Stephen Wroe (also known as Steve Wroe) is an Australian vertebrate palaeontologist,[1] biomechanist,[2] YouTuber, and science communicator.
As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and evaluating carnivores, especially measuring their bite force quotient.[3]
Currently, he is Professor in Evolutionary Biology at the University of New England (Australia)‘s School of Environmental and Rural Science.[4]
Education
He obtained a science degree with honors at the University of New South Wales in 1991 and obtained a Ph.D. in paleontology at the same university in 1999.[5]
Career
Wroe worked briefly as a research fellow at the Australian Museum before taking up a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney.[5] In 2005 he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship[6] and an Australian Research Council Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award in 2013.[7][8]
Below is a list of taxa that Wroe has contributed to naming:
| Year | Taxon | Authors |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Joculusium muizoni gen. et sp. nov. | Wroe[9] |
| 2001 | Maximucinus muirheadae gen. et sp. nov. | Wroe[10] |
| 1999 | Djarthia murgonensis gen. et sp. nov. | Godthelp, Wroe, & Archer[11] |
| 1999 | Barinya wangala gen. et sp. nov. | Wroe[12] |
| 1998 | Badjcinus turnbulli gen. et sp. nov. | Muirhead & Wroe[13] |
| 1998 | Ganbulanyi djadjinguli gen. et sp. nov. | Wroe[14] |
| 1996 | Ekaltadeta jamiemulvaneyi sp. nov. | Wroe[15] |
| 1996 | Muribacinus gadiyuli gen. et sp. nov. | Wroe[16] |
Publications
Popular Science
- Attard, M.; Wroe, S. (June 2012). “The thylacine myth”. Australasian Science. 33 (5): 19–22. ISSN 1442-679X.
- Wroe, S. (2005). “On little lizards and the big extinction blame game” (PDF). Guest Editorial. Quaternary Australasia. 23 (1): 8–12. ISSN 0811-0433.
- Wroe, Stephen (May 1999). “Killer Kangaroos and Other Murderous Marsupials”. Scientific American. 280 (5): 68–74. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 26058244.
- Wroe, Stephen (2004). “Factors behind the rarity of large mammalian carnivores”. Australasian Science: 21–23. ISSN 1442-679X.
- Wroe, Stephen; Field, Judith; Fullagar, Richard (Winter 2002). “Lost Giants” (PDF). Nature Australia. 27 (5). Australian Museum: 54–61. ISSN 1324-2598.
Media
Wroe was quoted by BBC News on the issue of whether Neanderthals could speak.[17]
TV Shows
He has appeared in:
| Year | Title | Season | Episode No. | Series Title | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Marsupial Carnivores | 1 | 9 | Killer Instinct with Rob Bredl | Amazon Prime |
| 2002 | What Killed the Mega Beasts? | – | – | – | Discovery Channel |
| 2009 | Death of the Mega Beasts | – | – | – | Discovery Channel |
| 2009 | Monster Shark | 1 | 5 | Prehistoric Predators | National Geographic Channel |
YouTube Channel
Wroe’s YouTube channel is called “Real Paleontology”.[1]
Honours
Wroe has had the species Protamalleus stevewroei named after him.[3]
References
- ^ Cooper, Dani (6 September 2007). “Thylacine skull shows how the dingo did it”. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
- ^ Choi, Charles Q. (4 August 2008). “110-ton shark’s bite more powerful than T. rex’s”. NBC News via LiveScience. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
- ^ a b Churchill, Timothy J.; Archer, Michael; Hand, Suzanne J. “Three new malleodectids (Marsupialia, Malleodectidae) from the late Oligocene and early Miocene deposits of the Riversleigh World Heritage area, northwestern Queensland”. Alcheringa. doi:10.1080/08912963.2025.2543075. ISSN 0311-5518.
The species name stevewroei honours Professor Steve Wroe for his significant contributions to Australian mammalian palaeontology, particularly in the description and interpretation of fossil dasyuromorphians. The name also acknowledges his influential research into the biomechanics of bite force in extinct mammalian carnivores, which has greatly advanced understanding of functional morphology and predatory adaptations in deep time.
- ^ “Zoology Staff”. Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law. University of New England. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- ^ a b “Stephen Wroe”. une.au.academia.edu. Retrieved 22 February 2025.
- ^ “Staff Profiles”. University of New England. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- ^ “Discovery Projects: Grant ID DP140102656”. Research Data Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- ^ “Grant DP140102656 — The University of New England”. Australian Research Council. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
- ^ Wroe, Stephen W. (2001). “A new genus and species of dasyuromorphian from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northern Australia” (PDF). Memoirs of the Australian Association of Palaeontologists. 25: 53–59. Retrieved 12 April 2026.
- ^ Wroe, Stephen W. (20 December 2001). “Maximucinus muirheadae , gen. et sp. nov. (Thylacinidae : Marsupialia), from the Miocene of Riversleigh, north-western Queensland, with estimates of body weights for fossil thylacinids”. Australian Journal of Zoology. 49 (6): 603–614. doi:10.1071/ZO01044. ISSN 0004-959X. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via ConnectSci.
- ^ Godthelp, Henk; Wroe, Stephen W.; Archer, Michael (September 1999). “A New Marsupial from the Early Eocene Tingamarra Local Fauna of Murgon, Southeastern Queensland: A Prototypical Australian Marsupial?”. Journal of Mammalian Evolution. 6 (3): 289–313. doi:10.1023/A:1020517808869. ISSN 1064-7554. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via Springer Nature Link.
- ^ Wroe, Stephen W. (July 1999). “The geologically oldest dasyurid, from the Miocene of Riversleigh, north‐west Queensland”. Palaeontology. 42 (3): 501–527. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00082. ISSN 0031-0239. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via Wiley Online Library.
- ^ Muirhead, Jeanette; Wroe, Stephen W. (15 September 1998). “A new genus and species, Badjcinus turnbulli (Thylacinidae: Marsupialia), from the late Oligocene of Riversleigh, northern Australia, and an investigation of thylacinid phylogeny”. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 18 (3): 612–626. doi:10.1080/02724634.1998.10011088. ISSN 0272-4634. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via Taylor and Francis Online.
- ^ Wroe, Stephen W. (January 1998). “A new ‘bone-cracking’ dasyurid (marsupialia), from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland”. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 22 (3): 277–284. doi:10.1080/03115519808619205. ISSN 0311-5518. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via ResearchGate.
- ^ Wroe, Stephen W. (July 1996). “An investigation of phylogeny in the giant extinct rat kangaroo Ekaltadeta (Propleopinae, Potoroidae, Marsupialia)”. Journal of Paleontology. 70 (4): 681–690. doi:10.1017/S0022336000023635. ISSN 0022-3360. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via Cambridge Core.
- ^ Wroe, Stephen W. (November 1996). “Muribacinus gadiyuli, (Thylacinidae: Marsupialia), a very plesiomorphic thylacinid from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland, and the problem of paraphyly for the Dasyuridae (Marsupialia)”. Journal of Paleontology. 70 (6): 1032–1044. doi:10.1017/S0022336000038737. ISSN 0022-3360. Retrieved 12 April 2026 – via Cambridge Core.
- ^ Hogenboom, Melissa (20 December 2013). “Neanderthals could speak like modern humans, study suggests”. BBC News. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
External links
- Wroe’s profile on Google Scholar
- “Real Paleontology”, his YouTube Channel
- Stephen Wroe – IMDb His entry in the Internet Movie Database. Not to be confused with that of Steve Wroe, a cameraman and actor.
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