College of Arts and Sciences

Education:

• PhD, Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, 1998
• MS, Department of Paleontology, University of California at Berkeley, 1985
• BA, Department of Geology, Franklin and Marshall College, 1981

Curriculum Vitae:

Research Interests:

• Vertebrate Paleontology
• History of the Earth
• Late Devonian fossil vertebrates
• Origin of tetrapods
• Fossil collecting
• Museum curation

Bio:

Ted Daeschler has been at the Academy of Natural Sciences since 1987 and a member of the Drexel University faculty since 2011. Ted studied geology at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and received a Master’s in paleontology at the University of California at Berkeley in 1985. He was awarded his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998.

Ted’s pivotal exploration of Devonian-age fossil vertebrates has taken him from roadsides in Pennsylvania to Arctic Canada and Antarctica. His influential research on Late Devonian faunas includes seminal work on the origin of limbed vertebrates, the diversification of major groups of fishes, and the establishment of continental ecosystems.

Ted’s responsibilities at the Academy of Natural Sciences focus on research, collections building, and public programs within the museum. In addition, professor Daeschler was a scientific advisor for renovating the Academy’s Dinosaur Hall and various other paleontological exhibits.

Ted teaches geosciences courses in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science and enjoys collaborating with undergraduates and graduate students on paleontology research projects.

Selected Publications:

• Stewart, T.A., J.B. Lemberg, A Daly, E.B. Daeschler and N.H. Shubin. 2022. A new elpistostegalian from the Late Devonian of the Canadian Arctic. Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04990-w
• Downs, J.P and E.B. Daeschler. 2022. Second Langlieria (Tristichopteridae, Sarcopterygii) species from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and new phylogenetic consideration of Tristichopteridae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences 167(1): 241-260. https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0115
• Lemberg, J. B., E. B. Daeschler and N. H. Shubin. 2021. The feeding system of Tiktaalik roseae: an intermediate between suction feeding and biting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118 (7). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016421118
• Downs, J.P, J. Barbosa, and E.B. Daeschler. 2021. A new species of Eusthenodon (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a review of Eusthenodon taxonomy. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2021.1976197
• Wynd, B. M., E. B. Daeschler and M. R. Stocker (2020): Evolutionary homology in the fin-to-limb transition: evaluating the morphology of foramina in a Late Devonian humerus from the Catskill Formation, Clinton County, Pennsylvania, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1718682
• Olive, Sébastien, Yann Leroy , Edward B. Daeschler , Jason P. Downs , Sandrine Ladevèze & Gaël Clément. 2020. Tristichopterids (Sarcopterygii, Tetrapodomorpha) from the Upper Devonian tetrapod-bearing locality of Strud (Belgium, upper Famennian), with phylogenetic and paleobiogeographic considerations, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(1): DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1768105
• Downs, J. P. and E. B. Daeschler. 2020. A New Species of Megalichthys (Sarcopterygii, Megalichthyidae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a Report on the Cosmine-Covered Osteolepiform Fossils of the Catskill Formation, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(2). DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1774771
• Broussard, D., C. Treaster, J. Trop, E. Daeschler, P. Zippi, M. Vrazo and M. Rygel. 2020. Vertebrate Taphonomy, Paleontology, Sedimentology, and Palynology of a Fossiliferous Late Devonian Fluvial Succession, Catskill Formation, North-Central Pennsylvania, USA. Palaios 35: 470-494. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2110/palo.2020.005.
• Daeschler, E. B., J. P. Downs and C. Matzko. 2019. New material supports a description and taxonomic revision of Holoptychius ? radiatus (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation in Pennsylvania, USA. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 167:11-25.
• Downs J. P., E. B. Daeschler, N. Lo, E. N. Carey, and N. H. Shubin. 2019. Asterolepis alticristata n. sp. (Antiarchi) from the Upper Devonian (Frasnian) of Nunavut, Canada, and a report on the antiarch diversity of the Fram Formation. Geodiversitas 41 (19): 679-698. https://doi.org/10.5252/geodiversitas2019v41a19.
• Stewart, T.A., J. B. Lemberg, N. K. Taft, I. Yoo, E. B. Daeschler, and N. H. Shubin. 2019. Fin ray patterns at the fin-to-limb transition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1915983117
• Daeschler, E. B. and J. P. Downs. 2018. New description and diagnosis of Hyneria lindae (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2018.1448834.
• Downs, J. P., E. B. Daeschler, A. M. Long and N. H. Shubin. 2018. Eusthenopteron jenkinsi sp. nov. (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian of Nunavut, Canada, and a review of Eusthenopteron taxonomy. Breviora 562:1-14.
• Broussard, David, R., Jeffrey M. Trop, Jeff A. Benowitz, Edward B. Daeschler, John A. Chamberlain Jr and Rebecca B. Chamberlain. 2018. Depositional setting, taphonomy and geochronology of new fossil sites in the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian) of north-central Pennsylvania, USA, including a new early tetrapod fossil. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 511:168-187.
• Kamska, V., E. B. Daeschler, J. P. Downs, P.E. Ahlberg, P. Tafforeau and S. Sanchez. 2018. Long-bone development and life-history traits of the Devonian tristichopterid Hyneria lindae. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (December):1-12.