Postdoctoral researcher 'Ramón y Cajal'
Paleoprimatology & Paleoantropology Research Group
(L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, 1981)
BSc (2006) in Geology obtained at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and PhD (2014) . In his PhD thesis, entitled “The evolutionary history of lizards on the Iberian Peninsula” and advised by Susan E. Evans (University College London) and Àngel Galobart (Institut Català de Paleontologia), he studied the fossil record of lizards from the Iberian Peninsula, focusing on the description of new taxa and the interpretation of their phylogenetic affinities and inferences on their palaeoecology and palaebiogeography. His research lines also include the study of pemotriassic faunas from Catalonia, as well as lizards and other groups of small lizards and amphibians from Mesozoic and Cenozoic localities around the world.
His first steps as a palaeontologist were as collaborator of the palaeontology unit of the UAB as well as the ICP (called Institut de Paleontologia de Sabadell at the time). After obtaining his PhD he worked as field technician in several palaeontological interventions like Abocador de Can Mata, Ecoparc and Vallparadís, among others, and he was director of the intervention at Autovia Orbital B-40, in Viladecavalls. In 2009, he starts as a predoctoral researcher at the ICP, and soon after he obtains an FPI grant to continue with his PhD in the same institution. After obtaining his PhD, he combined research with lab and fieldwork (director of excavation) technician contracts until he moves to the University of Bristol in 2018 thanks to a Newton International Fellowship funded by the Royal Society. In Bristol he learned new techniques for macroevolutionary studies based on the analysis of disparity and evolutionary rates using R language. In 2020 he returned to the ICP with a Juan de la Cierva Incorporación fellowship (2020-2022). In 2023 he moved to the University of Granada thanks to a “María Zambrano” fellowship and, finally, returned to the ICP in 2024 with a “Ramón y Cajal” contract.
He has published more than 40 SCI papers and book chapters. Worth noting are publications in journals like Nature, Science, Current Biology, eLife, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Palaeo3, Palaeontology, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Cretaceous Research or Global and Planetary Change. He has presented the results of his research in several national (e.g. Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología) and international (International Paleontological Congress, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Meeting, o European Association of Vertebrate Paleontology, among others) professional meetings, and has belonged to the organising or scientific committee in numerous occasions. He has also undertaken stays abroad in institutions like the American Museum of Natural History (USA), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (France), Museum of Natural History and University College London (UK), Duke University (USA) or Queensland Museum (Australia). He has participated in several national and international projects, as well as in more than 60 palaeontological interventions, in half of them as director.
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Publications: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arnau_Bolet/research
