Royal Ontario Museum

Collections & Research Staff

David C. Evans
Associate Curator
Vertebrate Palaeontology

B.Sc., Integrated Sciences Program, University of British Columbia, 2003
Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 2007

David Evans is an Associate Curator in Vertebrate Palaeontology and oversees dinosaur research at the ROM. He is also a cross-appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.

David was born in Ontario and grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia. He first laid eyes on dinosaur skeletons in the galleries of the ROM and has been fascinated with dinosaurs and palaeontology ever since. As an undergraduate student David spent several summers working as a field technician for the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, where he studied the duck-billed dinosaur Corythosaurus for his undergraduate thesis. David’s doctoral dissertation analyzed skull growth and evolutionary relationships in crested hadrosaurs, with an emphasis on the striking diversity of these animals from Alberta, Canada. Since the ROM has one of the best collections of these dinosaurs in the world, it was natural that David chose to do his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto.

David's research has led to publications on systematics and evolution of dinosaurs, functional morphology, and phylogenetic methods and theory. His research program at the ROM focuses on the evolution, historical biogeography, and palaeobiology of ornithischian (plant-eating) dinosaurs and their role in Late Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems. His aim is to clarify the evolutionary relationships and diversity of hadrosaurid and pachycephalosaurid dinosaurs, and to evaluate patterns of dinosaur evolution and biogeography as they relate to environmental changes leading up to the end Cretaceous extinction event. David also studies prosauropod dinosaurs and Permian synapsids, and has broad interests in vertebrate palaeontology and evolution.

Because new fossil discoveries have the potential to drastically change our perception of the history of life, David is also active in the field searching for and collecting dinosaurs and other vertebrate fossils. He has organized and led fieldwork to several localities in southern Alberta, and has been a crewmember of expeditions to the Canadian high arctic and South Africa. Current fieldwork is directed in the Milk River region of southern Alberta, and is part of a multi-year collaborative field research project organized and initiated with colleagues from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Royal Tyrrell Museum. This area contains some of the oldest dinosaur-bearing sediments in Alberta. This project has the potential to reveal new dinosaur species and to contribute to our knowledge of a poorly known time in Late Cretaceous dinosaur evolution.

Recent Publications

In press	Folinsbee, K.E. and D.C. Evans. "A protocol for temporally calibrating General Area Cladograms." Journal of Biogeography.
In press	Evans, D.C., M.J. Vavrek, D.R. Braman, N.E. Campione, T.A. Dececchi, and G.D. Zazula. "Vertebrate fossils (Dinosauria) from the Bonnet Plume Formation, Yukon Territory, Canada." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
2011	Campione, N.E., and D.C. Evans. "Cranial growth and variation in Edmontosaurs (Dinosauria: Hadrosauridae): Implications for latest Cretaceous megaherbivore diversity in North America. PLoS ONE, 6(9): e25186. doi:10.1371/journal.cpone.0025186.
2011	Evans, D.C., P.M. Barrett, and K.S. Seymour. “Revised identification of a reported Iguanodon-grade ornithopod tooth from the Scollard formation, Alverta, Canada.” Cretaceous Research, 13 pp. (On-line advance)
2011	Schott R.K., D.C. Evans, M.B. Goodwin, J.R. Horner, C.M. Brown, et al. "Cranial Ontogeny in Stegoceras validum (Dinosauria: Pachycephalosauria): A Quantitative Model of Pachycephalosaur Dome Growth and Variation." PLoS ONE, 6(6): e21092. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021092.
2011	Evans, D.C., C.M. Brown, M.J. Ryan, and K. Tsogtbaatar. “Cranial ornamentation and ontogenetic stage of Homalocephale calathocercos (Ornithischia: Pachycephalosauria).” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 31(1): 84-92.
2011	Brink, K.S., D.K. Zelenitsky, D.C. Evans, F. Therrien, J.R. Horner. "A sub-adult skull of Hypacrosaurus stebingeri (Ornithischia: Lambeosaurinae): Anatomy and comparison." Histoical Biology, 23(1): 63-72.
2010	Reisz, R.R., D.C. Evans, D. Scott and H.-D. Sues. “Embryonic skeletal anatomy of the Early Jurassic prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus.” Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, 30(6): 1-13.
2010	Evans, D.C. “Cranial anatomy and ontogeny of Hypacrosaurus altispinus, and a comparative analysis of skull growth in lambeosaurines (Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae).” Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 159: 398–434.
2010	Bell, P. and D.C. Evans. "Revision of the status of Saurolophus from California, USA." Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 47: 1417-1426.
2009	Evans, D.C., R. Bavington, and N.E. Campione. “An unusual hadrosaurid braincase from the Dinosaur Park Formation, and the biostratigraphy of Parasaurolophus (Ornithischia: Lambeosaurinae) from southern Alberta.” Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 791-800.
2009	Evans, D.C., R. Ridgely, and L.M. Witmer. “Endocranial anatomy of lambeosaurine hadrosaurids (Dinosauria: Ornithischia): a sensorineural perspective on cranial crest function.” The Anatomical Record, 292: 1315–1337.
2009	Schott, R.K., D.C. Evans, T.E. Williamson, T.D. Carr, and M.B. Goodwin. “The anatomy and systematics of Colepiocephale lambei (Dinosauria: Pachycephalosauridae).” Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 29(3): 771-786.
2009	Evans, D.C., H.M. Maddin, and R.R. Reisz. "A re-evaluation of sphenacodontid synapsid material from the Early Permian fissure fills at Richards Spur, Oklahoma." Palaeontology, 52(1): 219-227.

Publications List (PDF)

Blogs by David Evans

Podcasts

Research at the ROM: Dinosaurs in Alberta's Badlands
October 13, 2009
Follow Dr. David Evans, Associate Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology, during his field work in Alberta's Badlands and discover what a palaeontologist job really involves.

Video Podcast (40.3MB, 4m 55s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Iconic Barosaurus
March 19, 2009
This rare, longnecked sauropod skeleton is the largest mounted dinosaur in Canada (90 feet long) and one of the Royal Ontario Museum’s iconic objects. It stands in the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs on Level 2.

Video Podcast (20.72MB, 2m 56s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Constructing the Barosaurus
January 4, 2008
Watch the construction of Gordo, the Barosaurus skeleton mounted in the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs. The real fossil specimen is the largest dinosaur ever to be mounted in Canada at almost 27.5 metres (90 feet) in length.

Widescreen Video Podcast (4.2MB, 2m 04s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

The ROM Welcomes Gordo the Barosaurus
December 21, 2007
Associate Curator, David Evans introduces the ROM's new Barosaurus as it is being installed in the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs. Discover how it was found and what makes this skeleton so unique to the collection.