Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences
ul. Twarda 51/55
00-818 Warsaw, POLAND
e–mail: dmadzia@twarda.pan.pl
phone: (+4822) 697-88-74; room: 122

Personal data

Daniel Madzia
Born in 1989, Třinec, Czech Republic


Academic degrees

• 2018 Ph.D. in geology; Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; [Teeth of Cretaceous pliosaurids and mosasaurids as a source of knowledge of their biology and phylogeny]
• 2014-2018 Ph.D. student; International Doctoral Studies Course in the Biological Sciences with the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; scientific supervisor M. Machalski Ph.D., D.Sc.
• 2014 M.Sc. in paleontology; Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw [On the possible conspecificity of Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii and Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis (Sauropoda, Titanosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation of Mongolia]
• 2012 B.Sc. in geology; Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic [The first fossil material of Jurassic theropod dinosaur from the Czech Republic]

Scientific meetings

• 2015 XIII Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Opole, Poland [3 posters]
• 2014 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 74th Annual Meeting, Berlin, Germany [poster]
• 2012 Student Geological Conference, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic [oral presentation]
• 2009 international paleontological seminars, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic [oral presentation]

Field work/expeditions

• 2007–2014 fieldworks at Krasiejów organized by Opole University, University of Warsaw, and Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• 2013 fieldworks at Vyazniki (Russia) organized by Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• 2011–2012 fieldworks at Lisowice organized by University of Warsaw and Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• 2009 fieldworks at Montana (USA) organized by Museum of the Rockies

Grants and international projects

• 2016–2019 “Morphology, microstructure, and isotopes as a source of taxonomic and ecological information in the teeth of Mosasauridae from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe” (principal investigator; National Science Centre, Poland)
• 2014 Research Assistant during the National Science Centre (Poland) project (2013/09/D/ST10/04050) “Calibration of the sponge spicular analysis method on Quaternary and extant Caribbean shallow water communities” (1 month at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Bocas del Toro, Panama)

Editorial work

• 2012 Providing English-to-Polish translations for Palaeontologia Electronica

Scientific papers

2025

Czepiński Ł., Madzia D. 2025. Exploring the diversity and disparity of rhabdodontomorph ornithopods from the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. Scientific Reports 15: 15209. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-98083-z

Sachs, S., Madzia, D., Marx, M., Roberts, A.J., Hampe, O. & B.P. Kear. 2025. The osteology, taxonomy, and phylogenetic placement of Seeleyosaurus guilelmiimperatoris (Plesiosauroidea, Microcleididae) from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Germany. The Anatomical Record. doi:10.1002/ar.25620

2024

Czepiński, Ł. & D. Madzia. 2024. Osteology, phylogenetic affinities, and palaeobiogeographic significance of the bizarre ornithischian dinosaur Ajkaceratops kozmai from the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202: zlae048. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae048

Sachs, S., Hornung, J.J. & D. Madzia. 2024. Early-diverging plesiosaurs from the Pliensbachian (Lower Jurassic) of northwestern Germany. PeerJ 12: e18408. doi:10.7717/peerj.18408

Sachs, S., Eggmaier, S. & D. Madzia. 2024. Exquisite skeletons of a new transitional plesiosaur fill gap in the evolutionary history of plesiosauroids. Frontiers in Earth Science 12: 1341470. doi:10.3389/feart.2024.1341470

Sachs, S., Abel, P. & D. Madzia. 2024. Unusual plesiosaur vertebrae from the Lower Jurassic Posidonia Shale of Germany. Historical Biology 30: 2124–2132. doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2242376

2023

Calábková, G., Madzia, D., Nosek, V. & M. Ivanov. 2023. Tracking ‘transitional’ diadectomorphs in the earliest Permian of equatorial Pangea. PeerJ 11: e16603. doi:10.7717/peerj.16603

Sachs, S., Madzia, D., Thuy, B. & B.P. Kear. 2023. The rise of macropredatory pliosaurids near the Early-Middle Jurassic transition. Scientific Reports 13: 17558. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-43015-y

Calábková, G., Březina, J., Nosek, V. & D. Madzia. 2023. Synapsid tracks with skin impressions illuminate the terrestrial tetrapod diversity in the earliest Permian of equatorial Pangea. Scientific Reports 13: 1130. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-27939-z

2022

Sachs, S., Abel, P. & D. Madzia. 2022. A ‘long-forgotten’ plesiosaur provides evidence of large-bodied rhomaleosaurids in the Middle Jurassic of Germany. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 42: e2205456. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2205456

Madzia, D., Sachs, S. & C. Klug. 2022. Historical significance and taxonomic status of Ischyrodon meriani (Pliosauridae) from the Middle Jurassic of Switzerland. PeerJ 10: e13244. doi:10.7717/peerj.13244

Calábková, G., Březina, J. & D. Madzia. 2022. Evidence of large terrestrial seymouriamorphs in the lowermost Permian of the Czech Republic. Papers in Palaeontology 8: e1428. doi:10.1002/spp2.1428

Černý, D., Madzia, D. & G.J. Slater. 2022. Empirical and methodological challenges to the model-based inference of diversification rates in extinct clades. Systematic Biology 71: 153–171. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syab045

2021

Madzia, D., Arbour, V.M., Boyd, C.A., Farke, A.A., Cruzado-Caballero, P., Evans, D.C. 2021. The phylogenetic nomenclature of ornithischian dinosaurs. PeerJ 9: e12362. doi:10.7717/peerj.12362

Cau, A. & D. Madzia. 2021. The phylogenetic affinities and morphological peculiarities of the bird-like dinosaur Borogovia gracilicrus from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. PeerJ 9: e12640. doi:10.7717/peerj.12640

Březina, J., Ivanov, M. & D. Madzia. 2021. Structural pattern in the tusks of the Miocene mammutid Zygolophodon turicensis and its utility in the taxonomy of elephantimorph proboscideans. Historical Biology 33: 3191–3201. doi:10.1080/08912963.2020.1853720

Bastiaans, D., Madzia, D., Carrillo-Briceño, J.D. & S. Sachs. 2021. Equatorial pliosaurid from Venezuela marks the youngest South American occurrence of the clade. Scientific Reports 11: 15501. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94515-8

Madzia, D., Sachs, S., Young M.T., Lukeneder, A. & P. Skupien. 2021. Evidence of two lineages of metriorhynchid crocodylomorphs in the Lower Cretaceous of the Czech Republic. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 66 (2): 357–367. doi:10.4202/app.00801.2020

Sachs, S., Lindgren, J., Madzia, D. & B.P. Kear. 2021. Cranial osteology of the mid-Cretaceous elasmosaurid Thalassomedon haningtoni from the Western Interior Seaway of North America. Cretaceous Research 123: 104769. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104769

Madzia, D., Szczygielski, T. & A.S. Wolniewicz. 2021. The giant pliosaurid that wasn’t—revising the marine reptiles from the Kimmeridgian, Upper Jurassic, of Krzyżanowice, Poland. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 66 (1): 99–129. doi:10.4202/app.00795.2020

2020

Madzia, D. 2020. Dental variability and distinguishability in Mosasaurus lemonnieri (Mosasauridae) from the Campanian and Maastrichtian of Belgium, and implications for taxonomic assessments of mosasaurid dentitions. Historical Biology 32: 1340–1354. doi:10.1080/08912963.2019.1588892

Madzia, D. & J.L. Conrad. 2020. Mosasauridae. In de Queiroz, K., Cantino, P.D. & J.A. Gauthier (eds), Phylonyms: A Companion to the PhyloCode. CRC Press, Boca Raton: 1103–1108. doi:10.1201/9780429446276-259

Madzia, D. & A. Cau. 2020. Estimating the evolutionary rates in mosasauroids and plesiosaurs: discussion of niche occupation in Late Cretaceous seas. PeerJ 8: e8941. doi:10.7717/peerj.8941

Owocki, K. & D. Madzia. 2020. Predatory behaviour in mosasaurid squamates inferred from tooth microstructure and mineralogy. Cretaceous Research 111: 104430. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104430

Sachs, S., Madzia, D., Püttmann, T. & B.P. Kear. 2020. Enigmatic plesiosaur vertebral remains from the middle Turonian of Germany. Cretaceous Research 110: 104406. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104406

Madzia, D., Jagt, J.W.M. & E.W.A. Mulder. 2020. Osteology, phylogenetic affinities and taxonomic status of the enigmatic late Maastrichtian ornithopod taxon Orthomerus dolloi (Dinosauria, Ornithischia). Cretaceous Research 108: 104334. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104334

2019

Madzia, D., Sachs, S. & J. Lindgren. 2019. Morphological and phylogenetic aspects of the dentition of Megacephalosaurus eulerti, a pliosaurid from the Turonian of Kansas, USA, with remarks on the cranial anatomy of the taxon. Geological Magazine 156: 1201–1216. doi:10.1017/S0016756818000523

2018

Madzia, D., Březina, J. & G. Calábková. 2018. Oxfordští pliosauři severní Tethydy v kontextu fylogeneze kladu Thalassophonea. Acta Musei Moraviae, Scientiae geologicae 2: 87–97.

Łukowiak, M., Cramer, K.L., Madzia, D., Hynes, M.G., Norris, R.D. & A. O’Dea. 2018. Historical change in a Caribbean reef sponge community and long-term loss of sponge predators. Marine Ecology Progress Series 601: 127–137. doi:10.3354/meps12694

Cau, A. & D. Madzia. 2018. Redescription and affinities of Hulsanpes perlei (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. PeerJ 6: e4868. doi:10.7717/peerj.4868

Zverkov, N.G., Fischer, V., Madzia, D. & R.B.J. Benson. 2018. Increased pliosaurid dental disparity across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition. Palaeontology 61: 825–846. doi:10.1111/pala.12367

Madzia, D., Boyd, C.A. & M. Mazuch. 2018. A basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Cenomanian of the Czech Republic. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 16: 967–979. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1371258

2017

Madzia, D. & M. Machalski. 2017. Isolated pliosaurid teeth from the Albian–Cenomanian (Cretaceous) of Annopol, Poland. Acta Geologica Polonica 67: 393–403. doi:10.1515/agp-2017-0018

Madzia, D. & A. Cau. 2017. Inferring ‘weak spots’ in phylogenetic trees: application to mosasauroid nomenclature. PeerJ 5: e3782. doi:10.7717/peerj.3782

2016

Madzia, D. 2016. A reappraisal of Polyptychodon (Plesiosauria) from the Cretaceous of England. PeerJ 4: e1998. doi:10.7717/peerj.1998

2014

Madzia, D. 2014. The first non-avian theropod from the Czech Republic. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59: 855–862. doi:10.4202/app.2012.0111

Conference abstracts and chapters in guide books

Černý, D., Madzia, D. & G. J. Slater. 2019. Evaluating the performance of diversification rate estimation methods in extinct clades with empirical and simulated data. 3rd Annual Great Lakes Student Paleoconference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 8–10 November 2019:14.

Černý, D., Madzia, D. & G. J. Slater. 2019. Inferring macroevolutionary dynamics of extinct clades: a test using ‘bird-hipped’ dinosaurs (Ornithischia). Evolution 2019, Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 21-25 June 2019: T248.

Zverkov, N.G., Fischer, V., Madzia, D. & R. B. J. Benson. 2018. Evolution and disparity of pliosaurid teeth and the influence of the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition. 5th International Paleontological Congress, Paris, 9-13 July 2018: 88.

Madzia, D., Sachs, S. & J. Lindgren. 2017. The dentition of Megacephalosaurus eulerti (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae) from the Turonian of Kansas and comments on the phylogenetic relationships of the last brachauchenines. 61st Annual Meeting of the the Palaeontological Association, England, 17-20 December 2017: 109–110.

Madzia, D. & C. A. Boyd. 2017. The ‘pliable’ nature of the phylogenetic relationships within early ornithopods. 61st Annual Meeting of the the Palaeontological Association, London, England, 17-20 December 2017: 56.

Madzia, D., Sachs, S., Evans, M., Lindgren, J., Kear, B.P. & A. Cau. 2017. Reappraisal of the ʽDorking Specimen’: An Upper Cretaceous Brachauchenine Pliosaurid from England. Zitteliana 91: XV Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Munich, Germany, 1-3 August 2017: 55–56.

Madzia, D. 2017. The Dentition of Mosasaurus lemonnieri (Mosasauridae) from the Campanian and Maastrichtian of Belgium. Zitteliana 91: XV Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Munich, Germany, 1-3 August 2017: 55.

Madzia, D. 2017. Wild Prehistory; or, why and how to Bring Palaeontology to People. Bringing Palaeontology to People, Krasiejów, Poland, 30 June to 3 July 2017.

Madzia, D., Ivanov, M., & M. Łukowiak. 2015. A juvenile ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Solnhofen Limestone. In: Jagt, J.W.M. et al. (eds): XIII Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Opole, Poland, 8-12 July 2015, Abstracts: 138. (poster)

Madzia, D.2015. The dentition of Polyptychodon interruptus (Plesiosauria, Pliosauridae). In: Jagt, J.W.M. et al. (eds): XIII Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Opole, Poland, 8-12 July 2015, Abstracts: 130. (poster)

Madzia, D. A. Cau. 2015. Insights into the evolutionary history of Mosasauroidea (Squamata) using parsimony and Bayesian inference. In: Jagt, J.W.M. et al. (eds): XIII Annual Meeting of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists, Opole, Poland, 8-12 July 2015, Abstracts: 129. (poster)

Madzia, D., Borsuk-Białynicka, M. 2014. New sauropod material from the Nemegt Formation supports the conspecificity of Opisthocoelicaudia skarzynskii and Nemegtosaurus mongoliensis (Sauropoda, Titanosauria). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34 (Supplement to volume 5): 173A–174A. [poster]

Madzia, D. 2012. První fosilní materiál jurského teropodního dinosaura z České republiky. In: Dziková, L., Šimíček, D. and T. Kumpan (eds), Studentská geologická konference 2012, Sborník abstraktů, s. 35, Ústav geologických věd, Přírodovědecká fakulta Masarykovy univerzity, Brno, Czech Republic. ISBN 978-80-210-5856-9. [lecture]

Madzia, D. 2016. Záhadní pliosauři křídových moří. Naše příroda, 5: 82–85.
Madzia, D. 2016. Zagadka zauropodów z pustyni Gobi. Ewolucja, 6: 22–26.
Madzia, D. 2016. Jak pracuje paleontolog? Naše příroda, 2: 78-81.
Madzia, D. 2016. Paleontologové: za dinosaury bez štětečků. Naše příroda, 1: 78-81.
Madzia, D. 2015. Prehistoryczna układanka. Świat Nauki, 12: 18-19.
Madzia, D. & Machalski, M. 2015. Renesans nieptasich teropodów. Świat Nauki, 1: 10-11.
Madzia, D. & Machalski, M. 2014. Powrót strasznorękiego. Rocznik Muzeum Ewolucji, 6: 25-32.
Madzia, D. 2012. Klenot jménem Barrandien. Naše příroda, 3, 78–83.
Madzia, D. 2012. Karbonský prales. Naše příroda, 2, 76–81.
Madzia, D. 2011. Po stopách dinosaurů. Naše příroda, 5, 76–81.
Madzia, D. 2011. Velcí savci dob ledových. Naše příroda, 2, 74–81.
Madzia, D. 2010. Velké vymřelé kočkovité šelmy České republiky. Naše příroda, 6, 14–19.
Madzia, D. 2008. Dinosauří fantazie. Svět, 12, 56–57.
Madzia, D. 2007. Rekordy ze světa dinosaurů. Svět, 12, 43–45.
Madzia, D. 2007. Megalodon – největší žralok všech dob. Svět, 7-8, 22–23.
Madzia, D. 2007. Největší dinosauři. Svět, 5, 10–12.
Madzia, D. 2007. Největší dravci pravěku. Svět, 3, 12–14.
Madzia, D. 2007. 32 nových dinosaurů. Svět, 2, 16–18.