B.A., 1985, University of Florida

B.S., 1980, Auburn University

Florida Museum Invertebrate Paleontology

 

Research Interests

Systematics, paleoecology, biogeography, and biostratigraphy of Cenozoic macro-invertebrates of the southeastern USA, Caribbean, and Central and South America with an emphasis on arthropods, echinoderms, brachiopods, and mollusks.

 

Selected Current Projects

• Walking across the Island Arc: The Oligocene volcanic to sedimentary evolution of Antigua, West Indies (National Geographic)
• Fossil echinoids from the upper Pleistocene Hopegate Formation of north-central Jamaica
• Starfish bed in the Middle Miocene Grand Bay Formation of Carriacou, The Grenadines (West Indies)
• Two enigmas, one fossil assemblage: Gigantism and dolomitization in the Miocene of Florida
• A new genus of Teredinidae (Bivalvia) from the lower Miocene Chipola Formation of Florida
• New fossil records of Neritidae (Gastropoda) from Florida

Representative Publications

D.B. Blake & R.W. Portell. 2011. Kionaster petersonae, n. gen. and sp. (Asteroidea), the first fossil occurrence of the Asterodiscididae, from the Miocene of Florida. Swiss Journal of Paleontology, 130(1): 25-42. DOI: 10.1007/s13358-010-0005-0.

D.B. Blake & R.W. Portell. 2009. Implications for the study of fossil Asteroidea (Echinodermata) of new genera and species from the Eocene of Florida. Journal of Paleontology, 83(4): 562-574.

R.W. Portell & S.K. Donovan. 2008. Campanile trevorjacksoni sp. nov.† (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Eocene of Jamaica: At last, a name for the first fossil used in intercontinental biostratigraphic correlation (de la Beche 1827). Geological Journal, 43:542-551.

J.R. Hendricks & R.W. Portell. 2008. Late Eocene Conus (Neogastropoda: Conidae) from Florida, USA. The Nautilus, 122(2):79-93.

S.K. Donovan, R.W. Portell & D.P. Domning. 2007. Contrasting patterns and mechanisms of extinction during the Eocene-Oligocene transition in Jamaica, pp. 247-273. In: W. Renema (ed.). Biogeography, Time and Place: Distributions, Barriers and Islands.Springer, 420 p.

G.W. Schmelz & R.W. Portell. 2007. The Epitoniidae (Gastropoda: Ptenoglossa) from the lower Alum Bluff Group (lower to middle Miocene) of Florida, with description of nine new species. The Nautilus, 121(3):105-130.

R.M. Feldmann & R.W. Portell. 2007. First report of CostacoplumaCollins and Morris, 1975 (Decapoda: Brachyura: Retroplumidae) from the Eocene of Alabama, U.S.A. Journal of Crustacean Biology, 27(1):90-96.

S.K. Donovan, R.W. Portell & C.J. Veltkamp. 2005. Lower Miocene echinoderms of Jamaica, West Indies. Scripta Geologica, 129:91-135.