 1. doi: 10.1206/0003-0090.437.1.1
Butler RJ, Sennikov AG, Dunne EM, Ezcurra MD, Hedrick BP, Maidment SCR, Meade LE, Raven TJ, Gower DJ (2019) Cranial anatomy and taxonomy of the erythrosuchid archosauriform‘Vjushkovia triplicostata’Huene, 1960, from the Early Triassic of European Russia. Royal Society Open Science, 6 (11) : 191289 - 191289. doi: 10.1098/rsos.191289
Maidment SCR, Muxworthy A (2019) A chronostratigraphic framework for the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, western U.S.A.. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 89 (10) : 1017 - 1038. doi: 10.2110/jsr.2019.54
Raven T, Barrett P, Xu X, Maidment S (null) A reassessment of the purported ankylosaurian dinosaur Bienosaurus lufengensis from the Lower Lufeng Formation of Yunnan, People’s Republic of China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 64 : doi: 10.4202/app.00577.2018
Maidment S (null) Theropods on top. 2 (7) : 1049 - 1049. doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0571-x
Raven TJ, Maidment SCR (null) The systematic position of the enigmatic thyreophoran dinosaurParanthodon africanus, and the use of basal exemplifiers in phylogenetic analysis. PeerJ, 6 : e4529 - e4529. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4529
Maidment SCR, Woodruff DC, Horner JR (2018) A new specimen of the ornithischian dinosaur Hesperosaurus mjosi from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, U.S.A., and implications for growth and size in Morrison stegosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 38 (1) : e1406366 - e1406366. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1406366
Barrett PM, Maidment SCR (2017) The evolution of ornithischian quadrupedality. Journal of Iberian Geology, 43 (3) : 363 - 377. doi: 10.1007/s41513-017-0036-0
Brassey CA, Maidment SCR, Barrett PM (2017) Muscle moment arm analyses applied to vertebrate paleontology: a case study usingStegosaurus stenopsMarsh, 1887. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 37 (5) : e1361432 - e1361432. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1361432
Raven TJ, Maidment SCR (2017) A new phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria, Ornithischia). Palaeontology, 60 (3) : 401 - 408. doi: 10.1111/pala.12291
Maidment SCR, Kirkpatrick C, Craik-Smith B, Blythe JE (2017) A new ornithischian dinosaur and the terrestrial vertebrate fauna from a bone bed in the Wealden of Ardingly, West Sussex. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 128 (3) : 332 - 339. doi: 10.1016/j.pgeola.2017.03.006
Maidment S, Balikova D, Muxworthy AR (2017) Magnetostratigraphy of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation and Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, and prospects for using magnetostratigraphy as a correlative tool in the Morrison Formation, In: Deciphering Complex Depositional Systems, Zeigler K, Parker W (Eds). Elsevier : 280 - 299.
Maidment SCR, Brassey C, Barrett PM (null) The Postcranial Skeleton of an Exceptionally Complete Individual of the Plated Dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming, U.S.A.. PLOS ONE, 10 (10) : e0138352 - e0138352. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138352
Bates K, Maidment SCR, Schachner ER, Barrett PM (null) Comments and corrections on 3D modeling studies of locomotor muscle moment arms in archosaurs. PeerJ, 3 : e1272 - e1272. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1272
Bates KT, Falkingham PL, Macaulay S, Brassey C, Maidment SCR (2015) Downsizing a giant: re-evaluating Dreadnoughtus body mass. Biology Letters, 11 (6) : 20150215 - 20150215. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0215
Bertazzo S, Maidment SCR, Kallepitis C, Fearn S, Stevens MM, Xie H-N (2015) Fibres and cellular structures preserved in 75-million–year-old dinosaur specimens. Nature Communications, 6 (1) : doi: 10.1038/ncomms8352
Brassey CA, Maidment SCR, Barrett PM (2015) Body mass estimates of an exceptionally complete Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Thyreophora): comparing volumetric and linear bivariate mass estimation methods. Biology Letters, 11 (3) : 20140984 - 20140984. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0984
Maidment SCR, Henderson DM, Barrett PM (2014) What drove reversions to quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaurs? Testing hypotheses using centre of mass modelling. Naturwissenschaften, 101 (11) : 989 - 1001. doi: 10.1007/s00114-014-1239-2
Maidment SCR, Bates KT, Falkingham PL, VanBuren C, Arbour V, Barrett PM (2014) Locomotion in ornithischian dinosaurs: an assessment using three-dimensional computational modelling. Biological Reviews, 89 (3) : 588 - 617. doi: 10.1111/brv.12071
Maidment S, Bates KT, Barrett PM (2014) Three-dimensional computational modeling of pelvic locomotor muscle moment arms in Edmontosaurus (Dinosauria, Hadrosauridae) and comparisons with other archosaurs, In: Hadrosaurs, Evans DE, Eberth DC (Eds). Indiana University Press : Bloomington. 433 - 448.
McDonald AT, Maidment S, Barrett PM, You HL, Dodson P (2014) Osteology of the basal hadrosauroid Equijubus normani (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from the Early Cretaceous of China, In: Hadrosaurs, Evans DE, Eberth DC (Eds). Indiana University Press : Bloomington. 44 - 72.
Maidment S, Barrett P (null) Osteological correlates for quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaurs. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, doi: 10.4202/app.2012.0065
Bates KT, Maidment SCR, Allen V, Barrett PM (2012) Computational modelling of locomotor muscle moment arms in the basal dinosaur Lesothosaurus diagnosticus: assessing convergence between birds and basal ornithischians. Journal of Anatomy, 220 (3) : 212 - 232. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01469.x
Maidment SCR, Barrett PM (2012) Does morphological convergence imply functional similarity? A test using the evolution of quadrupedalism in ornithischian dinosaurs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279 (1743) : 3765 - 3771. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1040
Maidment SCR, Linton DH, Upchurch P, Barrett PM (null) Limb-Bone Scaling Indicates Diverse Stance and Gait in Quadrupedal Ornithischian Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE, 7 (5) : e36904 - e36904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036904
Thompson RS, Parish JC, Maidment SCR, Barrett PM (2012) Phylogeny of the ankylosaurian dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 10 (2) : 301 - 312. doi: 10.1080/14772019.2011.569091
Barrett PM, Maidment S (2011) Wealden armoured dinosaurs, In: English Wealden Fossils, Batten DJ (Eds). The Palaeontological Association : London. 391 - 406.
Barrett PM, Maidment S (2011) Dinosaurs of Dorset: Part III, the ornithischian dinosaurs (Dinosauria, Ornithischia), with additional comments on the sauropods. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 132 : 145 - 163.
Barden HE, Maidment SCR (2011) Evidence for sexual dimorphism in the stegosaurian dinosaurKentrosaurus aethiopicusfrom the Upper Jurassic of Tanzania. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31 (3) : 641 - 651. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2011.557112
Maidment SCR, Barrett PM (2011) The locomotor musculature of basal ornithischian dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31 (6) : 1265 - 1291. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2011.606857
Maidment SCR, Barrett PM (2011) A new specimen of Chasmosaurus belli (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae), a revision of the genus, and the utility of postcrania in the taxonomy and systematics of ceratopsid dinosaurs. ZOOTAXA, 1 - 47.
Maidment S, Bates K, Allen V, Barrett P (2011) 3D COMPUTATIONAL MODELLING OF LOCOMOTOR MUSCLE MOMENT ARMS IN LESOTHOSAURUS DIAGNOSTICUS: IMPLICATIONS FOR BASAL DINOSAUR LOCOMOTION. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 31 : 149 - 150.
Maidment SCR (2010) Stegosauria: a historical review of the body fossil record and phylogenetic relationships. Swiss Journal of Geosciences, 103 (2) : 199 - 210. doi: 10.1007/s00015-010-0023-3
MAIDMENT SCR, PORRO LB (2010) Homology of the palpebral and origin of supraorbital ossifications in ornithischian dinosaurs. Lethaia, 43 (1) : 95 - 111. doi: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00172.x
Mateus O, Maidment SCR, Christiansen NA (2009) A new long-necked ‘sauropod-mimic’ stegosaur and the evolution of the plated dinosaurs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276 (1663) : 1815 - 1821. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1909
Maidment SCR, Norman DB, Barrett PM, Upchurch P (2008) Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria: Ornithischia). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 6 (4) : 367 - 407. doi: 10.1017/s1477201908002459
Upchurch P, Maidment S, Butler R, Benson R (2008) RECONSTRUCTING THE BIOGEOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF MIDDLE AND LATE JURASSIC DINOSAURS USING EVENT-BASED PARSIMONY TREEFITTING. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 28 (3) : 155A - 155A.
Maidment S, Porro L (2007) Homology and function of the ornithischian dinosaur palpebral. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 27 (3) : 111A - 111A.
NORMAN DB, BUTLER RJ, MAIDMENT SCR (2007) Reconsidering the status and affinities of the ornithischian dinosaur Tatisaurus oehleri Simmons, 1965. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 150 (4) : 865 - 874. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00301.x
Maidment SCR, Wei G, Norman DB (2006) Re-description of the postcranial skeleton of the middle Jurassic stegosaurHuayangosaurus taibaii. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26 (4) : 944 - 956. doi: 10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[944:rotpso]2.0.co;2
Balthasar U, Maidment S (2006) Pseudoscience should not be published in Nature. 444 (7120) : 679 - 680. doi: 10.1038/444679e
Lonergan L, Maidment SCR, Collier JS (2006) Pleistocene subglacial tunnel valleys in the central North Sea basin: 3-D morphology and evolution. Journal of Quaternary Science, 21 (8) : 891 - 903. doi: 10.1002/jqs.1015
Maidment S (2006) Systematics and phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria, Ornithischia). JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 26 (3) : 94A - 94A.
MAIDMENT SCR, WEI G (2006) A review of the Late Jurassic stegosaurs (Dinosauria, Stegosauria) from the People's Republic of China. Geological Magazine, 143 (5) : 621 - 634. doi: 10.1017/s0016756806002500
Lonergan L, Maidment S, Collier J (2006) Pleistocene subglacial tunnel valleys in the central North Sea basin: 3D morphology and evolution. Journal of Quaternary Science, 21 : 891 - 903.
Maidment S, Wei GB, Norman DB (2006) Re-description of the postcranial skeleton of the Middle Jurassic stegosaur Huayangosaurus taibaii. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 26 : 944 - 956.
Maidment S, Wei GB (2006) A review of Late Jurassic stegosaurs (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the People's Republic of China. Geological Magazine, 143 : 621 - 634.
Maidment S (2005) CHINA'S STEGOSAURS: A REVIEW OF UPPER JURASSIC ARMOURED DINOSAURS FROM CHINA. JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 25 (3) : 88A - 88A.
Hao B-Q, Ye Y, Maidment SC, Bertazzo S, Peng G-Z, You H-L (2020) Femoral osteopathy in Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis (Dinosauria: Stegosauria) from the Late Jurassic of Sichuan Basin, Southwestern China. Historical Biology, 32 (8) : 1028 - 1035. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2018.1561673
Maidment SCR, Strachan SJ, Ouarhache D, Scheyer TM, Brown EE, Fernandez V, Johanson Z, Raven TJ, Barrett PM (null) Bizarre dermal armour suggests the first African ankylosaur. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 5 (12) : 1576 - 1581. doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01553-6
Woodruff C, Trexler D, Maidment S (null) Two new stegosaur specimens from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 64 : doi: 10.4202/app.00585.2018
Supervision
Master's equivalent Lead supervisor to Leach R
Co supervisor(s): Graham M
The vertebrate fauna and depositional setting of a new bonebed from the Wealden Supergroup
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
7/10/2019 - 6/1/2020.
Doctorate (PhD) Co-supervisor to Dempsey M
Co supervisor(s): Bates K
Biomechanics of locomotion in ornithischian dinosaurs
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Funding: NERC ACCE DTP
7/10/2019 - on going.
Doctorate (PhD) Joint supervisor to Brown EE
Co supervisor(s): Butler R
Phylogeny of the basal cerapodan dinosaurs
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Funding: NERC CENTA DTP
2/9/2019 - on going.
Master's Lead supervisor to Hudson K
Co supervisor(s): Butler R
Taxonomic sampling bias and palaeobiogeography of the ornithopod dinosaurs
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
4/3/2019 - 12/8/2019.
Doctorate (PhD) Co-supervisor to Bonsor J
Co supervisor(s): Maidment S
Systematics and palaeobiology of the iguanodontid dinosaurs
University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
Funding: The Leverhulme Trust
7/1/2019 - on going.
Master's Lead supervisor to Burns H
Co supervisor(s): Butler R
Specimen-level cladistic analyses in palaeontology
Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
5/3/2018 - 6/8/2018.
Doctorate (PhD) Co-supervisor to Raven T
Co supervisor(s): Barrett PM
The taxonomic, phylogenetic and macroevolutionary history of the armoured dinosaurs (Dinosauria: Thyreophora)
Funding: University of Brighton Science Scholarship
2/10/2017 - 1/2/2021.
Doctorate (PhD) Co-supervisor to Regalado-Fernandez OR
Co supervisor(s): Maidment S
The early evolution of Sauropodomorph dinosaurs and the origins of quadrupedality in the largest land animals
Funding: CONICET (Mexico)
1/9/2014 - 27/8/2019.
Awards
Lyell Fund of the Geological Society,
Hodson Award of the Palaeontological Association,