Dr. Suyin Ting, Collections Manager of Louisiana State University Museum of Natural
Vertebrate Paleontology, recently had the honor of having a newly discovered shark
named after her.
By Abrielle Huang ’29 - Boston Trinity Academy
In December of 2020, the two scientists who discovered the shark, Dr. David Cicimurri, the curator of natural history at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, and Dr. Jun Ebersole, director of collections at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, Alabama, decided to tribute the name of the shark, Carcharhinus tingae(Car-Car-I-Ness ting-gay), to Dr. Ting for her benefaction to the knowledge of vertebrae.
“I am very honored to be recognized by my peers for my work,” said Ting.
Dr. Ting, who retired on December 31, 2020, came to LSU as a visiting scholar from China in 1980 and again in 1988. She received her Ph.D. in geology from LSU in 1995, the same year she started working at the LSU Museum of Natural Science under her Ph.D. advisor, the late Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Judith Schiebout.
“When you retire and your colleagues honor you for your work it feels very good.” Ting stated in an interview.
The two researchers, who specialize in Paleoichthyology, the study of prehistoric/fossil fish, were originally visiting Louisiana to help write a book for the late Dr. Judith Schiebout. In their two day visit they were able to identify several shark teeth as belonging to the extinct shark, Carcharhinus tingae.
“By examining the teeth of living sharks, we were able to determine that the fossil species was closely related to modern Requiem Sharks, so we used jaws of modern species to reconstruct how the teeth were arranged in the mouth of the extinct species,” said Cicimurri.
Due to their discoveries, the scientists were called in to write a chapter on fish for the book, Vertebrate Fossils of Louisiana. While examining the collection of fish and shark fossils, Dr. Cicimurri and Dr. Ebersole were able to identify many species. A couple of fossils, however, stumped them. They were able to do more research and classified the unknown shark teeth as belonging to the Carcharhinus genus, a shark genus also including the bull shark and dusky shark. Dr. Cicimurri and Dr. Ebersole decided to name the newly discovered species after Dr. Ting for her contributions to vertebrate paleontology.
“There aren’t many vertebrate paleontologists in the southern part of the U.S. and Dr. Ting was very famous in our little community. Funnily enough Dr. Ting announced that she would be retiring only 15 minutes after we had discovered Carcharhinus tingae so we decided ‘We’re naming it after her then!’” said Ebersole.
Ever since her teenage years, Dr. Ting has devoted her life to the paleontology field. Inspired by the founder of China’s geomechanics, Li Siguang, who visited her family in Beijing, China, paleontology became the passion of her life. Dr. Ting officially started a professional career in paleontology after graduating college in 1962. During the decades of her profession, she worked in early Tertiary, or Paleocene-Early Eocene, which is the study of two stages of prehistoric mammals and stratigraphy. She has also written five books and 41 scientific journal articles, including one published in Science, 2002.
Dr. Ting worked on her published article, Mammalian Dispersal at the Paleocene/Eocene Boundary, for 10 years. She searched tirelessly across China and discovered many things to prove that Mammalian dispersal was first present in Asia, later migrating to North America and Europe. This finding was eventually published in the Science journal. Dr. Ting’s other articles have also been cited by researchers across the world. All these massive benefactions and an unbroken passion to her field is the reason why she is honored so highly.
“I am very honored to be recognized by my peers for my work,” said Ting.
Dr. Ting, who retired on December 31, 2020, came to LSU as a visiting scholar from China in 1980 and again in 1988. She received her Ph.D. in geology from LSU in 1995, the same year she started working at the LSU Museum of Natural Science under her Ph.D. advisor, the late Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Judith Schiebout.
“When you retire and your colleagues honor you for your work it feels very good.” Ting stated in an interview.
The two researchers, who specialize in Paleoichthyology, the study of prehistoric/fossil fish, were originally visiting Louisiana to help write a book for the late Dr. Judith Schiebout. In their two day visit they were able to identify several shark teeth as belonging to the extinct shark, Carcharhinus tingae.
“By examining the teeth of living sharks, we were able to determine that the fossil species was closely related to modern Requiem Sharks, so we used jaws of modern species to reconstruct how the teeth were arranged in the mouth of the extinct species,” said Cicimurri.
Due to their discoveries, the scientists were called in to write a chapter on fish for the book, Vertebrate Fossils of Louisiana. While examining the collection of fish and shark fossils, Dr. Cicimurri and Dr. Ebersole were able to identify many species. A couple of fossils, however, stumped them. They were able to do more research and classified the unknown shark teeth as belonging to the Carcharhinus genus, a shark genus also including the bull shark and dusky shark. Dr. Cicimurri and Dr. Ebersole decided to name the newly discovered species after Dr. Ting for her contributions to vertebrate paleontology.
“There aren’t many vertebrate paleontologists in the southern part of the U.S. and Dr. Ting was very famous in our little community. Funnily enough Dr. Ting announced that she would be retiring only 15 minutes after we had discovered Carcharhinus tingae so we decided ‘We’re naming it after her then!’” said Ebersole.
Ever since her teenage years, Dr. Ting has devoted her life to the paleontology field. Inspired by the founder of China’s geomechanics, Li Siguang, who visited her family in Beijing, China, paleontology became the passion of her life. Dr. Ting officially started a professional career in paleontology after graduating college in 1962. During the decades of her profession, she worked in early Tertiary, or Paleocene-Early Eocene, which is the study of two stages of prehistoric mammals and stratigraphy. She has also written five books and 41 scientific journal articles, including one published in Science, 2002.
Dr. Ting worked on her published article, Mammalian Dispersal at the Paleocene/Eocene Boundary, for 10 years. She searched tirelessly across China and discovered many things to prove that Mammalian dispersal was first present in Asia, later migrating to North America and Europe. This finding was eventually published in the Science journal. Dr. Ting’s other articles have also been cited by researchers across the world. All these massive benefactions and an unbroken passion to her field is the reason why she is honored so highly.
“To be honored you must work hard and pursue your passion,” said Ting.
Abrielle Huang is participant of the First to the Frontpage Summer of 2022 program.