Victoria Arbour

Last updated
Victoria M. Arbour
Born1983
Nationality Canadian
Education BSc, PhD
Alma mater
Known forAnkylosaurs
Scientific career
Fields Paleontology
Institutions
Thesis Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs  (2014)
Doctoral advisor Philip J. Currie
Website pseudoplocephalus.com

Victoria Megan Arbour is a Canadian evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist at Royal BC Museum, where she is Curator of Palaeontology. An "expert on the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs", [1] Arbour analyzes fossils and creates 3-D computer models. She named the possible pterosaur Gwawinapterus from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, British Columbia (now named Ferrisaurus ), and has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs Zuul , [2] [3] Zaraapelta , [2] Crichtonpelta , [4] and Ziapelta . [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Born in 1983, Arbour is from Halifax, Nova Scotia. [6] Her mother, a math teacher, and father, a soil scientist, supported her science interests. [7] Arbour completed a B.Sc. Honours Thesis supervised by Milton Graves, An ornithischian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada, and graduated from Dalhousie University in 2006. [8] She completed her master's thesis, Evolution, biomechanics, and function of the tail club of ankylosaurid dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) in 2009, and her Ph.D. thesis, Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs, in 2014, both advised by paleontologist Philip Currie at the University of Alberta. [9]

Career

Arbour became Curator of Palaeontology at Royal BC Museum in 2018. [10]

She previously worked as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and Royal Ontario Museum. [11] [12] [13] As the top-ranked female candidate for the fellowship, she also received a supplement available to applicants who demonstrate "exemplary involvement in science promotion, mentorship, and leadership". [14]

From 2014 to 2016 she was a postdoctoral researcher with a joint appointment at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University. [5] [15]

Arbour primarily studies dinosaurs in the group Ankylosauria, including biomechanical analyses of tail clubs. [4] [16] Arbour has studied microfossils from Nova Scotia. [9] She has also named the possible pterosaur Gwawinapterus from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, both locations in British Columbia. [9] She has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs Zuul , [2] [3] [17] Zaraapelta , [2] Crichtonpelta , [4] Ziapelta , [5] [18] Patagopelta , [19] as well as resurrecting Dyoplosaurus , [20] and publishing a new phylogenetic analysis on the interrelationships of Ankylosauridae. [21]

According to Brian Alary of the University of Alberta, "She's contributed to history-making research by analyzing fossils and creating 3-D computer models, developed course materials and taught 35,000 students at a time through the Dino 101 MOOC." [6] Philip Currie credits Arbour for involving the paleontology discipline with the University of Alberta's "Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science & Technology", making study of dinosaurs more appealing to women. [6]

Below is a list of taxa that Arbour has contributed to naming:

YearTaxonAuthors
2022 Patagopelta cristata gen. et sp. nov.Riguetti, Pereda-Suberbiola, Ponce, Salgado, Apesteguía, Rozadilla, & Arbour [19]
2019 Ferrisaurus sustutensis gen. et sp. nov.Arbour & Evans [22]
2017 Zuul crurivastator gen. et sp. nov.Arbour & Evans [23]
2014 Zaraapelta nomadis gen. et sp. nov.Arbour, Currie, & Badamgarav [24]
2014 Ziapelta sanjuanensis gen. et sp. nov.Arbour, Burns, Sullivan, Lucas, Cantrell, Fry, & Suazo [25]
2011 Gwawinapterus beardi gen. et sp. nov.Arbour & Currie [26]

Related Research Articles

<i>Zuul</i> Genus of armored ankylosaurine dinosaurs

Zuul is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Campanian Judith River Formation of Montana. The type species is Zuul crurivastator. It is known from a complete skull and tail, which represents the first ankylosaurin known from a complete skull and tail club, as well as the most complete ankylosaurid specimen thus far recovered from North America. The specimen also preserved in situ osteoderms, keratin, and skin remains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip J. Currie</span> Canadian paleontologist and curator

Philip John Currie is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the 1980s, he became the director of the Canada-China Dinosaur Project, the first cooperative palaeontological partnering between China and the West since the Central Asiatic Expeditions in the 1920s, and helped describe some of the first feathered dinosaurs. He is one of the primary editors of the influential Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs, and his areas of expertise include theropods, the origin of birds, and dinosaurian migration patterns and herding behavior. He was one of the models for palaeontologist Alan Grant in the film Jurassic Park.

<i>Minmi paravertebra</i> Ankylosaurian dinosaur species from early Cretaceous Period

Minmi is a genus of small herbivorous ankylosaurian dinosaur that lived during the early Cretaceous Period of Australia, about 120 to 112 million years ago.

<i>Crichtonsaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Crichtonsaurus is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now China. It was named after Michael Crichton, the author of the dinosaur novel Jurassic Park. A sister taxon was discovered, C. benxiensis, which is now identified as a separate genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ankylosauridae</span> Extinct family of dinosaurs

Ankylosauridae is a family of armored dinosaurs within Ankylosauria, and is the sister group to Nodosauridae. The oldest known ankylosaurids date to around 122 million years ago and went extinct 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. These animals were mainly herbivorous and were obligate quadrupeds, with leaf-shaped teeth and robust, scute-covered bodies. Ankylosaurids possess a distinctly domed and short snout, wedge-shaped osteoderms on their skull, scutes along their torso, and a tail club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nodosauridae</span> Extinct family of armored dinosaurs

Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaurian dinosaurs known from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous periods in what is now Asia, Europe, North America, and possibly South America. While traditionally regarded as a monophyletic clade as the sister taxon to the Ankylosauridae, some analyses recover it as a paraphyletic grade leading to the ankylosaurids.

<i>Anodontosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Anodontosaurus is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid dinosaurs within the subfamily Ankylosaurinae. It is known from the entire span of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation of southern Alberta, Canada, and is also known from the Dinosaur Park Formation. It contains two species, A. lambei and A. inceptus.

<i>Dyoplosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Dyoplosaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from Alberta that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Dinosaur Park Formation. Dyoplosaurus represents a close relative of Scolosaurus and Anodontosaurus, two ankylosaurids known from the Horseshoe Canyon and Dinosaur Park Formation.

Shamosaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur from Early Cretaceous deposits of Höövör, Mongolia.

Bissektipelta is a genus of ankylosaurine thyreophoran dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan. Bissektipelta is a monospecific genus, containing only the type species B. archibaldi.

<i>Gobisaurus</i> Extinct genus of reptiles

Gobisaurus is an extinct genus of herbivorous basal ankylosaurid ankylosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China. The genus is monotypic, containing only the species Gobisaurus domoculus.

<i>Tarchia</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Tarchia is a genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Mongolia.

<i>Nodocephalosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Nodocephalosaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the De-na-zin member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, Nodocephalosaurus kirtlandensis, is known only from a partial skull. It was named in 1999 by Robert M. Sullivan. Nodocephalosaurus has an estimated length of 4.5 metres and weight of 1.5 tonnes. It is closely related and shares similar cranial anatomy to Akainacephalus.

<i>Liaoningosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Liaoningosaurus is an unusual genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Liaoning Province, China that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now the Yixian and Jiufotang Formation. The type and only species, Liaoningosaurus paradoxus, is known from more than 20 specimens, with some representing juveniles. It was named in 2001 by Xu, Wang and You.

Heishansaurus, meaning "Heishan lizard" after the area in China where it was discovered, is the name given to a dubious genus of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur, probably belonging to the Ankylosauridae.

<i>Zhongyuansaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs


Zhongyuansaurus is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from Henan that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now the Haoling Formation. Zhongyuansaurus is possibly a junior synonym of Gobisaurus, a basal ankylosaurid from the Ulansuhai Formation of Inner Mongolia.

<i>Ahshislepelta</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Ahshislepelta is a monospecific genus of ankylosaur dinosaur from New Mexico that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now the Hunter Wash Member of the Kirtland Formation. The type and only species, Ahshislepelta minor, is known only from an incomplete postcranial skeleton of a small subadult or adult individual. It was named in 2011 by Michael Burns and Robert M. Sullivan. Based on the size of the humerus, Ahshislepelta is larger than Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus but smaller than Talarurus and Pinacosaurus grangeri.

<i>Chuanqilong</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Chuanqilong is a monospecific genus of basal ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Liaoning Province, China that lived during the Early Cretaceous in what is now the Jiufotang Formation. The type and only species, Chuanqilong chaoyangensis, is known from a nearly complete skeleton with a skull of a juvenile individual. It was described in 2014 by Fenglu Han, Wenjie Zheng, Dongyu Hu, Xing Xu, and Paul M. Barrett. Chuanqilong shows many similarities with Liaoningosaurus and may represent a later ontogenetic stage of the taxon.

<i>Ziapelta</i> Genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period

Ziapelta is an extinct genus of ankylosaurid. Its fossils have been found in the Hunter Wash and De-na-zin members of the Kirtland Formation of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) New Mexico. It was named in 2014, in a research paper led by ankylosaur researcher Victoria Arbour. There is a single species in the genus, Ziapelta sanjuanensis. The genus is named after the Zia sun symbol, a stylized sun with four groups of rays, having religious significance to the Zia people of New Mexico, and the iconic symbol on the state flag of New Mexico, and pelta (Latin), a small shield, in reference to the osteoderms found on all ankylosaurids. The specific name is in reference to San Juan County and the San Juan basin, where the fossils were found. Multiple specimens have been described to date, though the fossils are mostly from the front part of the animal. Its closest relative appears to be either Scolosaurus or Nodocephalosaurus, depending on what cladistic model is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of ankylosaur research</span>

This timeline of ankylosaur research is a chronological listing of events in the history of paleontology focused on the ankylosaurs, quadrupedal herbivorous dinosaurs who were protected by a covering bony plates and spikes and sometimes by a clubbed tail. Although formally trained scientists did not begin documenting ankylosaur fossils until the early 19th century, Native Americans had a long history of contact with these remains, which were generally interpreted through a mythological lens. The Delaware people have stories about smoking the bones of ancient monsters in a magic ritual to have wishes granted and ankylosaur fossils are among the local fossils that may have been used like this. The Native Americans of the modern southwestern United States tell stories about an armored monster named Yeitso that may have been influenced by local ankylosaur fossils. Likewise, ankylosaur remains are among the dinosaur bones found along the Red Deer River of Alberta, Canada where the Piegan people believe that the Grandfather of the Buffalo once lived.

References

  1. ↑ "L'Oréal For Women in Science 2016: Victoria Arbour". www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca. Government of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Communications. August 1, 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hamers, Laurel (2017-06-13). "New dinosaur resurrects a demon from Ghostbusters". Science News . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  3. 1 2 Greshko, Michael (2017-11-29). "Stunning Dinosaur Likely Used Armour to Flirt as Well as Fight". National Geographic . Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  4. 1 2 3 Yong, Ed (2017-05-10). "Meet Zuul, Destroyer of Shins—a Dinosaur Named After the Ghostbusters Monster". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  5. 1 2 3 Dunham, Will (2015-09-01). "King of clubs: intriguing tale of the 'tank' dinosaur's tail". Reuters . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  6. 1 2 3 Alary, Brian (9 June 2014). "Dinosaur scholar digs into childhood dreams". Folio. University of Alberta. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  7. ↑ Nath, Ishani (2017-05-14). "What It's Like to Dig for Dinosaurs—*Spoiler Alert* It's Pretty Cool". Flare. Archived from the original on 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  8. ↑ Arbour, Victoria M. (April 28, 2006). "An ornithischian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 "Faculty of Science – Victoria Arbour". Dalhousie University. 2018. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  10. ↑ "Dr. Victoria Arbour | Staff Profiles" . Retrieved 2020-05-18.
  11. ↑ "Digging it: Dr. Victoria Arbour (BSc'06)". Dalhousie University: Alumni Spotlight. May 18, 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Pickrell, John (2017-09-18). "What if dinosaurs hadn't died out?". BBC Future. BBC . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  13. ↑ Elbein, Asher (2016-10-12). "Did Plant-Eating Dinosaurs Really Only Eat Plants?". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  14. ↑ Division, Government of Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Communications (28 June 2016). "NSERC and L'OréalUNESCO For Women in Science Supplement". www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-01-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ Gaines, James (2015-09-14). "How armored dinosaur got its bone-bashing tail". CBS News . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  16. ↑ Switek, Brian (2016-06-16). "Sadly, "Ankylosaur Fight Club" Is Probably Wishful Thinking". Smithsonian . Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  17. ↑ Riva, Nicole (May 9, 2017). "New dinosaur species named after Ghostbusters villain Zuul". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  18. ↑ Switek, Brian (2014-09-25). "Ziapelta – New Mexico's Newest Dinosaur". Phenomena. National Geographic. Archived from the original on October 1, 2014. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  19. 1 2 Riguetti, Facundo; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Ponce, Denis; Salgado, Leonardo; Apesteguía, Sebastián; Rozadilla, Sebastián; Arbour, Victoria Megan (31 December 2022). "A new small-bodied ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of North Patagonia (Río Negro Province, Argentina)". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 20 (1). doi:10.1080/14772019.2022.2137441. ISSN   1477-2019 . Retrieved 4 January 2025– via Taylor and Francis Online.
  20. ↑ Switek, Brian (5 November 2012). "D is for Dyoplosaurus". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  21. ↑ Arbour, Victoria M.; Currie, Philip J. (2015). "Systematics, phylogeny and palaeobiogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 14 (5): 385–444. doi:10.1080/14772019.2015.1059985. S2CID   214625754.
  22. ↑ Arbour, Victoria M.; Evans, David C. (7 November 2019). "A new leptoceratopsid dinosaur from Maastrichtian-aged deposits of the Sustut Basin, northern British Columbia, Canada". PeerJ . 7: e7926. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7926 . ISSN   2167-8359. PMC   6842559 . PMID   31720103.
  23. ↑ Arbour, Victoria Megan; Evans, David Christopher (10 May 2017). "A new ankylosaurine dinosaur from the Judith River Formation of Montana, USA, based on an exceptional skeleton with soft tissue preservation". Royal Society Open Science . 4 (5): 161086. doi:10.1098/rsos.161086. ISSN   2054-5703. PMC   5451805 . PMID   28573004.
  24. ↑ Arbour, Victoria Megan; Currie, Philip John; Badamgarav, Demchig (27 October 2014). "The ankylosaurid dinosaurs of the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia: Ankylosaurids from Mongolia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 172 (3): 631–652. doi:10.1111/zoj.12185 . Retrieved 4 January 2025– via Wiley Online Library.
  25. ↑ Arbour, Victoria Megan; Burns, Michael E.; Sullivan, Robert M.; Lucas, Spencer G.; Cantrell, Amanda K.; Fry, Joshua; Suazo, Thomas L. (24 September 2014). Farke, Andrew A. (ed.). "A New Ankylosaurid Dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Kirtlandian) of New Mexico with Implications for Ankylosaurid Diversity in the Upper Cretaceous of Western North America". PLoS ONE . 9 (9): e108804. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108804 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   4177562 . PMID   25250819.
  26. ↑ Arbour, Victoria Megan; Currie, Philip John (January 2011). Sues, Hans-Dieter (ed.). "An istiodactylid pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences . 48 (1): 63–69. doi:10.1139/E10-083. ISSN   0008-4077 . Retrieved 4 January 2025– via Canadian Science Publishing.
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