Biography

Websites:
Website
Research with Rowan
Introduction

Education:
Post-Doctoral Associate, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine
Ph.D., Biology, University of Massachusetts
M.S., Biology, University of Massachusetts
B.S., Biology, Fordham University

Research Expertise:
Phylogeny | Evolution | Vertebrate Paleontology | Vertebrate Morphology | Mammals

I am interested in the evolutionary history of mammals and their fossil record. I use a variety of data, particularly anatomical data that we can obtain from both living and extinct groups, to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among different groups of mammals. The resulting evolutionary trees, or phylogenies, can then be used to analyze questions regarding when and where different groups of mammals originated.

Teaching Narrative:
I have taught a number of courses, including Introduction to Evolution and Scientific Inquiry, Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, Biodiversity and the History of Life, and an Honors course called Biology, History, and the Fate of Human Societies, team-taught with Dr. Bill Carrigan in the History Department.

Professional Memberships:
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
Society for Systematic Biologists
Paleontological Society
Willi Hennig Society

Selected Publications:
"Bertrand, O.C., S.L. Shelley, T.E. Williamson, J.R. Wible, S.G.B. Chester, J.J. Flynn, L.T. Holbrook, T.R. Lyson, J. Meng, I.M. Miller, H.P. Püschel, T. Smith, M. Spaulding, Z.J. Tseng, and S.L. Brusatte. (2022) Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction. Science 376:80—85. DOI: 10.1126/science.abl5584

Rose, K.D., L.T. Holbrook, K. Kumar, R.S. Rana, H.E. Ahrens, R.H. Dunn, A. Folie, K.E. Jones, and T. Smith. (2020) Anatomy, relationships, and paleobiology of Cambaytherium (Mammalia, Perissodactylamorpha, Anthracobunia) from the lower Eocene of western India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 39:sup1, 1-147. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2020.1761370

Holbrook, L.T. (2015) The identity and homology of the postprotocrista and its role in molarization of upper premolars of Perissodactyla (Mammalia). Journal of Mammalian Evolution 22:259—269. DOI: 10.1007/s10914-014-9276-3

Rose, K.D., L.T. Holbrook, R.S. Rana, K. Kumar, K.E. Jones, H.E. Ahrens, P. Missiaen, A. Sahni, and T. Smith. (2014) Early Eocene fossils suggest that the mammalian order Perissodactyla originated in India. Nature Communications 5:5570 doi: 10.1038/ncomms6570.

Holbrook, L.T. (2014) On the skull of Radinskya (Mammalia, ?Phenacolophidae) and its phylogenetic position. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34:1203—1215. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2014.854249"