David Pilbeam

Research Interests:

A long-term interest involves the analysis of faunal change and its relationship to environmental change, in particular based on our extensive faunal record from the Neogene Siwalik Series of Pakistan. I also have long-term and continuing interest in the behavioral reconstruction and phylogenetic relationships of Miocene apes, including more theoretical aspects of phylogenetics. 

One particular current project involves approaches to reconstructing the morphology of the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.

I have also long been interested in so-called "molecular clocks" and on the necessary complementary roles played by genomics and paleontology in their calibration.

More recently I have studied evolutionary developmental biology, particularly the development and evolution of the anthropoid axial skeleton.

Recent Publications: 

2010 (with J DeSilva, M.E. Morgan, J.C. Barry) A hominoid distal tibia from the Miocene of Pakistan, J. Human Evol., 58: 147-154.

2013 (J. C. Barry, C. Badgley, A.K. Behrensmeyer, L.J. Flynn, H. Peltonen, I.U. Cheema, D. Pilbeam, S. Mahmood Raza, A.R. Rajpar, M.E Morgan. ) The Neogene Siwaliks of the Potwar Plateau and other regions of Pakistan.  In Fossil Mammals of Asia. Xiaoming Wang, L. J. Flynn, M. Fortelius (eds). Columbia University Press.

2013 (L. J. Flynn, E.H. Lindsay, D. Pilbeam, S. Mahmood Raza, M.E Morgan, J.C. Barry, C. Badgley, A.K. Behrensmeyer, I.U. Cheema, A.R. Rajpar, N.D. Opdyke.)  The Siwaliks and Neogene evolutionary biology in South Asia.  In Fossil Mammals of Asia. X. Wang, L. J. Flynn, M. Fortelius (eds). Columbia University Press.

2014 (L. J. Flynn, M.E. Morgan, D. Pilbeam, J. C. Barry.)  "Endemism” relative to space, time, and taxonomic level. Ann. Zool. Fenn., 51: 245-258.

2015 (M. E. Morgan, K. L. Lewton, J. Kelley, E. Otárola-Castillo, J. C. Barry, L. J. Flynn, D. Pilbeam) A partial hominoid innominate from the Miocene of Pakistan: description and preliminary analysis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 112 (1) 82-87.

2016 (C. Badgley, M.S. Domingo, J. Barry, M. Morgan, L. Flynn, D. Pilbeam) Continental gateways and the dynamics of mammalian faunas.  C. R. Palevol, 15: 763-779.

2016 (L. Flynn, D. Pilbeam, J. Barry, M. Morgan, S.M. Raza) Siwalik synopsis: a long stratigraphic sequence for the Later Cenozoic of South Asia. C. R. Palevol, 15: 877-887.

2017 (Co-Editor with M.M. Muller and R.W Wrangham) Chimpanzees and Human Evolution.  Harvard University Press

2017 (With D. L. Lieberman) Reconstructing the Last Common Ancestor of Chimpanzees and Humans. pp 22-140 In Chimpanzees and Human Evolution.  Eds M. M. Muller, R.W Wrangham, D. R. Pilbeam.

2017 (With M.M. Muller) The Evolution of the Human Mating System, pp 383-425 In Chimpanzees and Human Evolution.  Eds M.M. Muller, R.W. Wrangham, D. R. Pilbeam.

2025 (With C. Badgley and M. Morgan) At the foot of the Himalayas (Johns Hopkins Univ Press), 553 p.