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Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Storrs Olson

Emeritus Curator
Department / Division
Vertebrate Zoology / Birds
Education
  • Sc.D. Johns Hopkins University (1972)
  • M. S. Florida State University (1968)
  • B.A. Florida State University (1966)
Research Interests

Fossil avifaunas and paleoenvironments of Hawaii, Bermuda, and the West Indies. Biogeography of the avifauna of the archipelago and lowlands of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Phylogeny and systematics of Hawaiian and various other birds, mainly Neotropical.

Publications
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  • Olson, Storrs L. and James, Helen F. 1994. "Descriptions of thirty-two new species of birds from the Hawaiian Islands. Part I. Non-passeriformes [abridged version of 1991 Ornithological Monograph 45]." in A Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands: Selected Readings II, edited by Kay, E. A., 439– 455. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1992. "A new family of primitive landbirds from the early Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming." in Papers in avian paleontology honoring Pierce Brodkorb, edited by Campbell, Kenneth E., Jr., 127– 136. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series, 36.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1991. "Patterns of avian diversity and radiation in the Pacific as seen through the fossil record." in The Unity of Evolutionary Biology, edited by Dudley, E. C., 314– 318. Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology. Dioscorides Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1991. "The Atlantic Islands." in Oceans and Islands, edited by Talbot, Frank H. and Stevenson, Robert E., 166– 168. Smithmark.
  • Clarke, D., Bourne, W. R. P., Crosskey, R. W., Edwards, A. J., McCullogh, N., Noble, L., and Olson, Storrs L. 1990. "The zoology of St. Helena." in Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 10– 21. London: Zoological Society.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1990. "Forward." in Recent Advances in the Study of Neogene Fossil Birds, v– vi. Ornithological Monographs, 44.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1989. "Extinction on islands: man as a catastrophe." in Conservation Biology for the Next Century, edited by Western, D. and Pearl, M., 50– 53. Oxford University Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1989. "Aspects of global avifaunal dynamics during the Cenozoic." in Acta XIX Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici, edited by Ouellet, Henri., 2023– 2029. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. and James, Helen F. 1989. "Fragile outposts [about Hawaiian fossil birds]." in Lords of the Air, edited by Page, Jake and Morton, Eugene S., 110– 115. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
  • Houde, Peter and Olson, Storrs L. 1988. "Small Arboreal Non-Passerine Birds from the Early Tertiary of Western North America." in Acta XIXth Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici, 2030– 2036.
  • Olson, Storrs L. and Kurochkin, E. N. 1988. "Introduction: Symposium 35: The Early Radiation of Birds." in Acta XIXth Congressus Internationalis Ornithologici, 2022.
  • Cooke, Richard G., Piperno, Dolores R., Ranere, Anthony J., Clary, Karen Husum, Hansell, Patricia, Olson, Storrs L., Wilson, Valerio L., and Weiland, Doris. 1985. "La influencia de las poblaciones humanas sobre los ambientes terrestres de Panamá entre el 10,000 A.C. y el 500 D.C." in Agonía de la Naturaleza Ensayos sobre el costo ambiental del desarrollo Panameño, edited by Heckadon-Moreno, Stanley and Espinosa González, Jaime., 3– 25. Panamá: Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria de Panamá and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1985. "Index to Bird Names." in The Fossil Record of Birds, 239– 252. Academic Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1985. "The Fossil Record of Birds." in Avian Biology, 79– 238. Academic Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1984. "A very large enigmatic owl (Aves: Strigidae) from the late Pleistocene at Ladds, Georgia." in Contributions in Quaternary vertebrate paleontology: a volume in memorial to John E. Guilday, edited by Genoways, Hugh H. and Dawson, Mary R., 44– 46. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication, 8.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1984. "Introduction." in The Birds of the Republic of Panama Part 4: Order Passeriformes, Suborder Passeres, Hirundinidae (Swallows) to Fringillidae (Finches), 1– 4. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections ; no. 150. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1984. "An evaluation of the fossil curlew Palnumenius victima L. Miller (Aves: Scolopacidae)." in Contributions in Quaternary vertebrate paleontology: a volume in memorial to John E. Guilday, edited by Genoways, Hugh H. and Dawson, Mary R., 53– 55. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication, 8.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1984. "A brief synopsis of the fossil birds from the Pamunkey River and other Tertiary marine deposits in Virginia." in Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Outcropping Tertiary Beds in the Pamunkey River Region, Central Virginia Coastal Plain, edited by Ward, Lauck W. and Krafft, Kathleen., 217– 223. Atlantic Coastal Plain Geological Association.
  • Olson, Storrs L. and James, Helen F. 1984. "The role of Polynesians in the extinction of the avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands." in Quaternary extinctions: A prehistoric revolution, edited by Martin, P. S. and Klein, R. G., 768– 780. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. and Hilgartner, William B. 1982. "Fossil and subfossil birds from the Bahamas." in Fossil Vertebrates from the Bahamas, 22– 56. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (48). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  • Olson, Storrs L. and Pregill, Gregory K. 1982. "Introduction to the Paleontology of Bahaman Vertebrates." in Fossil Vertebrates from the Bahamas, 1– 7. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810266.48.1
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1981. "Cave localities and fossil deposits." in Late Pleistocene Herpetofaunas from Puerto Rico, edited by Pregill, Gregory., 7– 17. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publication, 71.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1980. "A new genus of penguin-like pelecaniform bird from the Oligocene of Washington (Pelecaniformes: Plotopteridae)." in Papers in avian paleontology honoring Hildegarde Howard, edited by Campbell, Kenneth E., Jr., 5l– 57. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Contributions in Science, 330.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1978. "A paleontological perspective of West Indian birds and mammals." in Zoogeography in the Caribbean. The 1975 Leidy Medal Symposium, edited by Gill, Frank B., 99– 117. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia Special Publication, 13.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1978. ""Rails" and "Broadbills"." in Bird Families of the World, edited by Harrison, C. J. O., 86– 88. New York: Harry Abrams, Inc.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1978. "Broadbills." in Bird Families of the World, edited by Harrison, C. J. O., 165– 567. Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1977. "A synopsis of the fossil Rallidae." in Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae., 339– 373. David R. Godine.
  • Arredondo, Oscar and Olson, Storrs L. 1976. "The great predatory birds of the Pleistocene of Cuba." in Collected Papers in Avian Paleontology Honoring the 90th Birthday of Alexander Wetmore, 169– 187.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1976. "Alexander Wetmore and the study of fossil birds ; publications in avian paleontology by Alexander Wetmore ; [and] index to fossil avian taxa described by Alexander Wetmore." in Collected papers in avian paleontology honoring the 90th birthday of Alexander Wetmore, edited by Olson, Storrs L., xi– xxvi. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (27). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
  • Olson, Storrs L. 1976. "Oligocene fossils bearing on the origins of the Todidae and the Momotidae (Aves: Coraciiformes)." in Collected papers in avian paleontology honoring the 90th birthday of Alexander Wetmore, edited by Olson, Storrs L., 111– 119. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology (27). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

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