Evgeny Aleksandrovich Maleev (, ; 25 February 1915 – 12 April 1966) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and Russian

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

who did most of his research on reptiles and Asian fossils, such as the naming of the ankylosaur ''

Talarurus ''Talarurus'' ( ; meaning "basket tail" or "wicker tail") is a genus of ankylosaurid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, about 96 million to 89 million years ago. The first remains of ''Talarurus'' were discovered in 19 ...

'' and theropods ''

Tarbosaurus ''Tarbosaurus'' ( ; meaning "alarming lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaur that flourished in Asia about 70 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous Period, considered to contain a single known species, ''Tarbosaurus bataa ...

'' and ''

Therizinosaurus ''Therizinosaurus'' (; meaning 'scythe lizard') is a genus of very large therizinosaurid that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Nemegt Formation around 70 million years ago. It contains a single species, ''Therizi ...

'' along with the family

Therizinosauridae Therizinosauridae (meaning 'scythe lizards')Translated paper
is a family of derived (advanc ...

Biography

Evgeny Aleksandrovich Maleev was born on February 25, 1915, in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. After being a member on the

Eastern Front (World War II) The Eastern Front of World War II was a Theater (warfare), theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Polish Armed Forces in the East, Poland and other Allies of World War II, Allies, which encom ...

he started his scientific career at the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. In 1947 he graduated from the Faculty of Biology, also in that year, he started to work at the

Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences The Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (PIN; russian: Палеонтологический институт РАН) in Moscow is among the world's largest paleontological institutes. An affiliate of the Russian Academy of Scienc ...

. In 1950 Maleev presented his PhD thesis, "Morphofunctional analysis of the occipital region of the skull and skeleton of the neck of mammals", being awarded the

Candidate of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "do ...

. Later on, he worked as the deputy manager from 1956 to 1962. He also was the leader of an expedition conducted in 1962 to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

with the purpose of analyze

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...

specimens. Maleev did notable research on the institute until this death in 1966.

Scientific research

Maleev is recognised for his research on

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

tic

prehistoric life The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and fossil organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as ''Ga'', for ''gigaannum'') and evide ...

, such as the naming and description of the famous dinosaurs ''

'',Translated paper
/ref> ''

'' and ''

''.Translated paper
/ref> In honor to his contribution to science, two dinosaurs were named in honor to Maleev: ''

Maleevus ''Maleevus'' (named in honour of Evgeny Maleev) is an extinct genus of herbivorous ankylosaurid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous, around 90 million years ago (possibly 98-83 Ma), of Mongolia. Discovery and naming Between 1946 and 1949, Soviet-M ...

'' and '' Maleevosaurus''. Although his PhD thesis was mainly focused on mammals, his interests were oriented to reptiles. In 1948 he was a member of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition conducted on the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast an ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. The expedition ended up on the discovery of ''Talarurus'', and later described by him in 1952. When first described, based on the claws, Maleev interpreted the remains of ''Therizinosaurus'' as belonging to a gigantic turtle-like reptile, also he named the family Therizinosauridae. After a long debate, the enigmatic fossils were later confirmed to belong to a giant theropod dinosaur. At some point, Maleev analyzed ''Tarbosaurus'' brains by cutting open the fossilized braincases with a diamond saw. In contrast to the risky methods used by Maleev, modern researchers use computer tomography scans and 3D reconstruction software ( CT scans) to visualize the interior of dinosaur endocrania, thus eliminating the need to damage valuable specimens.

Selected publications

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maleev, Evgeny Soviet paleontologists 1915 births 1966 deaths Moscow State University alumni Soviet military personnel of World War II Place of birth missing Place of death missing

Biography

Scientific research

Selected publications

See also

References