José Fernando Bonaparte (14 June 1928 – 18 February 2020) was an Argentine

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

who discovered a plethora of South American

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s and mentored a new generation of Argentine paleontologists . One of the best-known Argentine paleontologists, he has been described by paleontologist

Peter Dodson Peter Dodson (born August 20, 1946) is an American paleontologist who has published many papers and written and collaborated on books about dinosaurs. An authority on Ceratopsians, he has also authored several papers and textbooks on hadrosaurs a ...

as "almost singlehandedly ... responsible for Argentina becoming the sixth country in the world in kinds of dinosaurs".

Biography

Bonaparte was the son of an Italian sailor, with no close connection to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

House of Bonaparte Italian and Corsican: ''Casa di Buonaparte'', native_name_lang=French, coat of arms=Arms of the French Empire3.svg, caption=Coat of arms assumed by Emperor Napoleon I, image_size=150px, alt=Coat of Arms of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, typ ...

. He was born in

Rosario, Santa Fe Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most p ...

, Argentina, and grew up in

Mercedes, Buenos Aires Mercedes () is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is located 100 km (62 miles) west from Buenos Aires and 30 km (18 miles) southwest of Luján. It is the administrative headquarters for the district ('' partido'') of Merced ...

. Despite a lack of formal training in

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, he started collecting

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s with many friends at an early age, and created a museum in their home town. He later became the

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of the

National University of Tucumán The National University of Tucumán ( es, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, UNT) is an Argentine national university located in Tucumán Province and the largest in Argentina's northwest region. Founded on 25 May 1914 in San Miguel de Tucumán ...

, where he was named ''Doctor

Honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

'' in 1976, and then in the late 1970s became a senior scientist at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales in Buenos Aires. Bonaparte was a two-time

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

and since the 1970s received periodic funding from the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

. He was reportedly hard-working, stubborn, and had a strong personality, even violent. He received another honorary degree from the

National University of Comahue The National University of Comahue ( es, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, UNCNavarro, Fernando A. ''. Tremédica, Asociación Internacional de Traductores y Redactores de Medicina y Ciencias Afines/UNCoPortal de Prensa de la Uncoma, Universidad ...

in 2011. Bonaparte died at dawn in his sleep on 18 February 2020 at age 91.

Career

Discovery of southern diversity

Between 1975 and 1977, Bonaparte worked on excavation of the ''

Saltasaurus ''Saltasaurus'' (which means "lizard from Salta") is a genus of saltasaurid dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous period of Argentina. Small among sauropods, though still heavy by the standards of modern creatures, ''Saltasaurus'' was characterized by ...

'' dinosaur with Martín Vince and Juan C. Leal at the

Estancia An estancia is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias in the southern South American grasslands, the ''pampas'', have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. In Pu ...

"El Brete". This find was in 1977 reported in the scientific literature. With fellow-Argentine Jaime Powell, Bonaparte studied the ''Saltasaurus'' and discovered that it had armoured plates, known as

osteoderms Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct amphi ...

, embedded in its skin. Based on this discovery, together with twenty examples of '' Kritosaurus australis'' and a

lambeosaurine Lambeosaurinae is a group of crested hadrosaurid dinosaurs. Classification Lambeosaurines have been traditionally split into the tribes or clades Parasaurolophini ('' Parasaurolophus'', ''Charonosaurus'', others (?).) and Lambeosaurini (''Cor ...

dinosaur found in South America, Bonaparte hypothesized that there had been a large-scale

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of species between the Americas at the end of the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

period. The supercontinent of

Pangea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million y ...

split into

Laurasia Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...

in the north and

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

in the south during the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

. During the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

, South America pulled away from the rest of Gondwana. The division caused a divergence between the northern biota and the southern biota, and the southern animals appear strange to those used to the more northerly fauna. Bonaparte's finds illustrate this divergence, and caused palaeontologist

Robert Bakker Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor J ...

to dub him the "Master of the Mesozoic".Bakker is quoted in

Discoveries

Bonaparte discovered an array of Southern dinosaurs that included' *

Abelisaurus comahuensis ''Abelisaurus'' (; "Abel's lizard") is a genus of predatory abelisaurid theropod dinosaur alive during the Late Cretaceous Period (Campanian) of what is now South America. It was a bipedal carnivore that probably reached about in length, althou ...

(1985) * Agustinia ligabuei (1998) *

Alvarezsaurus calvoi ''Alvarezsaurus'' (; "Alvarez's lizard") is a genus of alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, living in Argentina approximately 86 - 83 million years ago. It was a small dinosaur, measuring long and weighing approximately . It was fou ...

(1991) * Amargasaurus cazaui (1991) * Andesaurus delgadoi (1991) *

Argentinosaurus huinculensis ''Argentinosaurus'' is a genus of giant sauropod dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Argentina. Although it is only known from fragmentary remains, ''Argentinosaurus'' is one of the largest known land animals o ...

(1993) *

Argyrosaurus superbus ''Argyrosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur that lived about 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), Period of what is now Argentina. Discovery and naming The type species, ''Argyrosaurus superb ...

(1984) *

Carnotaurus sastrei ''Carnotaurus'' (; ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in South America during the Late Cretaceous period, probably sometime between 71 and 69 million years ago. The only species is ''Carnotaurus sastrei''. Known from a single well-p ...

(1985), * Coloradisaurus brevis (1978) *

Guaibasaurus candelariensis ''Guaibasaurus'' is an extinct genus of basal saurischian dinosaur known from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. Most analyses recover it as a sauropodomorph, although there are some suggestions that ...

(1998) * Kritosaurus australis (1984) * Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis (1986), * Ligabueino andesi (1996), * Mussaurus patagonicus (1979) * Noasaurus leali (1980) * Piatnitzkysaurus floresi (1979) * Rayososaurus agrioensis (1996) * Riojasaurus incertus (1969) *

Saltasaurus loricatus ''Saltasaurus'' (which means "lizard from Salta") is a genus of saltasaurid dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous period of Argentina. Small among sauropods, though still heavy by the standards of modern creatures, ''Saltasaurus'' was characterized by ...

(1980) * Velocisaurus unicus (1991) * Volkheimeria chubutensis (1979) * Ligabuesaurus leanzai (2006) He also contributed to the discovery of the

Gigantosaurus ''Gigantosaurus'' () is a dubious genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England. The type species, ''Gigantosaurus megalonyx'', was named and described by Harry Govier Seeley in 1869. Its syntype series ...

Philosophy

Bonaparte was for a long time a traditionalist and did not use modern

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

methods, which apply the principle of parsimony to a vast array of

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...

. Partly for this reason, he declined to work on the modern treatise ''

The Dinosauria ''The Dinosauria'' is an extensive book on dinosaurs, compiled by David B. Weishampel, Peter Dodson, and Halszka Osmólska. It has been published in 2 editions, with the first edition published in 1990, consisting of material from 23 scientists.B ...

'', published in 1990. However, in 2000 Bonaparte began to use cladograms. For instance, his studies of sauropods (e.g., ''

Ligabuesaurus ''Ligabuesaurus'' is a genus of somphospondylan sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous that lived in what is now Argentina. The type species, ''Ligabuesaurus leanzai'', was described by Jose Bonaparte, Gonzalez Riga, and Sebastián Apeste ...

'') and proto-mammals from Brazil show cladograms made by himself and co-authors. While he is best known for his dinosaur discoveries, he preferred to study the fossils of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s. His students included

Rodolfo Coria Rodolfo Aníbal Coria (born in Neuquén June 1, 1959), is an Argentine paleontologist. He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of '' Argentinosaurus'' (possibly the world's largest land animal ever) in 1993, and ''Giga ...

Luis Chiappe Luis María Chiappe (born 18 June 1962) is an Argentine paleontologist born in Buenos Aires who is best known for his discovery of the first sauropod nesting sites in the badlands of Patagonia in 1997 and for his work on the origin and early evo ...

Fernando Novas Fernando Emilio Novas (born 1960) is an Argentine paleontologist working for the Comparative Anatomy Department of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

, Jaime Powell, Guillermo W. Rougier,

Leonardo Salgado Leonardo Salgado is an Argentinean palaeontologist with a special interest in dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period and other investigations of the palaeobiology of fossil bearing geological formations. Salgado is the leading or coauthor of several t ...

, Jorge Calvo, Sebastián Apesteguía and Agustín Martinelli.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte, Jose Fernando Argentine paleontologists Argentine people of Italian descent 1928 births 2020 deaths People from Rosario, Santa Fe National University of Tucumán faculty