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Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 8837 Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 8632 E-mail: b.villmoare@ucl.ac.uk |
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Dr. Brian Villmoare, BA, MA, PhD
Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology
Lecturer in the Human Evolution and Behavior Program
Lecturer in the Palaeolithic
Archaeology and Paleoanthropology Program
Biography
Brian Villmoare received his PhD in physical anthropology from Arizona State University in 2008. There he focused on the cranial morphology of early fossil hominins. For his dissertation he developed new geometric morphometric methods for quantifying morphological shape to address questions of systematics and craniofacial integration in the hominins. He has current research projects on the role of selection and genetics in evolutionary change, the evolutionary pressures leading to basicranial flexion, and on determining the homology of unique characters in the hominin cranium. He has been a member of the Ledi-Geraru Survey Project in the Afar region of Ethiopia since 2002 and is currently co-PI with Prof. Kaye Reed and Chris Campisano.
Research Projects
● The role of integration in evolutionary trajectories and extinction
● Morphological integration of the primate masticatory apparatus
● Finite element analysis of early hominins
● Mouse mutant models for integration of the hominin cranium
● CT analysis of the midface of Paranthropus
● Canalization and evolvability in Paranthropus
● The role of adaptation in strepsirrhine limb integration
Field Research
● Ledi-Gerari Research Project (Ethiopia)
● Senior Researcher - Koobi Fora Field School (2012)
● South African Paleocave Survey - Researcher
Research Interests
● The role of morphological integration in evolution
● The evolution and extinction of Paranthropus
● Geometric morphometrics
● Hominin systematics
● Homology and homoplasy
● Macroevolutionary patterns
Publications
Villmoare, B. 2012. Morphological integration, evolutionary constraints, and extinction: a computer simulation-based study. Evolutionary Biology, DOI 10.1007/s11692-012-9186-3
Fish, J., Villmoare, B., Köbernick, K., Compagnucci, C., Tarabykin, V., and Depew, M. 2011 Satb2, modularity, and the evolvability of the vertebrate jaw. Evolution and Development 13: 549-564.
Villmoare, B. and Kimbel, W. 2011. CT-based study of internal structure of the anterior pillar in extinct hominins and its implications for the phylogeny of robust Australopithecus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108: 16200-16205.
Villmoare, B, Fish, J, and Jungers, W. 2011. Selection, morphological integration, and strepsirrhine locomotor adaptations. Evolutionary Biology, 38: 88-99
Villmoare, B 2005 Metric and non-metric randomization
methods, geographic variation, and the single-species hypothesis for Asian and
African Homo erectus. Journal of Human Evolution. 49: 680-701.
Villmoare, B 2008 A geometric morphometric analysis of the midface of fossil hominins, great apes, and modern humans. PhD Dissertation. Arizona State University
Book Reviews
Villmoare, B. 2011 Review of Larsen, Clark
(ed.) A Companion to Biological Anthropology. To be published in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
Invited talks
2012 Studying Paranthropus from the inside out: a CT-based analysis of the anterior pillar, and its importance for the phylogeny of early hominins. Given at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, May 16, 2012.
2010 Integration
in the face of Paranthropus - a
geometric morphometric analysis. Given at Roehampton University,
Feb. 10, 2010.
Teaching
Palaeoanthropology: A course for 2nd and 3rd year students, covering the whole of human evolution from the perspective of the fossil record. Taught in the fall term.
Advanced Human Evolution: An in-depth analysis of various topics, including taxonomy, systematics, sexual dimorphism, allometry, adaptation, functional morphology, and anatomy of the hominin taxa. Taught in the spring term.
Statistics in the Social
and Historical Sciences: Intended for postgraduate research students. Taught in
the fall term.
Students supervised:
Christopher Dunsmore (MSc, 2011)
Shaun Kilpatrick (MSc, 2011)
Monica Nelson (MSc, 2011)
Hanna Enrith-Small (MSc, 2011)
Melanie Perritt (MSc, 2011)
Gina Depper (MSc, 2010)
Joachim E Williams (MSc, 2010)
Nadja Oerteldt (MSc, 2010)
Filiz Altinolouk (MSc, 2010)
Lauren Wallis (MSc, 2009)
Thomas O’Mahoney (MSc, 2009)
Links:
UCL Masters in Human Evolution and Behaviour
UCL Paleoanthropology and Paleolithic Archaeology
Photo Album:
