Brian Kraatz, PhD
Associate Professor of Anatomy
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific
Website: www.briankraatz.com
Join year: 2009
2007 - PhD, Department of Integrative Biology, University of CA, Berkeley
2001 - MS, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wyoming
1996 - BA, Department of Geology, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN
- Associate Professor and Interim Vice Chair, Department of Anatomy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona CA, 2016 - present
- Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, 2009 – 2016
- Research Associate, Department of Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, CA, 2014 – present
- Research Associate, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, NY, 2009 – present
- Lincoln Ellsworth Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, NY, 2008 – 2009
Recent Grants
Western University Graduate College, Seed Grant: Iodine Contrast CT scanning of Oryctolagus cuniculus; B. Kraatz (Pl): $2,500, 2015
Western University Graduate College, Seed Grant: Exploration of Paleogene, Fossils in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China; B. Kraatz (Pl): $2,500, 2015
Western University Graduate College, Seed Grant: Computed Tomography, Workstation: Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Shape; B. Kraatz (PI), 2012
American Philosophical Society, Franklin Research Grant, Exploration of Cenozoic. Deposits for vertebrate fossils in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China; B. Kraatz (PI), 2012
National Geographic Society, Waitt Grant, Exploration of Cenozoic Deposits for Fossil Vertebrates in Tajikistan; B. Kraatz (PI), 2012
American Museum of Natural History Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2007
George D. Louderback Award in Paleontology, University of California Museum of Paleontology, 2006
Annie Alexander Fellowship, University of California Museum of Paleontology, 2006
NSF Graduate GK-12 Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley Natural History Museums, 2004 – 2006
Outstanding Master’s Thesis, The University of Wyoming, 2001
Outstanding Masters Student, The University of Wyoming, Department of Geology and Geophysics, 2001
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Geological Society of America
World Lagomorph Society
Recent Publications
Sherratt, E & Kraatz, B. 2023. Multilevel analysis of integration and disparity in the mammalian skull. Evolution. 77, 1006–1018.
Todorov, OS, Hird, C, Kraatz, B, Sherratt, E, Hill, N, de Sousa, A, Blomberg, S, Weisbecker, (2022). Down a rabbit hole: Burrowing behavior and larger home ranges are related to larger brains in leporids. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 29, 957–967.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09624-6
Martin, EM, Young, JW, Fellman, CD, Kraatz, B, and Sherratt, E. (2022). Anatomical correlates of cursoriality are compromised by burrowing behavior and body size in a group of small mammals (Lagomorpha). Evolutionary Biology. 49, 464–481.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-022-09584-y
Beech, M, Kraatz, B, and Bibi, F, and (2022). The History of Paleontological Investigation in Western Abu Dhabi Emirate, in Sands of Time: Late Miocene Fossils from the Baynunah Formation, U.A.E. (F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. Beech, and A. Hill, eds.). Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
Kraatz, B., Bibi, F, and Beech, M. (2022) Fossil rodents from the Late Miocene Baynunah Formation, United Arab Emirates, Chapter 12 in Sands of Time: Late Miocene Fossils from the Baynunah Formation, U.A.E. (F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. Beech, and A. Hill, eds.). Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
Bibi, F, Beech, M, Hill, A, and Kraatz, B. (2022) Fossil Localities of the Baynunah Formation, Al Gharbia Region, Abu Dhabi Emirate, Chapter 2 in Sands of Time: Late Miocene Fossils from the Baynunah Formation, U.A.E. (F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. Beech, and A. Hill, eds.). Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
Bibi, F, Kraatz, B, and Beech, M. (2022) Fossil trackways of the United Arab Emirates, Chapter 17 in Sands of Time: Late Miocene Fossils from the Baynunah Formation, U.A.E. (F. Bibi, B. Kraatz, M. Beech, and A. Hill, eds.). Springer, Cham, Switzerland.
Kraatz B, Belabbas R, Fostowicz-Frelik L, Ge D-Y, Kuznetsov AN, Lang MM, Ló pez-Torres s, Mohammadi Z, Racicot RA, Ravosa MJ, Sharp AC, Sherratt E, Silcox MT, Slowiak J, Winkler AJ and Ruf I. 2021. Lagomorpha as a Model Morphological System. Front. Ecol. Evol. 9:636402. doi: I 0.3 389/fevo.2021.636402
Kraatz, B and Sherratt, E. 2016. Evolutionary morphology of the rabbit skull. PeerJ 4:e2453.
Wang, X; Kraatz, B; Meng, J; Carrapa, B; Decelles, P; Clementz, M; Abdulov, S and Chen, F. 2016. Cental Asian aridification during the late Eocene to early Miocene inferred from preliminary study of shallow marine-eolian sedimentary rocks from northeastern Tajik Basin. Science China Earth Sciences. 1-16.
Kraatz, BP, Bumacod, N, Sherratt, E, Wedel, M. 2015. Ecological correlates to cranial morphology in leporids. PeerJ. 2015 Mar 17;3:e844. doi: 10.7717/peerj.844.
Flynn, L. J., Winkler, A.J., Erbaeva, M., Alexeeva, N., Anders, U., Angelone, C., Čermák, S., Fladerer, F.A., Kraatz, B., Ruedas, L.A., Ruf, I., Tomida, Y., Veitschegger, K., Zhang, Z., 2013, The Leporid Datum: A Late Mivgocene Biotic Marker. Mammal Review.
O’Leary, MA, Bloch, JI, Flynn, JJ, Gaudin, TJ, Giallombardo, A, Giannini, NP, Goldberg, SL, Kraatz, BP, Luo, Z-x, Meng, J, Ni, X, Novacek, MJ, Perini, FA, Randall, Z, Rougier, GW, Sargis, EJ, Silcox, M, Simmons, NB, Spaulding, M, Velazco, PM, Weksler, M, Wible, JR, Cirranello, A. 2013. Response to Comment on “The Placental Mammal Ancestor and the Post–K-Pg Radiation of Placentals”. Science, v. 341, p. 613–614.
Kraatz, BP, Bibi, F, and Hill, A, and Beech, M, 2013, A New Fossil Thryonomyid from the Late Miocene of the United Arab Emirates and the Origin of African Cane Rats. Naturwissenschaften, v. 100, p. 437–439.
O’Leary, MA, Bloch, JI, Flynn, JJ, Gaudin, TJ, Giallombardo, A, Giannini, NP, Goldberg, SL, Kraatz, BP, Luo, Z-x, Meng, J, Ni, X, Novacek, MJ, Perini, FA, Randall, Z, Rougier, GW, Sargis, EJ, Silcox, M, Simmons, NB, Spaulding, M, Velazco, PM, Weksler, M, Wible, JR, Cirranello, A. 2013. The placental mammal ancestor and the post-KPg radiation of placentals: Science, v. 339, p. 662– 667.
Bibi, F, Kraatz, B, Craig, N, Beech, M, Schuster, M, and Hill, A. 2012. Early Evidence for Complex Social Structure in Proboscidea from a Late Miocene Trackway Site in the United Arab Emirates. Biology Letters, v. 8, p. 670–673.
Seiffert, ER, Nasir, S, Al-Harthy, A, Groenke, JR, Kraatz, BP, Stevens, NJ, Al-Sayigh, AR. 2012. Diversity in the later Paleogene proboscidean radation: a small barytheriid from the Oligocene of Dhofar Governorate, Sultanate of Oman. Naturwissenschaften, v. 99, p. 133–141.
Kraatz, BP, Meng, J, Li, C-k, and Weksler, M, 2010, Evolutionary patterns in the dentition of Duplicidentata (Mammalia) and a novel trend in the molarization of premolars, PLoS ONE, 5(9): e12838.
Kraatz, BP, and Geisler, J. 2010. The Eocene–Oligocene Transition in Central Asia and its Effects on Mammalian Evolution. Geology, v. 38, p. 111–114.
BOOKS
Bibi, F, Kraatz, BP, Beech, M, Hill, A., (eds.) (2022) Sands of Time: Late Miocene Fossils from the Baynunah Formation, U.A.E.: Springer, Vertebrate Palaeobiology and Palaeanthropology Series [https://muellerlaboratory.wordpress.com/sands-oftime/]
Kraatz, BP, Lacket, JS, Fryxell, J, (eds.). Field Excursions in Southern California: Field Guides to the 2016 GSA Cordilleran Section Meeting: Geological Society of America, 25 I pp.