Femke Holwerda, Ph.D.

Dr. Elizabeth Nicholls Postdoctoral Fellow

Femke Holwerda studies the diet of mosasaurs from the Bearpaw Formation in southern Alberta. The main aspect of Femke’s research is odontology (the study of teeth, and their structure and development). By examining fossilized mosasaur teeth and other marine animals, Femke will reconstruct a foodweb for mosasaurs from the Bearpaw Formation.


Research Interests

  • Mosasaur diet
  • Fossil teeth
  • Jurassic sauropod palaeobiology and classification
  • Sauropod evolutionary history

Professional Highlights

  • Participated in fieldwork with the American Museum of Natural History in Wyoming.
  • Conducted research at: the Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (Argentina); the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (United Kingdom); the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany).

Education

Ph.D., Ludwig-Maximilians University and the Bavarian State Collections for Palaeontology and Geology, 2019

M.Sc., Utrecht University, 2011

B.Sc., Utrecht University, 2008


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Recent Publications

Holwerda, F.M., Pol, D., Rauhut, O.W.M. (2020). Osteological revision of the holotype of Patagosaurus fariasi. Accepted for publication at Geodiversitas.

Holwerda, F.M. (2020). Sauropod fossils from the Kem Kem and extended ‘Continental Intercalaire’ of North Africa: a review. Journal of African Earth Sciences 163:103738

Holwerda, F.M., Evans, M., Liston, J.J. (2019). Additional sauropod material from the Peterborough Oxford Clay: evidence for higher sauropod diversity. PeerJ 7:e6404

Holwerda, F.M., and Pol, D. (2018). Phylogenetic analysis of Gondwanan basal eusauropods using sauropods from the Early/Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology 33(2), 289- 298

Holwerda, F.M., Diez Diaz, V., Montie, R., Blanco, A., Reumer, J.W.F. (2018). Could Late Cretaceous sauropod tooth morphotypes provide supporting evidence of faunal connections between North Africa and Southern Europe? PeerJ 6:e5925.

 

Selected Publications

Holwerda, F.M., Schulp, A.S., Purnell, M., Bestwick, J., Jagt, J.W.M., Knetsch, M. (2020). Niche differentiation amongst mosasauroid reptiles from the type Maastrichtian by evidence of dental microwear. In prep for Royal Society Open Science.

Holwerda, F.M., and Pol, D. (2018). Phylogenetic analysis of Gondwanan basal eusauropods using sauropods from the Early/Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina. Spanish Journal of Palaeontology 33(2), 289- 298.

Holwerda, F.M., Diez Diaz, V., Montie, R., Blanco, A., Reumer, J.W.F. (2018). Could Late Cretaceous sauropod tooth morphotypes provide supporting evidence of faunal connections between North Africa and Southern Europe? PeerJ 6:e5925.

Holwerda F.M., Pol, D., Rauhut, O.W.M. (2015). Using Dental Enamel Wrinkling to Define Sauropod Tooth Morphotypes from the Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Patagonia, Argentina. PLoS ONE 10(2): e011810  

Holwerda, F., Beatty, B., Schulp, A., (2013). Dental macro- and microwear in Carinodens belgicus, a small mosasaur from the Type Maastrichtian. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 92(4):267-274