Research Projects Palaeontology
Ammoniten aus dem Mesozoikum
Klaus Schmitt sammelt seit fast 40 Jahren Fossilien - schwerpunktmäßig Ammoniten. Dabei konnte er eine Vielzahl von z.T. hervorragend erhaltenen Exemplaren finden, kaufen oder tauschen. Zum Teil handelt es sich um äußerst...[details]
Plant-Arthropod interactions in the Late Palaeozoic
Since the first land plants in the Ordovician appeared preconditions for terrestrial animal life were given. As a consequence in the Devonian and Carboniferous the first forests in earth history evolved housing already a number...[details]
Grabung jungtertiäre Wirbeltierfundstelle Höwenegg (Hegau)
Seit dem Jahre 2003 werden wieder Grabungen an der jungtertiären Wirbeltierfundstelle Höwenegg durch die Geowissenschaftliche Abteilung des Staatlichen Museums für Naturkunde Karlsruhe in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Staatlichen Museum...[details]
Biostratigraphie und Paläoökologie der zentralen Oberen Süßwassermolasse im westlichen Bodensee-Gebiet
Am Nordrand des Schienerberges im westlichen Bodenseegebiet sind die 14-13 Mio. Jahre alten Sedimente der zentralen Oberen Süßwassermolasse besonders gut in einem über 100 m mächtigen Profil aufgeschlossen. Glimmerreiche, gut...[details]
In preparation: Palaeoecology of the Rupelian Sea
We plan to establish a long-term research project in the clay pit Unterfeld together with Dr. Norbert Micklich (Hesse State Darmstadt), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stinnesbeck (Exzellency University Heidelberg) and Dr. Gerald Mayr...[details]
The Höwenegg Antelope Miotragocerus
Following the primary focus of the project on the recovery of skeletons in previous years, we now increasingly aim at the scientific study of the collected material. This is of particular importance concerning the Höwenegg...[details]
A new concentration lagerstätte for marine vertebrates of Tithonian (Uppermost Jurassic) age in southern Coahuila, Mexico
During our research work in NE Mexico on Late Jurassic sediments containing well preserved vertebrate and invertebrate fossils (e.g., at Aramberri, Nuevo León), we discovered a locality where remnants of marine reptiles of ?Early...[details]
In preparation: A dinosaur graveyard in the Late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) at Cerro de Angostura near Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, northeast Mexico
In the Cañon Cerro de Angostura near the hamlet Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, we discovered about ten clusters of weathered-out dinosaur bones in an area of only about 200 metres long and 30 metres wide. Sediments belong to the...[details]
Palaeobiogeography of southern Patagonia during the late Cretaceous and Paleogene: a key for the understanding of the evolution of Antarctic faunas and floras
The objective of our work in the Chilean part of Patagonia is to reconstruct the evolution of marine and terrestrial ecosystems around the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary and the triggers that caused mass extinctions and global...[details]
Excavation Project: Dwarf Hippo Pleistocene Crete
The Pleistocene fauna of Crete is a unique mixture between European and African faunal elements, amongst these mammals that only inhabited Crete. One of these endemic animals is the dwarf hippo Hippopotamus creutzburgi. The...[details]
Fossils from the 'Mauerer Sande' - inventory, revision on molars of Elephantidae and palaeocology
Beside the famous mandible of Homo heidelbergensis found in the year 1907, the sand pits around the towns of Mauer and Bammental yielded more than 5.000 fossil remains of a diverse mammalian faunal assemblage. Based on the...[details]
Cretaceous fish assemblages in north-eastern Mexico: a case-study for actinopterygian diversification and global paleobiogeography
Recent palaeontological fieldwork unearthed a plethora of platy limestone deposits in north-eastern Mexico, which yields exceptionally preserved fossil fishes of Cretaceous age. During the project, which is supported by the...[details]
Innovative Constructions and Regulation System for Membrane Lightweight Building Based on Flying Animals with Membrane Wings – Project Part of the SMNK
The project is a cooperation project between architects, structural engineers, textile engineers and biologists. The SMNK has the task to explore the material properties and histology of flight membarnes and their dependence from...[details]
Fossils of the Korbach Fissure
During the 90s the SMNK together with the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (USA) conducted excavation campaigns in the Late Permian Korbach Fissure (Northern Hesse State) for several years. These excavations were...[details]
Evolution of pinniped carnivores – a case study of engineering morphology
Within this DFG-project, data on anatomy and locomotion of extant pinniped carnivores (seals and sea lions) are collected, complied and categorized to anatomy based construction types. For each construction type bracing systems...[details]
Internal anatomy of therapsid skulls (Forerunners of Mammals)
The oldest mammals are known from the Late Triassic and evolved from a group of more primitive land-living vertebrates, the therapsids. Because therapsids were already particularly mammal-like, they are essential for the...[details]
Biomechanics of Mustelids
Mustelid carnivores show an enormous variety of locomotion modes that are reflected in anatomical features. It is the aim of the project to correlate locomotion modes and anatomical features in order to find compliances that are...[details]
Completed Projects
Dynamik des Lebens
Das Projekt „Dynamik des Lebens" wurde in Zusammenarbeit vom Staatlichen Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, PXNG.LI, und Contexts Relationen GmbH umgesetzt und von der Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg finanziell unterstützt....[details]
