Anthony Fiorillo

Career

Dr. Fiorillo worked on his Rea Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and later as a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1995 he became a curator at the Dallas Museum of Natural History (now the Perot Museum of Nature and Science). He is currently the Executive Director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science and works as an adjunct associate professor of Paleontology at Southern Methodist University. as well as becoming a Fellow of the Explorers Club in 2013. For his long-time commitment to dinosaur paleontology within the National Park units in Alaska, he was recognized by the international George Wright Society in 2019 with the prestigious Natural Resource Achievement Award.

Since 1998 the primary focus of his work has been on polar dinosaurs, and more specifically the ancient Arctic dinosaurs of Alaska. Of the four Alaskan dinosaurs that have names, Fiorillo has named two of them: Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum and Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, which he named in honor of major supporters of his former museum. P. perotorum is christened after the billionaire Ross Perot and his family. Although Perot is not necessarily connected to Alaska or paleontology, he has given generously to the Perot Museum, which also bears his name. N. hoglundi is named for Forrest Hoglund, a Texas oil millionaire who has also donated generously. Fiorillo and his colleagues have unearthed new polar dinosaurs as well as obtained insights into the ancient polar climate during one of Earth's greenhouse modes. In addition to Alaska, his work has taken him to Japan, Mongolia, and South Korea to explore the ancient land bridge connection between Asia and North America during the Cretaceous, a geographic connection often referred to as Beringia. His travels also include Australia, Italy, Peru, and Bolivia in order to further his research. He has published approximately 140 technical papers.

Below is a list of taxa that Fiorillo has contributed to naming:

Published work

Books

Anthony Fiorillo has collaborated on these books and volumes:

• Fiorillo, Anthony, R., and McCarthy, Paul, J. 2010. Ancient polar ecosystems and environments. Selected papers based on Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Theme Session 10, Ancient polar ecosystems and environments: proxies for understanding climate change and global warming. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 295:345-442.
• McCarthy, Paul, J., Fiorillo, Anthony, R., and Taylor, Edith, L. 2016. Ancient polar ecosystems and paleoclimate in deep time: Evidence from the past, implications for the future. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 441:223-389.
• Fiorillo, Anthony, R., Forster, Catherine, A., and Weishampel, David, B. 2023. Dinosaurs: New Ideas from Old Bones. The Anatomical Record. 306: 1589-1975.

He has also written the following book:

• Fiorillo, Anthony, R., 2018. Alaska Dinosaurs: an Ancient Arctic World. CRC Press, Boca Raton. 224p. https://www.crcpress.com/Alaska-Dinosaurs-An-Ancient-Arctic-World/Fiorillo/p/book/9781138060876

Sample of other publications

Personal life

Dr. Fiorillo currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

References

References

1. Marino, Katharina. (December 31, 2012). "Paleontologist puts passion for fossils to use as curator at Perot Museum". Dallas Morning News.
2. "Scientists". The Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
3. . ["Anthony Fiorello - Dedman College - SMU"](http://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Academics/Departments/EarthSciences/People/Faculty/Fiorillo). *Southern Methodist University*.
4. "Anthony R. Fiorillo, Ph. D. named executive director of New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque :: Department of Cultural Affairs Media Center :: Press Releases".
5. The Geological Society of America. "All Active and Current GSA Fellows".
6. Dunham, Mike. (August 25, 2012). "Alaskans - extinct and not - included in new Dallas museum". Alaska Dispatch News.
7. Wheeler, Jason. (July 22, 2014). "Museum team races to make Alaska dinosaur discoveries". USA Today.
8. (September 2012). "A New Maastrichtian Species of the Centrosaurine CeratopsidPachyrhinosaurusfrom the North Slope of Alaska". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.
9. (2014-03-12). "A Diminutive New Tyrannosaur from the Top of the World". PLOS ONE.
10. "Perot Museum of Nature and Science".
11. "New Dallas science museum named for Ross Perot".
12. "Forrest E. Hoglund".
13. Townsend, Lori. (September 3, 2012). "Footprint Sheds More Light On Prehistoric Alaska;". Alaska Public Media.
14. Martin, Justin. (August 7, 2014). "Footprints Suggest Duck-Billed Dinosaurs Thrived In Polar Ecosystem". KERA News.
15. (2025-03-25). "Didactyl therizinosaur with a preserved keratinous claw from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia". [[iScience]].
16. (11 January 2024). "A giant tyrannosaur from the Campanian–Maastrichtian of southern North America and the evolution of tyrannosaurid gigantism". [[Scientific Reports]].
17. (3 May 2022). "New therizinosaurid dinosaur from the marine Osoushinai Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Japan) provides insight for function and evolution of therizinosaur claws". [[Scientific Reports]].
18. (27 April 2021). "A new basal hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithischia) from the latest Cretaceous Kita-ama Formation in Japan implies the origin of hadrosaurids". [[Scientific Reports]].
19. (2 November 2019). "Northernmost record of the Metatheria: a new Late Cretaceous pediomyid from the North Slope of Alaska". [[Journal of Systematic Palaeontology]].
20. (5 September 2019). "A New Hadrosaurine (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae) from the Marine Deposits of the Late Cretaceous Hakobuchi Formation, Yezo Group, Japan". [[Scientific Reports]].
21. (21 June 2018). "The oldest Asian hesperornithiform from the Upper Cretaceous of Japan, and the phylogenetic reassessment of Hesperornithiformes". [[Journal of Systematic Palaeontology]].
22. (17 February 2016). "A new desmostylian mammal from Unalaska (USA) and the robust Sanjussen jaw from Hokkaido (Japan), with comments on feeding in derived desmostylids". [[Historical Biology]].
23. (12 March 2014). "A Diminutive New Tyrannosaur from the Top of the World". [[PLoS ONE]].
24. (29 January 2010). "An enantiornithine bird from the lower middle Cenomanian of Texas". [[Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology]].