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

ResearchGate: Dirley-Cortes

Personal data
Dirley Cortés

Academic experience

• Ph.D. Biology 2018-2025
  McGill University, McGill-STRI Neotropical Environment Option, Montréal, Canada

• Intern, Predoctoral & Postdoctoral fellow 2016-present
  Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Panama

• Lead researcher 2013-present
  Centro de Investigaciones Paleontológicas, Villa de Leyva, Colombia

• B.Sc. Biology 2011-2016
  Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Tunja, Colombia

Employment

• 2026 – present: Postdoctoral Researcher in the Institute of Paleobiology PAS

Selected media

• Nature careers: 31 Jan 2024 From a pocketful of rocks to scientific director of palaeontological research by E. Rincon, [text]  

• Forbes: 19 Dec 2021 Colombian Paleontologist Studies Her Hometown’s Giant Marine Reptile by A. Wight, [text]

Scientific papers

Cortés, D., & Larsson, H. C. E. 2026. The Paja Formation of Colombia records uniquely high biodiversity during a biotic inflection in an Early Cretaceous Gondwanan marine ecosystem. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2026.1848892

Martinez-Motta MF, Cortés D, Maxwell E.E, Noè LF, Alfonso-Rojas A, Parra-Ruge F, Cadena EA. 2025. Soft-tissue preservation in a fossil ichthyosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Paja Formation Biota of Colombia. Cretaceous Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106305

Pimiento C., Cortés D, Valenzuela A. 2025. Ocean Giants Through Time: Evolution and Ecology Intertwined. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102723-054842

Cortés D., Jaramillo C., Luque J., Suarez C., Parra-Ruge ML., Gaona Narváez T., Cadena E-A. 2025. In Memorian María Eurídice Páramo Fonseca (31 octubre 1960–enero 4 2025). Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. 49 (190): 253-256

Cortés D. and Larsson HCE. 2025. An ichthyosaur rostrum from the uppermost Albian of Saskatchewan (Canada) represents the youngest diagnosable Canadian ichthyosaur prior to their demise. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 62: 629-639

Cortés D. 2024. El impacto de las mujeres colombianas en la Paleontología. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales 48: 216-221

Pimiento C, Kocáková K, Mathes GH, Argyriou T, Cadena E-A, Cooper JA, Cortés D… Zanatta C. 2024. The extinct marine megafauna of the Phanerozoic. Cambridge Prisms: Extinction, 2, e7: 1–17. 10.1017/ext.2024.12

Carrillo JD, Jaramillo C, Abadía F, Aguilera O, Alfonso-Rojas A, Billet G, Benites-Palomino A, Cadena EA, Cárdenas A, Carlini AA, Carrillo-Briceño J, Carvalho M, Cortés D… Zapata S. 2023. The Miocene La Venta Biome (Colombia): A century of research and future perspectives. Geodiversitas 45, 739-67.

Cortés D. and Larsson HCE. 2023. Top of the food chains: an ecological network of the marine Paja Formation biota from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia reveals the highest trophic levels ever estimated. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society,1093/zoolinnean/zlad092

Cortés D, Parra-Ruge ML, Parra-Ruge JDD, Demers-Potvin A, Smith AJ, Bui HN, Larsson HCE. 2023. Theropod dinosaur footprints from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia: walking dynamics and paleoenvironmental implications. Facies 9, 1-17.

Cortés, D. 2023. Los Reptiles marinos (Marine reptiles). In Jaramillo, C., and Oviedo L.H. Hace tiempo (‘Long Ago’). Un viaje paleontológico ilustrado por Colombia. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales, Volume 2. Bogotá, DC, Colombia. Punto Aparte, Bogotá: 94-97 (Spanish)

Cortés D, Larsson HCE, Maxwell EE. 2021. Reappearance of hypercarnivore ichthyosaurs in the Cretaceous with differentiated dentition: revision of ‘Platypterygius’ sachicarum (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria, Ophthalmosauridae) of Colombia. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2021.1989507

Cortés D, Larsson HCE, Maxwell EE, Parra-Ruge ML, Patarroyo P, and Wilson JA. 2019. An Early Cretaceous Teleosauroid (Crocodylomorpha: Thalattosuchia) from Colombia. Ameghiniana 56: 365-379

Cortés D, De Gracia C, Carrillo-Briceño JD, Aguirre-Fernández G, Jaramillo C, Benites-Palomino A, Atencio-Araúz JE. 2019. Shark-cetacean trophic interactions during the late Pliocene in the Central Eastern Pacific (Panama). Palaeontologia Electronica, 2.49A(1-13). DOI:10.26879/953

Luque J, Cortés D, Rodriguez-Abaunza A, Cárdenas D, Parra JDD. 2020. Orithopsid crabs from the Lower Cretaceous Paja Formation in Boyacá (Colombia), and the earliest record of parasitic isopod traces in Raninoida. Cretaceous Research, 116, 104602.

Maxwell EE, Cortés D. 2020. A revision of the Early Jurassic ichthyosaur Hauffiopteryx (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria), and description of a new species from southwestern Germany. Palaeontologia Electronica 23(2):a31. https://doi.org/10.26879/937 palaeo-electronica.org/content/2020/3078-revision-of-hauffiopteryx

Maxwell EE, Cortés D, Patarroyo P, Ruge MLP. 2019. A new specimen of Platypterygius sachicarum (Reptilia, Ichthyosauria) from the Early Cretaceous of Colombia and its phylogenetic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 39(1), e1577875.

Cortés D, Páramo-Fonseca ME. 2018. Restos apendiculares de un ictiosaurio oftalmosáurido del Barremiano inferior de Villa de Leiva, Colombia. Boletín de Geología, 40(1), 15-30. Doi:10.18273/revbol.v40n1-2018001.