Education

Ph.D. (Earth Sciences): Monash University, 2008
B.Sc. (Zoology and Earth Sciences): University of Melbourne, 2003

Research Interests

I seek to uncover patterns and processes of evolution and macroecology across major transitions in vertebrate evolution. Secondarily aquatic tetrapods, especially marine mammals, provide excellent opportunities to address these questions and my investigations centre on the evolution and systematics of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). This research, utilising fossil and recent specimens, draws on data from palaeontology, morphology, ecology, developmental and molecular biology.

My primary research program incorporates four major themes:

Origins of crown group Cetacea (i.e. Neoceti)
Current projects exploring the transition from archaeocetes to Neoceti (including mysticetes and odontocetes) include in-depth morphological analysis of the toothed mysticete Janjucetus hunderi, description of toothed mysticete taxa (with R.E. Fordyce), functional and evolutionary morphology of the inner ear in archaic mysticetes, evolution of cranial vasculature across the archaeocete-mysticete transition (with J.G. Mead & R.E. Fordyce), and description of Early Oligocene odontocetes from the northeast Pacific (with R.E. Fordyce).

Taxonomy and systematics of Recent Cetacea
Current research involves a reassessment of cetacean biodiversity and cryptic cetacean species, emphasizing balaenopterid mysticetes, delphinid odontocetes, and the cetacean fauna of the Indo-Pacific and Southern oceans (with J.G. Mead).

Phylogeny of baleen whales (Mysticeti)
My current investigations revolve around fossil archaic mysticetes and the relationships of the gray whale (Eschrichtiidae).

Evolution and biogeography of marine mammals in Australasia
Current projects include the study of Miocene sirenians from New Guinea (with K.M. Helgen and K.K. Roberts), Neogene fossil Sirenia of southeast Australia, and the systematic revision of mid-Cenozoic freshwater dolphins from South Australia (with R.H. Tedford).

In addition to my main focus on marine mammals, I collaborate in research on the Cretaceous mammals and theropod dinosaurs of Victoria, southeast Australia (with T.H. Rich).

Recent Publications

Fitzgerald, E.M.G. In press. The morphology and systematics of Mammalodon colliveri (Cetacea: Mysticeti), a toothed mysticete from the Oligocene of Australia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Rich, T.H., P. Vickers-Rich, T.F. Flannery, B.P. Kear, D. Cantrill, P. Komarower, L. Kool, D. Pickering, P. Trusler, S. Morton, N. van Klaveren, and E.M.G. Fitzgerald. In press. An Australian multituberculate and its palaeobiogeographic implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Fitzgerald, E.M.G. 2008. The origin of baleen whales. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 28 (Supplement to 3): 78A.

Piper, K.J., E.M.G. Fitzgerald, and T.H. Rich. 2006. Mesozoic to early Quaternary mammal faunas of Victoria, south-east Australia. Palaeontology, 49: 1237-1262.

Long, J.A., G.C. Young, T. Holland, T.J. Senden, and E.M.G. Fitzgerald. 2006. An exceptional Devonian fish from Australia sheds light on tetrapod origins. Nature, 444: 199-202.

Fitzgerald, E.M.G. 2006. A bizarre new toothed mysticete (Cetacea) from Australia and the early evolution of baleen whales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273: 2955-2963.

Fitzgerald, E.M.G. 2005. Pliocene marine mammals from the Whalers Bluff Formation of Portland, Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria, 62: 67-89.

Fitzgerald, E.M.G. 2005. Holocene record of the dugong (Dugong dugon) from Victoria, southeast Australia. Marine Mammal Science 21: 355-361.