Jacob Blokland

I come from a rural area called Broadfields in Canterbury, New Zealand, with a background in geology and biological sciences which I studied at University of Canterbury. Upon completing my MSc there, which focused on the description, palaeobiology and evolution of Paleocene (62-60 million-year-old) fossil penguins from Chatham Island, I moved to South Australia in 2018 and joined the Palaeontology Research Group at Flinders University to further pursue avian palaeontology. There, I completed my PhD which focused on Oligocene-Miocene rail-like birds (Ralloidea) and assessing their relationships to modern groups.

I am interested in contributing to the understanding of bird evolution, especially the patterns and processes involved in flightlessness. To this end, I have experience investigating penguins, rails and allies, and waterfowl (including dromornithids), with attention to comparative anatomy, functional morphology, phylogenetics, systematics and taxonomy. I endeavour to continue learning about the evolution of these groups and others, and the diversity of extinct avifauna.

I am grateful to be involved in the BSc (Palaeontology) degree, where I teach in various topics, but especially as part of the Scientific Illustration topic, and phylogenetic inference in the 3rd year Vertebrate Palaeontology. I also supervise 2nd and 3rd-year student research projects, and assist in tuition where palaeornithology is a focus. 

I am the osteological preparator for donated or collected specimens for the Flinders University Vertebrate Collection (FUVC), and have been preparing skeletons for the Flinders Palaeontology Research Group since 2020. Please feel free to contact me if you have come across something interesting that you may wish to donate so that it may be used for research.