Victoria Megan Arbour is a Canadian

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...

and vertebrate palaeontologist at

Royal BC Museum Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum (sometimes referred to as Royal BC Museum) consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The museum is loca ...

, where she is Curator of Palaeontology. An "expert on the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs", Arbour analyzes fossils and creates 3-D computer models. She named the possible

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

'' Gwawinapterus'' from

Hornby Island Hornby Island of British Columbia, Canada, is one of the two northernmost Gulf Islands, located near Vancouver Island's Comox Valley, the other being Denman Island. A small community of 1,016 residents (as of the 2016 census), Hornby is home to ...

, and a partial

ornithischia Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek s ...

n dinosaur from Sustut Basin, British Columbia (now named ''

Ferrisaurus ''Ferrisaurus'' is a genus of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin (Tango Creek Formation) in British Columbia, Canada. The type species, type and only species is ''Ferrisaurus sustutensis''. It is the first non-avian dinos ...

''), and has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs ''

Zuul ''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 kno ...

'', ''

Zaraapelta ''Zaraapelta'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid thyreophoran dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. The type species is ''Zaraapelta nomadis'', named and described by Arbour ''et al'' in 2014. ''Zaraapelta'' is known from ...

'', ''

Crichtonpelta ''Crichtonpelta'' is a genus of extinct herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian) of China. Discovery and naming In 2007, Lü Junchang, Ji Qiang, Gao Yubo and Li Zhixin named and described a second species of ''C ...

'', and ''

Ziapelta ''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 ankyl ...

''.

Early life and education

Born in 1983, Arbour is from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. Her mother, a math teacher, and father, a soil scientist, supported her science interests. 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 Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...

in 2006. 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 The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

Career

Arbour became Curator of Palaeontology at Royal BC Museum in 2018. She previously worked as a

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

postdoctoral fellow at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

. 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". From 2014 to 2016 she was a postdoctoral researcher with a joint appointment at

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) is the largest museum of its kind in the Southeastern United States. It is the oldest established museum in North Carolina, located in Raleigh. In 2013, it had about 1.2 million visitors, and i ...

and

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

. Arbour primarily studies

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s in the group

Ankylosauria Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...

, including biomechanical analyses of tail clubs. Arbour has studied

microfossils A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, ...

from

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. She has also named the possible

'' Gwawinapterus'' from

, and a partial

n dinosaur from Sustut Basin, both locations in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. She has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs ''

'', ''

'', as well as resurrecting ''

Dyoplosaurus ''Dyoplosaurus'' (meaning “double-armoured lizard”) is a monospecific genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur from Alberta that lived during the Late Cretaceous (middle Campanian, ~76.5–75 Ma) in what is now the Dinosaur Park Formation. ''Dyoplosau ...

'', and publishing a new phylogenetic analysis on the interrelationships of

Ankylosauridae 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–Pal ...

. 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 A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, m ...

." 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.

References

External links

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L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science
(video, 1:56) {{DEFAULTSORT:Arbour, Victoria Living people 1984 births Canadian paleontologists 21st-century Canadian biologists Canadian women biologists 21st-century Canadian educators 21st-century Canadian women scientists Dalhousie University alumni People from Halifax, Nova Scotia University of Alberta alumni Royal Ontario Museum Women paleontologists