K. Christopher Beard
K. Christopher Beard is an American paleontologist, an expert on the primate fossil record and a 2000 MacArthur Fellowship "Genius" Award Winner. Beard's research is reshaping critical debates about the evolutionary origins of mammals, including primates, routinely questioning current thinking about their geographical origins. Dr. Beard is the former Curator of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Mary R. Dawson Chair of Vertebrate Paleontology, at University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Distinguished Foundation Professor, Senior Curator at the University of Kansas. He was co-author with Dan Gebo about an extinct primate from China. Dr. Beard also authored the book The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes and Humans. Beard was also part of the research teams that discovered Teilhardina, the earliest primate ever found in North America, and Eosimias, one of the earliest higher primates yet discovered. He worked with NASA to scan a Tyrannosaurus rex skull. Beard received his PhD from the Functional Anatomy and Evolution Program at Johns [Hopkins School of Medicine|Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine] in 1989.
Below is a list of taxa that Beard has contributed to naming:
| Year | Taxon | Authors |
| 2024 | Phenacolemur cavatus sp. nov. | Anemone, Jones, Van Regenmorter, & Beard |
| 2023 | Palaeohodites naduensis gen. et sp. nov. | Rust, Ni, Tietjen, & Beard |
| 2023 | Ignacius dawsonae sp. nov. | Miller, Tietjen, & Beard |
| 2023 | Ignacius mckennai sp. nov. | Miller, Tietjen, & Beard |
| 2023 | Ceutholestes acerbus sp. nov. | Jones & Beard |
| 2023 | Plagioctenodon dawsonae sp. nov. | Jones & Beard |
| 2023 | Plagioctenodon goliath sp. nov. | Jones & Beard |
| 2023 | Plagioctenoides cryptos sp. nov. | Jones & Beard |
| 2021 | Nesomomys bunodens gen. et sp. nov. | Beard, Métais, Ocakoğlu, & Licht |
| 2021 | Altaynycteris aurora gen. et sp. nov. | Jones, Li, Ni, & Beard |
| 2021 | Simonsius harujensis sp. nov. | Mattingly, Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger |
| 2020 | Africtis sirtensis gen. et sp. nov. | Mattingly, Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger |
| 2018 | Anatolianycteris insularis gen. et sp. nov. | Jones, Coster, Licht, Métais, Ocakoğlu, Taylor, & Beard |
| 2018 | Carpolestes twelvemilensis sp. nov. | Mattingly, Sanisidro, & Beard |
| 2019 | Chiromyoides kesiwah sp. nov. | Beard, Jones, Thurber, & Sanisidro |
| 2016 | Apidium zuetina sp. nov. | Beard, Coster, Salem, Chaimanee, & Jaeger |
| 2007 | Baataromomys ulaanus gen. et sp. nov. | Ni, Beard, Meng, Wang, & Gebo |
| 2004 | Eosimias dawsonae sp. nov. | Beard & Wang |
| 2004 | Phenacopithecus krishtalkai sp. nov. | Beard & Wang |
| 2004 | Phenacopithecus xueshii gen. et sp. nov. | Beard & Wang |
| 1994 | Macrotarsius macrorhysis sp. nov. | Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li |
| 1994 | Adapoides troglodytes gen. et sp. nov. | Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li |
| 1994 | Eosimias sinensis gen. et sp. nov. | Beard, Qi, Dawson, Wang, & Li |
Awards
Books
- , University of California Press, 2004,
- , Primate biogeography: progress and prospects, Editors Shawn M. Lehman, John G. Fleagle, Springer, 2006,
- , The primate fossil record, Editor Walter Carl Hartwig, Cambridge University Press, 2002,
- , Eocene biodiversity: unusual occurrences and rarely sampled habitats, Editor Gregg F. Gunnell, Springer, 2001,