Wann Langston Jr. (1921 – April 7, 2013) was an American

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. Langston worked on a number of different reptiles and amphibians in his long career, beginning with the 1950 description (with J. Willis Stovall) of the

theropod Theropoda (; from ancient Greek , (''therion'') "wild beast"; , (''pous, podos'') "foot"">wiktionary:ποδός"> (''pous, podos'') "foot" is one of the three major groups (clades) of dinosaurs, alongside Ornithischia and Sauropodom ...

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

Acrocanthosaurus ''Acrocanthosaurus'' ( ; ) is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaurs that existed in what is now North America during the Aptian and early Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous, from 113 to 110 million years ago. Like most dinosaur genera, ...

''. Langston was hired by the

National Museum of Canada The national museums of Canada () are the nine museums in Canada designated under the federal ''Museums Act'' and operated by the Government of Canada. The national museums are responsible for "preserving and promoting the heritage of Canada and al ...

in 1954 to replace Charles M. Sternberg, and worked in western

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

until 1962. One of his major finds, with Loris Russell, was the rediscovery of Sternberg's Scabby Butte '' Pachyrhinosaurus'' bonebed. Langston, along with a small team of fieldworkers, excavated the Scabby Butte bonebed in 1957, securing several skulls and several hundred bones there. He then went on in 1963 to the University of Texas, where in 1969 he became the second director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory, where he worked on many projects, including work on

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

s from

Big Bend National Park Big Bend National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in West Texas, bordering Mexico. The park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topograph ...

. Finds that he and his students worked on include the giant

pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...

Quetzalcoatlus ''Quetzalcoatlus'' () is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur that lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous in North America. The Type (biology), type specimen, recovered in 1971 from the Javelina Formation of Texas, United States, ...

'' and a variety of

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

and

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

reptiles. He retired in 1986, but continued to be active in the field. In 2007, Langston was the twentieth recipient of the

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and activities SVP has about 2,300 members inte ...

's A. S. Romer- G. G. Simpson Medal, the highest honor of the society. Langston died of natural causes a few days after a Geological Society of America symposium held in his honor at the South Central Geological Society of America meeting in Austin, Texas. Animals named by Langston include the carcharodontosaurid theropod ''Acrocanthosaurus'' (1950), the hadrosauroid dinosaur ''

Lophorhothon ''Lophorhothon'' is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Alabama, Georgia (US state), Georgia, and North Carolina. It was the first genus of dinosaur discovered in Alabama, in the United States. Discovery and naming R ...

'' (1960), the microsaur '' Carrolla'' (1986), and the azdarchid pterosaurs '' Wellnhopterus'' and ''

lawsoni'' (the latter two named posthumously in 2021). The mesoeucrocodylians '' Langstonia'', '' Akanthosuchus langstoni,'' and '' Albertochampsa langstoni''; theropod ''

Saurornitholestes langstoni ''Saurornitholestes'' ("lizard-bird thief") is a genus of carnivorous dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous of Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) and the United States (Montana, New Mexico, Alabama, and South Carolina). Two spe ...

''; pachycephalosaur '' Texacephale langstoni''; and pterosaur '' Radiodactylus langstoni'' were named for him.

Selected publications

*Stovall, J.W., & W. Langston Jr. 1950. ''Acrocanthosaurus atokensis'', a new genus and species of Lower Cretaceous Theropoda from Oklahoma. ''American Midland Naturalist'' 43(4):686-728. *Langston Jr., W. 1952. The first embolomerous amphibians from New Mexico. ''Journal of Geology'' 61(1):68-71. *Langston Jr., W., & J.W. Durham. 1955. A sauropod dinosaur from Colombia. ''Journal of Paleontology'' 29(6):1047-1051. *Langston Jr., W. 1959. ''Anchiceratops'' from the Oldman Formation of Alberta. ''National Museum of Canada Natural History Papers'' 3:1-11. *Langston Jr., W. 1960. The vertebrate fauna of the Selma Formation of Alabama. Part VI. The dinosaurs. ''Fieldiana: Geology Memoirs'' 3(6):315-361. *Langston Jr., W. 1963. Fossil vertebrates and the Late Paleozoic red beds of Prince Edward Island. National Museum of Canada, Bulletin 187, 36 p. *Langston Jr., W. 1965. Fossil crocodilians from Colombia and the Cenozoic History of the Crocodylia in South America. University of California Publications of Geological Sciences, 52: 1-127. *Langston Jr., W. 1967. The thick-headed ceratopsian dinosaur ''Pachyrhinosaurus'' (Reptilia: Ornithischia), from the Edmonton Formation near Drumheller, Canada. ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'' 4:171-186. *Langston Jr., W. 1974. Nonmammalian Comanchean tetrapods. ''Geoscience and Man'' 8:77-102. *Langston Jr., W. 1975. The ceratopsian dinosaurs and associated lower vertebrates from the St. Mary River Formation (Maestrichtian) at Scabby Butte, southern Alberta. ''Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences'' 12:1576-1608. *Langston Jr., W. 1976. A late Cretaceous vertebrate fauna from the St. Mary River Formation in western Canada. in Churcher, C.S. (ed.): ''Athlon''. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 114-133. *Langston Jr., W. 1986. ''Carrolla craddocki''; a new genus and species of microsaur from the Lower Permian of Texas. ''The Pearce-Sellards series'' (43)1-20.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langston, Wann Jr. American paleontologists 1921 births 2013 deaths American expatriates in Canada University of Texas at Austin faculty Presidents of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology