Xiaoming Wang (paleontologist)

Last updated
Xiaoming Wang
Born (1957-07-14) July 14, 1957 (age 66)
NationalityChinese
American
Alma mater Nanjing University
University of Kansas
Scientific career
Fields Paleontology
Geology
Institutions Long Island University

Xiaoming Wang is a Chinese-born American vertebrate paleontologist and geologist who lives and teaches in the United States.

Contents

Areas of expertise

Professor Wang specializes in the fossil evolution, systematics, and phylogeny of mammals of the Cenozoic. He has researched the biostratigraphy of Inner Mongolia and Asia as a whole, the geochronology of Asia, paleoenvironments of the Tibetan Plateau, and mammalian migrations between Eurasia and North America. Wang has also investigated the systematics and phylogeny of canids (dogs and their kin) as well as Late Eocene through Pleistocene fossil mammals of Southern California and Mexico. (see Natural History Museum of LA).

Education

Professional life

Wang is a curator in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Natural History Museum. [1] [2] Wang is also a contributing researcher of the Paleobiology Database created by John Alroy, Ph.D. [3]

Research

Grants

U.S. National Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. National Geographic Society.

Publications

Wang is also co-author, with American Museum of Natural History paleontologist, Richard H. Tedford of a popular book Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History , based upon their research on fossils of the Canidae.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viverravidae</span> Extinct family of carnivorous mammals

Viverravidae is an extinct monophyletic family of mammals from extinct superfamily Viverravoidea within the clade Carnivoramorpha, that lived from the early Palaeocene to the late Eocene in North America, Europe and Asia. They were once thought to be the earliest carnivorans and ancestral to extant ones, but now are placed outside the order Carnivora based on cranial morphology as relatives to extant carnivorans.

<i>Aelurodon</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Aelurodon is an extinct canid genus of the subfamily Borophaginae which lived from the Barstovian land mammal age of the middle Miocene to the late Miocene epoch. Aelurodon existed for approximately 10.7 million years.

<i>Epicyon</i> Extinct genus of carnivores

Epicyon is a large, extinct, canid genus of the subfamily Borophaginae, native to North America. Epicyon existed for about 15 million years from the Hemingfordian age of the Early Miocene, to the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene. Epicyon is the largest known canid of all time, with the type species reaching 2.4 m (7.9 ft) in length, 90 cm (35 in) in shoulder height and approximately 100–125 kg (220–276 lb) in body mass. The largest known humerus specimen belonged to an individual weighing up to 170 kg (370 lb).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter W. Granger</span> American paleontologist

Walter Willis Granger was an American vertebrate paleontologist who participated in important fossil explorations in the United States, Egypt, China and Mongolia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vulpini</span> Tribe of carnivores, most called fox

Vulpini is a taxonomic rank which represents the fox-like tribe of the subfamily Caninae, and is sister to the dog-like tribe Canini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caninae</span> Subfamily of carnivores

The Caninae, known as canines, are one of three subfamilies found within the canid family. The other two canid subfamilies are the extinct Borophaginae and Hesperocyoninae. The Caninae includes all living canids and their most recent fossil relatives. Their fossils were first found in North America and dated to the Oligocene era, then spreading to Asia at the end of the Miocene era, some 7 million to 8 million years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armbruster's wolf</span> Extinct species of carnivore

Armbruster's wolf is an extinct species that was endemic to North America and lived during the Irvingtonian stage of the Pleistocene epoch, spanning from 1.9 Mya—250,000 years BP. It is notable because it is proposed as the ancestor of one of the most famous prehistoric carnivores in North America, the dire wolf, which replaced it.

Nothocyon is an extinct genus of carnivoran in the family Subparictidae which inhabited North America during the late Oligocene. At one time, many species of the dog family Canidae were placed in Nothocyon, but new fossils showed that the type species of Nothocyon, N. geismarianus, is more closely related to bears. The other species have been reassigned to other genera such as Cormocyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 in paleontology</span> Overview of the events of 2008 in paleontology

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2008.

<i>Canis edwardii</i> Extinct species of canid

Canis edwardii, also known as Edward's wolf, is an extinct species of wolf in the genus Canis which was endemic to North America three million years ago from the Late Blancan stage of the Pliocene epoch and was extinct by the end of the Irvingtonian stage of the Pleistocene epoch.

<i>Canis lepophagus</i> Extinct species of carnivore

Canis lepophagus is an extinct species of canid which was endemic to much of North America during the Early Pliocene. It is notable because its lineage is proposed to have led to both wolves and coyotes.

Richard Hall Tedford was Curator Emeritus in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, having been named as curator in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mauricio Antón</span> Spanish artist

Mauricio Antón Ortuzar is a paleoartist and illustrator specializing in the scientific reconstruction of extinct life, well known for his influential paintings of hominids, extinct carnivores and other vertebrate fossil groups. His works illustrate a great number of books, scientific papers, private collections and museums in many parts of the world. He currently works in association with the Natural Science Museum in Madrid.

Mark Allen Norell is an American paleontologist, acknowledged as one of the most important living vertebrate paleontologists. He is currently the chairman of paleontology and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is best known as the discoverer of the first theropod embryo and for the description of feathered dinosaurs. Norell is credited with the naming of the genera Apsaravis, Byronosaurus, Citipati, Tsaagan, and Achillobator. His work regularly appears in major scientific journals and was listed by Time magazine as one of the ten most significant science stories of 1993, 1994 and 1996.

Deng Tao is a Chinese palaeontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has made important fossil discoveries on Cenozoic mammals. He is a professor of vertebrate palaeontology, deputy director of the Academic Committee, and deputy director of Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates at IVPP.

Meemann Chang also known as Zhang Miman, is a Chinese paleontologist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP). She completed her undergraduate studies at Moscow University and completed her PhD thesis entitled 'The braincase of Youngolepis, a Lower Devonian crossopterygian from Yunnan, south-western China' at Stockholm University. She was the first woman to become head of IVPP in 1983. Later in 2011 she also received an honorary degree from the University of Chicago for her many career achievements.

The Monroe Creek Formation is a geologic formation in South Dakota. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene period.

The Sharps Formation is a geologic formation in South Dakota. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleogene.

The ancestral Arctic fox Vulpes qiuzhudingi is an extinct species of fox found in the Himalayas. It was primarily carnivorous. The fossils, dating from between 5.08 and 3.60 million years ago, were found in the Zanda Basin and Kunlun Mountains of Tibet. It was named after Qiu Zhuding, a paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The species is believed to be the ancestor of Vulpes lagopus, the modern Arctic fox, which would support the "Out of Tibet" theory: namely, that a number of current arctic species trace their ancestry to species originally from the Tibetan Plateau.

The Dove Spring Formation is a geologic formation in the western Mojave Desert of California. It preserves fossils dating back to the Miocene epoch of the Neogene period.

References

Wang, Xiaoming; and Tedford, Richard H. Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.