American paleontologist
Lindsay E. Zanno is an American vertebrate
paleontologist and a leading expert on
theropod
dinosaurs and
Cretaceous paleoecosystems. She is the Head of Paleontology at the
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at
North Carolina State University .
Education
Zanno received her B.Sc. in Biological Anthropology from the
University of New Mexico in 1999, and her graduate degrees from the
University of Utah in the department of Geology and Geophysics (M.Sc. in 2004, Ph.D. in 2008).
[2] Her M.Sc. thesis was titled "The pectoral girdle and forelimb of a primitive therizinosauroid (Theropoda, Maniraptora) with phylogenetic and functional implications," which addressed the anatomy of
Falcarius utahensis .
[3] Her Ph.D. dissertation was titled "A taxonomic and phylogenetic reevaluation of Therizinosauria (Dinosauria: Theropoda): implications for the evolution of Maniraptora," which broadly addressed the relationships of
therizinosaurs .
Academic contributions
Zanno has contributed to more than 200 technical publications,
[4]
[5] and her work has been cited more than 2,000 times. She has published in leading international journals, including
Nature ,
Nature Communications ,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,
Science Advances ,
Current Biology ,
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , and
Scientific Reports . Her primary focus is on the paleobiology of theropods from the Cretaceous of North America,
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11] but she has also published on
ornithischian dinosaurs,
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
crocodylomorphs ,
[16]
[17]
[18]
avians ,
[19]
aetosaur
pseudosuchians ,
[20]
[21]
temnospondyls ,
[22] and trace fossils.
[23]
[24] Zanno has contributed to naming many new species of theropods, including the therizinosaur Falcarius,
[6] the troodontid
Talos sampsoni ,
[25] the
hadrosaur
Velafrons coahuilensis ,
[12] the
oviraptorosaur
Hagryphus giganteus ,
[26] the
iguanodontian
Choyrodon barsboldi ,
[14] the
allosauroid
Siats meekerorum ,
[10] and the
tyrannosauroid
Moros intrepidus .
[27] Her work is supported by numerous awards, primarily from the
National Science Foundation ,
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31] and has been extensively covered by major news outlets, including the
Science Channel ,
History Channel ,
National Geographic , the
New York Times ,
NPR and the
BBC .
[5]
[32]
[33]
[34]
[35]
[36]
Zanno serves as the president of the
Jurassic Foundation
[37] and co-chair of the program committee for the
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 's annual meeting
[38] and previously served as Science Advocate for the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Spectacular and on-air host for The Ice Age Exhibition.
[5]
Outreach and science communication
Zanno is active in community and science outreach, including on Twitter and through ExpeditionLive!, a platform developed to connect with the public during fieldwork.
[39] She has spearheaded several initiatives through the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, such as FossilPhiles, which invites students in grades 8–11 to work with museum paleontologists;
[40] Shark Teeth Forensics, which provides primary school students with the opportunity to conduct research using shark teeth;
[41] and
Cretaceous Creatures , which will provide students with the opportunity to conduct research using microvertebrates. The last of these is part of the new Dueling Dinosaurs Program, an exhibit slated to open in 2023 that is centered around a remarkable specimen of a complete skeleton of
Tyrannosaurus side-by-side with a skeleton of
Triceratops .
[42] The specimen of T. rex represents the only fully complete skeleton of this species that is known to date, and the specimens were donated to the museum by the affiliated Friends of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, who purchased it for US$6 million from a private collector.
[43]
[44] The specimen had previously failed to sell at the seller's minimum price in 2013 and was subsequently the center of a lengthy legal battle over the ownership of the fossil.
[45]
[46]
[47]
References
^ Stone, Gavin (19 November 2014).
"Restoring the world's rarest fossils" . Technician Online. Retrieved 25 December 2014 .
^
"Lindsay Zanno | Staff" . North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E. (2006-09-11).
"The pectoral girdle and forelimb of the primitive therizinosauroidFalcarius Utahensis(Theropoda, Maniraptora): analyzing evolutionary trends within Therizinosauroidea" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 26 (3): 636–650.
doi :
10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[636:tpgafo]2.0.co;2 .
ISSN
0272-4634 .
S2CID
86166623 .
^
"Lindsay E. Zanno" . scholar.google.com . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
a
b
c
"Lindsay Zanno" . Zanno Lab 2020 . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
a
b Kirkland, James I.; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Sampson, Scott D.; Clark, James M.; DeBlieux, Donald D. (2005).
"A primitive therizinosauroid dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Utah" . Nature . 435 (7038): 84–87.
Bibcode :
2005Natur.435...84K .
doi :
10.1038/nature03468 .
ISSN
0028-0836 .
PMID
15875020 .
S2CID
4428196 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Gillette, David D.; Albright, L. Barry; Titus, Alan L. (2009-07-15).
"A new North American therizinosaurid and the role of herbivory in 'predatory' dinosaur evolution" . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 276 (1672): 3505–3511.
doi :
10.1098/rspb.2009.1029 .
ISSN
0962-8452 .
PMC
2817200 .
PMID
19605396 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Makovicky, Peter J. (2010-12-20).
"Herbivorous ecomorphology and specialization patterns in theropod dinosaur evolution" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 108 (1): 232–237.
doi :
10.1073/pnas.1011924108 .
ISSN
0027-8424 .
PMC
3017133 .
PMID
21173263 .
^ Gates, Terry A.; Prieto-Márquez, Albert; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2012-08-02).
"Mountain Building Triggered Late Cretaceous North American Megaherbivore Dinosaur Radiation" . PLOS ONE . 7 (8): e42135.
Bibcode :
2012PLoSO...742135G .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0042135 .
ISSN
1932-6203 .
PMC
3410882 .
PMID
22876302 .
^
a
b Zanno, Lindsay E.; Makovicky, Peter J. (2013-11-22).
"Neovenatorid theropods are apex predators in the Late Cretaceous of North America" . Nature Communications . 4 (1): 2827.
Bibcode :
2013NatCo...4.2827Z .
doi :
10.1038/ncomms3827 .
ISSN
2041-1723 .
PMID
24264527 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Makovicky, Peter J. (2013-01-22).
"No evidence for directional evolution of body mass in herbivorous theropod dinosaurs" . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 280 (1751): 20122526.
doi :
10.1098/rspb.2012.2526 .
ISSN
0962-8452 .
PMC
3574415 .
PMID
23193135 .
^
a
b Gates, Terry A.; Sampson, Scott D.; De Jesús, Carlos R. Delgado; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Eberth, David; Hernandez-Rivera, René; Martínez, Martha C. Aguillón; Kirkland, James I. (2007-12-12).
"Velafrons coahuilensis, a new lambeosaurine hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the late Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 27 (4): 917–930.
doi :
10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[917:vcanlh]2.0.co;2 .
ISSN
0272-4634 .
S2CID
86157621 .
^ McDonald, Andrew T.; Gates, Terry A.; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Makovicky, Peter J. (2017-05-10).
"Anatomy, taphonomy, and phylogenetic implications of a new specimen of Eolambia caroljonesa (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, USA" . PLOS ONE . 12 (5): e0176896.
Bibcode :
2017PLoSO..1276896M .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0176896 .
ISSN
1932-6203 .
PMC
5425030 .
PMID
28489871 .
^
a
b Gates, Terry A.; Tsogtbaatar, Khishigjav; Zanno, Lindsay E.; Chinzorig, Tsogtbaatar; Watabe, Mahito (2018-08-03).
"A new iguanodontian (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia" . PeerJ . 6 : e5300.
doi :
10.7717/peerj.5300 .
ISSN
2167-8359 .
PMC
6078070 .
PMID
30083450 .
^ Arbour, Victoria M.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2019-03-05).
"Tail Weaponry in Ankylosaurs and Glyptodonts: An Example of a Rare but Strongly Convergent Phenotype" . The Anatomical Record . 303 (4): 988–998.
doi :
10.1002/ar.24093 .
ISSN
1932-8486 .
PMID
30835954 .
S2CID
73488683 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Drymala, Susan; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Schneider, Vincent P. (2015-03-19).
"Early crocodylomorph increases top tier predator diversity during rise of dinosaurs" . Scientific Reports . 5 (1): 9276.
Bibcode :
2015NatSR...5E9276Z .
doi :
10.1038/srep09276 .
ISSN
2045-2322 .
PMC
4365386 .
PMID
25787306 .
^ Drymala, Susan M.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2016-06-15).
"Osteology of Carnufex carolinensis (Archosauria: Psuedosuchia) from the Pekin Formation of North Carolina and Its Implications for Early Crocodylomorph Evolution" . PLOS ONE . 11 (6): e0157528.
Bibcode :
2016PLoSO..1157528D .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0157528 .
ISSN
1932-6203 .
PMC
4909254 .
PMID
27304665 .
^ Schwab, Julia A.; Young, Mark T.; Neenan, James M.; Walsh, Stig A.; Witmer, Lawrence M.; Herrera, Yanina; Allain, Ronan; Brochu, Christopher A.; Choiniere, Jonah N.; Clark, James M.; Dollman, Kathleen N. (2020-04-20).
"Inner ear sensory system changes as extinct crocodylomorphs transitioned from land to water" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 117 (19): 10422–10428.
Bibcode :
2020PNAS..11710422S .
doi :
10.1073/pnas.2002146117 .
ISSN
0027-8424 .
PMC
7229756 .
PMID
32312812 .
^ Ksepka, Daniel T.; Balanoff, Amy M.; Smith, N. Adam; Bever, Gabriel S.; Bhullar, Bhart-Anjan S.; Bourdon, Estelle; Braun, Edward L.; Burleigh, J. Gordon; Clarke, Julia A.; Colbert, Matthew W.; Corfield, Jeremy R. (2020).
"Tempo and Pattern of Avian Brain Size Evolution" . Current Biology . 30 (11): 2026–2036.e3.
doi :
10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.060 .
hdl :
11336/141993 .
PMID
32330422 .
S2CID
216095924 .
^ Hoffman, Devin K.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2018-02-13).
"Under the armor: X-ray computed tomographic reconstruction of the internal skeleton ofCoahomasuchus chathamensis(Archosauria: Aetosauria) from the Upper Triassic of North Carolina, USA, and a phylogenetic analysis of Aetosauria" . PeerJ . 6 : e4368.
doi :
10.7717/peerj.4368 .
ISSN
2167-8359 .
PMC
5815331 .
PMID
29456892 .
^ Hoffman, Devin K.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2018-11-29).
"Disparate Growth Strategies within Aetosauria: Novel Histologic Data from the Aetosaur Coahomasuchus chathamensis" . The Anatomical Record . 302 (9): 1504–1515.
doi :
10.1002/ar.24019 .
ISSN
1932-8486 .
PMID
30408334 .
S2CID
53239179 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Krzyzanowski, Stan E.; Lucas, Spencer G. (2002). "Diminutive metoposaurid skulls from the Upper Triassic Blue Hills (Adamanian: latest Carnian) of Arizona". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin . 21 : 121–126.
^ KING, M. RYAN; GATES, TERRY A.; GINGRAS, MURRAY K.; ZANNO, LINDSAY E.; PEMBERTON, S. GEORGE (2018-01-16).
"Transgressive Erosion Expressed as a Glossifungites-Bearing Woodground: An Example from the Blackhawk Formation, Utah" . PALAIOS . 33 (1): 29–35.
Bibcode :
2018Palai..33...29K .
doi :
10.2110/palo.2016.111 .
ISSN
0883-1351 .
S2CID
135352052 .
^ King, M. Ryan; La Croix, Andrew D.; Gates, Terry A.; Anderson, Paul B.; Zanno, Lindsay E. (2021-01-25).
"Glossifungites gingrasi n. isp., a probable subaqueous insect domicile from the Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone, Utah" . Journal of Paleontology . 95 (3): 427–439.
doi :
10.1017/jpa.2020.115 .
ISSN
0022-3360 .
S2CID
233301939 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Varricchio, David J.; O'Connor, Patrick M.; Titus, Alan L.; Knell, Michael J. (2011-09-19).
"A New Troodontid Theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America" . PLOS ONE . 6 (9): e24487.
Bibcode :
2011PLoSO...624487Z .
doi :
10.1371/journal.pone.0024487 .
ISSN
1932-6203 .
PMC
3176273 .
PMID
21949721 .
^ Zanno, Lindsay E.; Sampson, Scott D. (2005-12-30).
"A new Oviraptorosaur (Theropoda, Maniraptora) from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) of Utah" . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 25 (4): 897–904.
doi :
10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0897:anotmf]2.0.co;2 .
ISSN
0272-4634 .
S2CID
131302174 .
^ Zanno, L.E.; Tucker, R.T.; Canoville, A.; Avrahami, H.M.; Gates, T.A.; Makovicky, P.J. (2019).
"Diminutive fleet-footed tyrannosauroid narrows the 70-million-year gap in the North American fossil record" . Communications Biology . 2 (64): 64.
doi :
10.1038/s42003-019-0308-7 .
PMC
6385174 .
PMID
30820466 .
^
"NSF Award Search: Award # 1600545 - Collaborative Research GP-EXTRA: Engaging Diverse Two-Year College Geoscience Students: Expanding Opportunities Through Undergraduate Research and Mentoring" . www.nsf.gov . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"NSF Award Search: Award # 1560871 - CSBR: Natural History Collections: Critical Conservation of Paleontological Collections at the NCSM: A Platform to Engage Underserved Students in Citizen Science" . www.nsf.gov . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"NSF Award Search: Award # 1552328 - EAGER: Experimental Techniques for Discerning Female-specific Morphology in Non-avian Theropod Dinosaurs" . www.nsf.gov . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"NSF Award Search: Award # 1925973 - Collaborative Research: Time of Transformation: integrating the dynamic geologic, climatic and biotic systems of North America during the Early to Late Cretaceous transition" . www.nsf.gov . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Bones From New Dinosaur Found In The Badlands" . NPR.org . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^ Fleur, Nicholas St (2019-02-21).
"Tiny Tyrannosaur Hints at How T. Rex Became King" . The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^ Bhanoo, Sindya N. (2010-12-21).
"T. Rex's Relatives Had More Items on Their Menu" . The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Teeny T. rex relative discovered in US" . BBC News . 2019-02-21. Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
" 'Dueling Dinosaurs' fossil, hidden from science for 14 years, could finally reveal its secrets" . Science . 2020-11-17. Archived from
the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"WHO WE ARE" . Jurassic Foundation . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Program Committee" . Society of Vertebrate Paleontology . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Connect With Us" . Zanno Lab 2020 . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"FossilPhiles" . FossilPhiles . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^ admin.
"Shark Teeth Forensics" . Students Discover . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Dueling Dinosaurs | North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences" . Dueling Dinosaurs | North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to receive the "Dueling Dinosaurs" | Programs and Events Calendar" . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^ Magazine, Smithsonian; Aridi, Rasha.
"The Mystery of the 'Dueling Dinosaurs' May Finally Be Solved Now That They've Found a Home" . Smithsonian Magazine . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Not Sold! 'Dueling Dinos' Flop at Auction" . www.science.org . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^
"Court rules 'Dueling Dinos' belong to landowners, in a win for science" . www.science.org . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
^ Malo, Sebastien (2020-06-17).
"En banc 9th Circuit affirms mineral rights exclude dinosaur fossils" . Reuters . Retrieved 2022-03-10 .
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