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Professor R. Ewan Fordyce

R. Ewan Fordyce BSc PhD(Cant)
  • vertebrate paleobiology
  • systematics and phylogeny of Cetacea (whales and dolphins)
  • Cretaceous-Cenozoic paleontology & stratigraphy
  • paleoceanography and paleoclimates

Email ewan.fordyce@otago.ac.nz

Phone: +64 3 479 7510

 

Contact for

Geol 272/372 and Geol 263/363; the Geology Museum; general course advising.

Affiliations

Research Interests (see also fossil research web pages)

  • vertebrate paleobiology (see paleontology section of this website), especially New Zealand-Southwest Pacific
  • systematics and phylogeny of Cetacea (whales and dolphins)
  • Cretaceous-Cenozoic paleontology, stratigraphy, and paleoecology
  • paleoceanography and paleoclimates
  • public understanding of geology, especially paleontology, linked with the Vanished World Trail and Vanished World Centre of North Otago

Current and recent research

Mead & FordyceEvolution and systematics of Cetacea

My main research is on the morphology, taxonomy, systematics, and phylogeny of Cetacea - whales and dolphins, fossil and recent. I work with the group of postgraduate students listed below. A major recent study on morphology is: Mead, J.G. and Fordyce, R.E. 2009 - The therian skull: a lexicon with emphasis on the odontocetes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 627: 1-248. This monograph is an illustrated interpretive technical dictionary of osteological landmarks in the dolphin skull, based on study of modern and fossil species. Dolphins and whales are radically different from terrestrial mammals; their skeletons present many features that, although perplexing in terms of origin and homology, are widely used to interpret relationships, evolution, and lifestyle.  We homologise features of dolphin skulls with those of other mammals, and explain the comparisons. The work should be of interest to cetacean systematists, mammalogists and vertebrate paleontologists.  Mead and I are now compiling information on baleen whales, to complement the 2009 study
Free pdf download of 'The Therian Skull : A Lexicon with Emphasis on the Odontocetes'

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGEdissections of naturally-stranded juvenile pygmy right whales, Caperea marginata, with Anton van Helden of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Dissections of naturally-stranded juvenile pygmy right whales, Caperea marginata, with Anton van Helden of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa

Related activity with living species of cetaceans has included dissections of naturally-stranded juvenile pygmy right whales, Caperea marginata, with Anton van Helden of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa (November 2011 - see photo right). I am working with Felix Marx on a phylogenetic relationships of Caperea, based on morphological cladistics. Most people in the PhD student group have also been involved in work on recently stranded cetaceans, especially Moyna Müller and Carol Loch. In such work, we have strong links with Department of Conservation, Otago Museum, and Department of Marine Sciences at Otago.

Long-term interests involve fossil cetacean studies. For example, I have recently been studying the archaic gulp-feeding balaenopterid whale Mauicetus parki, the putative late-surving archaeocetes encompassing Kekenodon and relatives, shark-toothed dolphins - Squalodontidae, and archaic long-beaked tusked dolphins from Oregon and Baja California Sur, Mexico. These and other projects deal mainly with fossils of Late Oligocene age - from the early explosive radiation of Cetacea.

I maintain a field programme to recover fossil cetaceans and other fossil vertebrates from southern New Zealand, especially from rocks around the Waitaki Valley. This usually involves postgraduate students - and provides training in field methods using pneumatic tools (chipping hammers, air scribes, grinders, rock drills), masonry and chainsaws, petrol (gas)-powered rock drill, and plaster jacketing.

Pictures show recent field work:

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE Two guys standing beside two holes in a cliff.Dan Ksepka (right) and Paul Brinkman (left), excavating a large Late Oligocene penguin from Kokoamu Greensand, Waihao Valley, December 2011. Ksepka and Brinkman (both from North Carolina State University) visited Otago for collaborative work on fossil penguins.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE Paleontologists stand around and taking photos of a concretion partly potruding form a mudstone layer.Site of an Early Miocene baleen whale, Otaio River, January 2012. From left to right: Philip Howe (S Canterbury Museum), Julie Brown (Ngai Tahu Rock Art Project), Nichole Moerhuis and Felix Marx (Department of Geology, University of Otago); Felix is close to the whale, with a limb element and part of the left mandible visible just below him. The fossil was found by Robert White and family, and is now at University of Otago awaiting preparation.

Evolution and systematics of penguins

Rocks in southern New Zealand have produced important fossil penguins, including many specimens found during field work on fossil cetaceans and now held in the Geology Museum at University of Otago. These have been studied by past postgraduate students: Craig Jones (MSc), Tatsuro Ando (PhD) and Daniel Thomas (PhD). Of note are stem-penguins in the genus Waimanu, and the recently-named Kaiika [literally, food-fish, alluding to penguin diet], studied with former PhD student Daniel Thomas. A larger work will appear in 2012, in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. There, Dan Ksepka, Tatsuro Ando, Craig Jones and I propose a new genus and 2 new species for large Palaeeudyptes-like penguins of Late Oligocene age. See the separate web pages on penguins.

New Zealand marine vertebrates

Beyond cetaceans and penguins, covered above, New Zealand has an important record of other marine vertebrates. The Geology Museum at University of Otago holds specimens of plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, sea turtles, bony fish, and chondrichthyans. Articles of note in recent years include those of Gottfried et al. (2006 and 2012) on the teleosts Megalampris and Aglyptorhynchus, Gottfried & Fordyce on the extinct white shark Carcharodon angustidens, and Cruickshank & Fordyce on the enigmatic “Shagosaurus” plesiosaur from North Otago – formally known as Kaiwhekea. Other web pages review some of these New Zealand records. For summary accounts of New Zealand’s marine vertebrates, see the articles by Fordyce (1991) and King et al. (2009) – the latter partly updating the earlier Fordyce summary.

Research Visitors

Visiting researchers have brought important expertise to help interpret material from the Geology Museum collections. Some recent visitors include: Mike Gottfried (Michigan State University, MI, USA), Tatsuro Ando (Ashoro Museum, Japan), Hiroto Ichishima (Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum, Japan), Dan Ksepka and Paul Brinkman (NC State University, NC, USA), Tom Baumiller (U Michigan, MI, USA), Gerardo Gonzalez Barba (Univ. Autonoma Baja California Sur, Mexico),  Nick Pyenson (formerly UC Berkeley and now Natural History Museum, Smithsonian Institution, USA), and Ignacio Moreno (Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio Grande do Sul – GEMARS, Brazil).

Postgraduate Student Supervision

Are you an international student interested in postgraduate study with the Otago cetacean systematics/ fossil vertebrates group? If so, check the web information for International Students to see if you are eligible. International students will need a PhD scholarship to fund their study; applications for Otago scholarships, which are competitive awards, close at any time, and are usually applied for at the same time as the application for admission. There are few scholarships for MSc study, and these are highly competitive. If you are eligible to study here, and have first class grades that are likely to win you a scholarship, then please contact me.

Current and recent students

  • Gabriel Aguirre - New Zealand fossils and the Neogene radiation of the Delphinidae (PhD, in progress)
  • Robert "Bobby" Boessenecker - New Zealand archaic baleen whales in the family Eomysticetidae (PhD, to start in early 2012)
  • Simone Hicks - Ecological and sedimentological evolution of the volcanically active Eo/Oligocene continental shelf, east Otago (PhD, in progress)
  • Carolina Loch Silva - Comparative study of modern and fossil cetacean dentitions (Cetacea: Delphinoidea and Platanistoidea) (PhD, in progress) (Jointly with Department of Oral Sciences, Dentistry)
  • Felix Marx - Evolution of structural disparity in the Cetacea (PhD, in progress) (Jointly with University of Bristol)
  • Moyna Müller - Evolution in the Southern Ocean dolphin genus Cephalorhynchus (PhD, in progress) (Jointly with Department of Marine Sciences)
  • Yoshihiro Tanaka - Morphology and systematics of squalodelphinid and related platanistoid dolphins from New Zealand (PhD, in progress)
  • Kristina Arthur - Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, isotopic patterns, and Middle Miocene climate change in the Bryce Burn section (MSc, completed). Kristina is now pursuing PhD studies in The Netherlands.
  • Megan Ortega - Systematics and geological setting of fossil whales and dolphins from Gee Greensand and Mount Harris Formation, Awamoa Beach, North Otago (MSc, completed). Megan is now working in the oil industry in Texas.
  • Daniel Thomas - Evolution of thermal physiology in penguins: fossils, modern penguins, anatomy, and geochemistry (PhD, completed) (jointly with Department of Chemistry). Daniel recently completed a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at University of Cape Town, and is now pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship in the Natural History Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Outreach - for the public

Selected Recent Publications

most of which are available as pdfs on request

  • Gottfried, M. D., R. E. Fordyce, and S. Rust. 2012. A new billfish (Perciformes: Xiphioidei) from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand. Journal of vertebrate paleontology 32:27-34.
  • Thomas, D. B., and R. E. Fordyce. 2011. Biological plasticity in penguin heat retention. The Anatomical Record: doi:10.1002/ar.21538
  • Thomas, D.B., McGoverin, C.M., Fordyce, R.E., Frew, R.D., Gordon, K.C., 2011. Raman spectroscopy of fossil bioapatite - a proxy for diagenetic alteration of the oxygen isotope composition. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 310:62-70 doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2011.06.016.
  • Thomas, D.B., Ksepka, D.T., Fordyce, R.E., 2011. Penguin heat-retention structures evolved in a greenhouse Earth. Biology Letters 7, 461-464.
  • Fordyce, R.E., Thomas, D.B., 2011. Kaiika maxwelli, a new Early Eocene archaic penguin (Sphenisciformes, Aves) from Waihao Valley, South Canterbury, New Zealand. New Zealand journal of geology and geophysics 54, 43-51.
  • Fordyce, R.E., 2010. Darwin’s legacy and New Zealand fossils, in: Galloway, D. (Ed.), Aspects of Darwin: a New Zealand celebration. Friends of Knox College Library, Dunedin, pp. 65-84.
  • Mead, J. G., and R. E. Fordyce. 2009. The therian skull: a lexicon with emphasis on the odontocetes. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 627:1-248.
  • Steeman, M. E., M. B. Hebsgaard, R. E. Fordyce, S. Y. W. Ho, D. L. Rabosky, R. Nielsen, C. Rahbek, H. Glenner, M. V. Sorensen, and E. Willerslev. 2009. Radiation of Extant Cetaceans Driven by Restructuring of the Oceans. Systematic Biology 58:573-585 doi:10.1093/sysbio/syp060
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2009. Cetacean evolution; pp. 201-207 in W. F. Perrin, J. G. M. Thewissen, and B. Würsig (eds.), Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Elsevier, San Diego.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2009. Cetacean fossil record; pp. 207-215 in W. F. Perrin, J. G. M. Thewissen, and B. Würsig (eds.), Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Elsevier, San Diego.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2009. Fossil sites; pp. 459-466 in W. F. Perrin, J. G. M. Thewissen, and B. Würsig (eds.), Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Elsevier, San Diego.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2009. Neoceti; pp. 758-763 in W. F. Perrin, J. G. M. Thewissen, and B. Würsig (eds.), Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Elsevier, San Diego.

  • Fordyce, R. E., D. E. Lee, and G. S. Wilson. 2009. Field trip 3: Cretaceous-Paleogene stratigraphy of the Canterbury Basin. Climatic and Biotic Events of the Paleogene Conference Field Trip Guides, 6-21 January 2009, Te Papa, Wellington, New Zealand. GNS Science Miscellaneous Series 17:92-129. pdf

  • King, C. M., C. D. Roberts, B. D. Bell, R. E. Fordyce, R. S. Nicoll, T. H. Worthy, C. D. Paulin, R. A. Hitchmough, I. W. Keyes, A. N. Baker, A. L. Stewart, N. Hiller, R. M. McDowall, R. N. Holdaway, R. P. McPhee, W. W. Schwarzhans, A. J. D. Tennyson, S. Rust, and I. Macadie. 2009. Phylum Chordata.  Lancelets, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals; pp. 433-553 in D. P. Gordon (ed.), The New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity: A Species 2000 Symposium Review. University of Canterbury Press, Christchurch. [includes fossil reptiles, modern and fossil marine mammals]
  • Uhen, M. D., R. E. Fordyce, and L. G. Barnes. 2008. Mysticeti; pp. 607-628 in C. M. Janis, G. F. Gunnell, and M. D. Uhen (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America, 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Uhen, M. D., R. E. Fordyce, and L. G. Barnes. 2008. Odontoceti; pp. 566-606 in C. M. Janis, G. R. Gunnell, and M. D. Uhen (eds.), Evolution of Tertiary mammals of North America, 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Marino, L., R. C. Connor, R. E. Fordyce, L. M. Herman, P. R. Hof, L. Lefebvre, D. Lusseau, B. McCowan, E. A. Nimchinsky, A. A. Pack, L. Rendell, J. S. Reidenberg, D. Reiss, M. D. Uhen, E. Van Der Gucht, and H. Whitehead. 2008. A claim in search of evidence: Reply to Manger’s thermogenesis hypothesis of cetacean brain structure. Biological Reviews, Cambridge Philosophical Society 83:417-440.
  • Graham, I. J., R. L. Brathwaite, L. Carter, R. M. Carter, J. W. Cole, M. J. Crozier, A. F. Cooper, R. A. Cooper, R. E. Fordyce, M. R. Johnston, M. J. Isaac, P. R. King, N. Mortimer, and D. N. B. Skinner eds. 2008. A continent on the move: New Zealand geoscience into the 21st century. Geological Society of New Zealand, Wellington, NZ ix, 377 pp.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2008. Unveiling the past. Vertebrate fossils; pp. 127-137 in S. Nathan and M. Varnham (eds.), The amazing world of James Hector. Awa Press, Wellington.   
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2008. Fossil mammals; pp. 415-428 in M. J. Winterbourn, Knox, G.A., Burrows, C.J., Marsden, I. (ed.), Natural history of Canterbury. University of Canterbury Press, Christchurch.
  • Thomas, D. B. and Fordyce, R. E.  2007.  The heterothermic loophole exploited by penguins.  Australian Journal of Zoology 55: 317-321.
  • Thomas, D. B., Fordyce, R. E., Frew, R. D., and Gordon, K. C.  2007.  A rapid, non-destructive method of detecting diagenetic alteration in fossil bone using Raman spectroscopy.  Journal of Raman Spectroscopy 38: 1533-1537.
  • Ichishima, H. and Fordyce, R. E.  2007.  Kujira ga riku o aruite ita koro: kyoryu zetsumetsugo no oja [When the whales roamed on land].  Special Exhibitions Volume. Fukui Kenritsu Kyoryo Hakubutsukan, Katsuyama.  87 p.
  • Marino, L., Connor, R. C., Fordyce, R. E., Herman, L. M., Hof, P. R., Lefebvre, L., Lusseau, D., Mccowan, B., Nimchinsky, E. A., Pack, A. A., Rendell, L., Reidenberg, J. S., Reiss, D., Uhen, M. D., Van Der Gucht, E., and Whitehead, H.  2007. Cetaceans have complex brains for complex cognition.  PLoS Biology 5 (5): 966-972. 
  • Fordyce, R. E.  2006.  A southern perspective on cetacean evolution and zoogeography.  Pages 755-778 in Merrick, J. R. Archer M. Hickey G. and Lee M. S. Y. (eds), Evolution and biogeography of Australasian vertebrates.  AusSciPub [Australian Scientific Publishing], Sydney.  942 p.
  • Gottfried, M. D., Fordyce, R. E., and Rust, S.  2006.  Megalampris keyesi, a giant moonfish (Teleostei, Lampridiformes) from the late Oligocene of New Zealand.  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26 (3): 544-551.
  • Slack, K. E., Jones, C. M., Ando, T., Harrison, G. L., Fordyce, R. E., Arnason, U., and Penny, D.  2006.  Early penguin fossils, plus mitochondrial genomes, calibrate avian evolution.  Molecular Biology and Evolution 23 (6): 1144-1155. [on new species of Waimanu basal penguins]
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2006. New light on New Zealand Mesozoic reptiles. Geological Society of New Zealand newsletter 140:6-15.
  • Sasaki, T., Nikaido, M., Hamilton, H., Goto, M., Kato, H., Kanda, N., Pastene, L. A., Cao, Y., Fordyce, R. E., Hasegawa, M., and Okada, N.  2005.  Mitochondrial phylogenetics and evolution of mysticete whales.  Systematic biology 54 (1): 77-90.
  • Darby, J. T., Fordyce, R. E., Mark, A. F., Probert, P. K., and Townsend, C. (editors). 2003. The natural history of southern New Zealand. University of Otago Press, Dunedin. 387 p.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2003. Fossils and the history of life. Pages 35-64 in Darby, J. T., Fordyce, R. E., Mark, A. F., Probert, P. K., and Townsend, C. (editors), The natural history of southern New Zealand. University of Otago Press, Dunedin. 387 p.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2003. Cetacea evolution and Eocene-Oligocene oceans revisited. Pages 154-170 in Prothero, D. R., Ivany, L. C., and Nesbitt, E. A. From greenhouse to icehouse. The marine Eocene-Oligocene transition. Columbia University Press, New York. 376 p.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I. and Fordyce, R. E. 2002. A new marine reptile (Sauropterygia) from New Zealand: Further evidence for a Late Cretaceous austral radiation of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs. Paleontology 45 (3): 557-575.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2002. Simocetus rayi (Odontoceti:Simocetidae) (new species, new genus, new family), a bizarre archaic Oligocene dolphin from the eastern North Pacific. Smithsonian contributions to paleobiology 93: 185-222.
    Pdf (16 Mb)
    Symposium volume
    Simocetus read more...
  • Fordyce, R. E., Quilty, P. G., and Daniels, J. 2002. Australodelphis mirus, a bizarre new toothless ziphiid-like fossil dolphin (Cetacea: Delphinidae) from the Pliocene of Vestfold Hills, east Antarctica. Antarctic Science 14 (1): 37-54.
  • Cruickshank, A. R. I., and R. E. Fordyce. 2002. A new marine reptile (Sauropterygia) from New Zealand: Further evidence for a Late Cretaceous austral radiation of cryptoclidid plesiosaurs. Palaeontology 45:557-575.
  • Nikaido, M., Matsuno, F., Hamilton, H., Brownell, R. L., Cao, Y., Ding, W., Zuoyan, Z., Shedlock, A. M., Fordyce, R. E., Hasegawa, M., and Okada, N. 2001. Retroposon analysis of major cetacean lineages:  the monophyly of toothed whales and the paraphyly of river dolphins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98 (13): 7384-7389.
  • Fordyce, R. E. 2001. Brian John Marples, BA MA, MSc, FRSNZ, FAZ, 1907-1997. Yearbook of the Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand 2000: 72-79.
  • Gottfried, M. D. and Fordyce, R. E. 2001. An associated specimen of Carcharodon angustidens (Chondrichthyes, Lamnidae) from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand, with comments on lamnid interrelationships. Journal of vertebrate paleontology 21 (4): 730-739.
  • Fordyce, R. E. and Muizon, C. de. 2001. Evolutionary history of whales: a review. Pages 169-234 in Mazin, J.-M. and Buffrenil, V. de (editors), Secondary adaptation of tetrapods to life in water. Proceedings of the international meeting, Poitiers, 1996. Verlag Dr Friedriech Pfeil, München. 367p.

  • Fordyce, R. E. 1994. Waipatia maerewhenua, new genus and new species (Waipatiidae, new family), an archaic Late Oligocene dolphin (Cetacea: Odontoceti: Platanistoidea) from New Zealand; pp. 147-176 in A. Berta and T. Deméré (eds.), Contributions in marine mammal paleontology honoring Frank C. Whitmore, Jr. Proceedings of the San Diego Society of Natural History 29.
    Pdf
    Waipatia read more...

  • Fordyce, R. E. 1991. A new look at the fossil vertebrate record of New Zealand.; pp. 1191-1316 in P. V. Rich, J. M. Monaghan, R. F. Baird, and T. H. Rich (eds.), Vertebrate palaeontology of Australasia. Pioneer Design Studio and Monash University, Melbourne.

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