Palaeontology
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Recent papers in Palaeontology
Aim: Winteraceae comprise c. 130 species in seven genera, with the greatest species diversity in the Pacific (Pseudowintera, Zygogynum), Australia (Bubbia, Tasmannia), New Guinea (Belliolum, Bubbia, Zygogynum, Tasmannia) and Madagascar... more
The Aglaspidida is a major group of Palaeozoic arthropods traditionally regarded as problematic, but whose evolutionary history has attracted renewed attention over the last decade. These efforts have resulted in an improved understanding... more
Using a relatively inexpensive stereomicroscope that includes a built-in digital camera, together with the freeware ImageJ image processing package, reasonable quality digital images can be produced of miniscule fossil insects found in... more
The Randeck Maar lake sediments from SW Germany were deposited during a climatic phase known as the Mid‐Miocene Climatic Optimum, providing a unique window into this last favourable period for a more thermophilous fauna in Central Europe.... more
The skeletons of teleost fishes dominate the Tithonian ichthyotaphocoenosis from the Mörnsheim Formation of Bavaria. Analysis of skeletal distribution, deformations of the vertebral column, and evidence of benthic currents originated from... more
Assessments of dinosaur macroevolution at any given time can be biased by the historical publication record. Recent studies have analysed patterns in dinosaur diversity that are based on secular variations in the numbers of published... more
Conodont fossils are highly valuable for Paleozoic biostratigraphy and for interpreting evolutionary change, but identifying and describing conodont morphologies, and characterizing gradual shape variation remain challenging. We used... more
Large, actively swimming suspension feeders evolved several times in... more
You may discover a specimen in your collection that is suffering from pyrite decay and it may already appear to be too late to save it. However, a pile of ash-like substance in a card tray might look like it is destined only for the bin... more
Pyrite oxidation (or pyrite decay) has been a problem in museum collections for many years. The damage to specimens can include total loss of the object and its label. There is no cure: the changes cannot be reversed but the process can... more
Two new species of the clypeasteroid Monostychia Laube, 1869, are described; M. merrimanensis sp. nov. from the East Gippsland region of Victoria and M. glenelgensis sp. nov. from the Gambier Embayment of southwestern Victoria. M.... more
Isolated conifer female reproductive structures are common fossil elements from Cenomanian (ca 99–94 Ma) charcoal- and resin-rich beds of the Tupuangi Formation, Chatham Islands, southwest Pacific Ocean. Recent findings have proposed that... more
Computed tomography is an increasingly popular technique for the non-destructive study of fossils. Whilst the science of X-ray computed tomography (CT) has greatly matured since its first fossil applications in the early 1980s, the... more
The Tupuangi Flora of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, reveals a south polar forest ecosystem, and important biogeographical links between eastern and western Gondwana. We employed neutron tomography (NT) to image fossil Cupressaceae... more