accomplishments and role in the world of fossil reptile research

Alan Jack Charig was Curator of Fossil Amphibians, Reptiles and Birds at the British Museum (Natural History) from 1961 to 1987. We here review his academic accomplishments and the impact of his work within vertebrate palaeontology. His position gave him considerable influence in the discussion of emerging theories and in how vertebrate palaeontology was portrayed to the public. His main areas of scientific interest included biogeography and faunal provinces, the evolution of an erect gait in archosaurs, the systematics and diversity of Triassic proterosuchians, erythrosuchians and their relatives, and the origin of dinosaurs. Besides Triassic archosaurs, ornithischian, theropod and sauropodomorph dinosaurs, he published on gastropods, amphisbaenians and plesiosaurs. While he did produce some lasting contributions to the literature, it is telling that he failed to publish the specimen-based analyses he apparently planned to, despite citations of ‘in press’ manuscripts. Between the 1970s and 1990s Alan opposed or offered alternatives to many emerging theories and schools of thought. He is best described as ‘conservative’ in terms of his views on palaeontological controversies and his opinions would not conform with those favoured by the majority of palaeontologists today. He was highly critical of the concept of dinosaur monophyly, the dinosaurian origin of birds, of the division of archosaurs into a crocodilian and bird-dinosaur clade, and of cladistics. Several of his papers are ICZN (International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature) submissions, published in order to clear up taxonomic problems, and they served to bring nomenclatural stability. Contradicting views exist of him as a scientist and a popularist. He has, not without contradiction, been described as intellectually arrogant, most clubbable, humorous, charming, an academic snob, political and meticulous. His lasting fame, however, is that very few of us live to be referred to as the ‘Carl Sagan of the BBC’ or have the good fortune to describe a dinosaur as important as Baryonyx. Alan Jack Charig (1927–1997) (Fig. 1) was born of Jewish–Ukranian parents. He was educated at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School (Cox 1997) and was considered academically outstanding even in his earliest days of secondary education (R.C.H. Old Haberdashers Obits). Prior to joining the then British Museum (Natural History) he studied zoology at Emanuel College Cambridge and interrupted his degree to serve his National Service; first in The Royal Armoured Corps and then as an interpreter in the Russian Section of the British Army of Occupation in Germany. On leaving the forces he returned to Cambridge to complete his degree in Natural Sciences and to study for a PhD under Rex Parrington (1905–1981). Alan and A. W. (‘Fuzz’) Crompton were the first two students to work with Parrington. Alan’s 1956 PhD thesis was titled ‘New Triassic archosaurs from Tanganyika, including Mandasuchus and Teleocrater’. He subsequently mentioned these taxa – particularly Mandasuchus – in many of his publications and an ‘in press’ manuscript supposedly describing them (titled ‘Preliminary note on the archosaurs in the Manda Formation (Middle Trias) of Tanzania’, and cited as if appearing in a 1967 edition of Palaeontology) was cited in Appleby et al. (1967), the Reptilia chapter of the Geological Society of London’s (GSL’s) compendium The Fossil Record (Fig. 2). According to the latter article, Mandasuchus was a member of Prestosuchidae, a group noted by Appleby et al. (1967, p. 46) as being ‘probably ancestral to sauropodomorphs’. We discuss the possible significance of this proposed phylogenetic significance later on. Teleocrater was regarded as representing a new ‘family’, Teleocrateridae Charig, 1967 (Appleby et al. 1967, p. 46). Another taxon planned for the 1967 Palaeontology article – Nyasasaurus cromptoni – was also mentioned in Appleby et al. (1967). Although classified as a thecodontosaurid From: Moody, R. T. J., Buffetaut, E., Naish, D. & Martill, D. M. (eds) Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 343, 89–109. DOI: 10.1144/SP343.6 0305-8719/10/$15.00 # The Geological Society of London 2010. sauropodomorph, Appleby et al. (1967, p. 712) noted that it ‘might still be a prestosuchid pseudosuchian’. This again highlighted the fact that Alan regarded ‘pseudosuchian thecodonts’ and sauropodomorph dinosaurs as close allies. Finally, Appleby et al. (1967) included mention of another Manda Formation taxon, Hypselorhachis mirabilis: this was attributed to ‘Charig 1966’ (presumably another reference to the planned 1967 Palaeontology article) and suggested to be ancestral to Spinosauridae. Subsequent authors identified Hypselorhachis as a close relative of Ctenosauriscus koeneni, a poorly known archosaur with tall neural spines (Krebs 1969, 1976; Nesbitt 2003, 2005). The same ‘Preliminary note’ article was also cited as ‘in press’ in Charig & Reig (1970). Alas, Alan never did publish proper descriptions of these taxa and they have persisted in the literature as nomina nuda. As we will see, Alan was to claim on numerous additional occasions that his descriptive work had progressed further than it actually had. After receiving his doctorate, Alan briefly lectured in zoology at Kumasi College (then Gold Coast, now Ghana) in 1955 and 1956. During this time he visited Timbuctu, Mali, in a Morris Minor, and later told of the time he saw lions in the Sahara. In 1957 Alan joined the staff of the Palaeontology Department of the British Museum (Natural History) and initially worked in the Mollusca Section, publishing a paper on the gastropod Thatcheria in 1963, well after he had been transferred to Fossil Reptiles in 1961. It would appear, somewhat strangely, that the museum hierarchy had a policy of placing people outside their own speciality, as Bill Swinton (1900–1994) (who preceded Alan) initially worked on mammals before transferring to Fossil Amphibians, Reptiles and Birds. Swinton worked at the British Museum Fig. 1. Alan J. Charig in 1977. Photograph # NHM. R. T. J. MOODY & D. NAISH 90