JOSÉ FERNANDO BONAPARTE (1928 –2020)

Fernando e. novas

Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, CONICET. Avenida Ángel Gal lardo 470, Buenos Aires C1405DJR, Argentina.

Plant-insect associations in leaf fossils from The genus Pliotrema is described The new genus and species the Bogotá Formation, central Colombia, from the Miocene–Pliocene Bharitalasuchus tapani is described indicate much more intense herbivory Bahía Inglesa Formation, from the Triassic Yerrapalli than elsewhere. atacama region. Formation. AMEGHINIANA - 2021 - Volume 58 (2): 177–179 OBITUARY NOTE

José Fernando Bonaparte was 1959. at the beginning he was in the most important argentinian charge of organizing the expedi - vertebrate paleontologist of tions to Ischigualasto and to the 20th century. He was the pre pare, along with the talented “ameghino of the Mesozoic”, or in technician Galileo scaglia, the fact, he had the skills of Florentino fos sils they col lected in their trips for research and those of Carlos to Triassic outcrops. Meanwhile, ameghino for discovering fossils . Bonaparte took classes and cour- Bonaparte was multifac eted, ses to increase his knowledge on bringing together the abilities of anatomy, evolution, and geology a mechanic at repairing vehicles with different professors at the during expeditions, the dexterity Universidad nacional de Tucumán. of a technician to prepare the after seeing Bonaparte’s advances fossils he discov ered, the skills and enthusiasm, reig proposed him of a blacksmith to mount skele - to choose between continuing as a tons in exhibition halls, and the fossil preparator or shifting entirely imagination of an engineer to to scientific research. With these build pulley systems to haul and words reig stimulated Bonaparte lift heavy jackets with fossils JOSÉ FERNANDO BONAPARTE to adventure in the study of fossils through badlands. He also was (1928 –2020) they were discovering in san Juan, multifaceted in the research taking a direction he later consoli - topics he mastered: cranial mor - the anatomical and phylogenetic in - dated when reig left his position phology of Triassic cynodonts, modifi - for ma tion of a “stampede” of pro - in Tucumán in 1960. From that mo - cations in the hindlimb of diverse early tomammals he discovered in the ment, Bonaparte had a protagonist role archosaurs, morphology of the tooth santa Maria Trias sic beds, west of in the discovery of new Triassic faunas, cusps in Mesozoic mammals, rostrum Porto alegre, opening the doors for obtaining grants from ConICeT and the structure of Cretaceous pterosaurs, numerous young researchers from Fundación “Miguel Lillo” that allowed etc., etc. He discovered completely Brazil and ar gentina. him to start an important exploration new faunas of vertebrates from the José F. Bonaparte was born in plan in diverse localities in the argen - Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous, and rosario on June 14 th , 1928 and was tinian northwestern region. His find - laid the foundations for the bios - raised in Mercedes, where his passion ings and publications linked him to trati graphic chart of south american for paleontology began. In 1947, at alfred s. romer, a famous anatomist Mesozoic vertebrates. He had an enor - the age of 19, he founded along with and paleontologist from Harvard mous capacity to understand the other “ paleolocos ” (as he liked to say) Uni versity, who supported Bonaparte taxo nomic diversity and phylogenetic the Museo Popular “Carlos ameghino”. for obtaining a Guggenheim scholar - relationships of the first Cretaceous In 1958 he was invited by the great ship to continue his studies in institu - mammals to be discovered in south evolutionary biologist osvaldo a. reig tions of Usa and europe. at Harvard, america, which represented a com - to form part of a new team of verte - he expanded his knowledge in verte - pletely unknown chapter of the ar - brate paleontology at the Instituto brate Paleontology with ernst Mayr, gen tinian fossil record. It was also “Miguel Lillo” in Tucumán, to which he alfred s. romer, Bryan Patterson, and admirable his capacity to integrate was incorporated as a technician in Zofía Kielan-Jaworowska.

177 aMeGHInIana - 2021 - volume 58 (2): 177–179

The first half of the 1960s repre - argentino de Ciencias naturales and useless discussions with our sented a time not only of new findings, “Bernardino rivadavia” (MaCn). In few boss. Bonaparte was a truly genius of but also of consolidation of research months Bonaparte transformed a Paleontology, an “all-terrain tractor” groups that included outstanding gloomy and stagnant section into and none of us could have overshad - sci entists like osvaldo reig, sergio dynamic offices and labs in which owed his figure, but I think that deep archangelsky, rodolfo Casamiquela, en thusiastic collaborators participated down in his personality he was afraid rafael Herbst, and rosendo Pascual. in the preparation of expeditions, his students will relegate him from They were the founders of modern preparation of wonderful discoveries his leading role (something that, of Pa leontology in argentina, and one from Patagonia, and Phd students course, never actually happened). way or the other, those that work began to make progress with their However, his rude behavior was in - nowadays in Paleontology in argentina own studies. This activity significantly tercalated with highly positive lessons are disciples of this generation of great increased the collections of vertebrate that set the path of many of his stu - scientists. fossils and mounted skeletons of di - dents. I specifically refer to the field - The team that Bonaparte assem - nosaurs were shown—for the first work experiences, which occupied a bled in Tucumán included people with time in the history of MaCn—in the central role in the life of Bonaparte manual dexterity and physical stamina. Paleontology exhibit hall. and that were the source of his most Together with Martin vince, Tomás during his term in Buenos aires important discoveries. In many cases Fa sola, and Juan Leal, among others, Bonaparte formed young paleontolo - great paleontological discoveries have Bonaparte collected tons of rocks from gists that became prominent figures a dose of luck, but if this is accompa - the Los Colorados Formation (Upper in the international paleontological nied by frequent prospecting, effort, Triassic, La rioja) and later from the community, such as Luis Chiappe, and determination, the chances of new Cañadón asfalto Formation (Middle Guillermo rougier, Leonardo salgado, findings increase remarkably. I remem - Jurassic, Chubut). By 1963, and thanks Jorge Calvo, and rodolfo Coria. He also ber one expedition to the Cretaceous to the support of rosendo Pascual, took effort and time to form highly site Los alamitos, in the río negro Bonaparte obtained a research posi - skilled technicians such as Pablo Puerta Province, in which we were looking tion in ConICeT (“Carrera de Investi - and Marcelo Isasi. By the mid 1980s for remains of tiny mammal teeth. our gador Científico”). He had started as an the vertebrate Paleontology section camp was at the otero family house, amateur paleontologist that in 1958 was honored to receive international and every morning a couple dozen was willing to work on anything avail - researchers such as George Gaylord youngster left towards the fossil site. able (“ venía bien trabajar en cualquier simpson, sun ai Lin, Zofía Kielan- We had to drive along a faintly marked cosa ” in his own words). eventually, Ja worowska, John Fleagle, Paul sereno, track that was in bad conditions, which in 1974 the Universidad nacional de and david Krause, among many others. required us to remove large rocks Tucumán granted him the title Doctor It was, undoubtedly, the “golden age” from the road and cover the holes with Honoris Causa . of the vertebrate Paleontology section picks, shovels, and hands. Bonaparte Towards the end of the 1970s at the museum of Buenos aires. happily said: “Ves pibe…¡así se descubren Bonaparte had accepted in his research The academic shine of this place los mamíferos mesozoicos!” [You see group young students, such as Jaime was eclipsed on a daily basis by boy… this is how you discover Mesozoi c Powell (his first student) and andrea Bona parte’s impolite behavior towards mammals!]. To discover new fossils, it is arcucci, both graduated from the Uni - students and collaborators. at first, crucial to go out and look for them in the versidad nacional de Tucumán. In 1978 his sudden anger outbursts generated field, investing a considerable amount Bonaparte left the Instituto “Miguel amusement and humorous comments of time in duties that have nothing to Lillo” to settle in Buenos aires where he among the young collaborators. How - do with the academic life (road con - became the chairman of the vertebrate ever, with time and as we became struction work, for instance), but that Paleontology section of the Museo more mature, his attitude led to bitter allow us to reach valuable fossil sites.

178 JosÉ Fernando BonaParTe 1928 –2020

Bonaparte acted as a great teacher the Triassic archosaurs Fasolasuchus Mesozoic from Gondwana respect to when he selected topics for doctoral and Neoaetosauroides , the Triassic their Laurasian relatives, the diphyletic students, which according to his own crocodylomorphs Pseudohesperosuchus origin of mammals among disparate words should have “trascendencia in - and Hemiprotosuchus from La rioja and groups of Permo-Triassic cynodonts, ternacional” [international transcen - Comahuesuchus from the Creta ceous of and many other topics. dence], and invited students to neuquén, the dinosaurs Riojasaurus, In 2008, he received the romer- participate as coauthors in papers Piatnitzkysaurus, Patagosaurus, Carnotaurus, simpson medal, which constitutes that were pioneers for understanding Amargasaurus, Argentinosaurus and the maximum honor awarded by the the anatomy and evolution of diverse Noasaurus (among many others), the society of vertebrate Paleontology in dinosaurs, birds, and mammals. Triassic cynodonts Cynognathus minor , the Usa to prominent researchers. He It must also be noted his talent for Pascualgnathus , Andescynodon and spent his later years in the city of science communication, having par - Cromptodon from western argentina, and Mer cedes, working in topics related to ticipated in the 1960s in several doc - Riograndia, Prozostrodon, Brasilitherium the origin of mammals, describing umentary films for the Universidad and Therioherpeton from southern Brazil, skulls and teeth of different ‘proto- nacional de Tucumán, by the film the Cretaceous mammals from Patagonia mammals’ from the Triassic of Brazil. maker Jorge Prelorán. He also captiva - Gondwanatherium, Mesungulatum, Bonaparte passed away on February ted rea ders in his books “El Mesozoico Groebertherium , and Peligrotherium from 18 th , 2020 leaving a permanent legacy de América del Sur y sus tetrápodos” the Paleocene and the Cretaceous birds in south american Paleontology. (1978), “Dinosaurios de América del Patagopteryx and Iberomesornis . a long Sur” (1996), “El Triásico de San Juan y list of taxa that makes Bonaparte one La Rioja, Argentina y sus dinosaurios” of the researchers with the largest (1997), and “Protomamíferos y mamíferos number of named species in the history mesozoicos de América del Sur” (2010), of vertebrate Paleontology. among others in which photographs of These findings allowed him to de - Fernando e. novas landscapes, fieldwork, and mounted velop novel hypotheses about the skeletons have a great historical value. fau nal replacements in the Triassic, the Laboratorio de anatomía Comparada y evolución de los vertebrados. Bonaparte was the discoverer, origin of dinosaurs from forms similar Museo argentino de Ciencias naturales “Bernardino rivadavia”, ConICeT. preparator, and descriptor of a long to Lagosuchus , the isolated evolution of avenida Ángel Gallardo 470, list of Mesozoic vertebrates, including diverse vertebrate assemblages of the Buenos aires C1405dJr, argentina

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