Trevor H. Worthy

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Trevor Henry Worthy (born January 3, 1957 ) is a paleozoologist from New Zealand , who is known for his research on the moas . For this work he was nicknamed “Mr. Moa ".

Live and act

In 1979 Worthy graduated from the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand, with a Bachelor of Science and in 1981 with a Master of Science in Limnology from the same university . With a thesis on fossil frogs, he obtained his Master of Science in paleontology at the Victoria University of Wellington in 1986 . In the mid-1980s, Worthy uncovered the subfossil remains of three frog species from the primeval New Zealand primeval frogs (Leiopelmatidae). These were Leiopelma auroraensis , Leiopelma markhami and Leiopelma waitomoensis . In 1991 he discovered the bone material of the extinct Maori hatchback Dendroscansor decurvirostris and the fossil petrel Puffinus spelaeus in New Zealand . In 1995 he discovered the bones of the Niue night heron ( Nycticorax kalavikai ). In 1998 he spent some time in Fiji , where he obtained the type material of the large flightless pigeon species Natunaornis gigoura , the large foot fowl Megapodius amissus , the Fijian snipe ( Coenocorypha miratropica ), the giant frog Platymantis megabotoniviti and the small freshwater crocodile . The holotypes of these species are kept in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa .

Other notable discoveries that entailed Worthy was involved, include the oldest moa bones, the oldest tuatara bones and a fossil land mammal in the region of Saint Bathans .

Worthy, who worked under contract with the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology in Masterton, Nelson, and since 1991 for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, had to stop his research work for the museum in 2005 due to the suspension of the grant. He has been working at the University of Adelaide since 2005 , where he obtained his Ph.D. attained.

Worthy is the co-author of several articles on prehistoric life in New Zealand. For the book " The Lost Land of the Moa " (2002) he and Richard N. Holdaway received the DL Serventy Medal (donated in honor of the Australian ornithologist Dominic Serventy (1904–1988)) from the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union in 2003 outstanding work on the Australasian avifauna .

From 2012 to 2016, Worthy was elected President of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution . Before that, he was Vice President of this organization from 2008.

Dedication names

In 1989, the malacologist Frank M. Climo named the extinct land snail species Zelandiscus worthyi after Trevor H. Worthy, who discovered the holotype in 1984. The fossil New Zealand beetle species Waitomophylax worthyi , described by Richard Leschen and Birgit Rhode in 2002, also bears his name. In 2016, the fossil bird species Daphoenositta trevorworthyi from the Neosittidae family , originating from the Miocene of Australia, was named after him.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Worthy, Trevor H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Worthy, Trevor Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand paleozoologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1957