Trevor Henry Worthy (born 3 January 1957) is an Australia-based paleozoologist from New Zealand, known for his research on moa and other extinct vertebrates.

Biography

Worthy grew up in Broadwood,

Northland Northland may refer to: Corporations * Northland Organic Foods Corporation, headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota * Northland Resources, a mining business * Northland Communications, an American cable television, telephone and internet service ...

, and went to Whangarei Boys' High School. He began his career as a largely self-taught palaeontologist, after becoming interested in fossils through caving. Worthy completed his BSc and

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato), is a Public university, public research university in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand established in 1964. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university perfo ...

, then did a second Master's degree at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Z ...

. In 1987, Worthy described three new leiopelmatid frog species from cave subfossils: the Aurora frog ('' Leiopelma auroraensis''),

Markham's frog Markham's frog (''Leiopelma markhami'') is one of three extinct New Zealand frog species, the others being the Aurora frog (''Leiopelma auroraensis'') and Waitomo frog (''Leiopelma waitomoensis''). Subfossil bones used to describe the species ...

(''Leiopelma markhami''), and the

Waitomo frog The Waitomo frog (''Leiopelma waitomoensis'') is an extinct species of the genus '' Leiopelma'' from New Zealand. The Waitomo frog's distribution was solely in the North Island of New Zealand. Its extinction is believed to have happened during ...

(''Leiopelma waitomoensis''). In the 1990s, he discovered several fossil bird species new to science, including the

long-billed wren The long-billed wren (''Cantorchilus longirostris'') is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is endemic to Brazil. Taxonomy and systematics The long-billed wren has been treated as being conspecific with the buff-breasted wren ...

(''Dendroscansor decurvirostris'') in 1991,

Scarlett's shearwater Scarlett's shearwater (''Puffinus spelaeus'') is an extinct species of seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. Its common name commemorates New Zealand palaeontologist Ron Scarlett, who recognised the bird's subfossil remains represented a ...

(''Puffinus spelaeus'') in 1991, and the Niue night heron (''Nycticorax kalavikai'') in 1995. In 1991, he also described the Northland skink, a fossil skink species new to science. In 1998, Worthy excavated subfossil bones in Fiji, where he found remains of the flightless Viti Levu giant pigeon (''Natunaornis gigoura''), the Viti Levu scrubfowl (''Megapodius amissus''), the

Viti Levu snipe The Viti Levu snipe (''Coenocorypha miratropica'') is an extinct species of austral snipe endemic to Fiji. A species of the mostly New Zealand genus '' Coenocorypha'', it became extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organ ...

(''Coenocorypha miratropica''), the

giant Fiji ground frog ''Platymantis megabotoniviti'' is an extinct species of frogs in the family Ceratobatrachidae. The species was described from bones of late Quaternary age from caves on Viti Levu, Fiji. ''P. megabotoniviti'' is much larger than the other two s ...

(''Platymantis megabotoniviti''), and the small freshwater crocodile '' Volia athollandersoni''. The holotypes of these species were deposited in the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

. For years, Worthy has been involved in the excavation of Miocene fossils (the

Saint Bathans Fauna The St Bathans fauna is found in the lower Bannockburn Formation of the Manuherikia Group of Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It comprises a suite of fossilised prehistoric animals from the late Early Miocene (Altonian) peri ...

) from a prehistoric lake in

Central Otago Central Otago is located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and trib ...

, including the oldest known moa bones, the oldest

tuatara Tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name ''tuatara'' is derived from the Māori language and ...

bones, and the first known fossil land mammal from New Zealand.Fossils reveal New Zealand's indigenous 'mouse'
. ''New Scientist''. 11 December 2006. Worthy's research, based in Waitomo Caves,

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, and

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

, had been funded by grants from the

Foundation for Research, Science and Technology The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology ( mi, Tūāpapa Rangahau Pūtaiao) was a Crown entity A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's state sector established under t ...

since 1991, but in 2005 his funding was cut by the Foundation. From 2005 to 2009, he was at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on ...

, where he received his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 2008. He received a

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

from the University of Waikato in 2011. He was at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

from 2009 to 2011, back at the University of Adelaide during 2012, and has been at

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

since 2013. In May 2019, he ended his 30-year research association with Te Papa at protest to the staff restructuring controversy. Worthy is author or co-author of numerous research papers about prehistoric life in New Zealand. For the book ''The Lost World of the Moa'' (2002), he and Richard Holdaway received the D. L. Serventy Medal from the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and bird conservation, conservati ...

in 2003 for an outstanding published work about

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...

n avifauna.

References

External links

Personal page at Flinders UniversityCanterbury University
– short biography
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa collections associated with Trevor Worthy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worthy, Trevor New Zealand paleontologists 20th-century New Zealand zoologists Paleozoologists Living people 1957 births University of Adelaide alumni 21st-century New Zealand zoologists People from the Northland Region People educated at Whangarei Boys' High School University of Waikato alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa