Wann Langston, Jr.

Wann Langston, Jr. (?-) is an American paleontologist and professor (now retired) at the University of Texas at Austin. He has 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 dinosaur "Acrocanthosaurus". Langston was hired by the National Museum of Canada in 1954 to replace Charles M. Sternberg, and worked in western Canada until 1962. One of his major finds, with Loris Russell, was the rediscovery of Sternberg's Scabby Butte "Pachyrhinosaurus" bonebed.cite web |url=http://www.digitaldreammachine.com/sadrg/history_collections.html |title=History of Collections in Alberta |accessdate=2007-10-07 |date=2007 |publisher=Southern Alberta Dinosaur Research Group] He then went on in 1969 to the University of Texas, becoming the second director of the Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory, where he worked on many projects, including work on Cretaceous vertebrates from Big Bend National Park. Finds that he and his students worked on include the giant pterosaur "Quetzalcoatlus" and a variety of Permian and Mesozoic reptiles. He retired in 1986, but has continued to be active in the field.cite web |url=http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/vpl/vpl_history3.html |title=History: Page 3 - Veretbrate Paleontology Laboratory |accessdate=2007-10-07 |date=2007-06-15 |work=Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory |publisher=Texas Natural Science Center, the University of Texas at Austin] In 2007, Langston was the twentieth recipient of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's A. S. Romer-G. G. Simpson Medal, the highest honor of the society.cite web |url=http://vertpaleo.org/news/permalinks/2007/11/16/PRESS%2DRELEASE%2D%2D%2DWann%2DLangston%2DReceives%2DVertebrate%2DPaleontologys%2DHighest%2DAward/ |title= PRESS RELEASE - Wann Langston Receives Vertebrate Paleontology’s Highest Award |accessdate=2007-12-14 |last=Comerford |first=Meagan |date=2007-11-16 |publisher=Society of Vertebrate Paleontology ]

Animals named by Langston include "Acrocanthosaurus" (1950), the hadrosaurid dinosaur "Lophorhothon" (1960), and the microsaur "Carrolla" (1986); the theropod species "Saurornitholestes langstoni" was named for him.cite web |url=http://www.dinosaurnames.net/general.php?tablename=DinoSpecies&md=&searchj=Search&genus=Saurornitholestes&species= |title=DinoSpecies ["Saurornitholestes"] |accessdate=2007-10-07 |last=Michitsch |first=Terry |work=DinosaurNames.net |publisher=]

elected 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. 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