Faculty

My research interests center on vertebrate taphonomy, ichnology, paleopathology, and paleoecology. In particular, I study bone surface modifications generated under modern and experimental conditions to better understand the processes which left similar traces on bone in the fossil record.

  My current projects include:

• Testing methods for applying these modern analogies in a deep time perspective.
• Interpreting trophic interactions, behavior, and diet of different archosaurian groups.
• Identifying and differentiating historically understudied traces and pathologies, such as bite marks, shell disease, and plant or fungi mediated damage to bone.

Ph.D. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (2012)

Dissertation title: An actualistic and phylogenetic approach to identifying and interpreting crocodylian bite marks"
Department of Geoscience (advisor: Christopher A. Brochu)

B.S.  The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (2005)

Honors Program, magna cum laude
Major: Geology
Minor: Biology

Google Scholar

• Drumheller, S.K., J.H. Nestler, C.E. Hackett Farris, S.C. Farris, and F.J. Mazzotti, 2020. Crocodylus acutus bite marks on a nest data logger and a taphonomic approach to interpreting and mitigating disruptions to nest monitoring research. PeerJ, e8577.
• Drumheller, S.K. and E.W. Wilberg, 2020. A synthetic approach for assessing the interplay of form and function in the crocodyliform snout. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society, 188(2): 507-521.
• Souron, A., A. Napias, T. Lavindalie, F. Santos, R. Ledevin, J.-C. Castel, S. Costamagno, D. Cusimano, S. Drumheller, J. Parkinson, L. Rozada, and D. Cochard, 2019. A new geometric morphometrics-based shape and size analysis discriminating anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic bone surface modifications of an experimental data set. IMEKO TC-4 International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Florence, Italy, December 4-6, 2019, 560-565.
• Noto, C.R., S.K. Drumheller, T.L. Adams, and A.H. Turner, 2019. An enigmatic small neosuchian crocodyliform from the Woodbine Formation of Texas. The Anatomical Record, https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24174.
• Drumheller, S.K., K.A. Vliet, and J. Darlington, 2019. Surveying death roll behavior across crown Crocodylia. Ethology, Ecology & Evolution, 31(4): 329-347.
• D’Amore, D.C., M. Harmon*, S.K. Drumheller, and J. Testin, 2019. Quantitative heterodonty in Crocodylia: variability and decoupling in size and shape across modern and extinct taxa. PeerJ: e6485.
• Adams, T.L., C.R. Noto, and S.K. Drumheller, 2017. Deltasuchus motherali: a new crocodyliform from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Woodbine Formation of West Texas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 37(4): DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1349776.
• Drumheller, S.K. and C.A. Brochu, 2016. A phylogenetic framework for taphonomic patterns in the fossil record: An example using the bite marks of Crocodylia. Palaios 31: 463-478.
• Drumheller, S.K., E.W. Wilberg, and R.W. Sadlier, 2016. The utility of captive animals in actualistic research: A geometric morphometric exploration of ecophenotypy and functional constraints in the tooth row of Alligator mississippiensis. Journal of Morphology 277(7): 866-878.
• Drumheller, S.K., M.R. Stocker, and S. Nesbitt, 2014. Direct evidence of trophic interactions among apex predators in the Late Triassic of western North America. Naturwissenschaften 101: 975-987.
• Drumheller, S.K. and C.A. Brochu, 2014. A diagnosis of Alligator mississippiensis bite marks with comparisons to existing crocodylian datasets. Ichnos 21: 131-146.
• Boyd, C.A., S.K. Drumheller, and T.A. Gates, 2013. Crocodyliform feeding traces on juvenile ornithischian dinosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Kaiparowits Formation, Utah. PLoS ONE 8(2): e57605.
• Noto, C.R., D.J. Main, and S.K. Drumheller, 2012.  Feeding traces and paleobiology of a Cretaceous (Cenomanian) crocodyliform: Example from the Woodbine Formation of Texas.  Palaios 27(2):105-115.
• Drumheller, S.K., 2007.  Experimental taphonomy and microanalysis of crocodylian feeding traces.  Microscopy and Microanalysis 13:510-511.