John B. Scannella, Ph.D.
John R. Horner Curator of Paleontology
John was born in Queens, New York, and became interested in dinosaurs at an early age. While growing up in Queens, he read books and watched documentaries about new dinosaur discoveries made in Montana by Museum of the Rockies. He attended Rutgers University and received a bachelor's degree in geological sciences.
Before coming to Montana, he volunteered at the American Museum of Natural History and Rutgers Geology Museum. John studied under former MOR Curator of Paleontology Jack Horner and earned a Doctorate of Philosophy through the Department of Earth Sciences at Montana State University in 2015. His dissertation research focused on the famous horned dinosaur Triceratops.
In 2017, he became the John R. Horner curator of paleontology at Museum of the Rockies. John has conducted paleontological fieldwork throughout Montana and collaborates with an international team of colleagues and research associates. Current research projects include exploring prehistoric ecosystems, examining modes of fossil preservation, and deciphering the growth and evolution of dinosaurs.
Contact John via email or 406.994.3982.
View John's Google Scholar Profile.
IN THE NEWS
- Montana State University Mountains and Minds, Digging Through Time, December 9, 2019. See above to watch the companion video to this article.
- Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Museum of the Rockies’ new paleontologist: Making dinosaur dreams come true, July 9, 2017
- TEDxBozeman, Triceratops through time, May 20, 2015
- CNN, Study: Triceratops took a million years to develop horn, July 1, 2014
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Ullmann, P. V., Macauley, K., Ash, R. D., Shoup, B., Scannella, J. B. 2021. Taphonomic and diagenetic pathways to protein preservation, part I: The case of Tyrannosaurus rex specimen MOR 1125. Biology, 10(11), 1193.
Funston, G.F., Powers, M.J., Whitebone, S., Brusatte, S., Scannella, J.B., Horner, J.R., Currie, P.J. 2021. Baby tyrannosaurid bones and teeth from the Late Cretaceous of western North America. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0169.
Scannella, J.B. 2020. A chasmosaurine ceratopsid premaxilla from the basal sandstone of the Hell Creek Formation, Montana. Vertebrate Anatomy Morphology Palaeontology, 8: 154-169.
Woodruff, D.C., Carr, T., Storrs, G.W., Waskow, K., Scannella, J.B., Norden, K., and Wilson, J. 2018. The smallest diplodocid skull supports cranial ontogeny and growth-related dietary changes in the largest dinosaurs. Scientific Reports, 8(1): 14341.
Scannella, J.B. 2017. “Interview with the Triceratops” in 52 Things You Should Know About Palaeontology Volume 2, eds. Cullum A. and Martinius A. (Agile Libre, Nova Scotia, Canada): 68-69.
Bailleul, A.M., Scannella, J.B., Horner, J.R., and Evans, D.C. 2016. Fusion patterns in the skulls of modern archosaurs reveal that sutures are ambiguous maturity indicators for the Dinosauria. PLoS ONE, 11(2): e0147687. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147687
Scannella, J.B., Fowler, D.W., Goodwin, M.B. and Horner, J.R. 2014. Evolutionary trends in Triceratops from the Hell Creek Formation, Montana. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(28): 10245-10250.
Scannella, J.B. and Fowler, D.W. 2014. A stratigraphic survey of Triceratops localities from the Hell Creek Formation, northeastern Montana (2006-2010) in Through the End of the Cretaceous in the Type Locality of the Hell Creek Formation in Montana and Adjacent Areas, eds. Wilson, G.P., Clemens, W.A., Horner, J.R., Hartman, J.H. (Geological Society of America Special Paper, Boulder, Colorado): 313-332.
Keenan, S.W. and Scannella, J.B. 2014. Paleobiological implications of a Triceratops bonebed from the Upper Hell Creek Formation, Montana in Through the End of the Cretaceous in the Type Locality of the Hell Creek Formation in Montana and Adjacent Areas, eds. Wilson, G.P., Clemens, W.A., Horner, J.R., Hartman, J.H. (Geological Society of America Special Paper, Boulder, Colorado): 349-364.
Fowler, D.W., Freedman, E.A., Scannella, J.B., and Kambic, R.E. 2011. The predatory ecology of Deinonychus and the origin of flapping in birds. PLoS ONE, 6(12): e28964. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028964
Scannella, J.B. and Horner, J.R. 2010. Torosaurus Marsh 1891 is Triceratops Marsh 1889 (Ceratopsidae: Chasmosaurinae): synonymy