David Rudkin

Assistant professor
University of Toronto
Department of Earth Sciences

Royal Ontario Museum

Tel.:  416 586 5592
e-mail: davidru@rom.on.ca

Dave Rudkin is Assistant Curator (Palaeobiology) in the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum and Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto .

 

Research Interests

• Palaeobiology, systematics, and taphonomy of fossil Arthropoda, particularly Trilobita.

• Trilobite trace fossils and palaeoethology.

• Palaeozoic palaeobiology and biostratigraphy of the Hudson Bay and James Bay lowlands in Ontario , Manitoba , Quebec , and southern Nunavut .

Current research projects include the palaeoecology and taphonomy of Silurian reef-associated trilobite assemblages (Hudson Bay Basin); collaboration with G. Young (Manitoba Museum), R. Elias (University of Manitoba) and G. Nowlan (Geological Survey of Canada) on the palaeoecology of an exhumed Upper Ordovician rocky shoreline sequence (Churchill, Manitoba); with J.-B. Caron (ROM and University of Toronto ) on selected Burgess Shale studies, including trilobites and taphonomic thresholds

 

Other interests

Popular geoscience education and the role of natural history museums in advancing the public awareness of science: frequent public lecturer and program leader on a variety of palaeontological topics; Coordinating Curator for “Earth and Early Life” – a major new gallery scheduled to open in late 2008 as part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Renaissance ROM project; contributing editor to the Royal Ontario Museum’s Rotunda magazine

Professional Affiliations

Fellow, Geological Association of Canada ,
Member, GAC Paleontology Division

Member, GAC Canadian Sedimentology Research Group

Member, Canadian Geoscience Education Network of the Canadian Geoscience Council

Research Associate, The International Burgess Shale Collection and Research Consortium

Member, International Geoscience Education Organization

 

Selected Publications (since 1997)

Refereed Journal Articles

Tripp, R.P., D.M. Rudkin and W.R. Evitt

1997 Silicified trilobites of the genus Sphaerocoryphe from the Middle Ordovician of Virginia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 34:770-788.

Rudkin , D.M.

1998 A new scleritomous metazoan from the Late Ordovician Georgian Bay Formation, southern Ontario . Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 35:827-831.

Westrop, S.M. and D.M. Rudkin

1999 Trilobite Taphonomy of a Silurian reef: Attawapiskat Formation, Northern Ontario . Palaios 14(4):389-397.

Elias, R.J., G.A.Young, G.S. Nowlan, E.P. Dobrzanski and D.M. Rudkin

1999 Ordovician-Silurian boundary section discovered near Churchill , Manitoba : preliminary report. in Kraft, P. & Fatka, O. (Eds.) Quo vadis Ordovician?: Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geologica, v. 43, no. 1/2, p. 229-232.

Jin, J. and D.M. Rudkin

2003 [Short Paper Contribution] Early Silurian microbial mounds of the Severn River Formation, Hudson Bay Lowlands, Ontario. Canadian Paleontology Conference 2003, Edmonton – Abstracts and Short Papers, Programs and Abstracts No. 13, p. 20-22.

Rudkin , D.M., G.A. Young, R.J. Elias, and E.P. Dobrzanski

2003 The world’s biggest trilobite – Isotelus rex new species from the Upper Ordovician of northern Manitoba , Canada . Journal of Paleontology, 77(1):99-112.

Caron, J.-B., D.M. Rudkin , and S. Milliken

2004 A new Late Silurian (Pridolian) naraoiid (Euarthropoda, Nektaspida) from the Bertie Formation of southern Ontario , Canada – delayed fall-out from the Cambrian explosion. Journal of Paleontology, 78 (6):1138-1145.

Caron, J.-B., A. Scheltema, C. Schander, and D. Rudkin

2006 A soft-bodied mollusc with radula from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale. Nature, 442: 159-163.

 

In press: Rudkin, D. M., and M. E. Johnson (guest eds.). Signatures of Rocky Shorelines in the Geological Record. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Special Issue, Volume 43 (8).

 

Non-refereed Popular Articles, Reviews, etc.

Rudkin, D.M., C. Stott, D. Tetreault, and C. Rancourt

1998 Ordovician and Silurian Rocks and Fossils of the Southern Georgian Bay Area, Ontario . Canadian Paleontology Conference, Field Trip Guidebook No. 7. Geological Association of Canada – Paleontology Division. 38p., 9 pl.

Rudkin, D.M. and J. Waddington (Editors)

1998 Canadian Paleontology Conference, Program and Abstracts No. 8. Geological Association of Canada – Paleontology Division. 25p.

Rudkin, D.M.

2002 Paleoscene: Traces of Trilobites. Rotunda, 34(3):41-42.

2002 Explorations: Face Value. Rotunda, 35(2):5.

2002 Ron at the ROM: Random Reflections. The Trilobite Papers 14:16-18.

Rudkin, D.M., and K. Seymour

2002 Paleoscene: A Fine Kettle. Rotunda, 35(2):41-42.

Rudkin, D.M.

2003 Explorations: On the Rocks: Paleontologists make tracks in Manitoba . Rotunda 35(3):5.

2003 Explorations: Seeing Stars. Rotunda, 36(1):4.

2003 Review: Silicified Late Ordovician trilobites from the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories , Canada , by B.R. Hunda, B.D.E. Chatterton, and R. Ludvigsen. Palaeontographica Canadiana No. 21, 87 pp. + 21 pl. in Geoscience Canada , 30(3):143-144.

2003 Northern Exposures – Palaeobiological pursuits along Ontario ‘s Hudson Bay coastline. The Maple Leaf Rag. ROM Friends of the Canadian Collections Newsletter, Fall 2003:3.

Rudkin, D.M. [contributor, in Doyle, V.M., and K.G. Steele (Compilers)]

2003 Geoscape Toronto . Geological Survey of Canada, Miscellaneous Report 83, colour poster.

Rudkin, D.M. and D. Currie

2003 Paleoscene: Honeycomb Pretender. Rotunda, 36(1):47-48.

Rudkin, D.M.

2004 Explorations: Cape Crusaders . Rotunda, 36(2):4.

2004 Paleoscene: The Case of the Headless Homoiosteles. Rotunda, 36(3):51-52.

2004 Growing Collections: Fossil Superstars. Rotunda, 37(1):7-9.

2004 / 2005 PaleoScene: First Impressions. Rotunda, 38(2): 41-43.

2004 / 2005 From the Archives: ROM Recycles. Rotunda, 38(2): 48.

2005 Growing Collections: Palaeontological Potpourri. Rotunda, 37(3): 7-9.

 

Rudkin , D. M., and J.-B. Caron

2005 Silurian Survivor – a new Naraoia . Marrella, No. 20:12-13.

 

Rudkin, D. M.

2005 / 2006 PaleoScene: Whorled View + What Colour is Your Nautiloid? Rotunda, 38(2): 11-13.

2006 Explorations: “Bouquet” of sea lilies. Rotunda, 38(3): 6-7.