Victoria M. Arbour
Birth date1983
FieldsPaleontology
Workplaces
EducationBSc, PhD
Alma mater
Thesis urlhttps://era.library.ualberta.ca/files/6d56zx896/Arbour_Victoria_Spring2014.pdf
Thesis year2014
Doctoral advisorPhilip J. Currie
Known forAnkylosaurs
Websitepseudoplocephalus.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]

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

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. ^ Hamers, Laurel (2017-06-13). "New dinosaur resurrects a demon from Ghostbusters". Science News. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  3. ^ Greshko, Michael (2017-11-29). "Stunning Dinosaur Likely Used Armour to Flirt as Well as Fight". National Geographic. Archived December 3, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  4. ^ Yong, Ed (2017-05-10). "Meet Zuul, Destroyer of Shins—a Dinosaur Named After the Ghostbusters Monster". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  5. ^ Dunham, Will (2015-09-01). "King of clubs: intriguing tale of the 'tank' dinosaur's tail". Reuters. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  6. ^ 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 2018-01-01 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
  8. ^ Arbour, Victoria M. (April 28, 2006). "An ornithischian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada". Archived 31 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  9. ^ "Faculty of Science – Victoria Arbour". Dalhousie University. 2018. Archived 2017-12-31 at the Wayback Machine. 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.
  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 October 1, 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  19. ^ 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. 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). 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). "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). Farke, Andrew A. (ed.). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108804. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4177562. PMID 25250819
  26. ^ Arbour, Victoria Megan & Currie, Philip John (January 2011). "An istiodactylid pterosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 48 (1): 63–69. Sues, Hans-Dieter (ed.). doi:10.1139/E10-083. ISSN 0008-4077. Retrieved 4 January 2025. – via Canadian Science Publishing.