One of the goals of the Victoria Palaeontology Society is to cooperate with palaeontologists who study fossils.  The Society loans fossils collected by members to scientists undertaking palaeontological research.  Fossils considered to be of scientific significance are donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum by the Society member.  The donated fossil is assigned a specific number by the museum which is used to identify the fossil.  The palaeontologist may then publish a research paper including the fossil with the museum number in a scientific journal.  The contributions of the Society and members are acknowledged in the scientific paper. A number of the fossils are new to science and some are new species named after Society members.

The Society is actively involved in the following palaeontological contributions to publications, scientific loans, and volunteering:

 

Publications

Recent publications featuring specimens belonging to members of the Victoria Palaeontology Society:

  1. Squires, R.L. and L.R. Saul. 2004. Uncommon Cretaceous naticiform gastropods from the Pacific slope of North America. The Veliger 47(1): 21-37. VicPS member Joe Haegert's specimen became a paratype of the snail Prisconatica.
  2. Squires, R.L. and L.R. Saul. 2006. Cretaceous Acila (Truncacila) (Bivalvia: Nuculidae) from the Pacific Slope of North America. The Veliger 48(3): 83-104. VicPS members Lois Walker and Raymong Graham had specimens figured in this paper. Lois' specimen became a hypotype of Acila demessa, Ray's the holotype of a new species named in his honour: Acila grahami. The VicPS was acknowledged for their scientific loans to the authors.
  3. Feldmann, R.M. and J.W. Haggart. 2007. A new species of lobster (Astacidea, Erymidae) from the Smithers Formation (Middle Jurassic) of British Columbia, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44(12): 1791-1796. VicPS member Lois Walker's lobster fossil was the focus of this paper, becoming the holotype of a new species named in her honour: Eryma walkerae.
  4. Saul, L.R. and R.L. Squires. 2008. Volutoderminae (Gastropoda: Volutidae) of Coniacian through Maastrichtian age from the North American Pacific Slope. Journal of Paleontology 82(2): 213–237. A specimen belonging to VicPS chair Tom Cockburn was figured in the paper as a hypotype, and the VicPS was acknowledged for their scientific loans to the authors.

 

Scientific Loans

A number of late Cretaceous fossils are under loan to California palaeontologists LouElla R. Saul and Richard L. Squires for research purposes. These fossils include:

Society members involved in these scientific loans are Raymond Graham, Timon Bullard and Wayne Wonnenberg.  Roy Leeson earlier loaned specimens of the bivalve Inoceramus vancouverensis to James Haggart at the Geological Survey of Canada, Vancouver, BC.

 

Volunteering

The Victoria Palaeontology Society has been active as volunteers to the Royal BC Museum to assist with the fossil collection.  Current volunteers are Tom Cockburn, Ken O’Neil, Katherine Kovalcik, Gary Kaiser, Joseph Haegert, Raymond Graham and Timon Bullard.