Barry Kues

Barry Stephen Kues
Born (1946-03-15) March 15, 1946 (age 80)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Education
Known for
  • Paleontology of New Mexico
  • founding of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
Awards
  • New Mexico Earth Science Achievement Award (2019)
  • Honorary Life Member of the New Mexico Geological Society
Scientific career
FieldsPaleontology, geology, stratigraphy
WorkplacesUniversity of New Mexico
Thesis Paleoecology of the Late Pennsylvanian Oketo Member of the Barneston Limestone  (1974)

Barry Stephen Kues (born March 15, 1946) is an American paleontologist and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. His research has focused on the stratigraphy and paleontology of the Pennsylvanian, Permian, and Cretaceous formations of the American Southwest, and he is recognized for his contributions to the study of marine invertebrates and the history of geological research in New Mexico. Kues is an Honorary Life Member of the New Mexico Geological Society.

Over a five-decade academic career, he has authored or co-authored nearly 300 scientific publications, including major reference works on the fossils and geological development of the region.

Biography

Kues was born in Santa Monica, California, and raised in southern California. He received a B.A. in zoology from the University of California, Riverside in 1967, followed by an M.S. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego in 1969. He completed his Ph.D. in geology at Indiana University Bloomington in 1974, where his dissertation examined the paleoecology of the Permian Oketo Member of the Barneston Limestone in Kansas and Nebraska.

Career

Kues joined the University of New Mexico in 1974 as an Assistant Professor of Geology after completing his Ph.D. at Indiana University. He remained at the university for the entirety of his academic career, advancing to Associate Professor in 1980 and Full Professor in 1992. He supervised master’s and doctoral students and served in numerous administrative and service roles.

He was Assistant Chair of the department from 1981 to 1986 and twice served as Acting Chair before being appointed Chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences from 1991 to 1999. He retired from regular teaching duties in 2011 and was named Professor Emeritus. At UNM he also participated in university governance, including the Faculty Senate, where he chaired the Library and Budget Committees, and he contributed to planning and advisory committees across the College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the President. Beyond the university, he held positions as Adjunct Curator of Paleontology at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and served as a Research Associate of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources.

Kues played a notable role in the efforts that led to the establishment of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. In 1977, he led a paleontological survey of northwestern New Mexico for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and the resulting...for a state natural history museum, which opened in 1986. He later collaborated with museum staff and educational organizations to expand public access to paleontological resources and research.

Kues is an Honorary Life Member of the New Mexico Geological Society and has been recognized for shaping the documentation and interpretation of the region’s fossil record. He received the New Mexico Earth Science Achievement Award, presented by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources in 2019.

In retirement he continues to write, consult, and review papers on New Mexico paleontology and stratigraphy, and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Research

Kues's research has focused on the late Paleozoic and middle Cretaceous paleontology and stratigraphy of the American Southwest, particularly New Mexico. His work on the marine faunas of these intervals contributed to knowledge of their taxonomic diversity (with more than 75 new species named), evolution, paleoecology, and biostratigraphy across the region.

He is most widely known for his studies of late Paleozoic gastropods and mid-Cretaceous oysters, emphasizing their taxonomy, paleoecology, and evolution. In addition, he has conducted research and published on numerous other invertebrate groups, including late Paleozoic pelecypods, polyplacophorans, cephalopods, eurypterids, crinoids, and brachiopods as well as Cretaceous crabs and seastars; and a few vertebrate groups, such as Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and mosasaurs, and a Paleocene crocodilian. In a related line of scholarship, he became one of the principal historians of geological and paleontological science in New Mexico, documenting the development of knowledge of the state's geology from the mid-nineteenth century onward.

Kues has published nearly 300 works, including journal articles, monographs, and major reference syntheses. His books Fossils of New Mexico (1982) and The Paleontology of New Mexico (2008) became widely used guides to the region’s fossil record, while A Brief History of Geological Studies in New Mexico (2014) provided a comprehensive narrative of the discipline’s institutional and intellectual development. He also co-edited eleven volumes, including field conference guidebooks for the New Mexico Geological Society. His editorial contributions extended to the New Mexico Journal of Science, where he served as editor from 1986 to 1991, and to New Mexico Geology, where he served on the editorial board beginning in 2000.

Selected Publications

Books

Journal Articles and book chapters

References

  1. 1 2 3 Socorro, N.M. "Bureau of Geology Selects UNM Prof Barry Kues For Annual Award: New Mexico Tech". www.nmt.edu. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  2. 1 2 3 "New Mexico Bureau of Geology names Barry Kues as 2019 Achievement Award winner". UNM UCAM Newsroom. Retrieved 2026-09-10.
  3. 1 2 Dunbar, Nelia. "New Mexico Bureau of Geology names Barry Kues as 2019 Achievement Award winner". UCAM Newsroom. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  4. ↑ Stone, Katie (2015-07-22). "Geology Of New Mexico". KUNM. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  5. ↑ Clemens, William A. (1982-02-19). "Eocene and Earlier Deposits: Advances In San Juan Basin Paleontology. Spencer G. Lucas, J. Keith Rigby, Jr., and Barry S. Kues, Eds. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1981. xii, 394 pp., illus. $27.50". Science. 215 (4535): 962–964. doi:10.1126/science.215.4535.962.b.
  6. ↑ Cather, Steven M.; Read, Adam S.; Dunbar, Nelia W.; Kues, Barry S.; Krainer, Karl; Lucas, Spencer G.; Kelley, Shari A. (2011-10-01). "Provenance evidence for major post–early Pennsylvanian dextral slip on the Picuris-Pecos fault, northern New Mexico". Geosphere. 7 (5): 1175–1193. doi:10.1130/GES00649.1. ISSN 1553-040X.
  7. ↑ "Barry Kues receives 2019 Earth Science Achievement Award". New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources. Retrieved 2026-09-12.
  8. 1 2 3 "Barry S. Kues research interests involve the taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and paleoecology". eps.unm.edu. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  9. ↑ KUES, BARRY S. (2002-01-01). "NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF MIDDLE PENNSYLVANIAN GASTROPODS FROM WEST TEXAS". Journal of Paleontology. 76 (1): 52–62. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2002)076<0052:NGASOM>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360.
  10. ↑ "Barry S. Kues". University of New Mexico Press. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  11. ↑ Barnett, Tim P. "Graduate Students and the List of Ph.D. and M.S. Recipients". SCRIPPS INSTITUTION of OCEANOGRAPHY. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  12. ↑ "Barry Kues (Ph.D. 1975) is nearing completion of 31 years in the University of New Mexico Department of Geology, during several of which he served as chair. Kues comments that "time flies when you're having fun". Indiana University.
  13. ↑ "Alumni News". Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Retrieved 2026-09-12.
  14. ↑ "Paleontological survey, resource assessment, and mitigation plan for the Bisti-Star Lake area, northwestern New Mexico : report to the Bureau of Land Management / by Barry S. Kues ... [et al.]". siris-libraries.si.edu. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  15. ↑ Kues, Barry S.; Duchene, Harvey R. (1990). "The largest late Paleozoic bellerophontid gastropod". Journal of Paleontology. 64 (3): 478–479. doi:10.1017/S0022336000018746. ISSN 0022-3360.
  16. ↑ Kues, Barry (2005-08-02). "Bibliography of New Mexico Invertebrate Paleontology". Earth and Planetary Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications.
  17. ↑ Rowe, Timothy; Cifelli, Richard L.; Kues, Barry (1982). "The Instrumental Role of Paleontology in the Funding and Development of a Major New Natural History Museum: Editorial". Journal of Paleontology. 56 (4): 839–842. ISSN 0022-3360. JSTOR 1304705.
  18. ↑ "Nelia Dunbar & Barry Kues". UNM UCAM Newsroom. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  19. ↑ "Museum Board of Trustees Meetings". Natural History.
  20. ↑ "Board of Trustees | New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science". www.nmnaturalhistory.org. Archived from the original on 2025-10-05. Retrieved 2026-02-04.
  21. ↑ Kues, Barry S. (1978). "Polyplacophora from the Salem Limestone (Mississippian) in Central Indiana". Journal of Paleontology. 52 (2). Paleontological Society: 300–310. ISSN 0022-3360.
  22. ↑ Kues, Barry S. (1997). "New Bivalve Taxa from the Tucumcari Formation (Cretaceous, Albian), New Mexico, and the Biostratigraphic Significance of the Basal Tucumcari Fauna". Journal of Paleontology. 71 (5). Paleontological Society: 820–839. ISSN 0022-3360.
  23. ↑ Kues, Barry S. (1987). "Pharkidonotus megalius, a Large New Gastropod Species from the Middle Pennsylvanian of South-Central New Mexico". Journal of Paleontology. 61 (6). Paleontological Society: 1187–1193. ISSN 0022-3360.
  24. ↑ Kues, Barry S.; Batten, Roger L. (2001). "Middle Pennsylvanian Gastropods from the Flechado Formation, North-Central New Mexico". Journal of Paleontology. 75 (S54): 1–95. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2001)75[1:MPGFTF]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3360.
  25. ↑ Quiroz-Barroso, Sara A.; Perrilliat, Maria del Carmen (1998). "Pennsylvanian Bivalves from the Ixtaltepec Formation, Mexico". Journal of Paleontology. 72 (6). Paleontological Society: 1011–1024. ISSN 0022-3360.
  26. ↑ Kues, Barry S. (1978). "Polyplacophora from the Salem Limestone (Mississippian) in Central Indiana". Journal of Paleontology. 52 (2). Paleontological Society: 300–310. ISSN 0022-3360.
  27. ↑ Kues, Barry S.; Lehman, Thomas; Rigby, J. Keith (1980). "The Teeth of Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, a Late Cretaceous Sauropod". Journal of Paleontology. 54 (4). Paleontological Society: 864–869. ISSN 0022-3360.
  28. ↑ Kues, Barry S.; Lucas, Spencer G. (1985-11-01). "Mosasaur remains from the Lewis Shale (Upper Cretaceous), southwestern Colorado". Journal of Paleontology. 59 (6): 1395–1400. ISSN 0022-3360.
  29. ↑ O'Neill, F. Michael; Lucas, Spencer G.; Kues, Barry S. (1981). "Akanthosuchus langstoni, a New Crocodilian from the Nacimiento Formation (Paleocene, Torrejonian) of New Mexico". Journal of Paleontology. 55 (2). Paleontological Society: 340–352. ISSN 0022-3360.
  30. ↑ "Fossils of New Mexico (New Mexico Natural History Series) by Kues, Barry S.: New Soft cover (1982) | Sparrow Reads". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-13.
  31. ↑ Kues, Barry S. (2008). The paleontology of New Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-4136-5.
  32. ↑ A Brief History of Geological Studies in New Mexico, with Biographical Profiles of Notable New Mexico Geologists. ISBN 978-1585460113.