Eugene S. Gaffney
Encyclopedia
Eugene S. Gaffney is an American paleontologist and leading authority on the evolutionary history of turtle
s.
in 1965; and received his PhD in 1969 with a thesis on "The North American Baenoidea and the Cryptodire-Pleurodire Dichotomy" from Columbia University
, where he also taught for several years. He then moved to the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History
, becoming full Curator in 1980, a position he still holds. He has authored numerous publications on turtle systematics and phylogeny.
Dr. Gaffney pioneered the use of cladistics
in turtle research. He has done fieldwork in Canada and the United States, central Europe, southern Africa, China, Argentina, Brazil, and especially Australia, where he has studied the evolution of the Meiolania
, the giant horned tortoise.
Several species of fossil turtles, including the protostegid sea turtle
, Santanachelys gaffneyi
, and the Macrobaenid Aurorachelys gaffneyi have also been named in his honor.
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s.
Biography
He graduated from Rutgers State UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 1965; and received his PhD in 1969 with a thesis on "The North American Baenoidea and the Cryptodire-Pleurodire Dichotomy" from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he also taught for several years. He then moved to the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, becoming full Curator in 1980, a position he still holds. He has authored numerous publications on turtle systematics and phylogeny.
Dr. Gaffney pioneered the use of cladistics
Cladistics
Cladistics is a method of classifying species of organisms into groups called clades, which consist of an ancestor organism and all its descendants . For example, birds, dinosaurs, crocodiles, and all descendants of their most recent common ancestor form a clade...
in turtle research. He has done fieldwork in Canada and the United States, central Europe, southern Africa, China, Argentina, Brazil, and especially Australia, where he has studied the evolution of the Meiolania
Meiolania
Meiolania is an extinct genus of cryptodire turtle from the Oligocene to Holocene, with the last relict populations at New Caledonia which survived until 2,000 years ago....
, the giant horned tortoise.
Accolades
A symposium on fossil turtles was held in his honor at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, in 2009.Several species of fossil turtles, including the protostegid sea turtle
Protostegidae
Protostegidae is a family of extinct marine turtles that lived during the Mesozoic Era. The family includes some of the largest sea turtles that ever existed. The largest, Archelon, had a head a meter long...
, Santanachelys gaffneyi
Santanachelys
Santanachelys gaffneyi is the earliest known sea turtle. It is the only species in the genus Santanachelys, which itself is a member of the extinct family Protostegidae. The species was first described from a 20-centimeter long fossil specimen unearthed in 1998 in Eastern Brazil...
, and the Macrobaenid Aurorachelys gaffneyi have also been named in his honor.
Selected publications
- Gaffney, E. S. (1975). A phylogeny and classification of the higher categories of turtles. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural HistoryBulletin of the American Museum of Natural HistoryThe Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the fields of zoology, paleontology, and geology...
155(5): 389-436. on-line - Gaffney, E. S. (1979). The Jurassic turtles of North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 162 (3): 91-136.
- Gaffney, E. S. (1979). An introduction to the logic of phylogeny reconstruction. In J. Cracraft and N. Eldredge (editors), Phylogenetic analysis and paleontology: 79-111. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Gaffney, E. S. (1980). Phylogenetic relationships of the major groups of amniotes. In A. L. Panchen (editor), The terrestrial environment and the origin of land vertebrates: 593-610. LonLondon, New York: Academic Press.
- Gaffney, E. S., & P. A. Meylan. (1988). A phylogeny of turtles. In M. J. Benton, (editor), The phylogeny and classification of tetrapods: 157-219. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Gaffney, E. S. (1990). Dinosaurs A Golden Guide. Western Publishing Company, Inc. 160 pp.
- Norell, M. A., Gaffney, E. S., & Dingus, L. (1995). Discovering Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History. Alfred A. Knopf, 204 pp.
- Gaffney, E. S. (1996) The postcranial morphology of Meiolania platyceps and a review of the Meiolaniidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History ; no. 229 on-line
- Gaffney, E. S., Tong, H., & Meylan, P. A. (2006) Evolution of the side-necked turtles : the families Bothremydidae, Euraxemydidae, and Araripemydidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 300 on-line
External links
- Phylogeny of turtles, American Museum of Natural History, the official site of Eugene Gaffney