Gareth J. Dyke

Gareth John Dyke is a British vertebrate paleontologist, which deals in particular with dinosaurs and birds.

Dyke earned his bachelor's degree in 1997 in Biology and Geology at the University of Bristol, where he became his doctorate in 2000 in paleontology. As a post - graduate student he was at the American Museum of Natural History at Joel Cracraft. From 2002 he was a lecturer (from 2007 Senior Lecturer ) at University College Dublin in 2011 and Senior Lecturer in vertebrate paleontology at the University of Southampton.

He is a Research Associate of the AMNH and the National Museum of Ireland.

It dealt among other things with birds of the Early Eocene, including from the London clay (London Clay ), and its development after the fall of Cretaceous / Tertiary, the development of birds in the Cretaceous, evolution of wings, feathers and flight, flight mechanics of pterosaurs, the environmental conditions in Transylvania to the Cretaceous and the evolution of gallinaceous birds.

In 2010 he published with Robert Nudds an essay, in which he stated that would make the structure of the spring shaft of Archaeopteryx and Conficiusornis speak against active flying. Which has been objected to, among others, by Philip J. Currie, Gregory Paul and Luis Chiappe, including with regard to measurement problems stem strengths and wrong approaches to the weights.

In 2008 he was one of the descriptors is one of the oldest known perhaps parrots found in the Eocene of Denmark ( Mopsitta tanta ). With Cyril Alexander Walker in 2009, he described the Argentine Enantiornithen Elbretornis and 2007 with Walker and Eric Buffetaut the Enantiornithen Marti Navis ( Late Cretaceous, southern France, Argentina, North America).

With Darren Naish he described in 2004 Heptasteornis from the Late Cretaceous of Romania as a ( first found in Europe ) Representative of the Alvarezsauridae ( previously the fragmentary remains of Franz Nopcsa have also been described already as owl) ..

He edited also finds from the well-known since the 19th century Cretaceous sites of the Isle of Wight, so in 2013 a new pterosaur Vectidraco daisymorrisae (named after the five-year Scout ).

He is working on a biography of Franz Nopcsa.

Writings

• Istvan Fozy, Istvan Szente Fossils of the Carpathian Region, Indiana University Press 2013
• Editor with Gary Kaiser Living dinosaurs: the evolutionary history of modern birds, Chichester, Wiley, 2011
• Luis M. Chiappe with: The beginnings of birds: recent discoveries, ongoing arguments and new directions, in: Jason S. Anderson, Hans -Dieter Sues (Editor) Major Transitions in Vertebrate Evolution, Bloomington, U.S., Indiana University Press, 2007 pp. 303-336
• Vertebrates with Chiappe Fossil: birds, in Selley, Cocks, Plimer (Editor), Encyclopedia of Geology, Elsevier 2005
• The early evolutionary history with Chiappe of birds. In: J. Paleont. Soc. Korea .. 22, No. 1, 2006, pp. 133-151, pdf