Mikael U. Siversson

Qualifications

PhD (1993) in Geology at Lund University, Sweden.

Research

Cretaceous and Cenozoic elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) from Australia, North America and Europe but with focus on Australian mid-Cretaceous and Miocene faunas.

Cretaceous dinosaurs and marine reptiles from Australia and northern Europe.

Collections

Manages the palaeontology collection, which comprises approximately 1,500,000 specimens of vertebrate and invertebrate body fossils, plant fossils, microbialites and trace fossils.

High quality and scientifically significant fossil specimens are added to the Museum’s palaeontology collection through fieldwork, donations and collaborations with other institutions.

Services (to other bodies)

Provides advice and species identifications of fossil specimens to government.

Websites

Marine Reptiles from the Age of the Dinosaurs

Cave: Search for Australia's forgotten beasts

Exhibitions and Public Programs

Delivers public talks on vertebrate fossils from Western Australia.

Developed the Dinosaur Discovery exhibit (2014, 2017) which is the most successful exhibit in the history of the WA Museum with more than 170,000 visitors in 2014 in Perth.

Selected Publications

Shimada, K., Elstrup, M., Lauridsen, H., Sørensen, T. and Siversson, M. (2026). Rediscovery of the associated gigantic vertebrae of the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon, from the Upper Miocene Gram Formation in Denmark, and comments on its paleobiological significance and the maximum possible size of the species. Palaeontologia Electronica 29: 1–25.

Guinot, G., Adnet, S., Cuny, G., Feichtinger, I., Shimada, K., Siversson, M., Underwood, C.J., Vullo, R., Ward, D.J. and Condamine, F.L. (2026). Fossil-based analyses of clades’ diversification patterns require taxonomic expertise and appropriate methodology. bioRxiv: 2026-02.

Bazzi, M., Siversson, M., Wintner, S., Newbrey, M., Payne, J.L., Campione, N.E., Roberts, A.J., Natanson, L.J., Hall, S., Blake, T. and Kear, B.P. (2025). Early gigantic lamniform marks the onset of mega-body size in modern shark evolution. Communications Biology 8: 1499.

Kear, B.P., Campione, N.E., Siversson, M., Bazzi, M. and Hart, L.J. (2025). Revision of the trematosaurid Erythrobatrachus noonkanbahensis confirms a cryptic marine temnospondyl community from the Lower Triassic of Western Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 45: e2601224.

Meyerkort, R.D., Kear, B.P., Everhart, M.J. and Siversson, M. (2025). Youngest fossil occurrence of ichthyosaurs from the Southern Hemisphere. Cretaceous Research 168: 106071.

Shimada, K., Motani, R., Wood, J.J., Sternes, P.C., Tomita, T., Bazzi, M., Collareta, A., Gayford, J.H., Türtscher, J., Jambura, P.L., Kriwet, J., Vullo, R., Long, D.J., Summers, A.P., Maisey, J.G., Underwood, C., Ward, D.J., Maisch, H.M., Perez, V.J., Feichtinger, I., Naylor, G.J.P., Moyer, J.K., Higham, T.E., da Silva, J.P.C.B., Bornatowski, H., González-Barba, G., Griffiths, M.L., Becker, M.A. and Siversson, M. (2025). Reassessment of the possible size, form, weight, cruising speed, and growth parameters of the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontidae), and new evolutionary insights into its gigantism, life history strategies, ecology, and extinction. Palaeontologia Electronica 28: 1502.

Sternes, P.C., Jambura, P.L., Türtscher, J., Kriwet, J., Siversson, M., Feichtinger, I., Naylor, G.J.P., Summers, A.P., Maisey, J.G., Tomita, T., Moyer, J.K., Higham, T.E., da Silva, J.P.C.B., Bornatowski, H., Long, D.J., Perez, V.J., Collareta, A., Underwood, C., Ward, D.J., Vullo, R., González-Barba, G., Maisch, H.M., Griffiths, M.L., Becker, M.A., Wood, J.J. and Shimada, K. (2024). White shark comparison reveals a slender body for the extinct megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon (Lamniformes: Otodontidae). Palaeontologia Electronica 27: a7.

Peters, C., Wang, Y., Vakil, V., Cramb, J., Dortch, J., Hocknull, S., Lawrence, R., Manne, T., Monks, C., Rössner, G.E., Ryan, H., Siversson, M., Ziegler, T., Louys, J., Price, G.J., Boivin, N. and Collins, M.J. (2023). Bone collagen from subtropical Australia is preserved for more than 50,000 years. Communications Earth & Environment 4: 438.

Siversson, M., Cederström, P. and Ryan, H.E. (2022). A new dallasiellid shark from the lower Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Sweden. GFF 144: 118–125.

Bazzi, M., Kear, B.P. and Siversson, M. (2022). Southern higher-latitude lamniform sharks track mid-Cretaceous environmental change. Gondwana Research 103: 362–370.Siversson, M., Cook, T.D., Cederström, P. and Ryan, H.E. (2016). Early Campanian (Late Cretaceous) squatiniform and synechodontiform selachians from the Åsen locality, Kristianstad Basin, Sweden. In: Kear, B. P., Lindgren, J., Hurum, J. H., Milàn, J. and Vajda, V. (eds), Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories. pp 251-275. Geological Society: London.

Berrell, R.W., Boisvert, C., Trinajstic, K., Siversson, M., Alvarado-Ortega, J., Cavin, L., Salisbury, S.W. and Kemp, A. (2020). A review of Australia’s Mesozoic fishes. Alcheringa 44: 286–311.

Murphy, C., Newbrey, M., Siversson, M. and Ehret, D. (2019). Centrum morphology, age, and growth of Cretalamna sp. (Lamniformes, Otodontidae), a shark, from the Cretaceous Mooreville Chalk Formation (Santonian to Campanian), Alabama. 80th Annual Meeting of ASB. SEBIOLOGISTS.

Siversson, M., Cook, T.D., Ryan, H.E., Watkins, D.K., Tatarnic, N.J., Downes, P.J. and Newbrey, M.G. (2019). Anacoracid sharks and calcareous nannofossil stratigraphy of the mid-Cretaceous ‘upper’ Gearle Siltstone and Haycock Marl in the lower Murchison River area, Western Australia. Alcheringa 43: 85–113.

Kear, B.P., Fordyce, R.E., Hiller, N. and Siversson, M. (2018). A palaeobiogeographical synthesis of Australasian Mesozoic marine tetrapods. Alcheringa 42: 461–486.

Guinot, G., Adnet, S., Shimada, K., Underwood, C.J., Siversson, M., Ward, D.J., Kriwet, J. and Cappetta, H. (2018). On the need of providing tooth morphology in descriptions of extant elasmobranch species. Zootaxa 4461: 118–126.

McLoughlin, S., Haig, D.W., Siversson, M. and Einarsson, E. (2018). Did mangrove communities exist in the Late Cretaceous of the Kristianstad Basin, Sweden? Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 498: 99–114.

Siversson, M. and Machalski, M. (2017). Late late Albian (Early Cretaceous) shark teeth from Annopol, Poland. Alcheringa 41: 433–463.

Whisson, C., Kirkendale, L. and Siversson, M. (2017). The presumed extinct Bothriembryon whitleyi Iredale, 1939 remains elusive. The Malacological Society of Australasia Newsletter 163: 1–6.

Sachs, S., Lindgren, J. and Siversson, M. (2016). A partial plesiosaurian braincase from the Upper Cretaceous of Sweden. In: Kear, B.P., Lindgren, J., Hurum, J.H., Milàn, J. and Vajda, V. (eds), Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories. pp. 293–301. Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

Siversson, M., Cook, T.D., Cederström, P. and Ryan, H.E. (2016). Early Campanian (Late Cretaceous) squatiniform and synechodontiform selachians from the Åsen locality, Kristianstad Basin, Sweden. In: Kear, B.P., Lindgren, J., Hurum, J.H., Milàn, J. and Vajda, V. (eds), Mesozoic Biotas of Scandinavia and its Arctic Territories. pp. 251–275. Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

Selected publications (pre-2016)

Siversson, M., Lindgren, J., Newbrey, M.G., Cederström, P. and Cook, T.D. (2015). Cenomanian-Campanian (Late Cretaceous) mid-palaeolatitude sharks of Cretalamna appendiculata type. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 60: 339-384.

Lindgren, J., Currie, P.J., Siversson, M., Rees, J., Cederström, P. and Lindgren, F. (2007). The first neoceratopsian dinosaur remains from Europe. Palaeontology 50: 929-937.

Siversson, M., Lindgren, J. and Kelley, L.S. (2007). Anacoracid sharks from the Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Texas. Palaeontology 50: 939-950.

Siversson, M. (1999). A new large lamniform shark from the uppermost Gearle Siltstone (Cenomanian, Late Cretaceous) of Western Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 90: 49-66.

Siversson, M. (1996). Lamniform sharks of the mid Cretaceous Alinga Formation and Beedagong Claystone, Western Australia. Palaeontology 39: 813-849.

Full publication list

Head of Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences