Dr Davide Foffa
Research interests/expertise: Anatomy, systematics, palaeoecology and macroevolution of fossil vertebrates, particularly Triassic archosauromorphs, Mesozoic marine reptiles, and their ecosystems, computed tomography.
Davide is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Palaeobiology at the University of Birmingham who specialises on Mesozoic tetrapods and their ecosystems. He is particularly interested in the composition and structure of vertebrates.
Davide's research aims to understand the form (anatomy), function (biomechanics) and relationships (systematics) of tetrapod groups and how anatomical innovations translate into ecological diversity. He uses palaeontological data to understand origins, evolution, drivers and broad patterns of taxonomic and ecological diversity in deep time and through major evolutionary events (e.g., mass extinctions). He utilises foundational paleontological methods (e.g., museum collections, comparative anatomy, systematics) and advanced imaging technologies (e.g., computed tomography, photogrammetry) and computer-based analytical methods (e.g., cladistics, multivariate analyses, phylogenetic comparative methods, ecological modeling, biomechanics). He regularly participates in fieldwork in USA and UK (England and Scotland).
Davide has published extensively on the topics of anatomy, systematics, biomechanics, paleoecology, and evolution of a broad variety of terrestrial and aquatic vertebrate groups, particularly from the Triassic and Jurassic periods. At National Museums Scotland his work has focused on the Permian and Triassic Elgin Reptile fauna, and the marine reptiles and tetrapod footprints from the Jurassic formations of Scotland (Inner Hebrides and Helmsdale).
Davide is also a research associate of Virginia Tech.
https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/gees/foffa-davide
Selected publications
Foffa D., Young M.T., Brusatte S.L. 2024. Comparative functional morphology indicates niche partitioning amongst sympatric marine reptiles. Royal Society Open Science11: 231951. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231951
George H., Kammerer C.F, Foffa D., Clark N.D.L. Brusatte S.L. 2024. Micro-CT data reveals new information on the craniomandibular and neuroanatomy of the dicynodont Gordonia (Therapsida: Anomodontia) from the late Permian of Scotland. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 203: zlae065. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae065
Foffa D., Nesbitt S.J., Butler R.J., Fraser N.C., Brusatte S.L., Walsh S., Barrett P.M. 2024. The osteology of the Late Triassic reptile Scleromochlus taylori from µCT data. The Anatomical Record 307 (4): 1113–1146. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25335
Foffa D., S.J. Nesbitt, B.J. Kligman, R.J. Butler, M.R. Stocker. 2023. New specimen and redescription of Anisodontosaurus greeri and the spatiotemporal origins of trilophosauridae. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 42 (6): e2220015. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2023.2220015
Foffa D., Dunne E.M., Nesbitt S.J., Butler R.J., Fraser N.C., Brusatte S.L., Farnsworth A., Lunt D.J., Valdes P.J., Walsh S., Barrett P.M. 2022. Scleromochlus and the early evolution of Pterosauromorpha. Nature 610: 313–318 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05284-x
Foffa D., Butler R.J., Nesbitt S.J., Stig W., Barrett P.M., Brusatte S.L., Fraser N.C. 2020. Revision of Erpetosuchus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) and new erpetosuchid material from the Late Triassic ‘Elgin Reptile’ fauna based on µCT scanning techniques. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 111 (4): 209–233 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691020000109
Foffa D., Johnson M.M., Young M.T., Steel L., Brusatte S.L. 2019. Revision of the Late Jurassic deep-water teleosauroid crocodylomorph Teleosaurus megarhinus Hulke, 1871 and evidence of pelagic adaptations in Teleosauroidea. PeerJ 7: e6646. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6646
Foffa D., Young M.T., Stubbs T.L., Dexter K.G., Brusatte S.L. 2018. The long-term ecology and evolution of marine reptiles in a Jurassic seaway. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2: 1548–1555. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0656-6
Foffa D., Young M.T., Brusatte S.L. 2018. Filling the Corallian gap: new information on Late Jurassic marine reptile faunas from England. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63 (2): 287–313. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00455.2018
Foffa D., Young M.T., Brusatte S.L., Graham M.R., Steel L. 2017. A new metriorhynchid crocodylomorph from the Oxford Clay Formation (Middle Jurassic) of England, with implications for the origin and diversification of Geosaurini. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 16 (13): 1123-1143. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2017.1367730
Foffa D., Cuff A.R., Sassoon J., Rayfield E.J., Mavrogorodato M.N., Benton M.J. 2014. Functional anatomy and feeding biomechanics of a giant Upper Jurassic pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from Weymouth Bay, Dorset, UK. Journal of Anatomy 225 (2): 209–219. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12200
Foffa D., Whiteside D., Viegas P.A., Benton M.J. 2014. Vertebrates from the Late Triassic Thecodontosaurus-bearing rocks of Durdham Down quarry, Clifton (Bristol, UK). Proceedings of the Geologists' Association 125 (3): 317-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pgeola.2014.02.002