Welcome To Our New Assistant Curator

Arjan studied fossil fishes for his M.Sc. at the University of Toronto, and received his Ph.D. from Carleton University, where he worked on the renowned, only-in-Illinois Mazon Creek fossil assemblage. The Field’s Mazon Creek collection is second to none, and Arjan has used it extensively in his research. He visited the collections in April-May of 2016 to study the taxonomic diversity of the gorgonopsian Lycaenops (predatory therapsids), as well as Mazon Creek tetrapods, and returned in October of that year for more Mazon Creek tetrapod work. His publication record includes articles in Nature Ecology & Evolution, Frontiers in Earth Science, Royal Society Open Science, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, and Journal of Paleontology. And you may recall a paper in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology last November that Arjan co-authored with Curator Ken Angielczyk and Research Associate Christian Sidor, which elaborated on the anatomy of the synapsid carnivore Gorgonops that Arjan in. More collaborations and further illumination of Mazon Creek animals are sure to come.
June 7. 2024