Elisabeth Vrba : 50 selected publications
Vrba, E.S., 1975. Some evidence of chronology and palaeoecology of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and
Kromdraai from the fossil Bovidae. Nature 254(5498):301-304.
Vrba, E.S. and Grine, F.E., 1978. Australopithecine enamel prism patterns. Science 202:890-892.
Vrba, E.S., 1979. A new study of the scapula of Australopithecus africanus from Sterkfontein. Am. J.
Phys. Anthrop. 51(1):117-129.
Vrba, E.S., 1980. The significance of bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns.
In Fossils in the Making, A.K. Behrensmeyer and A.P. Hill, eds., The University of Chicago Press:
Chicago, pp. 247-271.
Vrba, E.S., 1980. Evolution, species and fossils: how does life evolve? S. Afr. J. Sci. 76(2):61-84.
Grine, F.E. and Vrba, E.S., 1980. Prismatic enamel: a preadaptation for mammalian diphyondonty? S. Afr.
J. Sci. 76(3):139-140.
Gould, S.J. and Vrba, E.S., 1982. Exaptation - a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology
8(1):4-15.
Vrba, E.S., 1983. Macroevolutionary trends: new perspectives on the roles of adaptation and incidental
effect. Science 221(4608):387-389.
Greenacre, M.J. and Vrba, E.S., 1984. A Correspondence Analysis of biological census data. Ecology
65(3):984-997.
Vrba, E.S. and Eldredge, N., 1984. Individuals, hierarchies and processes: towards a more complete
evolutionary theory. Paleobiology 10(2):123-164.
Vrba, E.S., 1985. Ecological and adaptive changes associated with early hominid evolution. In Ancestors:
The Hard Evidence, E. Delson, ed., Alan R. Liss, Inc.: New York, pp. 63-71.
Vrba, E.S., 1985. Editor. Species and Speciation. Transvaal Museum Monograph 4. Transvaal Museum,
Pretoria.
Vrba, E.S., 1985. Environment and evolution: alternative causes of the temporal distribution of
evolutionary events. S. Afr. J. Sci. 81(5):229-236.
Vrba, E.S. and Gould, S.J., 1986. The hierarchial expansion of sorting and selection: sorting and selection
cannot be equated. Paleobiology 12(2)217-228.
Vrba, E.S., 1987. Ecology in relation to speciation rates: some case histories of Miocene-Recent mamal
clades. Evolutionary Ecology 1:283-300.
Vrba, E.S., 1989. Levels of selection and sorting, with special reference to the species level. Oxford
Surveys of Evolutionary Biology, Vol. 6 :111-168.
Vrba, E.S. 1992. Mammals as a key to evolutionary theory. Plenary Keynote Address, 70th Congress of
American Society of Mammalogists, June 1990, Frostburg, Maryland. Journal of Mammalogy
73(1):1-28.
Gatesy, J. E., Yelon, D., DeSalle, R., and Vrba, E. S. 1992. Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial
DNA of the Bovidae, Mammalia. Molec. Biol. Evol. 9(3):433-446.
Vrba, E. S.. 1993. Turnover-pulses, the Red Queen, and related topics. American Journal of Science
293-A:418-452.
White, T.W., Suwa, G., Hart, W.K., Walter, R.C., WoldeGabriel, G., De Heinzelin, J., Clark, J.D., Asfaw, B.,
and Vrba, E.S. 1993. New discoveries of Australopithecus at Maka in Ethiopia. Nature 366:
261-265.
Vrba, E. S., Vaisnys, J. R., Gatesy, J. E., DeSalle, R., and K-Y. Yen 1994. Analysis of paedomorphosis using
allometric characters: the example of Reduncini antelopes (Bovidae, Mammalia). Systematic
Biology 43 (1):92-116.
Clark, J.D., De Heinzelin, J., Schick, K., Hart, W., White, T., WoldeGabriel, R. Walter, Suwa, G., Asfaw, B.,
Vrba, E. S. and Y. Haile-Selassie. 1994. Middle Pleistocene discoveries in the Middle Awash Valley,
Ethiopia. Science 264:1907-10.
Vrba, E.S. 1995. Species as habitat specific, complex systems. In The Recognition of Species: Speciation
and the Recognition Concept [J.C. Masters, D.M. Lambert and H.G. Spencer, eds.], pp. 3-44.
Johns Hopkins University Press.
Vrba, E. S., 1995. The fossil record of African antelopes (Mammalia, Bovidae) in relation to human
evolution and paleoclimate. Pp. 385-424. In E. S. Vrba, G. H. Denton, T. C. Partridge and L. H.
Burckle (eds.), Paleoclimate and Evolution with emphasis on Human Origins, pp.. Yale
University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. 556 pp.
Vrba, E. S., 1995. On the connections between paleoclimate and evolution. Pp. 24-45. In E. S. Vrba, G. H.
Denton, T. C. Partridge and L. H. Burckle (eds.), Paleoclimate and Evolution with emphasis on
Human Origins, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. 556 pp.
Vrba, E. S., G. H. Denton, T. C. Partridge and L. H. Burckle. Editors, 1995. Editors. Paleoclimate and
Evolution with emphasis on Human Origins, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut,
556 pp.
Vrba, E.S., 1996. Climate, heterochrony, and human evolution. Journal of Anthropological Research 52
(1): 1-28.
Schaller, G.B. and Vrba, E.S. 1996. Description of the Giant Muntjac (Megamuntiacus vuquangensis) in
Laos. Journal of Mammalogy 77 (3): 675-683.
Gatesy, J., Amato, G., Vrba, E., Schaller, G. and DeSalle, R. 1997. A cladistic analysis of mitochondrial
ribosomal DNA from the Bovidae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution: 7(3): 303-319.
Vrba, E.S. 1998. (Monograph.) New fossils of Alcelaphini and Caprinae (Bovidae, Mammalia) from Awash,
Ethiopia, and phylogenetic analysis of Alcelaphini. Palaeontologia africana 34 : 127-198.
Vrba, E.S. 1998. Multiphasic growth models and the evolution of prolonged growth exemplified by human
brain evolution. Journal of Theoretical Biology 190 : 227-239.
de Heinzelin, J., Clark, J.D., White, T., Hart, W., Renne, P., WoldeGabriel, G., Beyene, Y. and Vrba, E.S.
1999. Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old Bouri hominids. Science 284 : 625-629.
Vrba, E.S. 1999. Habitat theory in relation to the evolution in African Neogene biota and hominids. In T.G.
Bromage and F. Schrenk (eds.), African Biogeography, Climate Change, and Early Hominid
Evolution, pp. 19-34. Part of New Series on Human Evolution (Series Eds Wood, B. and
Ciochon, R.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Vrba, E.S. and Schaller, G.B. Editors. 2000. Antelopes, Deer, and Relatives : Fossil Record, Behavioral
Ecology, Systematics, and Conservation. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
Vrba, E.S. and Schaller, G.B. 2000. Phylogeny of Bovidae (Mammalia) based on behavior, glands and skull
morphology. pp. 203-222 In Vrba, E.S. and 2004, G.B. (eds.) Antelopes, Deer, and Relatives :
Fossil Record, Behavioral Ecology, Systematics, and Conservation. Yale University Press, New
Haven, Connecticut.
Vrba, E.S. 2000. Major features of Neogene Mammalian Evolution in Africa. In T.C. Partridge and R. Maud
(eds.), Cenozoic Geology of Southern Africa, 277-304. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United
Kingdom.
Vrba, E.S. 2002. Exaptation. In Pagel, M. Encyclopedia of Evolution, 123-126. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, United Kingdom.
Asfaw, B., Gilbert, H., Beyene, Y., Hart, W. Renne, P. WoldeGabriel, G., Vrba, E.S., and White, T. 2002.
Remains of Homo erectus from Bouri, Middle Awash, Ethiopia. Nature 416 (6878): 317-320.
DeGusta, D. And Vrba, E.S.. 2003. A method for inferring paleohabitats from the functional morphology
of bovid astragali. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(8): 1009-1022.
Vrba, E.S. 2004. Ecology, evolution, and development : Perspectives from the fossil record. In Hall, B.K.,
Pearson, R.D., and Muller, G.B. (Eds.) Environment, Development, and Evolution, pp. 85-105.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Vrba, E. S. & DeGusta, D. 2004 Do species populations really start small? New perspectives from the Late
Neogene fossil record of African mammals. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 359, 285-293.
Haile-Selassie, Y. Woldegabriel, G., White, T.D., Bernor, R.L., DeGusta, D., Renne, P.R., Hart, W.K., Vrba,
E., Stanley, A., and Howell, F.H. 2004. Mio-Pliocene mammals from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia.
Geobios 37(4): 536-552.
Vrba, E.S. and Eldredge, N. (Editors) 2005. Macroevolution: Diversity and Disparity. Dedicated issue of
Paleobiology in honor of Stephen Jay Gould, Paleobiology 31(2).
Hernández Fernández, M. and Vrba, E.S. 2005. Rapoport Effect and biomic specialization in African
mammals: revisiting the Climatic Variability Hypothesis. Journal of Biogeography 32: 903-918.
Hernández Fernández, M. and Vrba, E.S. 2005. A complete estimate of the phylogenetic relationships in
Ruminantia: a dated species-level supertree of the extant ruminants. Biological Reviews 80 : 269302.
Hernández Fernández, M. and Vrba, E.S. 2005. Body size, biomic secialization, and range size of African
large mammals. Journal of Biogeography 32: 1243-1256.
Vrba, E.S. 2005. Mass turnover and heterochrony events in response to physical change Paleobiology 31
(2): 157-174.
Hernández Fernández, M. and Vrba, E.S. 2005. Macroevolutionary processes and biomic specialization:
testing the Resource-Use Hypothesis. Evolutionary Ecology 19: 199-219.
Vrba, E.S. and Haile-Selassie, Y. 2006. A new antelope, Zephyreduncinus oundagaissensis (Reduncini,
Artiodactyla, Bovidae) from the Late Miocene of the Middle Awash, Afar Rift, Ethiopia. Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 26(1): 213-218. (March 2006)
Vrba, E.S. 2007. Role of Environmental Stimuli in Hominid Origins. In Henke,W., Rothe, H., and
Tattersall, I. (Eds.) Handbook of Palaeoanthropology, Vol. 3: Phylogeny of Hominines, pp. 141. Springer-Verlag: New York.
White, Tim D., Stanley H. Ambrose, Gen Suwa, Denise F. Su, David DeGusta, Raymond L. Bernor, JeanRenaud Boisserie, Michel Brunet, Eric Delson, Stephen Frost, Nuria Garcia, Ioannis X.
Giaourtsakis, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, F. Clark Howell, Thomas Lehmann, Andossa Likius, Cesur
Pehlevan, Haruo Saegusa, Gina Semprebon, Mark Teaford, and Elisabeth Vrba. 2009.
Macrovertebrate Paleontology and the Pliocene Habitat of Ardipithecus ramidus. Science 326 (5949) :
87-93.
Bibi, F., Bukhsianidze, M., Gentry, A.W., Geraads, D., Kostopoulos, D., and Vrba, E.S. 2009. The fossil
record and evolution of Bovidae: State of the field. Palaeontologia Electronica : 12 (Issue: 3) :
Article Number: 10A.
Bibi, F. and Vrba, E.S. 2010. Unraveling bovin phylogeny: accomplishments and challenges. BMC Biology 8
(50) : 1-4.