Postdoctoral researcher 'Juan de la Cierva'
Paleobiodiversity & Phylogeny Research Group

Omar Cirilli is a Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont. After a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science (2015) and a Master’s degree in Geology (2018) at the University of Florence (Italy), he developed his PhD at the University of Pisa (2018 – 2022) with a thesis on the evolution of the genus Equus in Eurasia during the Pleistocene. Afterwards, he received a postdoctoral research position at the Howard University (Washington D.C., USA, 2022 – 2023), and was appointed as associate researcher of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (Washington D.C., USA 2022 – 2023). Since January 2024, he started his new postdoc position at the ICP.  

His research deals with the evolution of three- and one-toed fossil equids, including modern zebras, asses, horses and their extinct relatives. Mostly, he focuses on the equid taxonomy, biochronology, paleobiogeography and evolution in North America, Eurasia and Africa. During his PhD, he also developed a new computed-aided methodology to retrodeform fossil specimens using 3D images.  

Her research has been published in prestigious journals (e.g., Scientific Reports, Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal of Human Evolution) and presented in national (e.g., Paleodays) international meetings (e.g., EAVP, SVP). He is included in several international research projects from Italy, Spain and United States, and he has also participated in scientific committees, outreach and teaching activities.  

ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Omar-Cirilli  

SCOPUS Author ID: 57190411685  

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID): 0000-0001-8478-1462  

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