{{Short description|British palaeontologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Mark Andrew Purnell | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | field = Palaeontology | work_institution = University of Leicester | alma_mater = University of Nottingham and University of Newcastle | doctoral_advisor = Howard Armstrong | doctoral_students = Ivan Sansom, Philip Donoghue | known_for = | prizes = Hinde Medal of the Pander Society | religion = | footnotes = }} '''Mark Andrew Purnell''' is a British palaeontologist, Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester.
Purnell is an expert in conodont biostratigraphy (principally Carboniferous) and conodont palaeobiology, focussing especially on attempts to uncover the function of conodont elements. Using conventional functional morphology,<ref name="Purnell and von Bitter, 1992">Purnell, M. A. and von Bitter, P. H. 1992. Blade-shaped conodont elements functioned as cutting teeth. ''Nature'' '''359''': 629-631</ref> physical modelling <ref name="Purnell and Donoghue 1998">Purnell, M. A. and Donoghue, P. C. J. 1998. Architecture and functional morphology of the skeletal apparatus of ozarkodinid conodonts. ''Palaeontology'' '''41''': 57-102</ref> and microwear<ref name="Purnell 1995">Purnell, M. A. 1995. Microwear on conodont elements and macrophagy in the first vertebrates. ''Nature'' '''374''': 798-800</ref> analysis, Purnell uncovered unequivocal evidence that conodont elements had performed a mechanical tooth function in life, resolving a palaeobiological debate that had run for more than a century. His work has expanded in recent years to analysing feeding mechanisms of extinct vertebrates more generally,<ref name="Purnell 2002">Purnell, M. A. 2002. Feeding in extinct jawless heterostracan fishes and testing scenarios of early vertebrate evolution. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B'' '''269''': 83-88</ref><ref name="Purnell et al., 2007"> Purnell, M. A., Bell, M. A., Baines, D. C., Hart, P. J. B. and Travis, M. P. 2007. Correlated evolution and dietary change in fossil stickleback. ''Science'' '''317''': 1887</ref> exploiting microwear, including validation studies based on extant stickleback fish.<ref name="Purnell et al., 2006">Purnell, M. A., Hart, P. J. B., Baines, D. C. and Bell, M. A. 2006. Quantitative analysis of dental microwear in threespine stickleback: a new approach to analysis of trophic ecology in aquatic vertebrates. ''Journal of Animal Ecology'' '''75''': 967-977</ref>
Purnell was awarded the Hinde Medal of the Pander society in 2006 and served as Vice-President of the Palaeontological Association from 2003-2005.
In 2009, Purnell conducted a study into the chewing methods and diet of hadrosaurids, a herbivore species of duck-billed dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period. The study, which Purnell co-authored with paleontologist Paul Barrett and graduate student Vince Williams, was published on 30 June 2009 in the journal, ''The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''.<ref name="PlanetEarth">{{Cite news|title=Teeth scratches reveal dinosaur menu |work=PlanetEarth Online (Natural Environment Research Council) |date=2009-06-30 |url=http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=467 |accessdate=2009-06-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719233932/http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=467 |archivedate=2011-07-19 }}</ref> By analyzing hundreds of microscopic scratches on the teeth of a fossilized ''Edmontosaurus'' jaw, the team determined hadrosaurs had a unique way of eating unlike any creature living today. In contrast to a flexible lower jaw joint prevalent in today's mammals, hadrosaurs had a unique hinge between the upper jaws and the rest of its skull. The team found the dinosaur's upper jaws pushed outwards and sideways while chewing, as the lower jaw slid against the upper teeth. The study also found that hadrosaurs likely grazed on horsetails and vegetation close to the ground, rather than browsing higher-growing leaves and twigs. However, Purnell said these conclusions were less secure than the more conclusive evidence regarding the motion of teeth while chewing.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Boyle |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Boyle |work=MSNBC |title=How dinosaurs chewed |date=2009-06-29 |url=http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/29/1981788.aspx |accessdate=2009-06-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090702125027/http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/29/1981788.aspx |archivedate=2009-07-02 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Purnell, Mark}} Category:British palaeontologists Category:Conodont specialists Category:Alumni of the University of Nottingham Category:Alumni of Newcastle University Category:Academics of the University of Leicester Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)