Craig Scott specializes in research on Palaeocene age mammals (65 – 55 million years ago) from the Red Deer and Calgary areas. His fieldwork has focused exclusively on Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene rock deposits from Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan. His primary research focus is how mammal communities in North America changed from the Late Cretaceous through the Palaeocene in Alberta, as well as how mammal communities at higher latitudes differ from those farther south. Craig is particularly interested in the early history of primates and multituberculates (rodent-like mammals).
Research Interests
- Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene mammals from about 84 – 55 million years ago.
- Fossil mammals from Alberta and Saskatchewan.
- Early history of primates in western Canada.
- Multituberculates.
- The evolution of mammals during the end of the Age of Dinosaurs and the beginning of the Age of Mammals.
- The distribution of fossil mammals and their ecosystems across western Canada.
Professional Highlights
- Discovered the most productive and diverse—and earliest—Palaeocene fossil mammal locality in Alberta.
- Discovered the first fossil mammals from rocks immediately above the K/Pg boundary in Alberta.
- Published several papers on some of the earliest primates from Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan.
Education
Ph.D., University of Alberta, 2008
M.Sc., University of Alberta, 2001
B.Sc., University of Alberta, 1995
- Recent Publications
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Scott, C. S. (2018). Horolodectidae: A new family of unusual eutherians (Mammalia: Theria) from the Palaeocene of Alberta, Canada. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zly040
Scott, C. S., Weil, A. & Theodor, J. M. 2018. A new, diminutive species of Catopsalis (Mammalia, Multituberculata, Taeniolabidoidea) from the early Paleocene of southwestern Alberta, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 92(5), 869-910. https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2018.2
Scott, C. S., Fox, R. C. & Redman, C. M. (2016). A new species of the basal plesiadapiform Purgatorius (Mammalia, Primates) from the early Palaeocene Ravenscrag Formation, Cypress Hills, southwest Saskatchewan, Canada: further taxonomic and dietary diversity in the earliest primates. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 53(4), 343-354.
Redman, C. M., Gardner, J. D., Scott, C. S. & Braman, D. R. (2015). Geological setting of vertebrate microfossil localities across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 52(10), 846-862.
Scott, C. S. & Fox, R. C. (2015). Review of Stagodontidae from the Judithian (Late Cretaceous) Belly River Group of southern Alberta. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 52(8), 682-695.
- Selected Publications
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Scott, C. S., Fox, R. C. & Redman, C. M. (2016). A new species of the basal plesiadapiform Purgatorius (Mammalia, Primates) from the early Paleocene Ravenscrag Formation, Cypress Hills, southwest Saskatchewan, Canada: further taxonomic and dietary diversity in the earliest primates. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 53(4), 343-354.
Scott, C. S., Spivak, D. N. & Sweet, A. R. (2013). First mammals from the Paleocene Porcupine Hills Formation of southwestern Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 50(3), 355-378.
Scott, C. S. (2010). New cyriacotheriid pantodonts (Mammalia, Pantodonta) from the Paleocene of Alberta, Canada, and the relationships of Cyriacotheriidae. Journal of Paleontology, 84, 197-215.
Scott, C. S. (2005). New neoplagiaulacid multituberculates (Mammalia: Allotheria) from the Paleocene of Alberta, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 79, 1189-1213.
Scott, C. S. & Fox, R. C. (2005). Windows on the evolution of Picrodus (Plesiadapiformes, Primates): Morphology and relationships of a species complex from the Paleocene of Alberta. Journal of Paleontology, 79, 635-657.