Edward B. 'Ted' Daeschler is an American vertebrate

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and Associate Curator and Chair of Vertebrate Biology at the

Academy of Natural Sciences The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natur ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He is a specialist in fish paleontology, especially in the Late

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

, and in the development of the first limbed vertebrates. He is the discoverer of the

transitional fossil A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross ...

tetrapod A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek :wiktionary:τετρα-#Ancient Greek, τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and :wiktionary:πούς#Ancient Greek, πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four-Limb (anatomy), limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetr ...

'' Hynerpeton bassetti'', and a Devonian fish-like specimen of '' Sauripterus taylori'' with fingerlike appendages, and was also part of a team of researchers that discovered the transitional fossil ''

Tiktaalik ''Tiktaalik'' (; ) is a monospecific genus of extinct sarcopterygian (lobe-finned fish) from the Late Devonian Period, about 375 Mya (million years ago), having many features akin to those of tetrapods (four-legged animals). ''Tiktaalik'' is est ...

''. He received a Ph.D. from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1998. He has held recent research grants from the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

, the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

, and other donors. He is also known for his work on the preservation of natural history collections."Endangered collections" by Rex Dalton Nature 446, 605-606 (5 April 2007) He is a professor at

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science.

Selected publications

*Daeschler, E. B. and N. H. Shubin. 1998. Fish with Fingers?. ''Nature'' 391:133. *Daeschler, E. B. 2000. An early actinopterygian fish from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation in Pennsylvania, USA''. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences'' 150:181-192. *Daeschler, E. B. 2000. Early tetrapod jaws from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania, USA.

Journal of Paleontology The ''Journal of Paleontology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of paleontology. It is managed and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Paleontological Society. Indexing The ''Journal of Paleontology ...

74(2):301-308. *Ahlberg, P. E., Z. Johanson, and E. B. Daeschler. 2001. The Late Devonian lungfish ''Soederberghia'' (Sarcopterygii, Dipnoi) from Australia and North America, and its biogeographic implications.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology The ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that was established in 1980 by Jiri Zidek (University of Oklahoma). It covers all aspects of vertebrate paleontology, including vertebrate origins, evolu ...

21(1):1-12. *Davis, M., N. H. Shubin, E. B. Daeschler. 2001. Immature rhizodontids from the Devonian of North America. ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology'' 156(1):171-187. *Downs, J.P. and E.B. Daeschler. 2001. Variation within a large sample of ''Ageleodus pectinatus'' teeth (Chondichthyes) from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

21(4):811-814. *Daeschler, E. B., A. Frumes and C. F. Mullison. 2003. Groenlandaspidid placoderm fishes from Late Devonian of North America.'' Records of the Australian Museum.''55(1):45-60. *Shubin, N. H., E. B. Daeschler and M. I. Coates. 2004. The early evolution of the tetrapod humerus. ''Science'' 304(5667):90-93. *Davis, M., N. H. Shubin, and E. B. Daeschler. 2004. A new specimen of ''Sauripterus taylori'' (Sarcopterygii; Osteichthyes) from the Famennian Catskill Formation of North America.

24(1):26-40. *Wilson, H. M., E. B. Daeschler and S. Desbiens. 2005. New flat-backed archipolypodan millipedes from the Upper Devonian of North America.

79(4):737-743. *Friedman, M. and E. B. Daeschler. 2006. Late Devonian (Famennian) lungfishes from the Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, USA.

Palaeontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geo ...

49(6):1-17. *Shubin, N. H., E. B. Daeschler and F.A. Jenkins, Jr. 2006. The pectoral fin of ''Tiktaalik roseae'' and the origin of the tetrapod limb. ''Nature'' 440:764-771. *Daeschler, E. B., N. H. Shubin and F. A. Jenkins, Jr. 2006. A Devonian tetrapod-like fish and the evolution of the tetrapod body plan. ''Nature'' 440:757-763. *Downs, J. P., E.B. Daeschler, F. A. Jenkins, Jr, and N. H. Shubin. 2008. The cranial endoskeleton of ''Tiktaalik roseae''. ''Nature'' 445:925-929. *Daeschler, E. B., J. A. Clack, and N. H. Shubin. 2009. Late Devonian tetrapod remains from Red Hill, Pennsylvania, USA: how much diversity?.

Acta Zoologica ''Acta Zoologica'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. It is one of the world's leading zoological journals an ...

90:306-317.

References

External links

Official website
at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
Daeschler interview on ''The Colbert Report''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daeschler, Ted Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American paleontologists Pingry School alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Drexel University faculty American evolutionary biologists 20th-century American biologists 21st-century American biologists Franklin & Marshall College alumni