Research Associate, NSW Geological Survey

NOMEN U D U M Number 31 Published December 2011

Association of Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP) http//aap.gsa.org.au Office Bearers 2010-2012 President: Prof. Guang Shi, Deakin University, Melbourne ([email protected]) Vice President: Dr Alex Cook, Queensland Museum, Brisbane ([email protected]) Honorary Secretary: Dr Liz Weldon, Deakin University, Melbourne ([email protected]) Treasurer and Webmaster: Dr Rolf Schmidt, Museum Victoria, Melbourne ([email protected]) Editor, Alcheringa (published by Taylor & Francis): Dr Stephen McLoughlin, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm ([email protected]) Editor, AAP Memoirs: Dr John Laurie, Geoscience Australia, Canberra ([email protected]) Editor, Nomen nudum: Dr Ian Percival, Geological Survey of NSW, Sydney ([email protected]) Nomen nudum is the newsletter of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP), a Specialist Group of the Geological Society of Australia, Inc. Nomen nudum is supplied as a service to members of AAP, and is available on the AAP website. Nomen nudum is published to acquaint members with the activities of palaeontological colleagues and with any other items of current interest. Enquiries and contributions should be directed to the editor (contact details above). Membership of AAP (including personal subscription to the Association’s peer-reviewed international palaeontological journal Alcheringa), is available to all palaeontologists (professional, amateur, active and retired), particularly – but certainly not restricted to – those with interests in fossils of Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. Details of membership requirements, categories and fees are available from the Geological Society of Australia website, which also has information regarding titles and prices of the AAP Memoirs series (42 volumes published since 1983). Library subscriptions to Alcheringa should be addressed to Taylor & Francis (www.tandf.co.uk/alcheringa). Opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists nor the Geological Society of Australia, Inc. Mention of a product or service should not be construed as constituting endorsement by either organisation. Front cover: S element of the conodont Paracordylodus gracilis, preserved in chert of Early Ordovician (Floian) age from Sussex 1:100 000 sheet, NE of Cobar, central New South Wales. Specimen is approximately 0.3 mm in width.

© Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, December 2011. ISSN

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS President’s Message ……………………………………………………… Page 4 AAP News Revised sizes & formats for Alcheringa & AAP Memoirs ..………. Page 6 Recently-published AAP Memoirs ………………………...……… Page 7 Conference Announcements 34th International Geological Congress, Brisbane (August, 2012) … Page 10 Book review Dinosaurs in Australia (reviewed by Sue Turner) ………………... Page 12 Obituaries Graeme Philip ……………………..……………………………… Page 15 Peter Molloy …………………………………………………….. Page 16 Reports of Research Activities (by region and institution/company) Australian Capital Territory ……………………………………… New South Wales ………………………………………………… Queensland ……………………………………………………… South Australia ………………………………………………......... Victoria …………………………………………………………… Western Australia ………………………………………………… New Zealand ……………………………………………………… Denmark ……………………………………………………….….. Sweden …………………………………………………………… United Kingdom …………………………………………………… United States ………………………………………………………

Page 18 Page 19 Page 31 Page 35 Page 43 Page 52 Page 55 Page 63 Page 64 Page 73 Page 75

Contact details for contributors to this issue (alphabetical) …………… Page 79

3

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Members and colleagues, I am pleased to provide you with a brief report about AAP activities covering the period since I became the President in February 2010. 1. AAP Mission statement “The AAP is a specialist group of the Geological Society of Australia for palaeontologists. As a professional association of scientists and educators, AAP supports research and publication in the broad fields of systematic palaeontology, palaeobiology and biostratigraphy; promotes professional development and education; and encourages and facilitates communication among palaeobiologists, professionals of related disciplines and anyone who is genuinely interested in the discovery, preservation, conservation and study of fossils.” In 2010 the AAP Executive developed and refined the above mission statement to clearly define the purpose and aims of the AAP, identify the members of the Association, and provide a guide for more strategic decision making. 2. AAP Publications On the publication front the AAP has been particularly busy. I initiated a new AAP Field Guide Series early in 2010 and subsequently there have been three publications. Hard copies of the AAP Field Guide Series are available from the Geological Society of Australia's bookshop website at http://gsa.org.au/publications/index.html. Since the beginning of 2010, four new AAP Memoirs have been published and issues are progressively becoming available online at http://search.informit.com.au/browseJournalTitle;res=IELHSS;issn=0810-8889. Thank you to our editor-in-chief John Laurie and his assistant editors for various Memoirs. The high quality of international research being continually published in the Memoirs series has led to its inclusion in the abstract and citation index Scopus (Elsevier). Thanks are also due to Steve McCLoughlin, editor of Alcheringa, and our publishers, Taylor and Francis, who along with authors have influenced the journal’s significant increase in its 2010 Journal Citation Report Impact Factor from 0.851 to 1.578. Taylor and Francis’ publishing contract has been renewed for another five years, and next year we will see the journal increase its layout to A4 size. Members are advised to consult the new guide to authors available on the publisher’s website at http://www.informaworld.com/talc, prior to submitting papers to Alcheringa. 3. AAP Finance and Memberships Financially the AAP is in a relatively stable and strong position. AAP supported a number of symposia held in Australia in the last two years. In 2010 we made a contribution to the 6th International Brachiopod Congress held in Melbourne. This year (2011) AAP also supported the International Congress on Carboniferous and

4

Permian held in Perth. In 2012, AAP plans to support a number of palaeobiologyrelated symposia during the 34th International Geological Congress in Brisbane. Membership of the Association has remained in the range of 160-170 individual members between 2008 and 2011. This is a significant increase from a low of 128 in 2007. On top of this, we also have attracted some corporate memberships. We hope to see the membership figure grow further, and following discussion at the last AGM, we have made some changes to the application process to highlight that membership of the AAP can be independent of membership to the GSA. This is particularly relevant to colleagues who may already be members of the Geoscience Society of New Zealand, or who come from a biological background. Please renew your membership for 2012 and I encourage you to invite a colleague or student to join. 4. Next AAP General meeting We plan to hold the AAP's next General Meeting during the 34th International Geological Congress to be held in Brisbane in August 2012. Details of this AGM will be posted closer to the date. Finally a special thanks to Ian Percival - it is great to see Nomen Nudum being published again and on a regular basis. I hope to read contributions from you, our members, in this and subsequent issues. If you have any ideas on how we might continue to meet our Association’s objectives I would love to hear from you. Also, if you have not yet done so, I would like to invite you to visit AAP's website at: http://aap.gsa.org.au. The site provides the basic information about the Association, its Executive, links and its publications. Best wishes. Prof. Guang R. Shi President, Association of Australasian Palaeontologists School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia **********************************************************************************

5

AAP NEWS REVISED SIZES & FORMATS for ALCHERINGA & AAP MEMOIRS From the first issue of Volume 36 in 2012, Alcheringa is expanding its format to A4 size with a page area equivalent to that of the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. This change will affect the maximum sizes for Figures, with a new full page width of 169 mm and a maximum page height of 242 mm. Please refer to the Alcheringa website for further details, including submission of manuscripts electronically. AAP Memoirs is also changing size to A4, although this will be phased in over the next few volumes. This transition period will allow authors who already have volumes in the pipeline (i.e. those agreed to by editor John Laurie) to maintain their illustration formats. New submissions must accord with the revised instructions (below – note particularly the highlighted section with new figure sizes).

REVISED INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS – AAP MEMOIRS Submission Manuscripts are to be sent to the Editor as e-mail attachments, on CD or DVD as a word-processing file (preferably Microsoft Word). Double space all text and number all pages. In covering e-mail give the names and addresses of two persons outside the authors’ institutions who are expert in the topic covered by the submitted paper and can act as referees. Illustrations should be similarly submitted, preferably in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, PDF, high-resolution JPEG or TIFF format. Tables should not be included in the text, but submitted as separate graphics or EXCEL files. Format Papers are to be written in clear, concise English and should be illustrated. Manuscripts are to be organised as follows: 1, a brief title with only proper names capitalised. 2, name(s) of author(s). 3, full reference to the paper, leaving space for the publisher’s additions. 4, a short abstract describing the results of the work. 5, name(s) of author(s) with e-mail address(es), full postal address(es) including postcode and country. 6, the main text; capitalise the first word of the first paragraph; do not use the heading ‘Introduction’; begin other sections with not more than three grades of heading as follows: GRADE ONE HEADING Grade two heading Grade three heading. This is followed by running text; refer to references in the text as Smith (1978), (Smith 1978) or Smith (1978, p. 25) and to illustrations as ‘Figure’ or ‘Figures’; all measurements are to be in S.I. units; footnotes are not allowed; group all acknowledgements at the end and keep them brief. 7, references should conform to the examples below; give the full title of the publication; do not use abbreviations for the journal title; transliterate Russian titles using the system adopted by the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. 8, figure captions should be compiled at the end of the text, after the references and any appendices.

6

Illustrations Illustrations should be grouped into Figures of one or two column width (83 mm or 170 mm), with a maximum height of 240 mm. Attempt to restrict each figure to one theme and make sure photographs are of similar tone. Line drawings may be combined with photographs if required. The items of composite figures should be designated A, B, C etc. (not a, b, c). The Memoirs will not print foldouts and extending figures or tables over more than one page is discouraged. Tables should either be drafted at one or two column width (88 mm or 180 mm) or presented as EXCEL files. REFERENCES Campbell, K.S.W. & McKellar, R.G., 1969. Eastern Australian Carboniferous invertebrates. 77-119 in Campbell, K.S.W. (ed.), Stratigraphy and palaeontology. Essays in honour of Dorothy Hill. Australian National University Press, Canberra Roberts, J., Hunt, J.W. & Thompson, D.M., 1976. Late Carboniferous marine invertebrate zones of eastern Australia. Alcheringa 1, 197-225. Stepanov, D.L., 1937. Permskie brakhiopody Shpitsbergena. Trudy Arkticheskii Instituta 76, 105-192. Laseron, C.F., 1954. Ancient Australia. Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 210 p. *******************************************************************

RECENT AAP PUBLICATIONS Shi, G.R., Weldon, E.A., Percival, I.G., Pierson, R.R. & Laurie, J.R. (eds), 2011. Brachiopods: extant and extinct – Proceedings of the Sixth International Brachiopod Congress, 1-5 February, 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 366p. CONTENTS Yuta Shiino & Osamu Kuwazuru: Comparative experimental and simulation study on passive feeding flow generation in Cyrtospirifer Uwe Brand, Alan Logan, Maria Aleksandra Bitner, Erika Griesshaber, Karem Azmy & Dieter Buhl: What is the ideal proxy for Palaeozoic seawater chemistry? Jeffrey H. Robinson & Daphne E. Lee: Spine formation in Novocrania and Danocrania (Brachiopoda, Craniata) Dietrich Schumann: Growth rates of Calloria inconspicua (Sowerby, 1846) from the upper intertidal zone of Portobello, New Zealand Elizabeth M. Harper: What do we really know about predation on modern rhynchonelliforms? Norton Hiller: Affinities and associations of new shallow-water brachiopods from the Late Cretaceous of New Zealand Lucia Angiolini, Sarah Long & Lee Davies: Revision of Sowerby’s species Spirifer bisulcatus, Spirifer pinguis and Spirifer rotundatus from the late Tournaisian-Visean of Great Britain Arturo C. Taboada & Guang R. Shi: Taxonomic review and evolutionary trends of Levipustulini and Absenticostini (Brachiopoda) from Argentina: Palaeobiogeographic and palaeoclimatic implications Mena Schemm-Gregory: The howellellid branches within the delthyridoid spiriferids (Brachiopoda, Silurian to Devonian) Alberto Pérez-Huerta, David A.T. Harper & Teresa E. Jeffries: Preliminary data on shell cementation in fossil specimens of thecideide brachiopods

7

L.Robin M. Cocks: There’s no place like home: Cambrian to Devonian brachiopods critically useful for analysing palaeogeography Donald A.B. MacFarlan, Fauzie Hasibuan & Jack A. Grant-Mackie: Mesozoic brachiopods of Misool Archipelago, eastern Indonesia Fernando Alvarez, Tatyana L. Modzalevskaya & Covadonga Brime: Early Devonian diversification of athyridide brachiopods in the Cantabrian Zone (NW Spain) and their affinities, revisited Anthony E. Aldridge: Ontogenetic discontinuities in brachiopod populations: their detection and significance J. Bruce Waterhouse: Origin and evolution of Permian brachiopods of Australia Alycia L. Stigall: Application of niche modelling to analyse biogeographic patterns in Palaeozoic brachiopods: evaluating niche stability in deep time Anthony E. Aldridge & Danièle Gaspard: Brachiopod life histories from spiral deviations in shell shape and microstructural signature – preliminary report Alexey V. Pakhnevich: The type specimens of the Holocene brachiopod Diestothyris frontalis (Middendorff, 1849) Renbin Zhan, Rongyu Li, Ian G. Percival & Yan Liang: Brachiopod biogeographic change during the Early to Middle Ordovician in South China Lars E. Holmer, Christian B. Skovsted, Glenn A. Brock & Leonid Popov: An early Cambrian chileate brachiopod from South Australia and its phylogenetic significance Alfréd Dulai: Late Eocene (Priabonian) micromorphic brachiopods from the Upper Austrian Molasse Zone Gabriela A. Cisterna: Morphology and systematics of Late Palaeozoic syringothyrid brachiopods from West-Central Argentina Danièle Gaspard: Endolithic algae, fungi and bacterial activity in Holocene and Cretaceous brachiopod shells – diagenetic consequences M. Alejandra Pagani & Arturo C. Taboada: The Cisuralian faunal succession in Patagonia (Tepuel-Genoa Basin, Argentina): an updated brachiopod biostratigraphic scheme Michal Mergl: Reassessment of the Ordovician brachiopod Poramborthis and Poramborthidae Liisa Lang, Ethel Uibopuu & Ivar Puura : Nanostructures in Palaeozoic linguloid brachiopods

******************************************** Laurie, J.R., Paterson, J.R. & Brock, G.A. (eds), 2011. Cambro-Ordovician Studies IV. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 42, 492 p. CONTENTS Richard A. Fortey: The first known complete lichakephalid trilobite, Lower Ordovician of Morocco Loren E. Babcock: Exceptionally preserved Conchopeltis (Cnidaria) from the Ordovician of New York, USA: taphonomic inferences James B. Jago, Christopher J. Bentley & Roger A. Cooper: A Cambrian Series 3 (Guzhangian) fauna with Centropleura from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica Rebecca L. Freeman & James F. Miller: Lingulate brachiopods from the upper Cambrian (Sunwaptan) Hellnmaria Member of the Notch Peak Formation, western Utah, USA Zhou Zhiqiang, Zhou Zhiyi & Yuan Wenwei: Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) Mucronaspis (Songxites)-dominant trilobite fauna from northwestern Zhejiang, China Adrian W.A. Rushton: The mid-Cambrian (Drumian) centropleurid trilobite Luhops and its relatives from the Abbey Shale Formation near Nuneaton, central England Soo Yeun Ahn, Loren E. Babcock & J. Stewart Hollingsworth: Revised stratigraphic nomenclature for parts of the Ediacaran-Cambrian Series 2 succession in the southern Great Basin, USA

8

M. Franco Tortello: Late middle Cambrian trilobites from El Totoral, Mendoza, Argentina Loren E. Babcock, Shanchi Peng, Gregory J. Wasserman & Richard A. Robison: Exceptionally preserved biota from a carbonate lithofacies, Huaqiao Formation (Cambrian: Drumian Stage), Hunan, China Olaf Elicki: First skeletal microfauna from the Cambrian Series 3 of the Jordan Rift Valley (Middle East) Lee Ann Hally: The Cambrian trilobite Rhyssometopus, with taxonomic revision of Guzhangian species from Queensland, Australia Leonid E. Popov, Mansoureh Ghobadi Pour, Mohammad Reza Kebria-Ee Zadeh & Saeid Shahbeik: First record of silicified Cambrian (Furongian) rhynchonelliform brachiopods from the Mila Formation, Alborz Range, Iran Stephen R. Westrop & Ed Landing: Lower Cambrian (Branchian) eodiscoid trilobites from the lower Brigus Formation, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland, Canada Mansoureh Ghobadi Pour, Leonid E. Popov, Mohammad Reza Kebria-Ee Zadeh & Christian Baars: Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) brachiopods associated with the Neseuretus biofacies, eastern Alborz Mountains, Iran Yong Yi Zhen, Roger A. Cooper, John E. Simes & Ian G. Percival: Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) conodonts from the Maruia-Springs Junction area, New Zealand Jonathan M. Adrain, Neo E.B. McAdams & Stephen R. Westrop: Affinities of the Lower Ordovician (Tulean; lower Floian) trilobite Gladiatoria, with species from the Great Basin, western United States Jonathan M. Adrain, Neo E.B. McAdams, Stephen R. Westrop & Talia S. Karim: Systematics and affinity of the Lower Ordovician (Tulean; lower Floian) trilobite Psalikilopsis James D. Loch & John F. Taylor: New symphysurinid trilobites from the CambrianOrdovician boundary interval in the western United States Yong Yi Zhen, John R. Laurie & Robert S. Nicoll: Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphy and biostratigraphy of the Arafura Basin, offshore Northern Territory Ian G. Percival, John E. Simes, Roger A. Cooper & Yong Yi Zhen: Middle Ordovician linguliformean brachiopods from the Maruia-Springs Junction area, New Zealand

These and previously published AAP Memoirs are available from the Geological Society of Australia, Inc. See the GSA homepage: www.gsa.org.au for details of prices and postage.

9

FORTHCOMING CONFERENCES 34th INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, August 5-10 2012 The major palaeontological focus for the IGC will be Theme 23: Evolution of the Biosphere, being coordinated by John Laurie (Australia) and Andrew Knoll (USA). Individual Symposia planned under the umbrella of this Theme are listed below, together with their convenors to whom enquiries should be addressed. Further details of all aspects of the IGC are to be found at www.34igc.org Deadline for abstract submission is February 17, 2012. 23.1 Martin Glaessner Symposium: The Ediacaran and the Cambrian Explosion Convenors: John Laurie [email protected] (Australia), Glenn Brock (Australia) and Guy Narbonne (Canada) Martin Glaessner (1906-1989) was professor of palaeontology and geology at the University of Adelaide and did much early work on the Ediacaran biota. This Symposium aims to cover the differences and similarities between the Ediacaran biota and that characterised by the explosive diversification during the early and middle Cambrian. 23.2 John Talent Symposium: Palaeozoic biofacies, biogeography and bioevents Convenors: Ian Percival [email protected] (Australia), Tony Wright (Australia) and Guang Shi (Australia) John Talent was the first president of the International Palaeontological Association and this Symposium celebrates the breadth of his extensive palaeontological contributions. These extend from the Ordovician to Carboniferous and papers covering this broad interval are welcome. 23.3 Evolution of hominins Convenors: Colin Groves [email protected] (Australia), Chris Stringer (Australia) and Darren Curnoe (Australia) This Symposium will cover all aspects of the evolution and distribution of extant and extinct members of the Tribe Hominini. 23.4 General palaeontology Convenors: Alex Cook [email protected] (Australia) and Alexander Nutzel (Germany) This will cover all aspects of palaeontology not covered by other Symposia, especially new discoveries, new interpretations and new techniques. 23.5 Oxygen and evolution Convenors: Andrew Knoll [email protected] (USA) and Jochen Brocks (Australia) In modern environments, oxygen availability sharply constrains the distributions of many species. Thus, we can hypothesise that changes through time in oxygen levels in the atmosphere and oceans have influenced the course of evolution. This Symposium will cover all aspects of the effects of oxygen on the evolution of life, from the advent of oxic environments some 2.4 Ga to the current expansion of marine dead zones. 10

23.6 Proterozoic life Convenors: Kathleen Grey [email protected] (Australia) and Stanley Awramik (USA) At the beginning of the Proterozoic there were few, if any eukaryotes, but by the end of the eon the first metazoan had appeared and life had begun to invade the land. This Symposium aims to cover all that happened in the interim. In contrast to the rest of the Proterozoic, there is considerable data on the Cryogenian and Ediacaran that is promising for global correlation and that will impact on decisions about stratigraphic boundaries. An overview of the Proterozoic as a whole is timely. 23.7 Gondwanan Mesozoic vertebrates Convenors: Benjamin Kear [email protected] (Sweden) and Thomas Rich (Australia) The Mesozoic vertebrates of the Gondwanan continents had a Pangaean heritage, but with the separation of Gondwana from Laurasia during the Mesozoic, the vertebrates on Gondwana developed a distinctive character. This Symposium aims to cover all aspects of this evolutionary trajectory. 23.8 Mesozoic bioevents Convenors: David Haig [email protected] (Australia), Stephen McLoughlin (Sweden) and Mikael Siversson (Australia) The Mesozoic was bracketed by the two largest extinction events ever to have befallen life on earth and the modern biota still reflects the winners and losers of those events. However, there are many more subtle events within the Mesozoic, the results of which are still evident. This Symposium aims to cover those events. 23.9 Origin and evolution of marsupials Convenors: Michael Archer [email protected] (Australia) and Suzanne Hand (Australia) It would be a glaring omission for the IGC not to contain a Symposium on the evolution of the marsupials, given that it is being held in the continent where marsupials dominate the native mammalian fauna. It aims to cover all aspects of their origin and evolution. 23.10 Early vertebrate evolution Convenor: Kate Trinajstic [email protected] (Australia) This Symposium aims to cover the early evolution of the vertebrates from their apparent Cambrian origins through Palaeozoic agnathans and fishes, up to the origin and early radiation of tetrapods. Papers on the biostratigraphy of vertebrates, the interrelationships of different groups and the description of new forms are invited. 23.11 Cenozoic marine environments Convenors: Stephen Gallagher [email protected] (Australia) and Bridget Wade (UK) This Symposium is designed to cover the use of palaeontological data in the understanding of palaeoceanography, palaeoecology, patterns of evolution and extinction, temperature and sea level fluctuations, as well as global ice volume. ********************************************************************

11

Book Review (by Sue Turner, Queensland)

Dinosaurs in Australia: Mesozoic Life from the Southern Continent Benjamin P. Kear, Robert J. Hamilton-Bruce, 2011, 190 pp, colour photos, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Vic: ISBN is 9780643100459; A$ 79.95. This new book offers a new comprehensive review of Australia’s Mesozoic past in the so-called “Age of dinosaurs”. The first thing that strikes the reader when viewing the contents of this book by former and current South Australian Museum workers, Ben Kear and Robert Hamilton-Bruce (Collection manager in marine invertebrates) is that the title is a complete misnomer! This book offers a lot more than dinosaurs in Australia and even more than Mesozoic biota. On top of all that Kear and HamiltonBruce actually take you on a journey through ‘deep time’ all the way from the Archaean up to end-Cretaceous—you get your money’s worth! The definition, as the title of the book, is somewhat nebulous and Kear and Hamilton-Bruce have attempted a look not only at Australia’s dino/reptile fauna but other animal and plant life and environments during the three major time periods when ‘dinosaurs’ were around—the >200 Myr-span of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Sites such as Rewan, Talbragar, Dinosaur Cove, Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge, Winton and the fossil trackways at Broome get special mention. The authors show how new research in recent decades is changing the way we perceive the time span and they emphasise that they have tried to bring to the reader’s attention much that is ‘locked away’ in technical papers and theses. This is a ‘Good Thing’ as a lot of work does get lost over the years especially when only the few dramatic finds (usually dinosaurs, Biggest, Best, etc.) put forward 12

by the media-savvy get attention or makes the page (2 if you are lucky; mind you, you can have lots more in supplementals these days…) of Nature and Science. A long introduction provides a ‘hitchhikers guide’ to geology and fossil preservation and how we palaeontologists identity and interpret the relationships of the fossils we study. The body of the text in six chapters covers the era and reality of dinosaurs in Australia from their beginnings in the Triassic until before the extinction events. Most of the major discoveries in Australia in the recent decade are discussed and put into context of their environments, and so plants, invertebrates and other vertebrates, even a few evolving mammals alongside the dinosaurs are covered. Unusual fossils such as opalised ones get good coverage. Kear and Hamilton-Bruce concentrate on the Early Cretaceous marine and nonmarine faunas and environmental changes and finish with ‘After the Ocean’ (i.e. the draining of the inland sea) when life from the Late Cretaceous looks at the much sparser post-Cenomanian record featuring new work in the Winton Formation of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Did we need another book on all things dinosaurian? How does it compare with the last “Big book”, the previous (e.g. 1998) review on dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand by John Long? Well, it is over half a decade since the last edition and as with most books, longer since scientific material gets into print. Kear and Hamilton-Bruce therefore provide a fresh look with a slightly wider remit that Long’s. As noted in Tim Flannery’s foreword, there has been a significant increase in both hunting time and research in the last decade or so and that the number of Australian ‘saurian’ taxa is beginning to rise (into double figures…) and Kear is one of those at the ‘rock-face’ with work especially on marine reptiles since his doctorate. Over the last few decades as well, our understanding of what Australia was like during the Mesozoic Era has also been changing with the position of Australia well south in the cold temperate to polar zone meaning that the dinosaurs and other forms had to endure and adapt to often frozen times. New fossil discoveries, together with some new analytical techniques, have been incorporated. ‘Dinosaurs in Australia’ is aimed at both the technical reader and the layman and the text is concise and easy to read. The book is nicely illustrated in color throughout, although sadly the photos lack a scale bar in most cases (a few show some means of scale such as a person or a museum label in place), with three doublepage spread original artworks and 12 original reconstructions of key animals, which I presume are all by Josh Lee (it’s not clear from the text); they are fine and I particularly like the ichthyosaur frontispiece, Platypterygius australis in its dolphinlike livery (unidentified but repeated on p. 91) and Rhoetosaurus (p. 71, nice colour scheme). However, the artworks are not captioned (was it done deliberately to make us seek?); the plate opposite the acknowledgements, those on p.22, p. 56 (Rhoetosaurus foot bones), p. 74 (?ribs), Muttaburrasaurus (p. 104, by comparison with the real thing on p. 125), p. 136 (shell), and opposite p. 1 are not, nor again is there any useful scale given. The centre-page spread (pp. 68-69 plesiosaurs underwater) and another are signed “Josh” to give us a clue. The eye-catching front cover is another original (also by Josh Lee?) giving a rendition of the 110 Ma Cretaceous landscape of Lightning Ridge with a group of dromaeosauriforms and their young scavenging fish and turtle surrounded by araucarian forest. The reconstructions, palaeogeographies and environmental interpretations are useful; one help would be to put the Cretaceous palaeomap figures on pp 139 and 140 opposite one another so that comparison would be easier.

13

Misleading are the photos of casts of dinosaur footprints shown on p. 5 with chalk outlines, which do not actually match the reality (shades of poor attempts to analyse footprints from photos using computer programs). Sad too is the perpetuating of the ‘putative chordate’ myth of one Ediacaran fossil with no back-up explanation – this sort of thing can go like wildfire on the internet and leads to bad practice such as the total acceptance of false data. Some of the original artwork is very nicely done but again no scale and often no explanation (p. 22 skull) and no reconstructions of key animals. But for me what is missing are the people—because the characters who dig up the fossils in this continent past and present make the story (I only found palaeontologists in about 6 photos and there is no picture of the authors even in the blurb). My own search for missing women (e.g. Turner et al. 2010) shows how easy it is to divorce people from the stories. That’s where Long’s text is a little more lively and better still go to the Rich’s (2003) dinosaur history book. A well-put together book by CSIRO Publishing (www.publish.csiro.au), the paper is forest-friendly but the price is a bit steep for a paperback (will it last?) but an eBook version is available and discounting on the Internet has begun. Kear and Hamilton-Bruce’s book will be a useful overview for senior undergraduate to postgraduate students, secondary and tertiary teachers, as well as to fossil collectors and anyone interested in natural history. It complements well the earlier Oz dinosaur books on your bookshelf. A huge bibliography is included, which rounds up this useful resource for serious researchers and laymen alike so that you can fact-check for yourself. References Long, J. A. 1998. Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand and other animals of the Mesozoic Era. University of NSW Press, Sydney, 188 pp. Rich, T. H. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2003. A Century of Australian Dinosaur Collecting. Queen Victoria Museum & Monash Science Centre, Australia, 124 pp. Turner, S., Burek, C. & Moody, R.T. 2010. Forgotten women in an extinct Saurian 'mans' World. In: Moody, R.T., Buffetaut, E., Martill, D. & Naish, D. (eds.) Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Saurians: A Historical Perspective. The Geological Society, London, Special Publication, 343, 111-153. [with online appendix of publications].

14

OBITUARY Graeme Maxwell Philip (1933-2009) Graeme Philip, who initially had worked on SE Australian Early Devonian macrofaunas, authored or co-authored 20 papers on conodonts in the period 19651975, mostly on the taxonomy of Australian Early Devonian conodont faunas and correlations indicated by them. Of special importance were three papers in the early 1970s co-authored with Gilbert Klapper, two of which (1971, 1972) concerned multielement taxonomy; they were pioneering works at the root of the multielement revolution in conodont taxonomy and classification. All were generated during his rapid rise from lecturer to professor at the University of New England. In 1972, he became Professor and Head of the Geology Department at Sydney University. By then he had become a household name in the Australian palaeontological community, but the pressures of administration tended to divert him away from conodont studies into other directions including applications of statistics, notably to modelling coal basins, computing ore reserves, and to a passion of his, the game of cricket and its most prominent exponent, Sir Donald Bradman. He published a book on the last of these (2004, Peripatus). In 1992 he took early retirement from the university and launched into a new career in the business world. Graeme’s name could strike terror into the cardiac area of many who came in contact with him; he could project yacht-club airs; he could be whip-smart; he tried to be outrageous and, perhaps too often, succeeded. But it was largely a pose. Graeme had enormous energy and through it and his tenacity (maintained to the end: he died of cancer) he achieved much. The Australian earth-science community has become much less colourful with his passing. John A. Talent, Macquarie University

Graeme Philip with his beloved abacus (photograph courtesy of Robyn Stutchbury)

15

Peter Molloy (1943–2011) Peter Molloy was one of those who bravely joined the first intake of students at Sydney’s Macquarie University in 1967 where he undertook a part-time BA degree in Earth Sciences, graduating in 1971. He then undertook a part-time Masters degree, struggling with what proved to be a non-project, trying to unravel the geological history of the limestone-infested country about Portland, about 120 km northwest of Sydney. During about 15 months, as a weekend activity, he combed the area meticulously for limestones, taking samples and acid-leaching them. The result? Not a single conodont. The Portland limestones are lenticular with very shallow-water lithologies (massive or poorly-bedded; fenestral fabrics; occasionally dolomitic) in flysch. Peter’s supervisor had never visited the area… Fortunately, between late 1968 and 1973, I had amassed an extensive suite of limestones, most of them stratigraphically collected, from various parts of northern Pakistan: from sequences east and west of Peshawar and from various localities in Chitral. Peter meticulously documented the various conodont faunas (Ordovician to Triassic) and produced a superb thesis. About two decades later, Ruth Mawson and I, who had been covert supervisors of his MSc, encouraged Peter to apply for a doctoral scholarship, specifically for mature-age students; his application was successful. He focused on the earliest Middle Silurian Ireviken Event, brought to prominence by the inimitable Lennart Jeppsson. An elegant sequence on ‘Kalinga’, at Boree Creek, northwest of Orange, had been shown from conodont biostratigraphy by us, coupled with isotope chemistry by Anita Andrew, to span the Llandovery–Wenlock boundary and thus the Ireviken Global Extinction Event. Peter attacked the problem with gusto. The result? Conodonts by the thousand! Peter produced an elegant and balanced thesis submitted in 2006; it was received enthusiastically by all three examiners (all external). Peter’s linkage with the magnanimous Lennart Jeppsson, the principal guru of Silurian global events, had been pivotal; Lennart was a constant source of encouragement. Peter co-authored seven significant papers and 14 abstracts about conodonts of various ages and their implications for the geology of eastern Australia and northern Pakistan. He is lead author of two other papers―one in press and another soon to be submitted, both on the Ireviken Event. At the time he was undertaking his MSc he was unable to do fieldwork in the now politically inaccessible Khyber region of northern Pakistan, but relished subsequent opportunities to participate in fieldwork in central Nepal, southern Thailand, in the Chitral and Nowshera regions of Pakistan, and in various regions of Australia scattered from eastern Victoria to the Broken River in northern Queensland. His boating skills were frequently crucial, especially for sampling Silurian limestones in the Mitta Mitta River–Gibbo River–Wombat Creek area of eastern Victoria. Peter traveled twice with me to South Asia in 1997 and 2004, the principal focus of both trips was the geology of north-western Pakistan. On our way back from the first of these trips, we spent a couple of days in central Nepal where the notorious charlatan, Prof. Vishwa Jit Gupta had reported various discoveries (all spurious) in the mountains around the Kathmandu valley and had thereby done much damage to understanding of the geology of that part of the Himalaya. Peter relished contact with the ancient and colourful Kalash and the endlessly hospitable Ismailis (both now under threat from the bombs of fundamentalists). The main focus on both trips, however, was the rock sequences in Pakistan that had provided the conodonts that enabled Peter to contribute significantly to improving 16

knowledge of the geological history of Pakistan’s far north-west. Peter enjoyed the sound of an occasional mullah belting the Koran into small pupils, the rickety jeeps, the sometimes bowel-shattering food, and collecting limestone samples from road cuttings among the dramatic scenery of that region. Peter was especially fond of palms. It seemed that he knew virtually every species of palm in David L. Jones’s Palms Throughout the World. He was a chainsmoker and had lost part of a lung from cancer. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in November 2010 but chemotherapy proved ineffectual. His fade out extended painfully over nearly four months. He died on 8 March 2011 with his daughters Alexandra and Elissa at his side. Symbolically, five small gifts were placed beside his rosewood coffin, one by each of Peter’s two children and three grandchildren: a jar of instant coffee, chocolate, a packet of Tim-Tams, a packet of chocolate-mint biscuits, and a Diet Coke, all fundamental items in Peter’s life. Peter was dedicated to the right and the good; he was able to make everyone laugh at gentle jokes, usually on himself. He was courteous and generous to a fault— it required, for instance, very subtle tactics to beat him to paying restaurant bills… Peter was always kind, constant, considerate and correct―in short, he was utterly simpatico. John A. Talent

Vale Peter Molloy – a former editor of Nomen Nudum

17

REPORTS FROM CONTRIBUTORS AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY Geoscience Australia John Laurie has had a busy year, in part comprising non-palaeontological editing tasks for Geoscience Australia. With the success of the Geoscience Australia Timewalk and guidebook, a larger, more detailed guidebook is at first draft stage and will be compiled into a final volume sometime over the next year or so. In addition, three revised Teacher Guides on ‘Fossils’, ‘Australia, an ancient continent’ and ‘Geological Time’ are being compiled for the Education Section at Geoscience Australia; the first of these is nearing completion. These guides will be sent to all primary schools throughout the country. The ‘Living Australia’ chapter for a book on aspects of the effect of geology on Australia and its people, to be published by GA for the Brisbane IGC in 2012, is nearing final submission. Two palaeontological papers are in press, one with Bob Nicoll and Yong Yi Zhen on the early Palaeozoic biostratigraphy of the Arafura Basin, and one with Jim Jago and Kim Bischoff on a couple of unusual latest Cambrian trilobite faunules from southernmost Tasmania. In addition, several chunks of Silurian Canberra Formation Limestone (from foundations of a building in the city centre of Canberra) are being acid-etched in the hope of getting a better conodont age for the unit. Apart from his paid employment, John continues to compile and edit the AAP Memoirs series. Most recently published (mid-2011) is the proceedings volume of the International Brachiopod Congress held in Melbourne in early 2010 (AAP Memoir 41 ‘Brachiopods: extant and extinct’). Yet another Cambro-Ordovician Studies volume (the fourth; Memoir 42) has an expected publication date of very late 2011. A volume on the Jurassic palynostratigraphy of the Surat Basin is currently being revised by the author. Three more volumes are due for submission in the second half of 2011, for publication in 2012; the frenzy continues.

Australian National University Desmond Strusz (School Visitor, Earth & Marine Sciences (RSES), Australian National University; and Research Associate, Australian Museum) submitted a paper on the brachiopod fauna of the mid-Silurian Canberra Formation at Woolshed Creek (near Duntroon, Canberra) to the Linnean Society of New South Wales. He is now cooperating with Ian Percival (NSW Geological Survey) on the similar-age brachiopod fauna from the Quidong area near Delegate in southern New South Wales. He is also gradually transferring the remnants of his PhD Garra Formation collections from Geoscience Australia to the NSW Survey at Londonderry - published specimens were transferred to the Australian Museum when the University of Sydney discarded its palaeontological thesis collections, some material has ended up in James Cook University, while some unpublished material has probably been lost. Des attended the July 2011 meeting of the International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy in Ludlow, where the main focus of attention was the state and suitability of the various Shropshire-based type Stage and Series boundary locations. All have problems, some quite serious (including extremely poor outcrop and structural control), so it is possible some at least will have to be re-located.

18

Unfortunately the best place for many is Arctic Canada, but the logistics involved there would preclude such a location. Publications: Strusz, D.L. 2010. Silurian brachiopod distribution in strata of the Canberra-Yass region, southeastern Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 39, 147-158. Strusz, D.L. 2011. Silurian brachiopods from the historic Woolshed Creek area, Canberra, Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 133, 31-49. *********************************************************************

NEW SOUTH WALES Australian Museum, Sydney Yong Yi Zhen is working on the Ordovician conodonts from Australasia and China. In 2010-2011 he worked on the Middle-Late Ordovician conodont faunas from the Dawangou Section (auxiliary stratotype for the base of the Upper Ordovician) of the Tarim Basin, northwestern China in association with Zhang Yuandong and Wang Zhihao (both from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Stig Bergström (Ohio State University) and Ian Percival (NSW Geological Survey). This semimonographic work will be published in late 2011 in the Records of the Australian Museum. A manuscript describing a Darriwilian conodont fauna from New Zealand in cooperation with Roger Cooper and John Simes from New Zealand, and Ian Percival has been accepted for the AAP Memoir series (Cambro-Ordovician Studies IV). In 2009-2010 Yong Yi was responsible for the relocation and management of the AM Palaeontology Collections. This remarkable achievement in accommodating the fossil types (including the primary and secondary types of over 900 palaeontological publications since 1838) and majority of the general collections in the basement of the Parkes Farmer Wing of the museum’s main building with new, quality storage facilities marked as one of the most important milestones in the history of the Palaeontology Collections of the Australian Museum. Publications in 2010-2011: Zhen, Y.-y., Burrett, C.F., Percival, I.G. & Lin, B.Y., 2010. A Late Ordovician conodont fauna from the Lower Limestone Member of the Benjamin Limestone in central Tasmania, and revision of Tasmanognathus careyi Burrett, 1979. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 131, 43-72. Percival, I.G., Cooper, R.A., Zhen, Y.-y., Wright, A.J. & Simes, J.E., 2011. Recent discoveries and a review of the Ordovician faunas of New Zealand. In J.C. Gutiérrez-Marco, I. Ràbano & D. García-Bellido (eds), Ordovician of the World. Spain. Cuadermos del Museo Geominero, 14. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, 421-428.

Geological Survey of NSW Ian Percival (GSNSW Londonderry office) continues research on two main fronts: conodonts and brachiopods, with current focus on the Ordovician. He presented two papers to the 11th International Symposium on the Ordovician System (held in Spain in May, 2011) and was involved in a third – all were published in the Symposium

19

volume “Ordovician of the World” that is available for free download from the website of the Spanish Geological Survey. Ian contributed to a paper in Geology that pushed back by about 150 million years to the Late Ordovician, the earliest known evidence for preservation of aragonite in brachiopod shells. A paper documenting the diverse deepwater biota preserved in Ordovician cherts of the Lachlan Orogen in central and southern New South Wales, has been published online with Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Together with colleagues from the NSW Geological Survey, Ian published a review of all Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphic units throughout the state, and contributed to a paper reassessing Ordovician stratigraphy in the Wellington region of central NSW (in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of NSW). Ian continued collaboration with Yong Yi Zhen (Australian Museum) on Ordovician conodont biostratigraphy of China (for Records of the Australian Museum), and with Yong Yi, Roger Cooper and John Simes, documented Darriwilian brachiopods and conodonts from the Maruia area in the South Island of New Zealand (for the recent AAP Memoir on Cambro-Ordovician Studies IV). He also assisted with editing AAP Memoir 41, containing papers presented at the International Brachiopod Congress held in Melbourne in 2010. In the latter part of 2011 and extending into 2012, Ian will be expanding his research directions into the Cambrian (describing Middle Cambrian brachiopods from the Georgina Basin with Pierre Kruse, and commencing work on Late Cambrian lingulates from China with Michael Engelbretsen) and Silurian (studying the brachiopods of the Quidong area of southern NSW with Des Strusz, and working with Michael Engelbretsen and colleagues on the Molong Limestone fauna). Apart from research, Ian remains responsible for day-to-day palaeontological advice and identification services to support the regional mapping program of the Geological Survey of NSW. He continues as Secretary of the Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (being responsible for the annual newsletter Ordovician News), and also compiles Nomen Nudum for the AAP. Publications Balthasar, U., Cusack, M., Faryma, L., Chung, P., Holmer, L.E., Jin, J., Percival, I.G. & Popov, L.E. 2011. Relic aragonite from Ordovician-Silurian brachiopods – implications for the evolution of calcification. Geology 39, 967-970. Ghobadi Pour, M., Popov, L.E., McCobb, L. & Percival, I.G. 2011. New data on the Late Ordovician trilobite faunas of Kazakhstan: Implications for biogeography of tropical peri-Gondwana; pp 171-177, in Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C., Rábano, I. & García-Bellido, D. (eds.), Ordovician of the World. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 14. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid. Percival, I.G. 2011. Biotic characteristics of Ordovician deep-water cherts from eastern Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (online version available). Percival, I.G., Cooper, R.A. Zhen, Y.Y., Simes, J.E. & Wright, A.J. 2011. Recent discoveries and a review of the Ordovician faunas of New Zealand; pp 421-428, in Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C., Rábano, I. & García-Bellido, D. (eds.), Ordovician of the World. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 14. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid. Percival, I.G., Popov, L.E., Zhan, R.B. & Ghobadi Pour, M. 2011. Patterns of origination and dispersal of Middle to Late Ordovician brachiopods: examples from South China, East Gondwana, and Kazakh terranes; pp 413-419, in GutiérrezMarco, J.C., Rábano, I. & García-Bellido, D. (eds.), Ordovician of the World.

20

Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 14. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid. Percival, I.G. & Quinn, C.D. 2011. Reassessment of Lower Palaeozoic geology west of the Catombal Range, Wellington region, central New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 132, 221-235. Percival, I.G., Quinn, C.D. & Glen, R.A. 2011. A review of Cambrian and Ordovician stratigraphy in New South Wales. Quarterly Notes, Geological Survey of New South Wales 137, 1-39. Percival, I.G., Simes, J.E., Cooper, R.A. & Zhen, Y.Y. 2011. Middle Ordovician linguliformean brachiopods from the Maruia – Springs Junction area, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 42, 459-492. Shi, G.R., Weldon, E.A., Percival, I.G., Pierson, R.R. & Laurie, J.R. (editors) 2011. Brachiopods – Extant and Extinct (Proceedings of the 6th International Brachiopod Congress, 1‐5 February 2010, Melbourne, Australia). Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 366 pp. Zhan, R.B., Li, R.Y., Percival I.G. & Liang, Y. 2011. Brachiopod biogeographic change during the Early to Middle Ordovician in South China. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 273-287. Zhen, Y.Y., Cooper, R.A., Simes, J.E. & Percival, I.G. 2011. Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) conodonts from the Maruia – Springs Junction area, New Zealand. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 42, 285-319. Zhen, Y.Y., Wang, Z.H., Zhang, Y.D., Bergström, S.M., Percival, I.G. & Chen, J.F. 2011. Middle to Late Ordovician (Darriwilian-Sandbian) conodonts from the Dawangou Section, Kalpin area of the Tarim Basin, northwestern China. Records of the Australian Museum 63, 203-266. John Pickett (Research Associate, Londonderry office) has just published an updated index to all the coral literature for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and Antarctica, as AAP Memoir 40. He hopes to advertise it to its prime audience at the August 2011 meeting of specialists on fossil corals and sponges in Liege, Belgium. He is attempting to finalise earlier work on Late Devonian corals from northwestern China. Lawrence Sherwin (GSNSW Orange office) is working on the gradual publication of remaining parts of his PhD thesis which cover Siluro-Devonian faunas of central NSW. His post retirement contract has been extended another year to provide some palaeontological backup for regional mapping teams, in southern and western NSW, as well as editorial mopping up of the Bathurst 1:250000 geol map and explanatory notes. He is also conducting a ‘rescue’ mission for the heritage listed Allandale Eurydesma locality which has been excavated as part of extensions to the Great Northern Railway, funded by the relevant construction company (Hunter 8 Alliance). The excavation of the Allandale cutting will add to the study of that locality by B. Runnegar, published in Alcheringa. A paper summarising new findings at the site is being prepared with co-author Simone Meakin. Lawrence attended the Ordovician and Silurian conferences, held in Madrid and Ludlow respectively, and hopes to assist Tony Wright in finalising the Silurian graptolite project begun by the late Barrie Rickards. Publications Sherwin L. 2011. East Gondwana – an extended mobile zone. Siluria Revisited, Ludlow, International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy, Abstracts.

21

Macquarie University, North Ryde Marissa Betts (Department of Biological Sciences) has commenced an honours project examining the early Cambrian shelly taxa associated with archaeocyathan bioherms in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Supervised by A/P Glenn Brock and Dr James Valentine, the project will entail analysis of the ecology, diversity and abundance of Small Shelly Fossils (SSF) and associated taxa (such as brachiopods and molluscs) from shallow water facies, bioherms and deeper water, slope facies. The project will also include an investigation into bioherms; their building and binding guilds, architectural characteristics and the relationship they have with assemblages of SSF and other shelly taxa. Glenn Brock (Department of Biological Sciences) is the immediate past President (2007-2010) of the Australasian Association of Palaeontologists (AAP) and former Editor of Alcheringa. During the last 5 years Glenn’s research activities have continued to focus on elucidating the evolution, phylogeny, biodiversity, ecology and biostratigraphy of the earliest (stem group) bilaterian animals during the Cambrian Explosion. These investigations, based on sampling of large quantities of superbly preserved early Cambrian fossils from a variety of localities in East Gondwana (Australia-Antarctica), have allowed Glenn to build a very strong, vibrant international collaborative team which includes postgraduate, early career and experienced researchers with expertise on specific techniques and faunal groups. Glenn’s main focus is studying the evolutionary and ecological significance of exceptionally preserved macro- and microfossils often grouped under the catch-all title of "Small Shelly Fossils" (SSF). SSF is a descriptive term for a diverse collection of small (1-2 mm) conical, cap and spine shaped skeletal fossils that characterise the earliest part of the Cambrian Radiation bioevent. Recent research has shown (see publications list) that many SSF are key to understanding the ecological and phylogenetic relationships of the earliest bilaterian animals. Glenn is also currently part of a research team excavating, investigating and conserving the globally important lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, a deposit containing fossils of exceptional preservation, evolutionary significance and vital natural heritage. Macquarie University remains one of the few Australian universities to offer undergraduate BSc students a full coherent “Major” in Palaeontology/Palaeobiology providing a “deep time” perspective to the evolution of life. Glenn convenes or coconvenes 4 x 3rd year units for the major and, from 2012, will convene the new Graduate Certificate in Palaeobiology aimed at people who have little previous palaeo background the chance to study palaeobiology. Glenn has supervised 5 PhD + 6 Honours to completion since 2006 and is current Supervisor of 2 PhD students and 1 Honours student. Col Eglinton (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) continues towards completion of his PhD on Paleogene ostracods from Victoria. Michael Engelbretsen (Department of Biological Sciences) continues work on a manuscript, almost completed and co-authored with Drs Ian Percival, Glenn Brock and John Farrell, describing the lingulate brachiopods from the Macquarie Volcanic

22

Arc in central New South Wales. Another project with Ian Percival, elaborating on the lingulide brachiopods from the Paibi section, the recently ratified GSSP for the Paibian Stage and Furongian Series in the Huaqiao Formation in northwest Hunan Province, South China, is underway. Collaborative work on primitive cnidarians will also be undertaken with Dr Tae-yoon Park from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Korea. Terry Furey-Greig (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) continues his interest in faunas from limestones (mostly allochthonous) and associated cherts from the Tamworth region in association with Masaki Umeda, Ruth Mawson and John Talent. Margaret Harvey (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) continues her PhD on latest Silurian-earliest Devonian silicified shallow-marine faunas (dominated by brachiopods) at The Gap, southwest of Cumnock, NSW. Matthew Kosnik (Department of Biological Sciences) is working in conservation palaeobiology. Briony Mamo (Department of Biological Sciences) is currently a Tutor and Demonstrator at Macquarie University whilst seeking a post-doctoral placement. Previous work has involved the application of foraminifera as palaeoenvironmental indicators to reconstruct an environmental history of the New Caledonia Basin during the Holocene. Briony’s Doctoral research continued and expanded on this applied foraminiferal theme. This research used analysis of foraminiferal assemblages and a variety of methods to illustrate the utility of such analyses in an array of situations. A dynamic approach was integrated into her research thesis so that baseline taxonomic assessment of foraminiferal assemblages was developed, and then used to assess their potential application as a diagnostic tool. This assessment included a primary baseline investigation of the ecology, biotopes, depositional environments and biodiversity of foraminiferal assemblages from key reefs in the Capricorn Group within the southern Great Barrier Reef. The second part of the project investigated the utility of foraminifera to “fingerprint” extreme storm/tsunami deposits. Both suspected (ancient) and confirmed (modern) deposits were examined from locations that included the south-eastern and north-eastern coasts of Australia (Bateman’s Bay, New South Wales and Heron Island, Queensland, respectively). The baseline study incorporated systematic taxonomy and quantitative cluster analysis to identify and compare assemblage biotopes between One Tree Island, Heron Island, Sykes and Wistari Reefs. The Foraminfera from the Great Barrier Reef (especially the Capricorn and Bunker Groups) have received scant taxonomic analyses and there has been no comprehensive review in the last 50 years. It was thus imperative to establish standing crop diversity for modern foraminiferal assemblages as a spring board for future applied and comparative foraminiferal analyses. These analyses have great potential to reveal valuable information about the reef ecology, biogeography and biodiversity of this world heritage region. Given the widespread destruction associated with extreme storm (cyclones and hurricanes) and tsunami events, including the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, the South Pacific tsunami in 2009 and more recently, Cyclone Yasi in February and the Tōhoku tsunami in March, 2011, there is increasing demand

23

for efficient and thorough tsunami and storm surge research, which can then be applied to produce effective tsunami/storm warning systems. Given the relatively transient nature of tsunami and storm deposits, researchers are increasingly turning to an array of novel investigative procedures to glean as much information as possible from these extreme events in order to develop warning systems that can provide the longest period of evacuation time possible. As part of a collaborative team, Briony’s research focused on reviewing the application of foraminiferal investigation to modern and palaeotsunami sediments to assess the potential of using benthic foraminifera as diagnostic features of ancient palaeotsunami/storm deposits. David Mathieson (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) continues probing various aspects of mid-Palaeozoic conodonts and macrofaunas from outcrops and bores in the western half of NSW. Julieta Martinelli (Department of Biological Sciences) has recently started working on her PhD in latitudinal gradients in diversity and predation in molluscan communities along the east coast of Australia. The main goals of the project are to (a) understand taxonomic and functional diversity of recent marine molluscs from the east Australian coast, and (b) assess predation frequencies in these communities. The information obtained will identify latitudinal trends for this group, as well as documenting the current community structure to compare with past (pre-colonial) communities, and potentially help understand human-related changes and implications for conservation. Ruth Mawson (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) is completing a study of conodonts (mainly latest Frasnian-Famennian) from the ‘Hongguleleng Formation’ of northwest Xinjiang (China) amassed during fieldwork in association with Chen Xiuqin (Nanjing) and others. After that, Ruth and John Talent plan to present an overview of conodont colour-alteration (CAI) data for most of the Silurian and Devonian of eastern Australia and implications as regards thermal annealing. Putting the final polish to a study (with David Mathieson, Andrew Simpson and John Talent) on the Late Silurian (Ludfordian) to Early Devonian (early Emsian) conodonts of western NSW, and to the Devonian conodont faunas of the Yarrol Terrane (E central Queensland) will be resumed in 2012. Andrew Simpson (Department of Environment and Geography) continues to interleave palaeontological activity with Museum Studies responsibilities, but has managed to complete contributions on Silurian faunas from western NSW (‘Myola’ near Trundle) and the Broken River area of northern Queensland. Luke Strotz (Department of Biological Sciences) is currently working on using modern and fossil Foraminifera data sets to interpret how macroevolutionary dynamics influence contemporary biodiversity, in association with Dr Andrew Allen (Macquarie University). Work has specifically focused on Foraminifera metabolism, phylogeny and symbiotic relationships, and a number of publications stemming from this work are soon to be submitted. Luke is also continuing his work on interpreting marine inundation events (such as cyclones and tsunami) in the recent and geological past, and determining how microfossils can be utilised in refining our understanding of these events. Work has concentrated on the Western Pacific, particularly Australia, New Zealand and the

24

Pacific Islands (Wallis and Futuna, Samoa). Manuscripts based on this work have been published as part of a special issue of Earth-Science Reviews (Volume 107, Issues 1-2). Luke has also continued work on modern shallow-water foraminiferal assemblages from Australia’s eastern coastline, from both temperate and tropical settings. This work looks to document faunal assemblages and revise the taxonomy of foraminifera from these settings. John Talent (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) reports that by the time this issue of Nomen Nudum appears (or very soon afterwards), the International Year of Planet Earth volume Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations through Time, edited by him and being published by Springer Science, will have appeared. After that, he and Ruth Mawson plan to present an overview of conodont colour-alteration (CAI) data for most of the Silurian and Devonian of eastern Australia and implications as regards thermal annealing. Other tasks concern the diverse faunas of the ‘Hongguleleng Formation’ of NW Xinjiang, China, sampled in 2005 and 2007 in association with friends from China, Austria, Australia, the Czech Republic and the USA, and completing a monograph (with the late Galina Stukalina) on dissociated, mainly silicified echinoderm remains from eastern Australia. James Valentine (Department of Biological Sciences) has recently started investigating skeleton space utilisation and ecospace utilisation in the early Cambrian in conjunction with Glenn Brock based on the highly diverse and abundant fossil assemblages from the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. This project will also investigate the relationship between skeletal body plans and ecospace filling through time. James has also recently completed currently working on a project with Macquarie University Ancient History PhD student, Amber Hood, looking at the application of cladistics to ancient Egyptian ceramics. Future studies in the same area are planned to commence in late 2011 or early 2012. Barry Webby (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) provided a full account of his current research activities last year (see Nomen Nudum contribution for 2010 p.7-8) and most of them have been ongoing, into this year (2011). I have again been actively involved as Coordinating Author of the Treatise volume (Part E, volume 4, Revised) on the “Hypercalcified Porifera”. The “Glossary of Terms”, which I compiled with the help of other Treatise authors has been published as Chapter 8 in the Treatise Online 4:1-21 (2010 – for details see publication list). Another thirteen chapters have been published in the Treatise Online across a variety of topics as follows: Living Hypercalcified Sponges (Chapter 1) by Jean Vacelet & two coworkers, Introduction, Functional Morphology and Classification of the ChaetetidType Porifera (Chapters 2A-C) by Ron West, List of Upper Paleozoic-Mesozoic Stromatoporoid-like Genera (Chapter 5) by Colin Stearn & Carl Stock; and Systematic Description of the Family Disjectoporidae (Chapter 6), Introduction, Internal Morphology, Microstructure, Morphologic Affinities, Functional Morphology, Techniques for Study and Classification of the Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea (Chapters 9A, 9C-F, 15A-B), and Systematic Descriptions of the Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea – the orders Stromatoporellida, Stromatoporida, Syringoporida and Amphiporida (Chapter16E) – all authored by Colin Stearn. Other

25

contributions are nearing publication in the Treatise Online (expected to be in print before the end of this year). These are: Post Devonian Stromatoporoid-type Porifera (Chapter 3) by Rachel Wood, Sphinctozoan- and Inozoan-type Hypercalcified Sponges (Chapter 7) by B. Senowbari-Daryan and J Keith Rigby, External Morphology of Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea (Chapter 9B) by Barry Webby & Stephen Kershaw, and Paleoecology of Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea (Chapter 13) by Kershaw, Systematic Descriptions of the Paleozoic Stromatoporoidea – the order Clathrodictyida (Chapter 16C) by Heldur Nestor; and the General Features of the Archaeocyatha (Chapters 18A-B) by Francoise Debrenne, Andrey Zhuravlev and Peter Kruse. Publication of a joint paper with Heldur Nestor on the Ordovician and Silurian biogeography of stromatoporoids is imminent. We expect this chapter to be published this year in the final IGCP 503 volume of the Memoir Series of the Geological Society of London on Lower Palaeozoic palaeobiogegraphy. Work continues describing the Silurian-Devonian stromatoporoid faunas of the Broken River region of North Queensland in association with Zhen Yong Yi, and a study of a varied Ordovician fauna of sphinctozoans, stromatoporoids and demosponges from Kazakhstan with a number of the taxa exhibiting remarkably close biogeographic links with Australian (NSW) faunal elements has been commenced, in cooperation with Leonid Popov, Ian Percival and others. George Wilson (Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences) is well on the way towards completing editing of his PhD thesis on the silicified brachiopod faunas of two sequences through part of the Garra Limestone, one east of Cumnock and one at Wellington, the latter overlooked in earlier sampling by Brian Johnson and used for the Palaeontographica monograph by Alf Lenz and Brian Johnson published in 1985. If accepted for publication by Palaeontographica, this will bring to five the number of monographs on the silicified Garra Limestone brachiopods, most (perhaps in excess of 90% of it) derived from acid-leaching as a basis for third-year student-practical work in Invertebrate Palaeontology as well as other courses run by John Talent and Ruth Mawson over about 35 years. Identifications and plates for documentation of a less-diverse silicified fauna of mid-Pragian age (mentioned earlier), aligning biostratigraphically with macrofaunas from the middle of the Garra Limestone, have been obtained from the Booth Limestone in western New South Wales. It is hoped that this manuscript will be submitted late 2011 to early 2012. Recent publications by palaeontologists at Macquarie University Balthasar, U., Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B. & Brock, G.A. 2009. Homologous skeletal secretion in tommotiids and brachiopods. Geology 37, 1143-1146. Chen, X.-Q., Mawson, R., Talent, J. A., Mathieson, D. & Suttner, T. 2011. Brachiopods, conodonts and the Frasnian‒Famennian boundary in northwestern Xinjiang, China. In: ‘Biostratigraphy, Paleogeography and Events in the Devonian and Lower Carboniferous’, meeting in memory of Evgeny A. Yolkin (Ufa, Novosibirsk, Russia, July 20‒August 10, 2011). Decombeix, A.-L., Meyer-Berthaud, B., Galtier, J., Talent, J.A. & Mawson, R. 2010. Arborescent ligonophytes in the Tournaisian vegetation of Queensland (Australia): paleoecological and paleogeographical significance. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 301, 39-55.

26

Finnegan, S., McClain, C.M., Kosnik, M.A. & Payne, J.L. 2011. Escargot through time: an energetic comparison of marine gastropod assemblages before and after the Mesozoic Marine Revolution. Paleobiology 37, 252-269. Gordillo, S., Martinelli, J., Cárdenas, J. & Bayer, M.S. 2011. Testing ecological and environmental changes during the last 6000 years: a multiproxy approach based on the bivalve Tawera gayi from southern South America. Journal of the Marine Association of the United Kingdom 91, 1413-1427. Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B., Larsson, C.L., Brock, G.A. & Zhang, Z-F. 2011. First record of a bivalved larval shell in early Cambrian tommotiids and its phylogenetic significance. Palaeontology 54, 235-239. Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B. & Brock, G.A. 2006. First record of canaliform shell structure from the Lower Cambrian paterinate brachiopod Askepasma from South Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 32, 1-5. Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Popov, L. 2011. An early Cambrian chileate brachiopod from South Australia and its phylogenetic significance. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 289-294. Jakobsen, K.G., Harper, D.A.T., Nielsen, A.T. & Brock, G.A. 2011. Darriwilian biostratigraphy and palaeoecology during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event – a northern Gondwanan perspective. J.C. Gutiérrez-Marco, I. Rábano and D. García-Bellido (eds), Ordovician of the World. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero 14, 253-258. Jeppsson, L., Talent, J.A., Mawson, R., Andrew, A., Corradini, C., Simpson A.J., Wigforss-Lange, J. & Schönlaub, H. P. 2011. Late Ludfordian correlations and the Lau Event. In Talent, J.A. (ed.), Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations through Time. Springer Science, Dordrecht. Kosnik, M.A., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Fürsich, F.T., Gastaldo, R.A., Kidwell, S.M., Kowalewski, M., Plotnick, R.E., Rogers, R.R., Wagner, P.J. & Alroy, J. 2011. Changes in the shell durability of common marine taxa through the Phanerozoic: evidence for biological rather than taphonomic drivers. Paleobiology 37, 303-331. Percival, I.G., Brock, G.A., Valentine, J.L., Wright, A.J., & Strusz, D.L. (eds), 2010. Ordovician-Silurian-Devonian brachiopods of New South Wales, 7-12 February 2010, post-congress excursion guidebook, 6th International Brachiopod Congress, Melbourne. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists Field Guide Series 3, 194. Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Topper, T.P., Paterson, J.R. & Holmer, L.E. 2011. Scleritome construction, biofacies, biostratigraphy and systematics of the tommotiid Eccentrotheca helenia sp. nov. from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology 54, 253-286. Talent, J. A., 2011. Peter Molloy (1943–2011). Pander Society, Newsletter 43. Talent, J. A. 2011. (ed.), Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations through Time. Springer Science, Dordrecht Talent, J.A. 2011. Introduction. In Talent, J.A. (ed.), Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations through Time. Springer Science, Dordrecht. Talent, J.A., 2011. A perspective. In Talent, J.A. (ed.), Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations through Time. Springer Science, Dordrecht. Talent, J. A. et al. 2011. Rimma Trofimovna Gratsianova. Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy Newsletter 26: 4-7.

27

Talent, J.A., Yolkin, E.A., Yolkina, V.N., Kipriyanova, T.P. & Gratsianova, R.T. 2011. Changes in the pattern of brachiopod biogeography in northern Asia through Early and Middle Devonian times. In Talent, J.A. (ed.), Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations through Time. Springer Science, Dordrecht. Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R. 2010. Palaeoscolecid scleritome fragments with Hadimopanella plates from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Geological Magazine 147, 86-97. Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. Microdictyon plates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity. Alcheringa 35, 427-443. Topper, T.P., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Paterson, J.R. 2011. The oldest bivalved arthropods from the early Cambrian of East Gondwana: systematics and biogeography. Gondwana Research 19, 310-326. Webby, B.D. (compiler) 2010. Part E, Revised Volume 4. Chapter 8; Glossary of terms applied to the hypercalcified Porifera. Treatise Online 4, 1-21.

University of New England, Armidale John R. Paterson (School of Environmental and Rural Science) continues his research on early Cambrian fossils of South Australia, particularly the Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte on Kangaroo Island. Since the last issue of Nomen Nudum, several papers have been published (or accepted) on this exceptional deposit, including the geological context of the Emu Bay Shale and adjacent units (Gehling et al. 2011), various new soft-bodied arthropods (Edgecombe et al. 2011; Paterson et al. in press), plus the discovery of the oldest complex compound eyes in the fossil record (Lee et al. 2011)! The latter paper received worldwide media attention (Google ‘Cambrian eyes’); a story in which I was interviewed (in addition to other experts at Oxford and Yale) can be found on the website of the popular science magazine Cosmos: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4460/scientists-see-rapid-evolutionancient-eyes. We have another exciting discovery that will be published soon, but that’s for another Nomen Nudum. Excavations on Kangaroo Island will continue in 2012 thanks to National Geographic funding. In October 2010, I recruited a new PhD student, Lee Ann Hally, who has hit the ground running on her projects relating to the systematics, biogeography and palaeoecology of middle Cambrian (Series 3) trilobites from East Gondwana. Lee Ann has already finished her first paper on a taxonomic revision of the genus Rhyssometopus that has been accepted for publication in the upcoming ‘CambroOrdovician Studies IV’ volume of the AAP Memoirs (no. 42). Next year (June-December 2012) I will go on a sabbatical to take a “breather” from teaching and administration to advance various research programs and present talks at a couple of conferences (namely the 5th International Trilobite Conference in Prague and the 34th International Geological Congress in Brisbane). In addition to Emu Bay Shale research, I aim to write up a long term project with Nigel Hughes (University of California, Riverside) and Brian Chatterton (University of Alberta) on trilobite clusters and their implications for taphonomic processes and gregarious behaviour. Publications

28

Álvaro, J.J., Ahlberg, P., Babcock, L.E., Bordonaro, O.L., Choi, D.K., Cooper, R.A., Ergaliev, G.Kh., Gapp, I.W., Ghobadi Pour, M., Hughes, N.C., Jago, J.B., Korovnikov, I., Laurie, J.R., Lieberman, B.S., Paterson, J.R., Pegel, T.V., Popov, L.E., Rushton, A.W.A., Sukhov, S.S., Tortello, M.F., Zhou, Z. & Żylińska, A., in press. Global Cambrian trilobite palaeobiogeography assessed using parsimony analysis of endemicity. Geological Society of America, Special Paper. Edgecombe, G.D., García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R., 2011. A new leanchoiliid megacheiran arthropod from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale, South Australia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 56(2): 385-400. Gehling, J.G., Jago, J.B., Paterson, J.R., García-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D., 2011. The geological context of the Lower Cambrian (Series 2) Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte and adjacent stratigraphic units, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 58(3): 243-257. Lee, M.S.Y., Jago, J.B., García-Bellido, D.C., Edgecombe, G.D., Gehling, J.G. & Paterson, J.R., 2011. Modern optics in exceptionally preserved eyes of Early Cambrian arthropods from Australia. Nature, 474(7353): 631-634. Lee, M. & Paterson, J., 2011 (in press). Rapid evolution? The eyes have it. Australasian Science, December issue, 16-18. Paterson, J.R., García-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D., in press. New artiopodan arthropods from the early Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte of South Australia. Journal of Paleontology. Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Topper, T.P., Paterson, J.R. & Holmer, L.E., 2011. Scleritome construction, biofacies, biostratigraphy and systematics of the tommotiid Eccentrotheca helenia sp. nov. from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology, 54(2): 253-286. Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R., 2011. Microdictyon plates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity. Alcheringa, 35(3): 427-443. Topper, T.P., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R., 2011. The oldest bivalved arthropods from the early Cambrian of East Gondwana: systematics, biostratigraphy and biogeography. Gondwana Research, 19(1): 310-326. Wilson, G.D.F., Paterson, J.R. & Kear, B.P., 2011. Fossil isopods associated with a fish skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia – direct evidence of a scavenging lifestyle in Mesozoic Cymothoida. Palaeontology, 54(5): 1053-1068.

University of New South Wales, Kensington School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Tegan A. Vanderlaan is continuing her PhD at the University of New South Wales with Malte C. Ebach (co-supervised by John R. Paterson at UNE). She is working on the higher level systematic biology of Carboniferous trilobites (Order Proetida, Family Phillipsiidae) and their evolutionary relationships in order to infer palaeogeographic and tectonic reconstructions. The broader project investigates the biotic evolution of Australasia and the geographical and geological processes responsible for biotic diversification. Helene Martin reports that a joint project with Dr. Luis Palazzesi (Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Buenos Aires) on the phytogeography of the Southern

29

connection through the Cenozoic has been finished and submitted for publication. It will go in a special edition on Southern Cone Floras in the Botanical Review. The most amazing outcome of this review is the distribution of Lagarostrobos franklinii, the Huon Pine, now endemic to south-west Tasmania. It evolved in the Late Cretaceous, apparently on the Antarctic Peninsula, became widespread in the Paleogene over Patagonia, Antarctica, New Zealand and Australia and was, at times, abundant. In the Neogene, its distribution shrunk, along with increasing dryness, to its present restricted distribution in Tasmania. The pollen is widespread and abundant, but macrofossils of leaves have not been found anywhere except for some Pleistocene ones in Tasmania. Today, Huon Pine is mainly found in the riverine environment and leaves and twigs are frequently seen floating in rivers. This suggests that L. frankinii is a Pleistocene species, the last of a very long lineage. Work now concentrates on the Holocene palynology and vegetation history of Jibbon Swamp in Royal National Park and the vegetation history: a joint project with Dr. Jane Chalson. Publication Martin, H.A. & Palazzesi, L. (submitted). The Southern Connection — a lost world: tracking the Cenozoic history of the Gondwanan Flora of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Patagonia. Botanical Review

W.B.Keith Holmes and Heidi Anderson Holmes Keith and Heidi continue to work on the final paper describing the diverse Middle Triassic Nymboida flora of northern NSW. This paper, number 9 of the series, will describe the conifers, dispersed seeds, stems and roots included in the collections made over almost fifty years. A group of dedicated amateur collectors have been providing us with some unique material from the Queensland Esk and Ipswich Formations. A joint paper describing Sphenobaiera leaves attached to stems is in progress. Heidi, now an Honorary Researcher with the University of Witswatersrand, Johannesburg, is completing the Sphenophyte Volume of the series describing the vast Triassic Molteno Flora of South Africa. Publications Holmes, W.B.K. & Anderson, H.M. 2006 The Middle Triassic Megafossil Flora of the Basin Creek Formation, Nymboida Coal Measures, New South Wales, Australia. Part 6. Ginkgophyta. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of NSW 128, 155-200. Holmes, W.B.K. & Anderson, H.M. 2008 The Middle Triassic Megafossil Flora of the Basin Creek Formation, Nymboida Coal Measures, New South Wales, Australia. Part 7. Cycadophyta. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of NSW 129, 113-149. Holmes, W.B.K. & Anderson, H.M. 2010 The Middle Triassic Megafossil Flora of the Basin Creek Formation, Nymboida Coal Measures, New South Wales, Australia. Part 8. The Genera Nilssonia, Taeniopteris, Linguifolium, Gontriglossa and Scoresbya. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of NSW, 131, 1 -26. Anderson, H.M., Holmes, W.B.K. & Fitness, L.A. 2008. Stems with attached Dicroidium leaves from the Ipswich Coal Measures, Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of Queensland Museum 52(2): 1-12. Anderson, J.M., Anderson, H.M. & Cleal, C.J. 2007. Brief history of the gymnosperms: classification, biodiversity, phytogeography and ecology. Strelitzia, 20, 1-280.

30

Anderson, H.M. & Anderson, J.M. 2008. Molteno Ferns: Late Triassic biodiversity in southern Africa. Strelitzia, 21, 1-258. *********************************************************************

QUEENSLAND Queensland Museum, Brisbane Carole J. Burrow continues her work on mid-Palaeozoic fish bits as an Honorary Research Fellow with the QM. The Scottish Lower Old Red Sandstone acanthodian collaboration with Mike Newman, Bob Davidson, and Jan den Blaauwen continues, and we have submitted several manuscripts for publication. Other overseas projects involve Silurian and Devonian acanthodians (and/or stem chondrichthyans) from eastern Canada, ischnacanthiform acanthodian dentigerous jaw bones from North America and Eurasia, and isolated acanthodian scale assemblages from, well, lots of places. She has continued collaboration with Australian colleagues on the ARC Discovery project ‘Origin of jaws - the greatest unsolved mystery of early vertebrate evolution’ (2010-2013), with several manuscripts in progress on the acanthodian and shark specimens from the Upper Devonian Gogo Formation of WA. Highlights of field work this year were trips to the Devonian localities of the Carnarvon & Canning Basins in WA, organized and led by Kate Trinajstic (Curtin University, WA). Hopefully next year’s work will include a field trip to the important Lower Carboniferous Ducabrook locality in central Queensland. Publications Blieck, A., Turner, S., Burrow, C.J., Schultze, H.-P., Rexroad, C.B., Bultynck, P. & Nowlan, G.S. 2010. Fossils, histology, and phylogeny: Why conodonts are not vertebrates. Episodes, 33(4), 234-241. Burrow, C.J. 2011. A partial articulated acanthodian from the Silurian of New Brunswick, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 48(9), 1329-1341. doi:10.1139/e11-023 Burrow, C.J. & Turner, S. 2010. Reassessment of "Protodus" scoticus from the Early Devonian of Scotland. In Elliott, D.K., et al. eds. Morphology, Phylogeny and Paleobiogeography of Fossil Fishes - Honoring Meemann Chang. München: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 123-144. Burrow, C.J., Desbiens, S., Ekrt, B. & Sudkamp, W.H. 2010. A new look at Machaeracanthus. In Elliott, D.K., et al. eds. Morphology, Phylogeny and Paleobiogeography of Fossil Fishes - Honoring Meemann Chang. München: Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, 59-84. Burrow, C.J., Newman, M.J., Davidson, R.G. & den Blaauwen, J.L. 2011. Sclerotic plates or circumorbital bones in early jawed fishes? Palaeontology 54(1), 207214. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.01003.x Newman, M.J., Davidson, R.G., Den Blaauwen, J.G. & Burrow, C.J. 2011: The Early Devonian acanthodian Euthacanthus gracilis from the Midland Valley of Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 47(2). Turner, S., Burrow, C.J., Schultze, H.-P., Blieck, A., Reif, W.-E., Rexroad, C.B., Bultynck, P. & Nowlan, G.S. 2010. False teeth: conodont-vertebrate phylogenetic relationships revisited. Geodiversitas 32(4), 545-594.

31

Turner, S. & Burrow, C.J. 2011. A Lower Carboniferous xenacanthiform shark from Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31(2), 241-257. doi: 10.1080/02724634.2011.550359 Julien Louys is working on the Late Pleistocene/Holocene mammal record of Central Western QLD, and is currently editing a book entitled “Palaeontology in Ecology and Conservation”. Publications Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P. & Bishop, L.C. 2011. Mammal community structure correlates with arboreal heterogeneity in faunally and geographically diverse habitats: implications for community convergence. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20, 717-729. Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P. & Bishop, L.C., 2011. Mesowear as a means of determining diets in African antelopes. Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 1485-1495. Louys, J. & Meijaard, E., 2010. Palaeoecology of Southeast Asian megafauna-bearing sites from the Pleistocene and a review of environmental changes in the region. Journal of Biogeography 37, 1432-1449. Louys, J., Bishop, L.C. & Wilkinson, D.M. 2009. Opening dialogue between the recent and the long ago. Nature 462, 847. Louys, J., Aplin, K., Beck, R.M.D. & Archer, M. 2009. Cranial anatomy of OligoMiocene koalas (Diprotodontia: Phascolarctidae): stages in the evolution of an extreme leaf-eating specialization. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29, 981992. Louys, J., Travouillon, K.J., Bassarova, M. & Tong, H. 2009. The use of natural protected areas in palaeoecological analyses: assumptions, limitations and application. Journal of Archaeological Science 36, 2274-2288. Louys, J. 2008. Quaternary extinctions in Southeast Asia. In Elewa AMT (ed) Mass Extinction. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 159-189. Louys, J. 2007. Limited effect of the Quaternary’s largest super-eruption (Toba) on land mammals from Southeast Asia. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 3108-3117. Louys, J., Curnoe, D. & Tong, H. 2007. Characteristics of Pleistocene megafauna extinctions in Southeast Asia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 243, 152-173. West, J.A. & Louys, J. 2007. Differentiating bamboo from stone tool cut marks in the zooarchaeological record, with a discussion on the use of bamboo knives. Journal of Archaeological Science 34, 512-518. Louys, J., Black, K., Archer, M., Hand, S. & Godthelp, H. 2007. Descriptions of koala material from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland and its implications for Litokoala (Marsupialia, Phascolarctidae). Alcheringa 31, 99-110. Archer, M., Arena, D.A., Bassarova, M., Beck, R., Black, K., Boles, W.E., Brewer, P., Cooke, B.N., Crosby, K., Gillespie, A., Godthelp, H., Hand, S.J., Kear, B., Louys, J, Morrell, A., Muirhead, J., Roberts, K.K., Scanlon, J.D., Travouillon, K.T. & Wroe, S. 2006. Current status of species-level representation in faunas from selected fossil localities in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa Special Issue 1, 1-17. Andrew Rozefelds recently commenced work as Head of Geosciences at the Queensland Museum. He is currently settling into the new role and is keen to recommence work on Tertiary and Mesozoic Floras. While at the Tasmanian Museum

32

he completed, with Anne Warren from La Trobe University and Stuart Bull from the Department of Geology, University of Tasmania, descriptions of the first dicynodont from Tasmania. Temnospondyls from the same locality were referred to Bothriceps australis. Other papers are in prep on a review of the Triassic faunas of Tasmania. Publications: Duretto M., van Breda C., Rozefelds A.C. Young C., 2011. Kanunnah Vol 4. (Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart) Rozefelds, A.C., Warren, A. 2011. Lepidostrobus muelleri Johnston is a skull fragment of a temnospondyl amphibian. Alcheringa 35(3), 459-462. Rozefelds, A.C., Warren, A, Whitfield, A., Bull, S. 2011. New evidence of Triassic dicynodonts from Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 31(5), 11581162. Squires D., Rozefelds 2011. Michael J Clarke collections, from the geological survey of Tasmania, are transferred to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Alcheringa 35(3), 467-468. Warren, A., Rozefelds, A.C., Bull S. 2011. Tupilakosaur-like Vertebrae in Bothriceps Australia, an Australian bracyopid stereospondyl. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 31(4), 738-753. Susan Turner (Geoscience Consultant) is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Geosciences at Monash University, an Honorary Research Fellow of Queensland Museum Geosciences, and Honorary Research Associate of the New Brunswick Museum, Canada. In the last few years she has worked as a scientific editor for the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences Acta Geologica Sinica and since mid-2010 for University of Beijing’s Geoscience Frontiers. Sue is working on Palaeozoic and Mesozoic fish, especially cartilaginous ones, as well as a few ‘higher’ vertebrates in Australia and internationally. Since 2009 she has concentrated mainly on fossil sharks especially Silurian and Devonian early sharks, Carboniferous (with Carole Burrow) and Triassic xenacanth sharks in Australia, the first Jurassic shark in Australia (collected by Steve Avery), fish kills and mass death of fishes, including the possible lahar site at Atholville, New Brunswick. In 2011 she has researched collections in London (NHM), Philadelphia (Academy of Natural Sciences) and Harrisburg PA State Museum). In June she attended and presented at the 12th Early/Lower Vertebrates meeting at Dallas, Texas and the field trip to Permian vertebrates sites. In mid-2011 she was awarded a grant to work again at the Natural History Museum in London for 2 months. This has brought her back to work on Ordovician–Devonian thelodonts and other fish microfossils especially from UK but also Australia, Canada, Iran, USA and new material from North Africa and Turkey. Sue also researches history of geological collectors and collections; in 2010 she published a history of women in the ‘saurian’ world and she continues to consider women in palaeontology. With Carole Burrow and other colleagues, she finished a major review of work on conodonts to support the hypothesis that they are NOT vertebrates (see publications), which is receiving much interest on www.Academia.edu. Publications (pre-2011, see www.paleodeadfish.com): Turner, S., Burrow, C.J. Schultze, H.-P. Blieck, A. R.M., Reif, W.-E., Bultynck, P.B., Rexroad, C. & Nowlan, G.S. 2010. Conodont-vertebrate phylogenetic relationships revisited. Geodiversitas, 32 (4), 545-594. http://www.mnhn.fr/museum/front/medias/publication/31374_g2010n4a1.pdf

33

Blieck A, Turner S, Burrow C J, Schultze H-P, Rexroad C B, Bultynck, P.B., & Nowlan, G.S. 2010. Fossils, histology, and phylogeny: why conodonts are not vertebrates. Episodes, Vol. 33, N° 4, December 2010, p. 234-241. Turner, S. & Burrow, C.J. 2011. A Lower Carboniferous xenacanthiform shark from Queensland, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31, 241-257. //dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2011.550359 Turner, S. 2011. Beautiful One day; Perfect the Next! 19th–early 20th century geological collectors and collecting in the Great State of Queensland. HOGG Geological Collectors & Collecting, Poster Abstracts, April 4-5, Natural History Museum, London, p. 17. Turner, S. & Burrow, C.J. 2011. Mississippian fish assemblage from the Ducabrook Formation, central Queensland: palaeoenvironment and taphonomy. CAVEPS 2011, Perth WA. April, Abstract for poster. Turner, S. 2011. Tracking Trackmakers: A Brief History of Dinosaur Ichnology in Australia. In: HOGG, Dinosaurs, Their Kith And Kin: a historical perspective. May 3-6, 2011, SGF & MNHN, Paris, Poster Abstracts, p. 30. Turner, S. 2011. Dinosaurs and Lost Dreams: the von Huene–Longman story. In: HOGG Dinosaurs, their Kith and Kin: a historical perspective. May 3-6, 2011, SGF & MNHN, Paris, Abstracts, p. 32. Turner, S. 2011. Australia's first fossil fish is still missing! Geological Curator, 9, no. 5, 285-290. online Maisey, J., Miller, R.F. & Turner, S. 2011. Earliest intact chondrichthyan dentition revealed by CT scanning. In: Johnson, G. ed. 12th International Symposium on Early/Lower Vertebrates. Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas June 11-14, 2011. Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 12, xx-x. Turner, S. 2011. The survivors: Triassic xenacanthiform sharks in Australia. In: Johnson, G. ed. 12th International Symposium on Early/Lower Vertebrates. Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas June 11-14, 2011. Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 12, 49-50. Schultze, H.-P., Blieck, A. Burrow, C.J. & Turner, S. 2011 Histology and the phylogenetic and systematic position of Conodonts. In: ISPH 2011, July 18-20, Sabadell 1p. Turner, S. 2011. Review of Fossils Alive! or New Walks in an Old Field, by Trewin, N.H. (2008). The Palaeontological Association Newsletter no. 77, p. 81.

University of Queensland, St Lucia Geoffrey Playford (School of Earth Sciences) is working on several Palaeozoic research topics. These include Upper Devonian-Mississippian palynostratigraphy of the northern Brazilian basins of Amazonas, Parnaíba, and Solimões, while based 6-7 months per year at the Petrobras Research Centre in Rio de Janeiro, in association with José Henrique Gonçalves de Melo (Petrobras/Cenpes) and Leonardo Borghi (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro); and mid-Upper Devonian palynology of the Canning Basin, Western Australia. In the first semester of 2012, he is looking forward to resuming collaboration with Reed Wicander (Central Michigan University) during the latter’s third sabbatical visit to the University of Queensland.

34

Mississippian (Tournaisian) palynomorphs from the Longá Formation, Parnaíba Basin, northern Brazil. A, Verrucosisporites nitidus; B, Knoxisporites hederatus; C, Maranhites brasiliensis (recycled from Devonian). Scale bars = 20 µm.

Publications, 2010 Playford, G. & Melo, J.H.G. 2010. Morphological variation and distribution of the Tournaisian (Lower Mississippian) miospore Waltzispora lanzonii Daemon, 1974. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Abhandlungen 256, 183-193. González, F., Moreno, C. & Playford, G. 2010. Palaeopalynological plagiarism: a case involving the Devonian–Carboniferous of the Iberian Pyrite Belt, South Portuguese Zone. Palaeontographica, Abteilung B 283 (1-3), 1-4. ********************************************************************

SOUTH AUSTRALIA School of Biological Sciences Flinders University of South Australia Upcoming Events Flinders University will host the next Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics (CAVEPS) in July 2013. Gavin Prideaux has been working on a new ARC-funded project in 2011 (with collaborators Peter Ungar, Linda Ayliffe, Matt Skinner, Alistair Evans and Natalie Warburton). This is examining the evolution and ecology of marsupial herbivores over the past 25 million years, concentrating particularly on tracking changes in taxon diversity, diet, body size and locomotory capabilities. Several methods are being used including microwear, microCT, microstructural and 3D topographic analysis of teeth as well as functional morphological analyses. To date the main focus for Gavin and Research Assistant Grant Gully has been on collecting dental impressions for microwear analysis, to be undertaken in Peter Ungar’s lab at the University of Arkansas in October 2011. In addition, the National Geographic-funded expedition to the Nullarbor Thylacoleo Caves in August 2011 was a great success, and resulted in a much larger vertebrate fossil sample from the Early Pleistocene levels in Leaena’s Breath Cave. The rich and diverse assemblage of mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs has yet to be fully analysed, but is emerging as an arid-zone equivalent of the Naracoorte Caves of south eastern South Australia. Publications

35

Macken, A. C., Jankowski, N. R., Price, G. J., Bestland, E. A., Reed, E. H., Prideaux, G. J. & Roberts, R. G. 2011. Application of sedimentary and chronological analyses to refine the depositional context of a Late Pleistocene vertebrate deposit, Naracoorte, South Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 2690–2702. Warburton, N. M., Harvey, K. J., Prideaux, G. J. & O’Shea, J. E. 2011. Functional morphology of the forelimb of living and extinct tree-kangaroos (Diprotodontia: Macropodinae). Journal of Morphology online 31 May 2011 Laurance, W. F., Dell, B., Turton, S. M., Lawes, M. J., Hutley, L. B., McCallum, H., Dale, P., Bird, M. I., Hardy, G., Prideaux, G. J., Gawne, B., McMahon, C. R., Yu, R., Hero, J.-M., Schwarzkopf, L., Krockenberger, A., Douglas, M., Silvester, E., Mahony, M., Vella, K., Saikia, U., Wahren, C.-H., Xu, Z., Smith, B. & Cocklin, C. 2011. The ten Australian ecosystems most vulnerable to tipping points. Biological Conservation 144, 1472–1480. Prideaux, G. J., Gully, G. A., Couzens, A. M., Ayliffe, L. K., Jankowski, N. R., Jacobs, Z., Roberts, R. G., Hellstrom, J. C., Gagan, M. K. & Hatcher, L. M. 2010. Timing and dynamics of Late-Pleistocene mammal extinctions in southwestern Australia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, 22157– 22162. Megirian, D., Prideaux, G. J., Murray, P. F. & Smit, N. 2010. An Australian land mammal age biochronological scheme. Paleobiology 36, 658–671. Prideaux, G. J. & Warburton, N. M. 2010. An osteology-based appraisal of the phylogeny and evolution of kangaroos and wallabies (Macropodidae, Marsupialia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 159, 954–987. Rod Wells continues in ‘retirement’ his studies of the Australian megafauna. His current research focusses on (1) the Plio-Pleistocene faunas of the Lake Eyre Basin, particularly sites along Cooper’s Creek and the Warburton River. This is a continuing study, carried out over many years in collaboration with the late Dr Richard Tedford of the American Museum of Natural History. (2) The Pleistocene faunas of the alluvial fans flanking the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges. This research is in collaboration with Dr Aaron Camens, and (3) the anatomical reconstruction of individual megafauna species. Rod is also currently working on a monograph on Thylacoleo in collaboration with Dr Peter Murray of the Northern Territory Museum, Australia. Publications Forbes, M.S., Kohn, M.J., Bestland, E.A. & Wells, R.T. 2010. Late Pleistocene environmental change interpreted from δ13C and δ18O of tooth enamel from the Black Creek Swamp Megafauna site, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 291, 319–327 Camens, A. B. & Wells, R.T. 2010. Palaeobiology of Euowenia grata (Marsupialia: Diprotodontinae) and its presence in northern South Australia. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 17, 3–19. Grant Gully is a Research Assistant in the Flinders University Palaeontology Laboratory. His current primary responsibilities revolve around data collection and collation of marsupial adaptations to increasing aridity and applying this to the reconstruction and interpretation of Australian palaeoenvironments. When he’s not doing this he curates the labs fossil collection and has a burgeoning interest in evolutionary and ecological Complex Adaptive Systems. Publications

36

Prideaux, G. J., Gully, G. A., Couzens, A. M., Ayliffe, L. K., Jankowski, N. R., Jacobs, Z., Roberts, R. G., Hellstrom, J. C., Gagan, M. K. & Hatcher, L. M. 2010. Timing and dynamics of Late-Pleistocene mammal extinctions in southwestern Australia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, 22157– 22162. Aaron Camens finished his PhD, involving the phylogenetic and biomechanical analysis of the Diprotodontidae, at the University of Adelaide in June 2010. His current research interests focus on the systematics, behaviour, palaeobiology and palaeoecology of the extinct Australian megafauna. Since 2006, Aaron has taken part in palaeontological excavations in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory of deposits spanning the last 25 million years. He has also been involved in field work further abroad including Miocene sites in New Zealand and Holocene sites in Madagascar. He has participated in a range of projects including the description of (i) the palaeobiology and functional morphology of several extinct marsupial taxa, (ii) the oldest known fossil mammal trackways in Australia, (iii) some of the youngest extinct megafaunal fossils discovered from Tasmania and (iv) the most speciose and best preserved Australian megafaunal fossil trackways from the Victorian Volcanic Plains. Aaron is currently investigating late Pleistocene vertebrate trackways in the Bridgewater Formation and Tamala Supergroup spanning much of the Western Australian, South Australian and Victorian coastline. He is also pursuing investigations involving the late-surviving megafauna of Tasmania and the possibility of retrieving protein sequences from Australian megafaunal fossils. Publications Carey, S. P., Camens, A.B., Cupper, M.L., Grün, R., Hellstrom, J.C., McKnight, S.W., McLennan, I., Pickering, D.A., Trusler, P. & Aubert, M. 2011. A diverse Pleistocene marsupial trackway assemblage from the Victorian Volcanic Plains, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 591–610. Camens, A. B. 2010. Were early Tertiary monotremes really all aquatic? Inferring paleobiology and phylogeny from a depauperate fossil record. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, E12. Camens, A. B. & Wells, R.T. 2010. Palaeobiology of Euowenia grata (Marsupialia: Diprotodontinae) and its presence in northern South Australia. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 17, 3–19. Thesis Camens, A. B. 2010. Systematic and palaeobiological implications of postcranial morphology in the Diprotodontidae (Marsupialia). PhD Thesis, University of Adelaide. Popular science Camens, A. B. 2010. The OTHER fossil record: Tracking Australian mammals through the ages. In "Fossil Hunters 2: Stories from the Palaeontologists." (M. Madigan, Mikkelsen, S., Ed.), pp. 47–55. South Australian Museum, Adelaide. Camens, A.B. 2010. Tracking megabeasts in southern Australia, in: The Australian Geologist (TAG), pp. 34–36. Matt McDowell is completing a PhD under the supervision of Drs Gavin Prideaux and Liz Reed. He is examining how the vertebrate fauna of Kangaroo Island responded to climate change and isolation during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. His primary excavation site is in K1 Cave (Kelly Hill Caves complex), but he has also

37

reviewed the Seton Rockshelter assemblage and presented his findings at CAVEPS 2011. Matt also maintains an interest in late Holocene/pre-European fossil accumulations. He is investigating two assemblages from southern Yorke Peninsula to determine their age, faunal composition and implications for Natural Resource Management. In addition, Matt has been accepted to give a presentation at the Ecological Society of Australia 2011 Annual Conference in the symposium titled “The importance of the past: the palaeoecological context of modern landscapes.” Publications Start, T. Burbidge, A. A., McDowell, M. C. & McKenzie, N. L. In press. The status of non-volant mammals along a rainfall gradient in the south-west Kimberley, Western Australia. Australian Mammalogy. Baynes, A. & McDowell, M. C. 2010. The original mammal fauna of the Pilbara biogeographic region of north-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 78, 285–298. Rachel Correll is completing a PhD under the supervision of Drs Gavin Prideaux, Mike Gardner and Duncan Mackay. Her project is investigating determinants of geographic body size variation within nine Australian mammal species by correlating skull and dental measurements (proxy indicators for body size) with climatic variables. She has collected measurements from 6300 specimens housed in Australian museums and obtained data on temperature, rainfall, evapotranspiration and vegetation index from the Bureau of Meteorology. With data collection now complete, multiple linear regression models are currently being developed to explain variation in body size. Rachel’s aim is to identify which climatic and/or environmental factor(s) are most responsible for determining intraspecific body size patterns in Australian mammal species, a fundamental, yet poorly understood aspect of their biology. Publications Price, M.V. & Correll, R.A. 2001. Depletion of seed patches by Merriam's kangaroo rats: Are GUD assumptions met? Ecology Letters 4, 334–343. Amy Macken is continuing her PhD research under the supervision of Drs Liz Reed and Gavin Prideaux. She is studying the small mammal faunas of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene from the Naracoorte Caves in south eastern South Australia. Her research aims to provide a long term baseline of small mammal diversity, population and community variability and environmental thresholds to assist the management and conservation of vulnerable species into the future. In 2010, Amy presented her Honours research into mammal responses to climate change associated with the last interglacial from the Naracoorte Caves at the Ecological Society of Australia’s (ESA) annual conference. She also presented preliminary results from her PhD research at the 2010 conference and will present further results at the upcoming ESA 2011 conference in a symposium titled: “The importance of the past: ecological perspectives of modern landscapes.” Publications Macken, A. C., Jankowski, N. R., Price, G. J., Bestland, E. A., Reed, E. H., Prideaux, G. J. & Roberts, R. G. 2011. Application of sedimentary and chronological analyses to refine the depositional context of a Late Pleistocene vertebrate deposit, Naracoorte, South Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 2690–2702.

38

Aidan Couzens moved to Adelaide from Perth in March 2011 to start a PhD under the supervision of Dr Gavin Prideaux. In addition to starting his PhD, he has also been finalising a paper from his Honours which examines the use of cave charcoal records to infer Pleistocene fire history. He presented an outline of this work at the CAVEPS conference in Perth in April 2011. Aidan’s PhD thesis will investigate dental adaptations to Late Cenozoic dietary change amongst Diprotodontoid and macropodid herbivores. To accomplish this he is utilising conventional absorption and synchrotron microcomputed tomography to evaluate dental evolution at whole crown and microstructural levels. Although adaptation is a central theme, Aidan is particularly interested in how evolutionary constraints channel patterns of morphological evolution. Aidan is also President of the Flinders University Palaeontology Society. Publications Prideaux, G. J., Gully, G. A., Couzens, A. M., Ayliffe, L. K., Jankowski, N. R., Jacobs, Z., Roberts, R. G., Hellstrom, J. C., Gagan, M. K. & Hatcher, L. M. 2010. Timing and dynamics of Late-Pleistocene mammal extinctions in southwestern Australia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107, 22157– 22162. Sam Arman completed an Honours degree in 2011 under the supervision of Drs Gavin Prideaux and Liz Reed, investigating Pleistocene vertebrate scratch marks in Tight Entrance Cave, Western Australia. A number of actualistic trials were undertaken to assist in determining the species and likely behaviours responsible for the scratches. To assist in interpretation of the past cave environment, a cave survey and taphonomic analysis of modified bones deposited in the chamber were also undertaken. The results found are currently in preparation for publication and were presented at CAVEPS 2011. Sam is now in the initial stages of a PhD under Gavin Prideaux and Peter Ungar looking at microwear of large herbivores from southern Australia. As well as inferring the diets of extant and extinct herbivores during this period, he hopes to reconstruct past environments, plant-herbivore interactions and niche partitioning among herbivores. Alongside his formal research Sam is looking at the utilisation of GIS, surveying and geophysical techniques to assist in interpreting fossil localities. Sam is also secretary of the Flinders University Palaeontology Society. The Society is currently working with Aaron Camens and Rod Wells to investigate mid-Pleistocene vertebrate deposits of the mid north of South Australia. Publications (Thesis) Arman, S. 2011. Documentation and Interpretation of vertebrate scratch marks in Tight Entrance Cave, Western Australia. BSc. Hons. Thesis, Flinders University. Qamariya Nasrullah is currently undertaking an Honours project of a phylogenetic study on an extinct group of kangaroos (sthenurines) under the supervision of Drs Gavin Prideaux and Michael Schwarz. Her project focuses on post cranial morphology which has underrated diagnostic potential, useful for resolving phylogenies of fossil taxa. She attended the 2011 CAVEPS conference in Perth earlier this year, and excavated for Diprotodon fossils recently in Burra. She plans to publish her Honours project results at the end of the year, develop a key for identifying macropodid post cranial material to improve accessibility of fossil collections and begin a PhD in mid-2012 related to marsupial phylogenetics and taxonomy.

39

James Moore is in the final year of his Bachelor’s degree and anticipates launching straight into Honours in 2012. James hopes to investigate the taphonomic signatures of Australian mammalian carnivores preserved in cave assemblages, with Drs Liz Reed and Gavin Prideaux. In 2010, James worked with Dr Liz Reed and Steve Bourne on a project to document and analyse the taphonomy of a Pleistocene predator fossil assemblage from Naracoorte. He presented this work at CAVEPS in April 2011 as an oral paper. Carey Burke is working on the construction of Thylacoleo skeletons for Museum Victoria and the visitor centre of a Western Australian cave system. He is also producing casts of various iconic specimens from the Flinders University Laboratory Collection for research and sale through the South Australian Museum. In 2010, Carey began construction of the Bone Box, an information and resource package for schools. Carey was also involved in the August 2011 Nullarbor expedition led by Dr Gavin Prideaux.

South Australian Museum, Adelaide The Palaeontology section has been fully occupied over the past year. Besides participation in the Museum’s Palaeontology Week activities, staff have continued their researches on the Ediacaran Assemblage in the Flinders Ranges, the early Cambrian Emu Bay lagerstatten of Kangaroo Island, and various vertebrate problems. Richard Jenkins continues to promote the ‘protochordate’, numerous specimens of which have been found over the past few years, against the disbelief of some entrenched reviewers. Mike Lee, Jim Jago, Jim Gehling and others published on some exquisitely preserved arthropod compound eyes from Emu Bay in Nature, vol. 474, 631-634. Other papers on the Emu Bay Shale lagerstatte were published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, vol. 58. Mike Lee and Trevor Worthy (UNSW) effectively refuted the proposed down-grading of Archaeopteryx as the oldest bird, in a review of the evidence in Biology Letters October 26, 2011. Neville Pledge reports that the past year has seen slow progress on a number of projects. The preparation and cleaning of a skeleton of squalodont whale, collected over a period until 2002, has continued spasmodically due to ad hoc working conditions (mostly done at home), the fragile nature of the bones, and access to required chemicals. Most of the skull has now been isolated, and is being processed, after being on temporary display for Palaeontology Week at the South Australian Museum earlier this year. Negotiations are ongoing for a collaboration with Erich Fitzgerald (Museum Victoria) to expedite this preparatory work, and produce a comprehensive description of the fossil, which seems to be one of the best of its type so far found in Australia. Description of an opalised astragalus (ankle bone) referrable to the unique opalised tibia (shin bone) of South Australia’s only described dinosaur, Kakuru kujani Molnar & Pledge, is undergoing revision with Dr Ralph Molnar, formerly Queensland Museum. New material of Ektopodon stirtoni has been described and is awaiting new figures for publication. Publications:

40

Lee, M.S.Y., Jago, J.B., Garcia-Bellido, D.C., Edgecombe, G.D., Gehling, J.G. & Patterson, J.R. 2011. Modern optics in exceptionally preserved eyes of Early Cambrian arthropods from Australia. Nature 474: 631—634. Lee, M.S.Y. & Worthy, T.H. 2011. Likelihood reinstates Archaeopteryx as a primitive bird. Biology Letters, published online. Pledge, N.S. 2010. The Telford “Cetothere” (Cetacea: Mysticeti: Cetotheridae). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 134 (2): 158–163. Pledge, N.S. 2010. A new koala (Marsupialia: Phascolarctidae) from the late Oligocene Etadunna Formation, Lake Eyre Basin, South Australia. Australian Mammalogy 32: 79–86. Pierre Kruse continues his sizable project on Flinders Ranges archaeocyaths, in collaboration with Françoise Debrenne (ex Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France), based on measured sections at Ajax Mine and Wirrealpa Mine. He is also involved in a three-year (2010-2012) Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) project entitled ‘Palaeobiogeographical study of the Perigondwanan margin during the Ediacaran and Cambrian: sedimentological, biostratigraphical, biogeographical and geochemical analyses in areas of the Iberian Peninsula and SE Australia’. Within this project he is collaborating with Elena Moreno-Eiris and Antonio Perejon (both Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain) variously on archaeocyaths from the White Point Conglomerate of Kangaroo Island, SA, and on cryptic archaeocyaths of the basal Pedroche Formation within undersea andesite caves at Las Ermitas, Spain. To further these projects, Pierre spent June-August 2011 in Paris and Madrid, and also took the opportunity to revive his collaborative work with Joachim Reitner (Georg August University) on middle Cambrian sponge reefs of the Daly and Georgina Basins during a visit to Göttingen, Germany. He presented a joint talk on the White Point Conglomerate archaeocyaths at the 11th Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria and Porifera in Liège, Belgium. Joint contributions on Archaeocyatha, Radiocyatha and Cribricyatha (with Françoise Debrenne and Andrey Zhuravlev) to a forthcoming Porifera volume of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology continue to creep through proof stages.

University of Adelaide Brian McGowran (Earth & Environmental Sciences) reports some busy writing and some editorial delays, but no actual publications since the previous communication.

University of South Australia Jim Jago is continuing to work on the Cambrian trilobites of Tasmania, South Australia and Antarctica. Current projects include a late middle Cambrian fauna from Christmas Hills, Tasmania with Chris Bentley and a late Cambrian fauna from the south coast of Tasmania with John Laurie. A recently completed paper (with Chris Bentley and Roger Cooper) on a late middle Cambrian fauna containing Centropleura from northern Victoria Land, Antarctica will appear in AAP Memoir CambroOrdovician Studies 4”. In the last four years a lot of time has gone into the Big Gully biota, a Burgess Shale type fauna from Kangaroo Island. Workers on this project

41

include Mike Lee, Jim Gehling, John Paterson, Greg Edgecombe, Diego GarciaBellido, Glenn Brock and Jim Jago. This project has been supported by an ARC Collaborative Grant with Beach Energy as the industry partner. Other projects include sedimentology of the Lake Frome Group (with C. Gatehouse and T. Casey), the stratigraphy of the Kanmantoo Group (with J. Gum, A. Burtt and P. Haines), Neoproterzoic diamictites of Tasmania and South Australia (with N. Direen) and the history of geology (with B. Cooper). Publications: Gehling, J.G., Jago, J.B., Paterson, J.R., Garcia-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2011. The geological context of the Lower Cambrian (Series 2) Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte and adjacent stratigraphic units, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 58, 243-257. Hall, P.A., Mckirdy, D.M., Halverson, G.P., Jago, J.B. & Gehling, J.G. (in press), Biomarker and isotopic signatures of an early Cambrian Lagerstätte in the Stansbury Basin, South Australia. Organic Geochemistry. Jago, J.B. & Bentley, C.J. 2010. Geological significance of middle Cambrian trilobites from near Melba Flat, western Tasmania. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 57, 469-481. Jago, J.B., Bentley, C.J. & Cooper, R.A. (in press). A Cambrian Series 3 (Guzhangian) fauna with Centropleura from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Memoir. Jago, J.B & Cooper, B.J. 2011. The Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte: a history of investigations. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 58, 235-241. Jago, J.B., Gatehouse, C.G., Powell, C. Mca., Casey, T. & Alexander, E.M. 2010. The Dawson Hill Member of the Grindstone Range Sandstone in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 134, 115124. Lee, M.S.Y., Jago, J.B., Garcia-Bellido, D.C., Edgecombe, G.D., Gehling, J.G. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. Modern optics in exceptionally preserved early Cambrian arthropod eyes from Australia. Nature 474, 631-634. Mckirdy, D.M., Hall, P.A., Nedin, C., Halverson, G.P., Michaelson, B.H., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G., & Jenkins, R.J.F. 2011. Paleoredox status and thermal alteration of the lower Cambrian (Series 2) Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 58, 259-272. Ortega-Hernandez, J., Braddy, S.J., Jago, J.B. & Baillie, P.W. 2010. A new aglaspidid arthropod from the Upper Cambrian of Tasmania. Palaeontology 53, 1065-1076. Paterson, J.R., Edgecombe, G.D., Garcia-Bellido, D.C., Jago, J.B. & Gehling, J.G. 2010. Nektaspid arthropods from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Lagerstätte, South Australia, with reassessment of lamellipedian relationships. Palaeontology 53, 377-402.

Morgan Goodall Palaeo Pty Ltd, Maitland Morgan Palaeo Associates has morphed into Morgan Goodall Palaeo Pty Ltd and now has 13 associates servicing the oil and gas industry in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Major workloads include Late Cretaceous to Early Jurassic PNG rigsite jobs, North West Shelf Triassic to mid Cretaceous, and Queensland Jurassic and Permian Coal Seam Gas work. Major research initiatives are in improving resolution in the PNG Middle Jurassic, North West Shelf Triassic, and Queensland

42

non-marine Middle Jurassic. Publications on all these areas are in progress. The group also undertakes sequence stratigraphic studies and basin analysis to develop petroleum systems predictive models. ********************************************************************

VICTORIA Museum Victoria, Melbourne Tom Rich has been engaged in scanning the best preserved Cretaceous mammals of Victoria for both archival and research purposes. At present his research efforts in this area are focused on lower jaws of the monotreme Teinolophos, one of which is far more complete than any previously found and a specimen of two worn and broken upper tribosphenic molars that despite these drawbacks has attracted the attention of seven co-investigators. Previously, no mammalian upper molars have been found in Cretaceous deposits of Victoria although more than forty-five mandibles of mammals have been collected from those rocks. Publications: Barrett, P., Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Tumanova, T.A., Inglis, M., Pickering, D., Kool, L. & Kear, B. 2010. Ankylosaurian dinosaur remains from the Early Cretaceous of southeastern Australia. Alcheringa 34, 205-217. Barrett, P., Benson, R. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2011. First spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia and the cosmopolitanism of Cretaceous dinosaur faunas. Biology Letters. Published online 21 June 2011. Doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0466. Benson, R.B.J., Barrett P.M., Rich, T.H., & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. First tyrant reptile from the southern continents. Science 327, 1613. Benson, R.B.J., Barrett P. M., Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Pickering, D., Holland, T. 2010. Response to Comment on "A Southern Tyrant Reptile". Science 329, 1013. Kellner, W.A., Rich, T.H., Costa, F.R., Vickers-Rich, P., Rich, L.S.V., Kear, B.P., Walters, M. & Kool, L. 2010. New isolated pterodactyloid bones from the Albian Toolebuc Formation (Western Queensland, Australia) with comments on the Australian pterosaur fauna. Alcheringa 34, 219-230. Rich, T.H., Galton, P.M. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. The holotype individual of the ornithopod dinosaur Leaellynasaura amicagraphica Rich & Rich 1989 (late Early Cretaceous, Victoria, Australia). Alcheringa 34, 385–396. Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. Pseudotribosphenic: The History of a Concept. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 48, 336-347. Trusler, P., Vickers-Rich P. & Rich, T.H. 2010. The Artist and the Scientists: Bringing Prehistory to Life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Woodward, H.N., Chinsamy, A., Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2011. Growth Dynamics of Australia’s Polar Dinosaurs. PLoS ONE 6(8):e2339. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023339. Rolf Schmidt is exploring the use of X-Ray Tomography to create 3D images of bryozoans colonies. This has already revealed previously unseen internal structures in recent colonies of the morphologically complex genus Siphonicytara. He is aiming to expand this into the fossil record, which may require the use of the Synchrotron to differentiate skeleton from rock. He is collaborating with overseas colleagues to image the internal structure of Palaeozoic bryozoans that can usually only be

43

examined using thin sections. He is also collaborating with Stephen Gallagher to investigate the varying palaeoecology of bryozoans from an off-shore drill core that covers the Oligocene glaciation events. Publication: Schmidt, R. & Bone, Y. (2007). Australian Cainozoic Bryozoa, 2: Bonellina gen. nov. (Calloporidae, Cheilostomata), a new free-living bryozoan. Alcheringa 31, 67-84 Fons VandenBerg now works 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) at Museum Victoria as an honorary associate, devoting his time to their large graptolite collection (to which he contributed a significant portion during his GSV mapping days).

Deakin University, Burwood Campus Guang Shi continues to work on Late Palaeozoic brachiopod faunas, biostratigraphy, biogeography and extinction patterns. He has recently commenced collaborating with colleagues from Argentina and Russia. Publications (2010-2011): Biakov, A.S. & Shi, G.R. 2010. Palaeobiogeography and palaeogeographical implications of Permian marine bivalve faunas in Northeast Asia (Kolyma– Omolon and Verkhoyansk–Okhotsk regions, northeastern Russia). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 298, 42-53. Gong, Y.M., Shi, G.R., Zhang, L.J. & Ma, H.Z. 2010. Zoophycos composite ichnofabrics and tiering from the Permian neritic facies in South China and southeastern Australia. Lethaia 43, 182-196. He, W.H., Twichett, R.J., Zhang, Y., Shi, G.R., Feng, Q.L., Yu, J.X., Wu, S.B., Peng, X.F., 2011. Controls on body size during the Late Permian mass extinction event. Geobiology 8, 309-412 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-4669.2010.00248.x). Lee, S.M., Choi, D.K. & Shi, G.R. 2010. Upper Carboniferous brachiopods from the Geumcheon-Jangseong Formation, Pyeongan, Pyeongan Supergroup, Taebaeksan Basin, Korea. Journal of Paleontology 84, 417-443. Pierson, R.R., Shi, G.R. & McCann, D.A. 2010. Bacchus Marsh Geology: Permian landforms and palaeontology, Unique Triassic sedimentary outcrop and Miocene coal mine  A Field Excursion Guide prepared for the 6th International Brachiopod Congress 1-5 February 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists Field Guide Series No. 2. Geological Society of Australia, 44 pp. Shen, S.Z., Cao, C. Q., Zhang, Y.C., Li, W.Z., Shi, G.R., Wang, Y., Wu, Y.S., Ueno, K., Henderson, C.M., Wang, X.D., Zhang, H., Wang, X.J. & Chen, J., 2010. A Permian-Triassic carbonate sequence in southwestern Tibet, China and implications of end-Permian mass extinction and early opening of the Neotethys. Global and Planetary Change 73(1-2), 3-14. Shi, G.R., Percival, I.G., Pierson, R.R. & Weldon, E.A. (editors). Program & Abstracts, 6th International Brachiopod Congress, 1-5 February 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Geological Society of Australia Abstracts No. 95, 129 pp. Shi, G.R. & Waterhouse. J.B., 2010. Late Palaeozoic global changes affecting highlatitude environments and biotas: an introduction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 298, 1-16. Shi, G.R. & Waterhouse, J.B. (Guest Editors) 2010. Environmental processes and biotic responses at high latitudes: a study of Late Palaeozoic sequences, biotas and

44

palaeoenvironmental changes in Gondwana and northern Eurasia. Special Issue Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 298(1-2), 1-174. Shi, G.R., Waterhouse, J.B. & McLoughlin, S. 2010. The Lopingian of Australasia: a review of biostratigraphy, correlations, palaeogeography and palaeobiogeography. Geological Journal 45, 230-263. Shi, G.R., Weldon, E.A., Percival, I.G., Pierson, R.R. & Laurie, J.R. (eds) 2011. Brachiopods: Extant and Extinct (Proceedings of the Sixth International Brachiopod Congress, 1-5 February, 2010, Melbourne, Australia). Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 366pp. Shi, G.R., Weldon, E.A. & Pierson, R.R. 2010. Permian stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeontology of the southern Sydney Basin, south-east Australia − A field excursion guide (2010 version) prepared for the 6th International Brachiopod Congress, 1-5 February 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Association of Australasian Palaeontologists Field Guide Series No. 1. Geological Society of Australia, 72 pp. Taboada, A. C. & Shi, G.R. 2011. Taxonomic review and evolutionary trends of Levipustulini and Absenticostini (Brachiopoda) from Argentina: Palaeobiogeographic and palaeoclimatic implications. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 87-114. Waterhouse. J.B. & Shi, G.R. 2010. Evolution in a cold climate. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 298, 17-30. Mark Warne has current research interests in the fields of ostracod taxonomy, environmental palaeoecology and late Cenozoic stratigraphy of SE Australia. Presently he has collaborations on various taxonomic studies with Professor Robin Whatley (University of Wales, Aberystwyth) and on modern continental shelf biodiversity with Dr Gary Poore (Museum Victoria). Current palaeontological research projects include: Studies on the systematic taxonomy of Cenozoic Ostracoda from Australia and the Southwest Pacific; Late Miocene to early Pleistocene stratigraphy, sedimentology and ostracod faunal cycles of the Bass Strait hinderland, southeast Australia; Mid Holocene to Recent coastal palaeoenvironments and ostracod assemblages of the Warrnambool and Port Fairy districts, southeast Australia. Publications: Warne, M.T. 2010. Review of Alataleberis McKenzie and Warne, 1986 and description of Alatapacifica gen. nov., (Ostracoda, Crustacea) from the Cenozoic of Australia. Alcheringa 34, 37-60. Warne, M.T. (in press - 2012). Record of the deep marine Clinocythereis australis Ayress and Swanson, 1991 (Ostracoda) from the late Miocene Tambo River Formation, Gippsland Basin, Australia: Palaeo-oceanographic and biostratigraphic implications. Alcheringa 36. Warne, M.T. & Soutar, B. 2011. Pliocene coastal palaeomorphology and ostracod faunas of the Bass Strait Hinterland, southeast Australia. Hydrobiologia doi: 10.1007/s10750-011-0777-2. Nick Porch continues his research into human impacts on island ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific. This research uses the recent fossil record of plants and insects to contextualise the impact of both prehistoric and recent human arrival on island biodiversity. It is demonstrating that a wide range of insects were extirpated following human settlement regardless of whether this was in prehistory (Polynesia) or more

45

recently (Mascarenes). Also there is ample evidence that humans translocated a large number of pest species including taxa that are ranked amongst the world's most destructive invasive insects. Publications: Byrne, M., Steane, D.A., Joseph, L., Yeates, D.K., Jordan, G.J., Crayn, D., Aplin, K., Cantrill, D.J., Cook, L.G., Crisp, M.D., Keogh, J.S., Melville, J., Moritz, C., Porch, N., Sniderman, J.M.K., Sunnucks, P. & P.H. Weston. 2011. Decline of a biome: evolution, contraction, fragmentation, extinction and invasion of the Australian mesic zone biota. Journal of Biogeography 38: 1635-1656. Rijsdijk, K.F., Zinke, J, de Louw, P.G.B., Hume, J.P., van der Plicht, H.(J.), Hooghiemstra, H., Meijer, H.J.M., Vonhof, H.B., Porch, N., Florens, F.B.V., Baider, C., van Geel, B., Brinkkemper, J., Vernimmen, T. & Janoo, A. 2011. MidHolocene (4200 kyr BP) mass mortalities in Mauritius (Mascarenes): Insular vertebrates resilient to climatic extremes but vulnerable to human impact. The Holocene, DOI: 10.1177/0959683611405236. Yichun Zhang is working on Late Palaeozoic foraminifers. His current study focuses on the following topics: (1) Carboniferous and Permian foraminifers in northern Tibet and their palaeobiogeographic implications. (2) Tectonic evolution of the Tibetan blocks: evidences from the Late Palaeozoic fossil record. (3) Size distribution patterns of Middle Permian fusulines in different latitude areas. (4) Quantitative analysis of Middle Permian fusuline palaeobiogeography using global fusuline database. Publications: Shen S.-z, Cao C.Q., Zhang Y.C., Li W.Z., Shi G.R., Wang Y., Wu Y.S., Ueno K., Henderson C.M., Wang X.D., Zhang H., Wang X.J. & Chen J. 2010. End-Permian mass extinction and palaeoenvironmental changes in Neotethys: evidence from an oceanic carbonate section in southwestern Tibet. Global and Planetary Change 73, 3-14. Shen S.-z, Henderson C.M., Bowring S.A., Cao C.Q., Wang Y., Wang W., Zhang H., Zhang Y.C. & Mu L., 2010. High-resolution Lopingian (Late Permian) timescale of South China. Geological Journal 45, 122-134. Wang Y., Ueno K., Zhang Y.C. & Cao C.Q. 2010. The Changhsingian foraminiferal fauna of a Neotethyan seamount: the Gyanyima limestone along the YarlungZangbo Suture in southern Tibet, China. Geological Journal 45, 308-318. Zhang, Y.-c, 2010. Late Middle Permian (Guadalupian) fusuline fauna from the Gyanyima area of Burang County, Tibet, China and its paleobiogeographic implications. Acta Palaeotologica Sinica 49, 231-250. Zhang, Y.-c, Cheng L.R. & Shen S.Z. 2010. Late Guadalupian (Middle Permian) Fusuline Fauna from the Xiala Formation in Xainza County, Central Tibet: Implication of the Rifting Time of the Lhasa Block. Journal of Paleontology 84, 955-973. Elizabeth (Liz) Weldon is currently working on the taxonomy, biogeography and palaeoecology of Permian brachiopods, bivalves and conulariids, principally from the southern Sydney Basin, eastern Australia. Liz is secretary of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists. Publication:

46

Shi, G.R., Weldon, E.A., Percival, I.G., Pierson, R.R. & Laurie, J.R. (eds), 2011 Brachiopods: extant and extinct – Proceedings of the Sixth International Brachiopod Congress, 1-5 February, 2010, Burwood, Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 366p. Roger Pierson maintains an interest in Gondwanan Permian palynology (and relict Permian landforms in Victoria, Australia). Publication: Shi, G.R., Weldon, E.A., Percival, I.G., Pierson, R.R. & Laurie, J.R. (eds), 2011 Brachiopods: extant and extinct – Proceedings of the Sixth International Brachiopod Congress, 1-5 February, 2010, Melbourne, Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41, 366p. Sangmin Lee is a PhD student working on Permian brachiopods from Spitsbergen and Alaska. He is also undertaking studies on micro-computed tomography (microCT) as applied to fossil brachiopods. Darren Hastie is a PhD student whose current research involves the study of the biodiversity and biogeography of Cenozoic shark fossil faunas in south east Australia. Through the use of taxonomy and chemical analysis an insight can be gained into the history of shark faunas and their environment to better understand current-day shark ecology. Wenzhong Li is a PhD student studying Permian brachiopods from several sections in south-eastern Mongolia. Publication: Shen S.-z, Cao C.Q., Zhang Y.C., Li W.Z., Shi G.R., Wang Y., Wu Y.S., Ueno K., Henderson C.M., Wang X.D., Zhang H., Wang X.J. & Chen J. 2010. End-Permian mass extinction and palaeoenvironmental changes in Neotethys: evidence from an oceanic carbonate section in southwestern Tibet. Global and Planetary Change 73, 3-14. Yang Zhang is a PhD student, working on the taxonomy of brachiopods and biostratigraphy of conodonts both before and after the Permian-Triassic boundary. He is also studying the evolution of shape and size of selected marine invertebrate faunas across the Permian-Triassic boundary mass extinction in South China. Michelle Guzel is a PhD student working on a mid-late Cretaceous ostracod fauna from northwest Australia and its palaeobiogeographic significance. Her paper “Jurassic and Early Cretaceous ostracods from Western Australia: what they reveal about evolution of the Indian Ocean” is about to be published in the International Year of Planet Earth Series, Earth and Life volume, edited by John A. Talent.

Monash University Patricia Vickers-Rich continues her work on the Ediacaran biota with an emphasis on that from Namibia which is the youngest Ediacaran assemblage known. This programme is a joint one with Mike Hall, David Elliott and Peter Trusler of Monash University, Guy Narbonne of Queens University, Ontario, and Andrey Ivantsov of the

47

Paleontological Institute, Moscow. Pat, Peter and Andrey are focusing much effort on understanding exactly what the enigmatic Rangea is. Peter, Pat together with Tom Rich have published The Artist and the Scientists: Bringing Prehistory to Life, Cambridge University Press. The book focuses on how the three of them worked together over three decades to produce a number of items of palaeoart. Pat heads the UNESCO International Geological Correlation Project IGCP587, The Rise and Fall of the Vendian (Ediacaran) Biota (www.geosci.monash.edu.au/precsite). She is also the Chair of the Australian IGCP Committee. She also is Director of the Monash Science Centre, where geosciences education to primary school kids has a priority (www.sciencecentre.monash.edu.au). Publications: Barrett, P.M., Benson, R.B.J., Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2011. First spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia and the cosmopolitanism of Cretaceous dinosaur faunas. Biology Letters doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0466. Barrett, P.M., Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Tumanova, T.A., Inglis, M., Pickering, D., Kool, L. & Kear, B.J. 2010. Ankylosaurian dinosaur remains from the Lower Cretaceous of southern Australia. Alcheringa 34, 205-217. Benson, R.B.J., Barrett, P.M., Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. A Southern Tyrant Reptile. Science 327(5973), 1613. Benson, R.B.J., Barrett, P.M., Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Pickering, D. & Holland, T. 2010. Response to Comment on “A Southern Tyrant Reptile”. Science 329(5995), 1013. Kear, B. P., Rich, T. H., Vickers-Rich, P., Ali, M.A., Al-Mufarrih, Y.A., Matari, A.H., Al-Masary, A.M. & Halawany, M.A. 2010. A review of aquatic vertebrate remains from the Middle-Upper Triassic Jihl Formation of Saudi Arabia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 122(1), 1-8. Kellner, A.W.A., Rich, T.H., Costa, F., Vickers-Rich, P., Kear, B.P., Walters, M. & Kool, M. 2010. New isolated pterodactyloid bones from the Albian Toolebuc Formation (western Queensland, Australia) with comments on the Australian pterosaur fauna. Alcheringa 34, 219-230. Kool, L., Glenie, R., Flannery, T., Long, J., Rich, T., Hall, M., Wagstaff, B., SeegetsVilliers, D., Pawley, K., Pickering, D., Muranyi, M., Cleeland, M., Walters, M. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. Dinosaur Dreaming: Exploring the Bass Coast of Victoria. Monash Science Centre, Australia. Martin, A.J., Rich, T.H., Hall, M., Vickers-Rich, P. & Vazquez-Prokopec, G. 2011. A polar dinosaur-track assemblage from the Eumeralla Formation (Albian), Victoria, Australia. Alcheringa doi: 10.1080/03115518.2011.597564. Rich, T.H., Galton, P.M. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. The holotype individual of the ornithopod dinosaur Leaellynosaura amicagraphica Rich and Rich, 1989 (late Early Cretaceous, Victoria, Australia). Aheringa 34, 386-396. Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2010. Pseudotribosphenic: The history of a concept. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 48(4), 337-349. Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Flannery, T.F., Pickering, D., Kool, L., Tait, A.M. & Fitzgerald, E.M.G. 2009. A fourth Australian Mesozoic locality. In Albright, L.B. III, ed. Papers on Geology, Vertebrate Paleontology, and Biostratigraphy in Honor of Michael O. Woodburne. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 65, Flagstaff, Arizona. Trusler, P., Vickers-Rich, P. & Rich, T.H. 2010. The Artist and the Scientists – Bringing Prehistory to Life. Cambridge University Press.

48

Vickers-Rich, P., Kozdroj, W., Kattan, F., Leonov, M., Ivantsov, A., Johnson, P.R., Linnemann, U., Hofmann, M., Al Garni, S., Al Qubsani, Shamari, A., Al Barakati, A., Al Kaff, M.H., Ziolkowska-Kozdroj, M., Rich, T., Trusler, P. & Rich, B. 2010. Reconnaissance for an Ediacaran fauna, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Geological Survey Technical Report SGA-TR-2010-8 Woodward H.N., Rich T.H., Chinsamy, A. & Vickers-Rich, P. 2011. Growth dynamics of Australia’s polar dinosaurs. PLoS ONE 6(8), e23339. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023339

Monash Applied Palaeontology and Basin Studies Group Profile Our research continues on systematic and applied palaeontology and basins with respect to predictability of petroleum-bearing facies, employing diverse, integrated methods in palaeontology and pure basic research on palaeo-equator to poles Cretaceous and Paleogene biotas and palaeoenvironments during the last major greenhouse phase of the Phanerozoic. Our current industry and institution portfolio includes Shell International, Shell Australia, Origin Energy, Cue Energy, Benaris Group, Geoscience Australia, University of Texas-Austin, National Geographic Society, Australian Research Council, among others. The last five years have seen a dramatic increase in research funding for the group of >$1 million and number of keen graduate students in the field, with completed projects in the South Atlantic (Brazil-W Africa), New Zealand-Chatham Islands, Antarctica, and many basins in Australia. And with it, many submitted confidential industry reports, peer-reviewed papers and monographs/books. A major book by Jeff Stilwell and co-author John Long (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County), entitled Frozen in Time: Prehistoric Life in Antarctica and published by CSIRO (248 pp., hardbound), is due out the 12th October, representing the first comprehensive account of the fossil record of Antarctica. Staff Roles and Expertise 2011 A./Prof. Jeffrey Stilwell (Chief Investigator and Leader) - Mesozoic-Cenozoic biostratigraphy, macro- and micropalaeontology, and palaeoenvironments Prof. Mike Hall - Basin Analysis and seismic interpretation Prof. Emer. Ray Cas - Volcanology, sedimentology and palaeoenvironments A./Prof. Alan Tait (Honorary Fellow) - Sedimentology and stratigraphy Dr Ray Bate (UK) – Ostracod biostratigraphy – external consultant and advisor Dr Alan Partridge (Biostrata Pty Ltd, Melbourne) - Palynomorph biostratigraphy – external consultant and advisor Dr Andre Coffa (Cue Energy Resources, Melbourne) - Petroleum geoscience – external consultant and advisor Dr Kath Grey (Honorary Research Fellow; Geological Survey, WA) - Microbialites, stromatolites, inter-tidal biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments Current PhD, MSc and Honours Students and Projects

49

Mr Hamed Aghaei (PhD) – ‘The Structural, Stratigraphic and Hydrocarbon Potential Evolution of the Onshore Gippsland Basin, Victoria, Australia’ Mr David Briguglio (PhD) – ‘Structural and Stratigraphic Evolution of the Onshore Otway Basin, Western Victoria’ Mr Tom Brougham (PhD) – ‘Paleozoic conodont biostratigraphy of Australia’ Mr James Driscoll (PhD) – ‘Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician sediments, northern Tasmania: An Analogue for the Development of Clastic Reservoirs’ Mr Amir Mahmud (PhD) – ‘Basin Evolution Of Upper Cambrian-Ordovician Sediments Exposed in West Coast Range Of Tasmania’ Mr Chris Mays (PhD) – ‘Mid-Cretaceous Greenhouse Environments and Floral Ecosystems of the South Polar Region (75-80°S): The Tupuangi Formation, Chatham Islands, Zealandia’ [dissertation submitted September 2011] Mr Stephen Poropat (PhD) – ‘Early Cretaceous Ostracoda of the Santos Basin, Brazil: Biostratigraphic Analysis and Palaeoenvironmental Interpretation of the PreSalt Strata’ [dissertation submitted May 2011] Ms Leonor Sorrentino-Mariconda (PhD) – Evolution and Facies Architecture of Paleogene Surtseyan Volcanoes: Red Bluff Tuff Formation, Chatham Islands, SW Pacific’ Mr Daniel Thompson (PhD) – ‘Coquinas as Reservoirs in the South Atlantic: improving predictability in the Pre-Salt of Brazil and W Africa’ Ms Shirin Seirafi (MSc Prelim.) – ‘Stratigraphic and Structural Evolution of a Neogene Fore-arc Basin, Eastern Pahiatua, North Island, New Zealand’ Mr Stephen Cox (Hons) – ‘Investigation of Palaeoenvironments Utilizing Basin Studies and Applied Ichnology within the Otway Basin, Victoria’ James Ell (Hons) – ‘Structural and Stratigraphic Characterization of Continental Break-up: the Otway Basin vs the Gippsland Basin’ Ms Shannon Herley (Hons) – ‘The Determination of Palaeoenvironments Employing Applied Ichnology and Basin Studies within the Offshore Otway Basin, Victoria’ Mr Bow Kocijan (Hons) – ‘Deformation Along the Taranaki Fault System: Regional Structural Framework of the Taranaki Fault System and Associated Hydrocarbon Plays Derived from Seismic Data, Well-log Data and Field Mapping’ Mr David Briguglio (Hons, H1, 2010) – ‘Stratigraphic Architecture of the Bass Basin – a Detailed Synthesis Employing Integrated Basin Structure and Applied Palaeontology’ Ms Joanna Kowalczyk (Hons, H1, 2010) – ‘Petroleum Prospectivity, Stratigraphy and Structural Architecture of the Southern Bass Basin: A Detailed Synthesis Employing Integrated Basin Studies and Applied Palaeontology’ Mr Luke Skidmore (Hons, H2, 2010) – ‘Early Cretaceous Arthropods of the Koonwarra Fossil Bed, Victoria: New Discoveries and Refined Taxonomic Interpretations’ Mr Seth Paddle (Hons, H1, 2010) – ‘Dead Clades Walking: The Losers in the Sprint for Recovery’ [Winner of Bruce Hobbs Medal]

50

RMIT University PO Box 2476, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Earth & Oceanic Systems Research Group Jessica Reeves continues to work with modern and subfossil ostracods. Recent research has focussed on differentiating the community response to a range of ecological impacts including changes in salinity, nutrient levels and heavy metal contaminants and how these may be differentiated in the sedimentary record. She is also co-coordinator of OZ-INTIMATE, integrating marine, terrestrial and ice cores records in the greater Australian region. This project will focus on filling in some of the spatial and temporal gaps we have in climate reconstructions of the past 30 ka. John Buckeridge ([email protected]) continues work on the palaeontology, palaeoecology and distribution of cirripedes. He is currently looking at systems used by marine invertebrates, especially cirripedes and poriferans, to withstand fluctuations in oceanic systems. New projects in conjunction with these include an assessment of deep-sea cirripedes with the British Antarctic Survey and New Zealand’s NIWA. Further field work, with Hamish Campbell (GNS), is planned for the Chatham Islands in early 2012. Jessica and John successfully re-introduced the teaching of palaeontology at RMIT through a field school in the second semester, 2010. The trip focused on the palaeoecology of the Palaeocene-Miocene, preserved in sequence along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road, with reference to Holocene and present conditions. Even though our first student cohort was small, student feedback has been very positive – with some of the best responses for any course at RMIT University in 2010. Publications: Buckeridge, J.S. 2011. Of trees, geese and cirripedes: man's quest for understanding. Integrative Zoology 6: 3-12. Buckeridge, J.S. 2011. Taphonomy and systematics of a new late Cretaceous verrucid barnacle (Cirripedia, Thoracica) from Canterbury, New Zealand. Palaeontology 53: 365-372. Buckeridge, J.S. 2011. 4 Es: Ethics, Engineering, Economics & Environment. 2nd Edition, Federation Press, Sydney. 127 pp. ISBN 978-1-86278-815-0. Buckeridge, J.S. 2010. Some biological consequences of environmental change: a study using barnacles (Cirripedia: Balanomorpha) and gum trees (Angiospermae: Myrtaceae). Integrative Zoology 5: 122-131. Buckeridge, J.S. 2010. Barnacles, biologists, bigots and natural selection… Confound and exterminate the whole tribe! Biology International 47: 5-10. Winkelmann, K., Buckeridge, J.S., Costa, A.C., Dionísio, M.A.M., Medeiros, A., Cachao, M. & Ávila, S.P. 2010. Zullobalanus santamariaensis sp. nov. a new late Miocene species of the family Archaeobalanidae (Cirripedia: Thoracica), from the Azores. Zootaxa 2680: 33-44. Buckeridge, J.S. 2010. Subclass Thecostraca. In W.R. Webber, G.D. Fenwick, J.M. Bradford-Grieve, S.H. Eagar, J.S. Buckeridge, G.C. Poore, E.W. Dawson, L. Watling, J.B. Jones, J.B. Wells, N.L. Bruce, S.T. Ahyong, K. Larsen, M.A. Chapman, J. Olesen, J. Ho, J.D. Green, R.J. Shiel, C.E. Rocha, A-N. Lörz, G.J. Bird, W.A. Charleston. Chapter 8. Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Crustacea shrimps, crabs, lobsters, barnacles, slaters, and kin. Gordon, D.P. (Ed.). The New 51

Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity Volume 2: 98-232. University of Canterbury Press, Christchurch, New Zealand. Reeves, J.M. (Ed.) 2010. Biodiversity research – Safeguarding the Future. Biology International special publication No. 48, 92 pp. ISSN 02532069. Reeves, J.M. & Cohen, T.C. 2010. OZ-INTIMATE. Quaternary Australasia 27: 2125. Reeves, J.M. 2010. The Barwon Estuary – see change? Proceedings of the Australasian Quaternary Association Biennial Meeting. 11-16th July, 2010, Stradbroke Island p. 10. ********************************************************************

WESTERN AUSTRALIA Tony Cockbain reports that he is waiting to move into the T rex home for retired palaeontologists. Maintaining an interest in palaeontology but appalled at how out of date I am. Truly an old fossil!

V & C Semeniuk Research Group, Warwick Over the past year, Vic Semeniuk, in collaboration with Chris Semeniuk and Joy Unno, within the V & C Semeniuk Research Group, continues to research Quaternary stratigraphic sequences and their fauna and flora in Western Australia along the coast and in wetlands, and develop Holocene and Pleistocene models for interpreting ancient sequences and climate and palaeoecology. In collaboration with Ian Percival and Barry Webby, Vic has commenced investigations with the objective to reconstruct palaeoenvironments and palaeoecology of the Ordovician limestones at Bowan Park and Cliefden Caves in central NSW. Vic has also commenced investigations with Barry Webby into the ultrastructure of stromatoporoids, their diagenesis, and the interactions between stromatoporoid and enclosing sediments. A paper on the subaerial alteration of Ordovician limestones of the Daylesford Limestone at Bowan Park, with description of remanie fossils along subaerial unconformities, and the control fossils have on microkarst development of these limestones, was published in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of NSW. Publications: Semeniuk V. 2010. A note on calcite precipitates as encrustations around sea rush roots and as microlaminae in high tidal zones of western Leschenault Inlet estuary. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 93, 195-199. Semeniuk V. 2011. Microkarst, palaeosols, and calcrete along subaerial disconformities in the Ordovician Daylesford Limestone, Bowan Park, central western New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of New South Wales 132, 187-220. Semeniuk V., Manolis C., Webb G.J.W. & Mawson P. 2011. The Saltwater Crocodile, Crocodylus porosus Schneider 1801, in the Kimberley coastal region. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 94, 407-416.

Geological Survey of Western Australia, Perth

52

Kath Grey continues work on Archean and Proterozoic acritarchs and stromatolites. Study of 3.4 Ga year old Strelley Pool Formation stromatolites continues and a description of the Trendall State Geoheritage Reserve and its stromatolites was published with Arthur Hickman and Martin Van Kranendonk. This included the first description of an axial zone (almost certainly a biogenic feature) from large conical stromatolites in the early Archean. Further work on axial zones is in progress with David Flannery, Malcolm Walter and Stan Awramik. Also in preparation is a publication on the proposed ‘Dawn of Life Trail’ south of Marble Bar. This year, a detailed inventory of stromatolites and other structures was made during the Spaceward Bound expedition organized jointly by the Mars Society and NASA. The information gathered will help determine whether the site is suitable for development as a geotourist trail that will allow the public to view some of the oldest fossils in the world and reduce pressure on key scientific sites, like the Trendall Geoheritage Reserve. Drillcore from near Wiluna contains the stromatolite Segosia finlaysoniensis, indicating correlation with the Bubble Well Member of the Juderina Formation, basal Yerrida Formation in the Yerrida Basin. The Lomagundi-Jatulian positive carbon isotope excursion (2.2-2.1 Ga) was recorded had previously from an outcrop of this stromatolite. The excursion is associated with evaporite deposition around the world and has been recognised globally. In North America, the excursion occurs in the Kona Dolomite. Juderina Formation and Kona Dolomite stromatolites are identical, so Segosia finalaysoniensis needs reassigning to Djulmekella. Studies of Neoproterozoic stromatolites and microfossils continued. Correlations based on integrated results from stromatolite biostratigraphy, palynology, and stable isotope analysis are holding up. Further work in the western Amadeus Basin has confirmed stromatolite distributions recognized during preliminary studies last year. Work continues with Stan Awramik on a ‘Microbialite Handbook’. Most of the illustrations have been compiled and the manuscript should be submitted in the next few months. A management plan for State Geoheritage Reserves was published. Approval is now needed to carry out any activities within a Reserve. Data capture continues both for a stromatolite database (now containing c.2000 records) and a broader database of all Western Australian fossils in the GSWA collection that will eventually contain some 14 000 records. A large number of outstanding fossil loans have been called in to meet requirements under federal legislation on fossil exports. The level of information and assistance provided to academics and industry remains high and covers a diversity of topics ranging from Archean stromatolites and microfossils, through Proterozoic biostratigraphy to modern microbialite environments. Retirement is looming after 40 years with GSWA, although it has been delayed until late 2012. It is hoped that most of the above projects will have been completed by then, although Kath plans to continue work on scientific projects once she has left GSWA. Publications: Note: Any papers published by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) are available free if you go to: www.dmp.wa.gov.au/gswapublications Use the DOWNLOAD button to obtain a .pdf file (download, print or both). All GSWA publications (>100 years worth) are available – just type in appropriate search criteria. Now you can get a digital copy of that obscure monograph published at the beginning of the 19th century!

53

Grey, K., Roberts, F.I., Freeman, M.J., Hickman, A.H., Van Kranendonk, M.J. & Bevan, A.W.R. 2010. Management plan for State Geoheritage Reserves. Geological Survey of Western Australia, Record 2010/13, 23p. Hickman, A.H., Van Kranendonk, M.J. & Grey, K. 2011. State Geoheritage Reserve R50149 (Trendall Reserve), North Pole, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia – geology and evidence for early Archean life. Geological Survey of Western Australia, Record 2011/10, 32p.

Curtin University, Perth Kate Trinajstic is working on the evolution of novel structures, soft-tissue preservation, palaeoenvironments and biostratigraphy of early-vertebrates from the Canning Basin, Western Australia. Current research interests have concentrated on the mechanism of soft tissue preservation within the Gogo fishes as part of a QEII Fellowship with Catherine Boisvert, Zerina Johanson, Moya Smith and Per Ahlberg and collaboration with Kliti Grice (Curtin Chemistry). Investigations into the histology and evolution of bone using synchrotron tomography continue with an international team at the European Synchrotron Facility Grenoble France. In addition I am one of the CIs on the ARC Discovery project ‘Origin of jaws - the greatest unsolved mystery of early vertebrate evolution’ (2010-2012) with John Long, Gavin Young, Carole Burrow, Zhu Min, Charlie Marshall and Tim Senden. Work continues on Upper Devonian biostratigraphy using both conodonts and microvertebrates in the Canning Basin as part of an ARC Linkage grant. The 13th Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution Palaeontology and Systematics, was held in Perth 27-30 April 2011, jointly hosted by Curtin University, the Western Australian Museum, Murdoch University and the University of Western Australia. Researchers, both international and national, spoke on a number of aspects of vertebrate evolution, including functional morphology, phylogeny, ecology and extinctions. Publications Aboglila S., Grice K., Trinajstic K., Snape C. & Williford K.H. 2011. The significance of 24-norcholestanes, 4-methylsteranes and dinosterane in oils and source-rocks from East Sirte Basin (Libya). Applied Geochemistry 26, 1694-1705. Aboglila, S., Grice, K., Trinajstic, K., Williford, K.H. & Dawson, D. 2010. Biomarker distributions and compound specific isotopes of carbon and hydrogen to delineate hydrocarbon characteristics in the East Sirte Basin (Libya). Organic Geochemistry 41, 1249-1258. Ahlberg, P.E, Trinajstic, K.M., Long, J.A. & Johanson, Z. 2009. Pelvic claspers confirm chondrichthyan-like internal fertilization in arthrodires. Nature 460, 888889. Burrow, C., Long, J. & Trinajstic, K. 2009. Disarticulated acanthodian and chondrichthyan remains from the upper Middle Devonian Aztec Siltstone, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Antarctic Science 21, 71-88. Choo, B., Long, J. & Trinajstic K. 2009. A new genus and species of basal actinopterygian fish from the Upper Devonian Gogo Formation of Western Australia. Acta Zoologica 90, 194-210. George, A.D., Chow, N. & Trinajstic, K. 2009. Syndepositional fault control on lower Frasnian platform evolution, Lennard Shelf, Canning Basin, Australia. Geology 37 (4), 331-334.

54

George, A, Chow, N. & Trinajstic, K.M. 2006. Reply to discussion on Tectonic control on development of a Frasnian-Famennian (Late Devonian) palaeokarst surface, Canning Basin reef complexes, northwestern Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Science 52, 666-669. George, A.D., Trinajstic, K.M. & Chow, N. 2009. Frasnian reef evolution and palaeogeography, SE Lennard Shelf, Canning Basin, Australia. In Late Devonian Paleogeography and Paleoecology. Geological Society of London Special Publication 314, 73-107. Long, J.A. & Trinajstic, K. 2010. The Late Devonian Gogo Formation Lägerstatten of Western Australia: Exceptional Early Vertebrate Preservation and Diversity. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences 38, 255-279. Long, J.A., Trinajstic, K.M. & Johanson, Z. 2009. Devonian arthrodire embryos and the origin of internal fertilization in vertebrates Nature 457, 1124-1127. Long, J.A., Trinajstic, K.M., Young, G. & Senden, T. 2008. Live birth in the Devonian. Nature 453, 651-653. Trinajstic, K., 2009. Polymorphism, variation and evolutionary change in early vertebrates from the Gogo Formation, Western Australia. In Brocx, M. (ed) Royal Society of Western Australia Symposium on Evolutionary Biology. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 92 (4), 155-160 Trinajstic, K. & Dennis Bryan, K., 2009. Phenotypic plasticity, polymorphism and phylogeny within placoderms. Acta Zoologica 90, 83-102. Trinajstic, K.M. & George, A.D. 2009. Microvertebrate biostratigraphy of Upper Devonian (Frasnian) carbonate rocks in the Canning and Carnarvon Basins of Western Australia. Palaeontology 52, 641-659. Trinajstic, K.M. & Hazelton, M. 2007. Ontogeny, phenotypic variation and phylogenetic implications of arthrodires from the Gogo Formation, Western Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 27, 571-583. Trinajstic, K.M. & Long, J.A. 2009. A new genus and species of Ptyctodont (Placodermi) from the Late Devonian Gneudna Formation, Western Australia, and an analysis of ptyctodont phylogeny. Geological Magazine 146(5), 743-760. Trinajstic, K., Marshall, C., Long, J. & Bifield, K. 2007. Exceptional preservation of nerve and muscle tissues in Devonian placoderm fish and their phylogenetic implications. Biology Letters 3(2), 197-200. Trinajstic, K., Marshall, C., Long, J. & Bifield, K. 2008. Response to Friedman and Brazeau on Exceptional preservation of nerve and muscle tissues in Devonian placoderm fish and their phylogenetic implications. Biology Letters 4 (1), 104105. ********************************************************************

NEW ZEALAND GNS Science P.O. Box 30368 Lower Hutt, New Zealand. The paleontologists at GNS Science are mostly grouped in the newly named Department of Paleontology. The Department Head is Lucia Roncaglia who has recently succeeded Chris Hollis. In this issue we list our full complement of palaeontologists including two from the Department of Active Landscapes, two from the Department of Petroleum Geoscience and one from the Strategy Group. Dallas

55

Mildenhall, Ian Raine, and Roger Cooper provide fuller statements including their bibliographies at the end. Alan Beu [email protected] Alan works on Cenozoic and living Mollusca. Recently he has completed his series of papers on Plio-Pleistocene Molluscs of New Zealand, with a summary paper in press in "Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand", and is preparing papers revising Zittel's New Zealand molluscs from the 'Novara' Expedition, revising Antarctic Neogene Pectinidae based on collections from ANDRILL core 2A in the Ross Sea, recording Holocene fossil molluscs from trenches through terraces at Table Cape, Mahia Peninsula, and recording a great variety of Tonnoidean gastropods dredged by the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, fom French Polynesia. He continues his long-term project to revise the New Zealand Cenozoic fossils scallops. Kyle Bland [email protected] Kyle is a geologist in the Department of Petroleum Geoscience and works on a wide variety of research and commercial projects. He has a background in sedimentology, geological mapping, outcrop geology, sequence stratigraphy and paleontology of Plio-Pleistocene molluscs, primarily in central and eastern North Island. His research interests include developing paleogeographic reconstructions for lower North Island during the late Neogene and understanding petroleum systems in New Zealand's sedimentary basins. Kyle has spent several years studying the Neogene geology of Hawke’s Bay and Wanganui Basin, and is currently involved with the compilation of the GNS Science QMAP Hawke’s Bay sheet, which will be published in the coming months. In the past couple of years has also been involved in the production of a revised suite of paleogeographic maps of Taranaki Basin, which have recently been published. Hamish Campbell [email protected] (Strategy Group). Hamish has expertise in Permian, Triassic and Jurassic fossils of New Zealand and New Caledonia. In the past decade he has primarily been involved in provenance research on NZ’s older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. However, he is also involved in diverse geological problems of both academic and industry interest that relate to PermianJurassic paleontology and biostratigraphy of NZ. Kate Clark [email protected] (Department of Active Landscapes). Kate specialises in Quaternary paleoenvironmetal reconstructions using formanifera. Her main areas of interest are using intertidal benthic foraminifera to identify sudden relative sea level changes associated with earthquake-induced coastal uplift and subsidence, and using foraminifera as a tool in paleotsunami studies. Ursula Cochran [email protected] (Department of Active Landscapes). Ursula specialises in Quaternary paleoecological reconstructions using diatom microfossils. Her main applications of interest are natural hazards (identifying evidence of past large earthquakes and tsunami at the coastal zone) and paleoclimate (reconstructing hydrological and depositional change in lakes). She is also keen to improve our database of modern analogue diatom samples and their use in calibration of recent fossil samples. Giuseppe Cortese [email protected] Giuseppe is a radiolarian specialist mainly interested in using statistical techniques and microfossil abundance data to

56

quantitatively reconstruct Pleistocene paleoclimate, particularly at mid to high latitudes. He also introduced a morphometric approach to diatom valve sizes as a tool to track ecosystem and oceanographic changes in the Southern Ocean. James Crampton [email protected] James specialises in Cretaceous biostratigraphy and time scale development, quantitative biostratigraphy both for research and industry, quantitative description of biological form, and macroevolutionary dynamics of New Zealand's rich Cenozoic mollusc fauna. Erica Crouch [email protected] Erica is a marine and terrestrial palynologist with a particular interest in the paleogene. She is currently working on a dinoflagellate zonation of the New Zealand Paleocene. Martin Crundwell [email protected] Martin specialises in Neogene foraminfera and is involved in consultancy work for the petroleum industry, reasearch into climate change, post-graduate teaching at Victoria University of Wellington. He also participated in the recent Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP Exp 317) Canterbury Basin Sea Level Expedition. Chris Hollis [email protected] Chris is a micropaleontologist and event stratigrapher specialising in Cretaceous-Paleogene radiolarians and Paleogene paleoclimate research. Craig Jones [email protected] Craig maintains an active interest in vertebrate paleontology and biostratigraphy but works just down the corridor in the Department of Petroleum Geoscience. Liz Kennedy [email protected] Liz specialises in leaf physiognomic analysis for interpretation of paleoclimate, and is working on Paleogene and Late Cretaceous macrofossil floras. She is also researching the "Oligocene drowning" problem with Dallas Mildenhall (i.e. how much of the New Zealand landmass was submerged at the peak of the Late Oligocene transgression?). Denise Kulhanek [email protected] Denise is a calcareous nannofossil micropaleontologist with experience in Cretaceous and Cenozoic biostratigraphy and paleoceanography. Her current research is focussed on Paleogene biostratigraphy and paleoclimate, and she is also involved in consultancy work for the petroleum industry. Richard Levy [email protected] Richard is a stratigrapher/marine palynologist with an interest in Antarctic climate and ice sheet history. Xun Li [email protected] is a Quaternary palynologist currently working in melissopalynology. Hugh Morgans [email protected] Hugh works with Cenozoic foraminifera primarily for the oil industry but his research interest is in the Paleogene. Lucia Roncaglia [email protected] Lucia's main expertise is in the study of stratigraphy and depositional environments of Late Cretaceous to Recent sediments through the analysis of marine palynology and she is the senior author of several

57

scientific publications. Also, she is trained Operations geologist and coordinated well operations in the Danish sector of the North Sea from 2005. Lucia joined GNS Science in 2006. Poul Schioler [email protected] Poul specialises in Cretaceous and Paleogene dinoflagellates and palynofacies analysis and is involved in consultancy work for the petroleum industry. George Scott (Emeritus Research Scientist) [email protected] George carries out morphometric studies of Neogene planktonic foraminifera. John Simes [email protected] John is the collection manager for the National Paleontology Collection and as well, still keeps an eye on the many conodont and radiolarian collections from the Mesozoic and Paleozoic that he prepared in a previous life. Graeme Stevens (Emeritus Research Scientist) Graeme has completed a study of the New Zealand Jurassic Onychites (cephalopod hooklets for non-cephalopod folks) and it has been published in NZ Jl Geol. & Geophysics 53: 395-412. He has also completed a review paper for Rev. Palaeobiol. Geneva entitled: 'The Early Jurassic of New Zealand: Refinements of the Biostratigraphy and Palaeogeography'. It is currently going through the refereeing process. His current project is Otapirian and Aratauran sequences along the northern Marokopa coast (SW Auckland) and observations on the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in New Zealand', to be published in NZ Jl Geol. & Geophysics. Percy Strong [email protected] Percy specialises in Paleogene and Mesozoic foraminifera and over the past months has been involved in consultancy work for the petroleum industry. Marianna Terezow [email protected] Marianna is a paleontology technician at GNS and, besides working on collection curation, is often involved in public education outreach. In the past couple of years she has worked on three major outreach projects. After the culmination of the NZ Fossils: Dead Precious! touring fossil exhibition, Marianna created and released an online virtual tour of the exhibition, which can be found on the public GNS website. Marianna also has created a number of fossil 3D images which are also published on the GNS website. In 2010, together with Dr. James Crampton, Marianna co-authored The Kiwi Fossil Hunter's Handbook (Random House). She also helps provide photographic support for research publications. Marcus Vandergoes [email protected] Marcus is a terrestrial Quaternary Paleoclimate Scientist specialising in pollen, chironimids (non-biting midges) and paleoecology. Roger Cooper (Emeritus Research Scientist) [email protected] Roger is using the CONOP graptolite data set, with Peter Sadler, to derive precise macroevolutionary rates (extinction, origination, biodiversity change) for the graptolite clade at the species level, with a resolution of better than 0.1 m.y. Graptolites span the great Ordovician biodiversification event, and the Hirnantian mass extinction and appear to

58

provide a sensitive proxy for environmental change in the marine pelagic environment. We can clearly distinguish between diversity increase that results from increased origination rate and that which results from decreased extinction rate. All the major positive excursions in delta 13C coincide with sharp diversity loss in graptolites. Final revisions to the Ordovician and Silurian parts of the global geochronological scale (GGS) for the forthcoming Elsevier book (Gradstein et al. eds) due out in 2012 (with Pete Sadler and Mike Melchin). The stratigraphy of a Late Cambrian to Ordovician (Sandbian) structural inlier in the Lake Daniells - Maruia area of southwest Nelson, mapped many years ago by Cooper and Simes, has been described as part of a joint project with Yongyi Zhen (who describes the conodonts) and Ian Percival (who describes the brachiopods). With Chris Bentley and Jim Jago, a Cambrian (Guzhanian) Centropleura fauna (trilobites) from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica has been described. Publications: Crampton, J.S. & Cooper, R.A., 2010. The state of Paleontology in New Zealand. Palaeontologia Electronica 13 (2) 4E: 9p. Wright, A.J. & Cooper, R.A., 2010. Trilobita In: Gordon, D., (ed.) The New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity: Volume two, Kingdom Animalia, Chaetognatha, Ecdysozoa, Ichnofossils. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch. Pp 45-49. Crampton, J.S., Cooper, R.A., Beu, A. G., Foote, M. & Marshall, B. A. 2010. Biotic controls on species duration – interactions between traits in marine molluscs. Paleobiology 36(2):204-223. Sadler, P.M. & Cooper, R.A. 2011. Graptoloid evolutionary rates: sharp contrast between Ordovician and Silurian. Pp. 499-504. In J.-C. Gutierrez-Marco, I. Rabano, and D. Garcia-Bellido, eds. Ordovician of the World. 11th International Symposium on the Ordovician System, Madrid. Insituto Geologico y Minero de Espana. Percival, I.G., Cooper, R.A., Zhen, Y.Y., Simes, J.E. & Wright, A.J. 2011. Recent discoveries and a review of the Ordovician faunas of New Zealand. Pp. 421-428. In J. C. Gutierrez-Marco, Rabano, I., Garcia-Bellido, D., eds. Ordovician of the World. Instituto Geologica y Minero de Espana, Madrid. Ian Raine. [email protected] Ian has in recent years found himself spending an increasing amount of time in consulting work for petroleum exploration, both in multi-well biostratigraphic reviews, and in miospore dating of Cretaceous-Paleogene sections in new wells. Some of this has spun off into stratigraphic reviews of the Taranaki Basin, with Karen Higgs and others, and into new efforts aimed at improving the Late Cretaceous miospore zonation, including a detailed study of the Campanian-Maastrichtian Waipara River section (Canterbury Basin) now underway. Ian continues to work with colleagues Liz Kennedy and Erica Crouch on the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, and with a number of overseas palynologists, including US workers Rosie Askin and Sophie Warny on ANDRILL cores and other Antarctic Cenozoic projects, and with Vivi Vajda (Lund University) on the K/T and Triassic/Jurassic boundaries. Bibliography for 2006-2011: Prebble, J.G., Raine, J.I., Barrett, P.J. & Hannah, M.J. 2006. Vegetation and climate from two Oligocene glacioeustatic sedimentary cycles (31 and 24 Ma) cored by the Cape Roberts Project, Victoria Land Basin, Antarctica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 231: 41-57.

59

Cook, R.A., Crouch, E.M., Raine, J.I., Strong, C.P., Uruski, C.I. & Wilson, G.J. 2006. Initial review of the biostratigraphy and petroleum systems around the Tasman Sea hydrocarbon-producing basins. APPEA Journal 46: 201-213. Higgs, K., King, P., Sykes, R., Crouch, E., Browne, G., Chagué-Goff, C., Palmer, J., Raine, I. & Brathwaite, B., 2006: Mangahewa Project: A multidisciplinary study of the mid-late Eocene succession, onshore Taranaki Basin. Phase 1: catalogue of stratigraphy, depositional environment & petrology along a NW-SE trending transect line. GNS Science science report 2006/18: compact disk. Cantrill, D.J. & Raine, J.I. 2006. Wairarapaia mildenhallii gen. et sp. nov., a new araucarian cone related to Wollemia from the Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) of New Zealand. International journal of plant science 167(6): 1259-1269. Ashworth, A.C., Lewis, A.R., Marchant, D.R., Askin, R.A., Cantrill, D.J., Francis, J.E., Leng, M.J., Newton, A.E., Raine, J.I., Williams, M. & Wolfe, A.P. 2007. The Neogene biota of the Transantarctic Mountains. Extended Abstract 071 (4 p) in A.K.Cooper & C.R. Raymond et al. (eds), Online Proceedings of the ISAES X, USGS Open-File Report 2007-1047. Raine, J.I. 2008. Zonate lycophyte spores from New Zealand Cretaceous to Paleogene strata. Alcheringa 32: 99-127. Raine, J.I., Mildenhall, D.C. & Kennedy, E.M. 2008. New Zealand fossil spores and pollen: an illustrated catalogue. 3rd edition. GNS Science miscellaneous series 4, http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthhist/fossils/spore_pollen/catalog/index.htm, 844 html pages, issued also in CD version. Lewis, A.R., Marchant, D.R., Ashworth, A.C., Hedenas, L., Hemming, S.R., Johnson, J.V., Leng, M.L., Machlus, M.L., Newton, A.E., Raine, J.I., Willenbring, J.K., Williams, M. & Wolfe, A.P. 2008. Mid-Miocene cooling and the extinction of tundra in continental Antarctica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(31): 10676-10680. Browne, G.H., Kennedy, E.M., Pollock, R.M., Raine, J.I., Crouch, E.M. & Sykes, R. 2008. An outcrop-based study of the economically significant Late Cretaceous Rakopi Formation, Northwest Nelson, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 51: 295-315. Hollis, C.J., Raine, J.I., Crouch, E.M., Strong, C.P., Morgans, H.E.G. & Kennedy, E.M. 2009. Field Trip 1: Cretaceous-Paleogene stratigraphy of the northern South Island. Pages 1-69 in: C. P. Strong & C. J. Hollis (eds) Climatic and Biotic Events of the Paleogene conference, Wellington, New Zealand, January 12th-15th, 2009, Conference Field Trip Guides. GNS Science Miscellaneous Series 17. Mortimer, N., Raine J.I. & Cook R.A. 2009. Correlation of basement rocks from Waka Nui-1 and Awhitu-1, and the Jurassic regional geology of Zealandia. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 52: 1-10. Warny, S, Askin, R., Hannah, M., Mohr, B., Raine, J.I., Harwood, D.M., Florindo, F. & SMS Science Team 2009. Palynomorphs from a sediment core reveal a sudden remarkably warm Antarctica during the middle Miocene. Geology 37: 955-958. Crouch, E.M., Raine, J.I., Kennedy, E.M., Handley, L. & Pancost, R.D. 2009. New Zealand terrestrial and marginal marine records across the Paleocene–Eocene transition. In Crouch, E.M., Strong, C.P., Hollis, C.J. (eds) Climatic and Biotic Events of the Paleogene (CBEP 2009), extended abstracts from an international conference in Wellington, New Zealand, 12-15 January 2009. GNS Science Miscellaneous Series 18: 40-43. Raine, J.I., Kennedy, E.M. & Crouch, E.M. 2009. New Zealand Paleogene vegetation and climate. In Crouch, E.M., Strong, C.P., Hollis, C.J. (eds) Climatic and Biotic

60

Events of the Paleogene (CBEP 2009), extended abstracts from an international conference in Wellington, New Zealand, 12-15 January 2009. GNS Science Miscellaneous Series 18: 117-122. Beu, A.G. & Raine, J.I. 2009. Revised descriptions of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca from Beu and Maxwell (1990). GNS Science Miscellaneous Series no. 27. CD publication.[Also available online at http://www.gns.cri.nz/paleontology/Mollusca/index.html] Higgs, K., King, P., Sykes, R., Crouch, E., Browne, G., Raine, I., Strogen, D. & Brathwaite R. 2009 [2010]. Middle to Late Eocene Stratigraphy, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Phase 2: a catalogue integrating biostratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry & log data over the NW-SE trending reservoir fairway. GNS Science Report 2009/30. Taviani, M., Hannah, M., Harwood, D.M., Ishman, S.E., Johnson, K., Olney, M., Riesselman, C., Tuzzi, E., Askin, R., Beu, A.G., Blair, S., Cantarelli, V., Ceregato, A., Corrado, S., Mohr, B., Nielsen, S.H.H., Persico, D., Petrushak, S., Raine, J.I., Warny, S. & the ANDRILL-SMS Science Team 2008-2009 [2010]. Palaeontological characterization and analysis of the AND-2A Core, ANDRILL Southern McMurdo Sound Project Antarctica. In: Harwood, D.M., Florindo, F., Talarico, F., and Levy, R.H., (editors), Studies from the ANDRILL, Southern McMurdo Sound Project, Antarctica. Terra Antarctica 15(1): 113-146. Vajda V. & Raine, J.I. 2010. A palynological investigation of plesiosaur-bearing rocks from the Upper Cretaceous Tahora Formation, Mangahouanga, New Zealand. Alcheringa 34: 359-374. Hollis, C.J., Beu, A.G., Crampton, J.S., Crundwell, M.P., Morgans, H.E.G., Raine, J.I., Jones, C.M. & Boyes, A.F. 2010. Calibration of the New Zealand CretaceousCenozoic Timescale to GTS2004. GNS Science report 2010/43. 19p Lee D.E., Bannister J.M., Raine J.I. & Conran J.G. 2010. Euphorbiaceae: Acalyphoideae fossils from early Miocene New Zealand: Mallotus–Macaranga leaves, fruits, and inflorescence with in situ Nyssapollenites endobalteus pollen. Review of paleobotany and palynology 163: 127-138. Wanntorp, L., Vajda, V. & Raine, J.I. 2011. Past diversity of Proteaceae on Subantarctic Campbell Island, a remote outpost of Gondwana. Cretaceous Research 32: 357-367. Dallas Mildenhall. [email protected] Dallas has continued to work on forensic applications of palynology, using palynology as a tool in attempting to find the truth of what happened in a number of murder cases in New Zealand and in Europe. He is currently editing a section on “Quaternary Forensic Proxies” for the forthcoming 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science being produced by Elsevier and has undertaken further work on sourcing and identifying counterfeit pharmaceuticals. With New Zealand honey being the subject of intense scrutiny both in New Zealand and overseas his research and servicing work in melissopalynology has increased tremendous over the last year, greatly assisted by a newly arrived palynologist, Xun Li. Servicing of petroleum and coal seam gas drill holes continues with emphasis on Paleogene-Neogene biostratigraphy. His major current research focus is on the palynology, biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental analysis of sediments associated with the New Zealand Oligocene land crisis. This was a time when the New Zealand continent was either completely submerged or reduced to a series of islands much smaller than exist today. Current analysis of samples suggests that at this time (c. 28-23 Ma) or immediately after the crisis floral diversity was at

61

least 3 times current diversity and no adverse effects have been located that would suggest complete inundation. Publications: Conran, J.G., Kaulfuss, U., Bannister, J.M., Mildenhall, D.C. & Lee, D.E. 2010. Davallia (Polypodiales: Davalliaceae) macrofossils from Early Miocene Otago (New Zealand) with in situ spores. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 162, 84-94. Ferguson, D.K., Lee, D.E., Bannister, J.M., Zetter, R., Jordan, G.J., Vavra, N. & Mildenhall, D.C. 2010. The taphonomy of a remarkable leaf bed assemblage from the Late Oligocene-Early Miocene Gore Lignite Measures, southern New Zealand. International Journal of Coal Geology 83, 173-181. Songtham, W. & Mildenhall, D.C. 2010. Summary review of paleobotanical research in Thailand. Pp. 19-22 in: Somana, R., Udchachon, M., Lauprasert, K., Lutat, P. & Thassanapak, H. (eds). Programme and abstracts. The 2nd International Conference on Paleontology of Southeast Asia (ICPSEA 2010), 1-5 November, 2010, Mahasarakham University, Thailand. Phuphumirat, W., Gleason, F.H., Phongpaichit, S. & Mildenhall, D.C. 2011. The infection of pollen by zoosporic fungi in tropical soils and its impact on pollen preservation: a preliminary study. Nova Hedwigia 92, 233-244. Carpenter, R.J., Jordan, G.J., Mildenhall, D.C. & Lee, D.E. 2011. Leaf fossils of the ancient Tasmanian relict Microcachrys (Podocarpaceae) from New Zealand. American Journal of Botany 98, 1164-1172. Fernandez, F.M., Hostetler, D., Powell, K., Kaur, H., Green, M.D., Mildenhall, D.C. & Newton, P.N. 2011. Poor quality drugs: grand challenges in high throughput detection, countrywide sampling, and forensics in developing countries. Analyst 136, 3073-3082. Jordan, G.J., Carpenter, R.J., Bannister, J.M., Lee, D.E., Mildenhall, D.C. & Hill, R.S. 2011. High conifer diversity in Oligo-Miocene New Zealand. Australian Systematic Botany 24, 121-136.

University of Auckland Jack Grant-Mackie (School of Environment) continues to push towards completion of projects not aligned with his main interests of Triassic-Jurassic molluscs. It is a slow process! In the past year more of the reports from the New Caledonian cave excavation have been finished, with one to go. Description of a new genus and species of Late Triassic bivalve from New Zealand and New Caledonia is nearing completion. Other new topics have appeared and been tackled, but I see myself backing out of serious research in the near future – has to happen eventually, and I’d rather not fall off the perch with projects half completed. The PhD project on Mesozoic crinoids of NZ & New Caledonia (by Mike Eagle) is drawing to a close now and should be complete this year. Since the above was written, I have been told that Honorary Research Fellows like myself must remove ourselves from the university (the reason given is the imminent rebuilding of the school, in which we appear not to be welcome!) and that this must be done within a few weeks. No arrangement has yet been made with us for our own research needs or for supervision of the students for whom at least three of us have responsibilities! Thus this could be my last report and the end of my research! Publications:

62

Grant-Mackie, J.A. 2010. Commentary on Late Jurassic ammonites monograph (Enay, 2009). Geosciences Society of New Zealand Newsletter 1: 14-18. Meister, C., Maurizot, P., Grant-Mackie, J.A. 2010. Early Jurassic (HettangianSinemurian) ammonites from New Caledonia (French Overseas Territory, western Pacific). Palaeontological Research 14: 85-118. Akikuni, K., Hori, R.S., Vajda, V., Grant-Mackie, J.A., Ikehara, M. 2010. Stratigraphy of Triassic-Jurassic boundary sequences from the Kawhia coast and Awakino gorge, Murihiku Terrane, New Zealand. Stratigraphy 7: 7-24. Boyer, A.G., James, S., Olson, S.L., Grant-Mackie, J.A. 2010. Long-term ecological change in a conservation hotspot: the fossil avifauna of Mé Auré Cave, New Caledonia. Biodiversity & Conservation 19: 3207-3224. Grant-Mackie, J.A. 2011. A new Early Jurassic Otapiria species (Monotidae; Bivalvia) from Murihiku rocks of the North Island of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics 54: 53-67. Grant-Mackie, J.A., Hill, J., Gill, B.J. 2011. Two Eocene chelonioid turtles from Northland, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology & Geophysics 54: 181-194. Grant-Mackie, J.A., Bloksberg, L.N. 2011. Mosasaur movements in Mangahouanga sand? Geosciences Society of New Zealand Newsletter 4: 21-27. Hori, R.S., Yamakita, S., Ikehara, M., Kodama, K., Aita, Y., Sakai, T., Takemura, A., Kamata, Y., Suzuki, N., Sporli, K.B., Grant-Mackie, J.A. 2011. Early Triassic (Induan) Radiolaria and carbon isotope ratios of a deep sea sequence from Waiheke Island, North Island, New Zealand. Palaeoworld 20: 166-178. Thassanapak, H., Feng Q-L., Grant-Mackie, J.A., Chonglakmani, C., Thanee, N. 2011. Middle Triassic radiolarian faunas from Chiang Dao, northern Thailand. Palaeoworld 20: 179-202. MacFarlan, D.A.B., Hasibuan, F., Grant-Mackie, J.A. 2011. Mesozoic brachiopods from the Misool Archipelago, eastern Indonesia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 41: 149-177. Vajda, V., Hori, R.S., Akikuni, K., Grant-Mackie, J.A. & Ikehara, M. 2010. The palynological signal of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary sequence of the Awakino Gorge, New Zealand (abstract). Program & Abstracts, 8th European Palaeobotany-Palynology Conference, 2010: 237. *********************************************************************

DENMARK Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen Timothy Topper recently completed his thesis in 2010 at Macquarie University and has since received a postdoctoral position at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen. His PhD thesis looked at early Cambrian skeletal faunas from the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, concentrating on their palaeobiology, biostratigraphy and biogeography. His work primarily focused on micro- and macro- sized molluscs, protoconodonts, lobopodian sclerites, bivalved arthropods and small shelly fossils. In his new position, Tim is currently investigating the timelag between the appearance of body plans during the Cambrian Explosion and diversifications during the Great Ordovician Biodiversity Event at family, genus and species levels. In

63

particular focusing on the taxonomy and distribution of brachiopods in the middle to late Cambrian to increase our understanding of the evolution and development of these organisms leading up to one of the most sudden and spectacular explosions of organisms in the history of life. Publications Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Topper, T.P., Paterson, J.R. & Holmer, L.E. 2011. Scleritome construction, biofacies, biostratigraphy and systematics of the tommotiid Eccentrotheca helenia sp. nov. from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology 54, 253-286. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.01031.x Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R. 2010. Palaeoscolecid scleritome fragments with Hadimopanella plates from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Geological Magazine 147, 86-97. Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. Microdictyon plates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity. Alcheringa 35, 427-443. Topper, T.P., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Paterson, J.R. 2011. The oldest bivalved arthropods from the early Cambrian of East Gondwana: systematics and biogeography. Gondwana Research 19, 310-326. *********************************************************************

SWEDEN Swedish Museum of Natural History Stephen McLoughlin (Department of Paleobotany) continues work on Permian and Mesozoic seed-plants from eastern Australia, east Antarctica, and China. He is particularly investigating the architecture and revising the systematics of leaves and reproductive organs of Glossopteridales and Bennettitales. He is also studying Permian-Cretaceous plant-arthropod interactions and the application of plant fossils to biostratigraphy, paleoenvironmental analysis, and the understanding of massextinction events. Stephen is currently the editor of Alcheringa. Publications: Shi , G.R., Waterhouse, J.B. & Mcloughlin, S. 2010. The Lopingian of Australasia: a review of biostratigraphy, correlations, palaeogeography and palaeobiogeography. Geological Journal 45, 230–263. Pott, C., McLoughlin, S. & Lindstrom, A. 2010. Late Palaeozoic foliage from China displays affinities to Cycadales rather than to Bennettitales necessitating a re−evaluation of the Palaeozoic Pterophyllum species. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55, 157–168. McLoughlin, S. & Kear, B.P. 2010. The Australasian Cretaceous scene. Alcheringa 34, 197–203. McLoughlin, S., Pott, C. & Elliott, D., 2010. The Winton Formation flora (Albian– Cenomanian, Eromanga Basin): implications for vascular plant diversification and decline in the Australian Cretaceous. Alcheringa 34, 303–323. McLoughlin, S. & Pott, C., 2010. Skånes Bennettitales. Geologiskt Forum 66, 21–23. McLoughlin, S. & Pott, C., 2010. On the trail of Australia’s youngest Bennettitales. Australian Age of Dinosaurs 8, 6–7. McLoughlin, S., 2010. Ginkgo in Australia. Australian Age of Dinosaurs 8, 42–47.

64

McLoughlin, S., 2011. New records of leaf galls and arthropod oviposition scars in Permian–Triassic Gondwanan gymnosperms. Australian Journal of Botany 59, 156–169. McLoughlin, S., Carpenter, R.J. & Pott, C., 2011. Ptilophyllum muelleri (Ettingsh.) comb. nov. from the Oligocene of Australia: Last of the Bennettitales? International Journal of Plant Sciences 172, 574–585. Slater, B.J., McLoughlin, S. & Hilton, J. 2011. Guadalupian (Middle Permian) megaspores from a permineralised peat in the Bainmedart Coal Measures, Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 167, 140–155. McLoughlin, S., Slater, B., Hilton, J. & Prevec, R., 2011. New vistas on animal– plant–fungal interactions in the Permian–Triassic of Gondwana. GFF 133, 66–67. (extended abstract) Pott, C. & McLoughlin, S. 2011. The Rhaetian flora of Rögla, northern Scania, Sweden. Palaeontology 54, 1025–1051. McLoughlin, S. 2011. Glossopteris - insights into the architecture and relationships of an iconic Permian Gondwanan plant. (13th Dr. J. Sen Memorial Lecture). Journal of the Botanical Society of Bengal 65(2), 1–14. Christian Pott (Department of Paleobotany) continues work on an enigmatic group of extinct Mesozoic seed-plants known as Bennettitales. He is particularly investigating the micromorphological and microanatomical features of this taxon to better resolve the systematics of genera within the order and to clarify the relationships of this group to other seed-plants. He is also investigating arthropod interactions with bennettitales and the fossil record of plant defences. His work focuses on a broad range of assemblages of Triassic to Cretaceous age from eastern Australia, northern and central Europe, and North China. He is also studying opalized plant remains from Lightning Ridge. He is currently the technical editor for Grana. Publications: McLoughlin, S., Pott, C. & Elliott, D., 2010. The Winton Formation Flora (AlbianCenomanian, Eromanga Basin): implications for vascular plant diversification and decline in the Australian Cretaceous. Alcheringa 34, 303–323. McLoughlin, S. & Pott, C., 2010. Skånes bennettiter. Geologiskt forum 66, 21–23. Pott, C., Krings, M., Kerp, H. & Friis, E.M., 2010. Reconstruction of a bennettitalean flower from the Carnian (Upper Triassic) of Lunz, Lower Austria. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 159, 94–111. Pott, C., McLoughlin, S. & Lindström, A., 2010. Late Palaeozoic foliage from China displays affinities to Cycadales rather than to Bennettitales necessitating a reevaluation of the Palaeozoic Pterophyllum species. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55, 157–168. Bomfleur, B., Pott, C. & Kerp, H., 2011. Plant fossil assemblages of the Shafer Peak Formation (Lower Jurassic), north Victoria Land, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science 23, 188–208. Kustatscher, E., Pott, C. & van Konijnenburg-van Cittert, J.H.A., 2011. A contribution to the knowledge of the Triassic fern genus Symopteris. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 165, 41–60. McLoughlin, S., Carpenter, R. J. & Pott, C. 2011. Ptilophyllum muelleri (Ettingsh.) comb. nov. from the Oligocene of Australia — last of the Bennettitales? International Journal of Plant Sciences 172, 574–585.

65

Moisan, P., Voigt, S., Pott, C., Buchwitz, M., Schneider, J. W. & Kerp, H., 2011. Cycadalean and bennettitalean foliage from the Triassic Madygen Lagerstätte (SW Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 164, 93– 108. Pott, C. & McLoughlin, S., 2011. The Rhaeto-Liassic flora from Rögla, northern Scania, Sweden. Palaeontology 54, 1025–1051. Christian Skovsted (Department of Paleozoology) works on early Cambrian Small Shelly Fossils from around the world to unravel evolutionary changes during the Cambrian Explosion and the origination of modern phyla. Over a number of years Christian has worked together with Dr. Glenn Brock (Macquarie University), Dr. Timothy Topper (Copenhagen University), Prof. Lars Holmer (Uppsala University) and PhD-student Cecilia Larsson (Uppsala University) on Lower Cambrian faunas from the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. In particular, the focus of the research has been the so called tommotiids, a problematic group of small Cambrian sclerites that we have successfully demonstrated to constitute the stem group of the phylum Brachiopoda. Publications: Popov, L.E., Bassett, M.G., Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B. & Zuykov, M. 2010. Earliest ontogeny of Early Palaeozoic Craniiformea: implications for brachiopod phylogeny. Lethaia 43, 323-333. doi: 10.1111/j.1502-3931.2009.00197.x Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R. 2010. Palaeoscolecid scleritome fragments with Hadimopanella plates from the Early Cambrian of South Australia. Geological Magazine 147, 86-97. doi: 10.1017/S0016756809990082 Skovsted, C.B. & Peel, J.S. 2010. Early Cambrian Brachiopods and other small shelly fossils from the basal Kinzers Formation Of Pennsylvania. Journal of Paleontology 84, 754-762. doi: 10.1666/09-123.1 Skovsted, C.B., Holmer, L.E., Streng, M. & Knight, I. 2010. Setatella significans, a new name for mickwitziid stem group brachiopods from the lower Cambrian of Greenland and Labrador. GFF 132: 117-122. doi: 10.1080/11035897.2010.490878. Hu, S, Zhang, Z., Holmer, L.E. & Skovsted, C.B. 2010. First record of soft-part preservation in a linguliform brachiopod from the Lower Cambrian Wulongqing Formation (Guanshan Fauna) of Yunnan, South China. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55, 495-505. doi:10.4202/app.2009.1106 Topper, T.P., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. The oldest bivalved arthropods from the early Cambrian of East Gondwana; Systematics, biostratigraphy and biogeography. Gondwana Research 19, 310-326. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2010.05.012 Skovsted, C.B. & Peel, J.S. 2011. Hyolithellus in life position from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland. Journal of Paleontology 85, 37-47. doi: 10.1666/10-065.1 Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B., Larsson, C.M, Brock, G.A. & Zhang, Z. 2011. First record of a bivalved larval shell in Early Cambrian tommotiids and its phylogenetic significance. Palaeontology 54, 235-239. doi: 10.1111/j.14754983.2010.01030.x Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Topper, T.P., Paterson, J.R. & Holmer, L.E. 2011. Scleritome construction, biofacies, biostratigraphy and systematics of the

66

tommotiid Eccentrotheca helenia sp. nov. from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology 54, 253-286. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.01031.x Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. Microdictyon plates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity. Alcheringa 35, 427-443. doi: .1080/03115518.2011.533972

Lund University Vivi Vajda (Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences) is a Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Research Fellow supported by a grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Vivi is undertaking multidisciplinary studies (high-resolution palynology, sedimentology, geochemistry and geomagnetics) to resolve the timing, rates, and causes of the K-Pg and Tr-J mass extinction events. She is particularly investigating sections in New Zealand, eastern Australia and NW China. She is also supervising research students investigating Silurian early land plant palynoassemblages and Late Cretaceous vertebrate assemblages of Scandinavia. She is currently Chair of the International Geoscience Program (IGCP) and president of the Swedish Geological Society. Publications: Wanntorp, L., Vajda, V. & Raine, I. 2010. Past diversity of Proteaceae on subantarctic Campbell Island, a remote outpost of Gondwana. Cretaceous Research 32, 357– 367. Vajda, V. & Raine, J.I., 2010. A palynological investigation of plesiosaur-bearing rocks from the Upper Cretaceous Tahora Formation, Mangahouanga, New Zealand. Alcheringa 34, 359–374. Larsson, L., Vajda, V., Dykjaer, K., 2010. Vegetation and climate change in the latest Oligocene-earliest Miocene in Jylland, Denmark. Miocene Climate change – palynological evidence from Scandinavia. Review of Palynology and Paleobotany 159, 166–176. Schulte, P., Alegret, L., Arenillas, I., Arz, J.A., Barton, P.J., Bown, P.R., Bralower, T., Christeson G., Claeys, P., Cockell, C., Collins, G., Deutsch, A., Goldin, T., Goto, K., Grajales-Nishimura, J.M., Grieve, R., Gulick, S., Johnson, K.R., Kiessling, W., Koeberl, C., Kring, D.A., MacLeod K.G., Matsui, T., Melosh, J., Montanari, A., Morgan, J., Neal, C., Norris, R.D., Pierazzo, E., Ravizza, G., Rebolledo-Vieyra, M., Reimold, W-U., Robin, E., Salge, T., Speijer, R.P., Sweet, A.R., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., Vajda, V., Whalen, M.T. & Willumsen, P.S. 2010. The Chicxulub Impact and the Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary. Science 327, 1214–1218. Schulte, P., Alegret, L., Arenillas, I., Arz, J.A., Barton, P.J., Bown, P.R., Bralower, T., Christeson G., Claeys, P., Cockell, C., Collins, G., Deutsch, A., Goldin, T., Goto, K., Grajales-Nishimura, J.M., Grieve, R., Gulick, S., Johnson, K.R., Kiessling, W., Koeberl, C., Kring, D.A., MacLeod K.G., Matsui, T., Melosh, J., Montanari, A., Morgan, J., Neal, C., Norris, R.D., Pierazzo, E., Ravizza, G., Rebolledo-Vieyra, M., Reimold, W-U., Robin, E., Salge, T., Speijer, R.P., Sweet, A.R., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., Vajda, V., Whalen, M.T., Willumsen, P.S., 2010. Reply- The Chicxulub Impact and the Mass Extinction at the CretaceousPaleogene Boundary. Science 328, 975−

67

Willumsen, P.S. & Vajda, V., 2010. A new early Paleocene dinoflagellate cyst species, Trithyrodinium partridgei: its biostratigraphic significance and palaeoecology. Alcheringa 34, 523−538. Vajda, V. & Larsson, L.M., 2010. Euro-Ages and geology in Sweden. European geologist 30, 39−40. Ferrow, E., Vajda, V., Bender Koch, C., Peucker-Ehrenbrink, B., Suhr Willumsen & P., 2011. Multiproxy analysis of a new terrestrial and a marine Cretaceous– Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary site from New Zealand. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 75, 657–672 Sha, J., Vajda, V., Pan, Y., Larsson, L., Wang, Y., Cheng, X.J., Deng, S., Yao, X., Chen, S., Zhang, X. & Peng, B., 2011. The stratigraphy of the Triassic−Jurassic boundary successions of the southern margin of Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Acta Geologica Sinica 85, 421–436. Akikuni, K., Hori, R., Vajda, V., Grant-Mackie, J.A., Ikehara, M., 2011. Stratigraphy of Triassic-Jurassic boundary sequences from the Kawhia coast and Awakino gorge, Murihiku Terrane, New Zealand. Stratigraphy 7, 7−24.

Uppsala University www.palaeontology.geo.uu.se The Palaeobiology Programme at Uppsala University has a long history of research within the Australasian region. This was greatly strengthened in 2010 by the establishment of a Vertebrate Palaeobiology Research Group, which has several projects specifically focused upon Australian Mesozoic and Cenozoic faunas: (1) Cretaceous high-latitude biotas − examining climatic influences on biodiversity change near the Cretaceous southern pole including adaptational responses, faunal turnover and the origins of modern lineages; (2) Gondwanan Mesozoic marine vertebrates − exploring the evolution and palaeobiogeography of marine reptiles and fishes from the Gondwanan continents with an emphasis on exceptionally preserved lagerstätte in Australia and assemblages in the Middle East; (3) Evolution of Australian-New Guinean mammals − incorporating molecular data and fossils to unravel the phylogenetic relationships and early radiation of Australasian marsupials, together with the development of key adaptations in iconic groups such as kangaroos, bandicoots and dasyuromorphians. ARC Linkage and the Swedish Research Council are the primary supporters of this work. Vertebrate Palaeobiology Research Group – Staff: Dr Benjamin Kear (Assistant Professor) has broad research interests but mainly focuses on Mesozoic marine tetrapods, Cretaceous and Neogene turtles, and Australasian late Palaeogene-Neogene marsupials. Present projects include global phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographical appraisals of plesiosaur, ichthyosaur, and sea turtle (Chelonioidea) radiations, together with quantitative approaches to the structural evolution of tortoises and Australasian marsupial lineages. Ben has served as an Associate Editor for Alcheringa, and is presently also guest editing special issues for Geological Magazine and GFF. Dr Stephen Poropat (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) completed his PhD at Monash University in 2011 and is now researching the phylogeny, palaeobiogeography, and palaeoecology of Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs from Australia. Stephen is also

68

involved in geotourism outreach and is a Research Associate of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum in Winton, Queensland. Programme-Supported Guest Researchers (2010-2011): Emeritus Professor Michael Westerman (La Trobe University) – Evolutionary relationships of bandicoots and dasyuromorphian marsupials. Dr Erin Maxwell (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart) – Triassic marine reptile assemblages from Svalbard. Postgraduate Students (2010-2011): 2011, PhD: Elisabeth Einarsson (based at Lund University) – Palaeoenvironment, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography of Upper Cretaceous marine vertebrates from the Kristianstad Basin, Sweden. 2010, PhD: Maria Zammit (completed) – Diversity and functional morphology of Australasian ichthyosaurs. 2011, MSc: Oskar Bremer – Osteology and CT-based functional analysis of the Late Cretaceous crocodilian Denazinosuchus kirtlandicus (New Mexico, U.S.A.) 2011, MSc: Jenny Lindhal – Diversity and palaeobiogeography of Miocene 'Hipparion Fauna' tortoises from China. 2010, MSc: Henrik Carlsson – Historical revision of Charles Sternberg's San Juan Basin Late Cretaceous vertebrate collections in Sweden. 2010, MSc: Roland Sookias (completed) – Comparative geotourism management strategies for important Mesozoic vertebrate localities. Undergraduate Research Students (2010-2011): 2011, BSc (Research component): Maria Lindkvist (completed) – Phylogenetic revision of the Lower Jurassic pachycormiform fish Pachycormus bollensis 2010, BSc (Hons): Lucy Meehan (completed) – molecular phylogenetics of dasyuromorphians. 2010, BSc (Hons): Jessica Ferro (completed) – Biogeographical implications of phalangerid phylogenies. 2010, BSc (Hons): Manieka Ried (completed) – Interspecific relationships of the vespertilionid bat Scotorepens. Publications (5-year record covering 2006-2011): Kear, B.P. & Barrett, P.M. 2011. Reassessment of the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) pliosauroid Leptocleidus superstes Andrews, 1922 and other plesiosaur remains from the non-marine Wealden succession of southern England. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 161, 663-691. Kear, B.P. & Hamilton-Bruce, R.J. 2011. Dinosaurs in Australia. Mesozoic Life from the Southern Continent. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 190 p. Georgalis, G. L., Velitzelos, E., Velitzelos, D. E. & Kear, B. P., in press: Nostimochelone lampra gen. et sp. nov., an enigmatic new podocnemidoidean turtle from the Lower Miocene of northern Greece. In Morphology and Evolution of Turtles: Origin and Early Diversification. Part III. Pleurodire Diversity and Biogeography (D. Brinkman, P. Holroyd, & J. Gardner Eds). Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Smith, E.T. & Kear, B.P., in press: Spoochelys ormondea gen. et sp. nov., an archaic meiolaniid-like turtle from the Lower Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, Australia. In Morphology and Evolution of Turtles: Origin and Early Diversification. Part II.

69

The Early Diversification of Turtles, (D. Brinkman, P. Holroyd, & J. Gardner Eds). Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Westerman, M., Kear, B.P., Aplin, K., Meredith, R. & Springer, M., in press: Phylogenetic relationships of living and recently extinct bandicoots based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences: The evolution of an enigmatic marsupial Order. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Wilson, G.D.F., Patterson, J.R. & Kear, B.P. 2011. Fossil isopods associated with a fish skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia − direct evidence of a scavenging lifestyle in Mesozoic Cymothoida. Palaeontology 54, 1053-1068. Zammit, M. 2011. Australasia's first Jurassic ichthyosaur fossil: an isolated vertebra from the Lower Jurassic Arataura Formation of North Island, New Zealand. Alcheringa 35, 341-343. Zammit, M. & Kear, B.P., in press: Healed bite marks on a Cretaceous ichthyosaur. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. Kear, B.P. & Siverson, M. 2010. First evidence of a Late Cretaceous sea turtle from Australia. Alcheringa 34, 265-272. Kear, B.P., Deacon, G.L. & Siverson, M. 2010. Remains of an Upper Cretaceous pterosaur from the Molecap Greensand of Western Australia. Alcheringa 34, 273279. Kear, B.P. & Georgalis, G.L. 2010. Colossal tortoises, climate change, and the evolution of Europe’s largest ‘modern’ reptiles. Deposits Magazine 21, 8-10. Kear, B.P., Rich, T.H., Ali, M.A., Al-Mufarrih, Y.A., Matiri, A.H., Masary, A.M. & Halawani, M.A., 2010. First Triassic lungfish from the Arabian Peninsula. Journal of Paleontology 84, 137-140. Kear, B.P., Rich, T.H., Ali, M.A., Al-Mufarrih, Y.A., Matiri, A.H., Masary, A.M. & Halawani, M.A. 2010. A review of aquatic vertebrate remains from the MiddleUpper Triassic Jilh Formation of Saudi Arabia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 122, 1-8. Barrett, P.M., Kear, B.P. & Benson, R.B.J. 2010. Opalised archosaur remains from the Lower Cretaceous of South Australia. Alcheringa 34, 293-301. Barrett, P.M., Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Tumanova, T.A., Pickering, D., Kool, L. & Kear, B.P. 2010. Ankylosaurian dinosaur material from the Early Cretaceous of south-eastern Australia. Alcheringa 34, 205-217. Einarsson, E., Lindgren, J., Kear, B.P. & Siverson, M. 2010. Mosasaur bite marks on a plesiosaur propodial from the Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of southern Sweden. GFF 132, 123-138. Hamilton-Bruce, R.J. & Kear, B.P. 2010. A possible succineid land snail from Lower Cretaceous non-marine deposits of the Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Alcheringa 34, 325-331. Kellner, A.W.A., Rich, T.H., Costa, F.R., Vickers-Rich, P., Kear, B.P., Waters, M. & Kool, L. 2010. New isolated pterodactyloid bones from the Albian Toolebuc Formation (Western Queensland, Australia) with comments on the Australian pterosaur fauna. Alcheringa 34, 219-230. Maxwell, E.E. & Kear, B.P. 2010. Postcranial anatomy of Platypterygius americanus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) from the Cretaceous of Wyoming. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 1059-1068. McLoughlin, S. & Kear, B.P. 2010. The Australasian Cretaceous scene. Alcheringa 34, 197-203. Zammit, M. 2010. A review of Australasian ichthyosaurs. Alcheringa 34, 381-292.

70

Zammit, M., Norris, R. & Kear, B.P. 2010. The Australian Cretaceous ichthyosaur Platypterygius australis: a description and review of postcranial remains. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 1726-1735. Kear, B.P. 2009. Proterosuchid archosaur remains from the Early Triassic Bulgo Sandstone of Long Reef, New South Wales. Alcheringa 33, 331-337. Kear, B.P. 2009. Opalized sea monsters and ancient polar oceans. Pp. 23-29. In Fossil Hunters, (J.G. Gehling, B.P. Kear, S. Miller, N.S. Pledge, E. Reed & R.T. Wells). South Australian Museum, Adelaide, 64 p. Kear, B.P. 2009. Beast or bait fish? Australian Age of Dinosaurs 7, 6. Kear, B.P., Milner, A.R. & Barrett, P.M. 2009. Plesiosaurs from the JurassicCretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group of southern England. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association 120, 121-125. Kear, B.P., Rich, T.H., Ali, M.A., Al-Mufarrih, Y.A., Matiri, A.H., Masary, A.M. & Yousry, A. 2009. An Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) actinopterygian fish assemblage from the marginal marine Adaffa Formation of Saudi Arabia. Cretaceous Research 30, 1164-1168. Gehling, J.G., Kear, B.P., Miller, S., Pledge, N.S., Reed, E. & Wells, R.T. 2009. Fossil Hunters. South Australian Museum, Adelaide, 64 p. Rich, T.H., Vickers-Rich, P., Flannery, T.F., Kear, B.P., Cantrill, D., Komarower, P., Kool, L., Pickering, D., Trusler, P., van Klaveren, N. & Fitzgerald. E.M.G. 2009. An Australian multituberculate and its palaeobiogeographical implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54, 1-6. Kear, B.P. 2008. Review of: Evolution and Biogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. John R. Merrick, Michael Archer, Georgina M. Hickey and Michael, S. Y. Lee (2006). Palaeontological Association Newsletter 68, 117-120. Kear, B.P. 2008. From sea to sand – ancient marine reptiles from the deserts of Saudi Arabia. Deposits Magazine 16, 8-11. Kear, B.P. & Godthelp, H. 2008. Inferred vertebrate bite marks on an Early Cretaceous unionoid bivalve from Lightning Ridge, Australia. Alcheringa 32, 6571. Kear, B.P. & Pledge, N.S. 2008. A new fossil kangaroo from the Oligocene-Miocene Etadunna Formation of Ngama Quarry, Lake Palankarinna, South Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology 55, 331-339. Kear, B.P., Lee, M.S.Y., Gerdtz, W.R. & Flannery, T.F. 2008. The evolution of hind limb proportions in kangaroos (Marsupialia: Macropodoidea). Pp. 25-35. In Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology: A Tribute to Frederick S. Szalay, (E.J. Sargis & M. Dagosto Eds). Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 400 p. Kear, B.P., Rich, T.H., Ali, M.A., Al-Mufarrih, Y.A., Matiri, A.H., Masary, A.M. & Yousry, A. 2008. Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) marine reptiles from the Adaffa Formation, NW Saudi Arabia. Geological Magazine 145, 648-654. Zammit, M., Daniels, C.B. & Kear, B.P. 2008. Elasmosaur neck flexibility: implications for hunting strategies. Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry A 150, 124-130. Kear, B.P. 2007. First record of a pachycormid fish (Actinopterygii: Pachycormiformes) from the Early Cretaceous of Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27, 1033-1038. Kear, B.P. 2007. A juvenile pliosauroid plesiosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of South Australia. Journal of Paleontology 81, 154-162.

71

Kear, B.P. 2007. Taxonomic clarification of the Australian elasmosaurid Eromangasaurus, with reference to other austral elasmosaur taxa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27, 241-246. Kear, B.P. 2007. A plesiosaur ‘missing link’ from South Australia. Australian Age of Dinosaurs 5, 10. Kear, B.P., Cooke, B.N., Archer, M. & Flannery, T.F. 2007. Implications of a new species of the Oligo-Miocene kangaroo (Marsupialia: Macropodoidea) Nambaroo, from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, Queensland, Australia. Journal of Paleontology 81, 1147-1167. Archer, M., Arena, D.A., Bassarova, M., Beck, R., Black, K., Boles, W.E., Brewer, P., Cooke, B.N., Crosby, K., Gillespie, A., Godthelp, H., Hand, S.J., Holt, T., Kear, B., Louys, J., Morrell, A., Muirhead, J., Roberts, K.K., Scanlon, J.D., Travouillon, K.T. & Wroe, S. 2007. Current status of species-level representation in faunas from selected fossil localities in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa Special Issue 1, 1-17. Rich, T.H., Kear, B.P., Halawani, M.A., Ali, M.A., Al-Mufarrih, Y.A., Matiri, A.H. & Masary, A.M. 2007. Preliminary report on a vertebrate palaeontological investigation of the Middle Triassic Jilh Formation, central Saudi Arabia. Saudi Geological Survey Open-File Report SGS-OF-2007-2, 18 p. Kear, B.P. 2006. First gut contents in a Cretaceous sea turtle. Biology Letters 2, 113115. Kear, B.P. 2006. Reassessment of Cratochelone berneyi Longman, 1915, a giant Early Cretaceous sea turtle from Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26, 779-783. Kear, B.P. 2006. Marine reptiles from the Lower Cretaceous of South Australia: elements of a high-latitude cold water assemblage. Palaeontology 49, 837-856. Kear, B.P. 2006. Plesiosaur remains from Cretaceous high-latitude non-marine deposits in southeastern Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26, 196-199. Kear, B.P. 2006. Review of: Tasmanian Tiger by David Owen. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 13, 151-152. Kear, B.P. & Lee. M.S.Y. 2006. A primitive protostegid from Australia and early sea turtle evolution. Biology Letters 2, 116-119. Kear, B.P., Schroeder, N.I., & Lee, M.S.Y. 2006. An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high latitude deposits of Australia. Biology Letters 2, 615-619. Kear, B.P., Schroeder, N.I., Vickers-Rich, P. & Rich, T.H. 2006. Early Cretaceous high latitude marine reptile assemblages from southern Australia. Paludicola 5, 200-205. Hamilton-Bruce, R.J. & Kear, B.P. 2006. A new fossil non-marine snail (Gastropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian, Griman Creek Formation) of eastern Australia. Molluscan Research 26: 84-88. Helgen, K.M., Wells, R.T., Kear, B.P., Gerdtz, W.R. & Flannery, T.F. 2006. Ecological and evolutionary significance of sizes of giant extinct kangaroos. Australian Journal of Zoology 54, 293-303. ********************************************************************

72

UNITED KINGDOM University of Birmingham Ben Slater (School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Science) is mid-way through a PhD project on the Middle Permian permineralized plants of the Bainmedart Coal Measures, Prince Charles Mountains, Australian Antarctic Territory. He is investigating some of the more cryptic elements in the Glossopteris flora from the Lambert Graben including a range of megaspores, lycophyte axes, and arthropod and fungal body and trace fossils associated with glossopterid stems and roots. These studies will help fill in some of the blanks with respect to understanding the associations of organs and organisms in the high-latitude forests of the Permian. His project is supervised by Jason Hilton (University of Birmingham) and Stephen McLoughlin (Swedish Museum of Natural History). Publications: Slater, B.J., McLoughlin, S. & Hilton, J. 2011. Guadalupian (Middle Permian) megaspores from a permineralised peat in the Bainmedart Coal Measures, Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 167, 140–155. McLoughlin, S., Slater, B., Hilton, J. & Prevec, R., 2011. New vistas on animal– plant–fungal interactions in the Permian–Triassic of Gondwana. GFF 133, 66–67. (extended abstract)

The Natural History Museum, London Greg Edgecombe continues work on the higher-level phylogenetics of arthropods, Palaeozoic Arthropoda known from soft-part preservation, and the evolution of centipedes. The Cambrian research group at the NHM has a focus on resolving the sequence of branching and character evolution in the arthropod stem-group. Xiaoya Ma is an expert in Cambrian lobopodians, with a three-year post-doc investigating sensory structures in Chengjiang and Burgess Shale moulting animals (Ecdysozoa) and neuroanatomy of extant ecdysozoans. Allison Daley is a Swedish Research Council post-doc from 2011-2013, working on the systematics, ontogeny and morphometrics of anomalocaridids, especially from the Burgess Shale. David Legg’s PhD project at Imperial College incorporates fossil diversity into a morphological dataset for arthropod cladistics, as well as describing new Palaeozoic arthropods from the Burgess Shale and Herefordshire Silurian Lagerstätten. Research on Australian palaeontology concentrates on the Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte (Cambrian Stage 4) on Kangaroo Island. Publications based on discoveries from excavations at Buck Quarry since 2007 have documented new arthropods, including well-preserved compound eyes, the first Australian leanchoiliid, and a new group of nektaspids (“trilobitomorphs”). Current work on the Emu Bay Shale includes a description of the palaeoscolecids, a vetulicolian, the eyes of Anomalocaris, and several more new arthropods. Research on centipede systematics concentrates on higher-level phylogeny using morphology and molecular sequence data, the systematics of Australian Scutigeromorpha, new phylogenetic characters for the Scolopendromorpha, and

73

centipedes from various amber deposits. Projects and publications are on my website: http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/evolution-centipedes/index.html Publications Campbell, L.I., Rota-Stabelli, O., Edgecombe, G.D., Marchioro, T., Longhorn, S.J., Philippe, H., Telford, M.J., Rebecchi, L., Peterson, K.J. & Pisani, D. 2011. MicroRNAs and phylogenomics resolve the phylogenetic relationships of the Tardigrada, and suggest the velvet worms as the sister group of Arthropoda. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 10.1073/pnas.1105499108. Edgecombe, G.D. 2011. Chilopoda – The fossil history, p. 355-361. In: Minelli, A. (ed.), Treatise on Zoology – The Myriapoda, Volume 1. Brill, Leiden. Edgecombe, G.D., García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. A new leanchoiliid megacheiran arthropod from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale, South Australia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 56, 373-388. Edgecombe, G.D., Giribet, G., Dunn, C.W., Hejnol, A., Kristensen, R.M., Neves, R.C., Rouse, G.W., Worsaae, K. and Sørensen, M.V. 2011. Higher-level metazoan relationships: recent progress and remaining questions. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 11, 151-172. Garwood, R.J. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2011. Early terrestrial animals, evolution and uncertainty. Evolution: Education and Outreach 4, 489-501. Gehling, J.G., Jago, J.B., Paterson, J.R., García-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2011. The geological context of the lower Cambrian (Series 2) Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte and adjacent stratigraphic units, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 58, 243-257. Lee, M.S.Y., Jago, J.G., García-Bellido, D.C., Edgecombe, G.D., Gehling, J.G. & Paterson, J.R. 2011. Modern optics in exceptionally preserved eyes of Early Cambrian arthropods from Australia. Nature 474, 631-634. Rota-Stabelli, O., Campbell, L., Brinkmann, H., Edgecombe, G.D., Longhorn, S.J., Peterson, K.J., Pisani, D., Philippe, H. & Telford, M.J. 2011. A congruent solution to arthropod phylogeny: phylogenomics, microRNAs and morphology support monophyletic Mandibulata. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B (Biological Sciences) 278, 298-306. Edgecombe, G.D. 2010. Arthropod phylogeny: an overview from the perspectives of morphology, molecular data and the fossil record. Arthropod Structure & Development 39, 74-87. Edgecombe, G.D. 2010. Palaeomorphology: fossils and the inference of cladistic relationships. Acta Zoologica 91, 72-80. Murienne, J., Edgecombe, G.D. & Giribet, G. 2010. Including secondary structure, fossils and molecular dating in the centipede tree of life. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 57, 301-313. Paterson, J.R., Edgecombe, G.D., García-Bellido, D.C., Jago, J.B. & Gehling, J.G. 2010. Nektaspid arthropods from the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia, with a reassessment of lamellipedian relationships. Palaeontology 53, 377-402. Shear, W.A. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2010. The geological record and phylogeny of the Myriapoda. Arthropod Structure & Development 39, 174-190. Daley, A.C., Budd, G.E., Caron, J.-B., Edgecombe, G.D. & Collins, D. 2009. The Burgess Shale anomalocaridid Hurdia and its significance for early euarthropod evolution. Science 323, 1597-1600.

74

Edgecombe, G.D. 2009. Palaeontological and molecular evidence linking arthropods, onychophorans and other Ecdysozoa. Evolution: Education and Outreach 2, 178190. Edgecombe, G.D., Minelli, A. & Bonato, L. 2009. A geophilomorph centipede (Chilopoda) from La Buzinie amber (Late Cretaceous: Cenomanian), SW France. Geodiversitas 31, 29-39. García-Bellido D.C., Paterson, J.R., Edgecombe, G.D., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G. & Lee, M.S.Y. 2009. The bivalved arthropods Isoxys and Tuzoia with soft-part preservation from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte (Kangaroo Island, Australia). Palaeontology 52, 1121-1141. Giribet, G., Dunn, C.W., Edgecombe, G.D., Hejnol, A., Martindale, M.Q. & Rouse, G.W. 2009. Assembling the spiralian Tree of Life, p. 52-64. In: Telford, M.J. & Littlewood, D.T.J. (eds.), Animal evolution: genomes, fossils and trees. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Hejnol, A., Obst, M., Stamatakis, A., Ott, M., Rouse, G.W., Edgecombe, G.D., Martinez, P., Baguñà, J., Bailly, X., Jondelius, U., Wiens, M., Müller, W.E.G., Seaver, E., Wheeler, W.C., Martindale, M.Q., Giribet, G. & Dunn, C.W. 2009. Assessing the root of bilaterian animals with scalable phylogenomic methods. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B (Biological Sciences) 276, 4261-4270. Dunn, C.W., Hejnol, A., Matus, D.Q., Pang, K., Browne, W.E., Smith, S.A., Seaver, E., Rouse, G.W., Obst, M., Edgecombe, G.D., Sørensen, M.V., Haddock, S.H.D., Schmidt-Rhaesa, A., Okusu, A., Kristensen, R., Wheeler, W.C., Martindale, M.Q. & Giribet, G. 2008. Broad phylogenomic sampling improves resolution of the Animal Tree of Life. Nature 452, 745-749. Edgecombe, G.D. 2008. Anatomical nomenclature: homology, standardization and datasets. Zootaxa 1950, 87-95. Paterson, J.R., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G., García-Bellido Capdevila, D., Edgecombe, G.D. & Lee, M.S.Y. 2008. Early Cambrian arthropods from the Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia. In: Rábano, I., Gozalo, R. and García-Bellido, D. (eds.), Advances in Trilobite Research. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero 9, 319325. Edgecombe, G.D. & Webby, B.D. 2007. Ordovician trilobites with eastern Gondwanan affinities from central-west New South Wales and Tasmania. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists 34, 255-281. Giribet, G., Dunn, C.W., Edgecombe, G.D. & Rouse, G.W. 2007. A modern look at the Animal Tree of Life. Zootaxa 1668, 61-79. *********************************************************************

UNITED STATES University of Oregon Greg Retallack has been wrapping up a variety of Paleozoic paleosol projects, but continues with studies of Ediacaran paleosols from South Australia, Boston and Newfoundland, and Archean paleosols from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. New views of Devonian tetrapod and tree evolution were published in 2011. Other Paleozoic projects in progress include reassessments of the Devonian tree lichen Prototaxites from New York, and the Silurian problematicum Rutgersella from Pennsylvania. Ediacaran and Archean paleosol studies are mainly aimed at

75

understanding paleoclimate and paleoenvironments on land, but also are revealing surprising evidence of life on land. As director of the Condon Collection of fossils at the University of Oregon, Greg has been updating the computer catalog for publication online in the near future. This important collection includes materials going back to nineteenth century pioneering paleontologist Thomas Condon, and about 50 holotypes and published specimens, largely from Oregon. Fund raising has recently enabled significant expansion of geological-paleontological exhibits. Still needed is $6 million for storage and research laboratories. Publications: Huang, C.-M., Retallack, G.J., & Wang, C.S. 2010. Cretaceous calcareous paleosols: pedogenetic characteristics and paleoenvironmental implications. Acta Pedologica Sinica 47, 1029-1038 (in Chinese). Metzger, C.A. & Retallack, G.J. 2010. Middle Miocene climate change in the Australian outback. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 57, 871-885. Retallack, G.J. 2010a. Lateritization and bauxitization events. Economic Geology 105, 655-667. Retallack, G.J. 2010c. First evidence for locomotion in the Ediacara biota from the 565 Ma Mistaken Point Formation, Newfoundland: comment. Geology 38. e223. Retallack, G.J. & Huang, C.-M. 2010. Depth to gypsic horizon as a proxy for paleoprecipitation in paleosols of sedimentary environments. Geology 38, 403406. Retallack, G.J. 2011a. Neoproterozoic glacial loess and limits to snowball Earth. Geological Society of London Journal 168, 1-19. Retallack, G.J. 2011b. Woodland hypothesis for Devonian evolution of tetrapods. Journal of Geology 119, 235-258. Retallack, G.J. 2011c. Exceptional fossil preservation during CO2 greenhouse crises? Palaeogeography Palaeclimatology Paleoecology 307, 59-74. Retallack, G.K., Sheldon, N.D., Carr, P.F., Fanning, M., Thompson, C.A., Williams, M.L., Jones, B.G. & Hutton, A. 2011. Multiple Early Triassic greenhouse crises impeded recovery from Late Permian mass extinction. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 308, 233-251. Retallack G.J. & Huang, C.-M. 2011. Ecology and evolution of Devonian trees in New York, USA. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology 299, 110128.

Los Angeles Basin, California Mary L. Droser (University of California, Riverside) is working with Jim Gehling (South Australian Museum) on the paleoecology, taphonomy and distribution of the Ediacara Biota. Publications: Droser, M.L. & Gehling, J. 2008. Synchronous aggregate growth in an abundant new Ediacaran tubular organism. Science 319, 1660-1662. Gehling, J.G. & Droser, M.L. 2009. Textured organic surfaces associated with the Ediacara Biota in South Australia. Earth-Science Reviews 96, 196-206. Tarhan, L., Droser, M. & Gehling, J. 2010. Taphonomic controls on Ediacaran diversity: Uncovering the holdfast origin of morphologically variable enigmatic structures. Palaios 25, 823-830.

76

Sappenfield, A., Droser, M. & Gehling, J. 2011. Problematica, trace fossils, and tubes within the Ediacara Member (South Australia): Redefining the Ediacaran trace fossil record one tube at a time. Journal of Paleontology 85, 256-265. Bill Schopf (UCLA) was a Visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales from mid-May through late July. Sponsored by the UNSW Australian Centre for Astrobiology, he participated in the Centre’s symposium on the timing and nature of the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis; presented lectures at UNSW, Macquarie University and (in August) the South Australian Museum; and carried out field work in Western Australia and laboratory research at UNSW. Publications: Schopf, J. W. & Kudryavtsev, A. B. 2010. A renaissance in studies of ancient life. Geology Today 26: 140-145. Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtsev, A.B., Sugitani, K. & Walter, M.R. 2010. Precambrian microbe-like pseudofossils: a promising solution to the problem. Precambrian Research 179, 191-205. Moczydłowska, M., Schopf, J.W. & Willman, S. 2010. Micro- and nano-scale ultrastructure of cell walls in Cryogenian microfossils: revealing their biological affinity. Lethaia 43, 129-136. Narbonne, G.M., Schopf, J.W., & Walter, M.R. 2010. Hans J. Hofmann (19362010). Geology 39, 13-14. Bruce Runnegar (UCLA) is working with Linda Ivany and Andrew Bush (Syracuse University) as well as Dan Petrizzo and Ed Young (UCLA) on using the sclerochronology of Eurydesma shells to test hypotheses about palaeotemperatures and ocean water oxygen isotopic compositions during the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA). Dan has recently developed clumped isotope palaeothermometry in Ed Young’s lab to allow comparisons with conventional oxygen isotope profiles obtained from shells. Bruce also continues a long-term collaboration with Jim Gehling (South Australian Museum) on the latest Cryogenian and Ediacaran of the Flinders Ranges. Publications: Ivany, L.C. & Runnegar, B. 2010. Early Permian seasonality from bivalve δ18O and implications for the oxygen isotopic composition of seawater. Geology 38, 10271030. Kouchinsky, A., Bengtson, S., Runnegar, B., Skovsted, C., Steiner, M. & Vendrasco, M. 2011. Chronology of Cambrian biomineralisation. Geological Magazine (published online, July 2011). Saltzman, M.R., Young, S.A., Kump, L.R., Gill, B., Lyons, T.W. & Runnegar, B. 2011. Pulse of atmospheric oxygen during the Late Cambrian. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, 3876-3881. John Long (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County) continues his research on Gogo fish and other Devonian fish materials between his busy admin duties. He has been working closely with Australian colleagues Kate Trinajstic, Gavin Young and Tim Senden completing a MS on Gogo ptyctodontids for JVP. He is also finishing up a major MS on the origins of air breathing in Devonian fish and tetrapods to be submitted late in 2011. On September 18th, Channel 9’s Sixty Minutes featured his Gogo research work, and a video of this interview can be downloaded from their website. John has completed two new books recently—one on the origins of sex (Hung Like an Argentine Duck, HarperCollins)—and one with Jeff Stilwell of

77

Monash University on the palaeontology of Antarctica (Frozen in Time. The Prehistory of Antarctica, CSIRO Press). The Natural History Museum’s new Dinosaur Hall, which opened this July, continues to attract record crowds, so please come and visit us if you are passing though Los Angeles. Publications: Long, J.A. 2010. The Rise of Fishes. 500 Million Years of Evolution. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore (2nd ed.). Young, G.C., Burrow, C.J., Long, J.A., Turner, S. & Choo, B. 2010. Devonian macrovertebrate assemblages and biogeography of East Gondwana (Australia, Antarctica). Palaeoworld 19, 55-74. Clement, A. & Long, J.A. 2010. Air-breathing adaptation in a marine Devonian lungfish. Biology Letters 6, 509-512. Holland, T., Long, J.A. & Snitting, D. 2010. New information on the enigmatic tetrapodomorph fish Marsdenichthys longioccipitus (Long, 1985). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 68-77. Clement, A. & Long, J.A. 2010. Xeradipterus gen. nov., a new holodontid lungfish from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation, Western Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30, 681-695. Long, J.A. & Trinajstic, K. 2010. The Late Devonian Gogo Formation Lagerstatte – Exceptional preservation and Diversity in early Vertrebrates. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences 38, 665-680. Long ,J.A., Hall, B.K., McNamara, K.J. & Smith, M.M. 2010. The phylogenetic origin of jaws in vertebrates: Developmental plasticity and heterochrony. Kirtlandia 57, 43-50. Long, J. 2010. Once Upon an Ancient Reef. Science 329, 35-36. Stilwell, J. & Long, J.A. 2011. Frozen in Time. Prehistoric life of Antarctica. CSIRO Press, Collingwood, 248 pp. Long, J.A. 2011. Hung Like an Argentine Duck. A Journey to the Origins of Intimacy. HarperCollins, 278 pp. Also titled Origins of Intimacy, University of Chicago Press. Long, J.A. 2011. The Dawn of the Deed. Scientific American January 2011, 34-39.

78

CONTACT DETAILS FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Sam Arman School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 mob. 0431 197 171 tel.: 08 8201 5342 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Marissa Betts Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98507719 E-mail: [email protected]

Glenn A. Brock Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98508335 Fax: +61-2-98508245 E-mail: [email protected]

Carey Burke School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 2630 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Carole J. Burrow Geosciences, Queensland Museum 122 Gerler Road, Hendra, 4011, Qld Telephone number: 07 33916626 Fax number: 07 38461918 E-mail: [email protected]

Aaron Camens School of Biological Sciences Flinders University

79

GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 mob.: 0431 633 096 tel.: 08 8201 2630 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected],

Tony Cockbain 104 Hensman Street South Perth WA 6151 08 9367 7037 [email protected]

Rachel Correll School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 mob.: 0422 161 220 tel.: 08 8201 2764 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Aidan Couzens School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 2630 fax: 08 8201 3015 Email: [email protected]

Mary L. Droser Department of Earth Sciences University of California Riverside, CA 92521, U.S.A. Phone: 1 951 827 3797 [email protected]

Greg Edgecombe Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK Phone: +44 (0)20 7942 6464 E-mail: [email protected]

80

Col Eglington Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Postal address: 39 Piggott St, Dulwich Hill, NSW 2203 Phone: +61-2-95605769 E-mail: [email protected]

Michael Engelbretsen Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone +61-2-95873725 E-mail: [email protected]

Terry Furey-Greig Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Postal address: 3 Mason St, Kandos, NSW 2484, Australia Phone: +61-2-63796039 E-mail: [email protected]

J.A. (Jack) Grant-Mackie 31 Moira St, Ponsonby, Auckland 1021 NEW ZEALAND. Ph. 64-9-378-4779; E-mail: [email protected]

Kathleen Grey Geological Survey of Western Australia, Department of Industry and Resources, 100 Plain Street, East Perth WA 6004 Telephone number: +61 08 9470 0302 E-mail address: [email protected]

Grant Gully School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 2764 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

81

Michelle Guzel School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood. Victoria 3125 Tel: 0448117714 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected]

Margaret Harvey Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Postal address: PO Box 453, Wahroonga, NSW 2046 E-mail: [email protected]

Darren Hastie School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway Burwood Victoria, 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7438 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected]

W.B. Keith Holmes and Heidi M. Anderson Holmes 46 Kurrajong St. Dorrigo. NSW 2453 Telephone 02 66572205 Email [email protected]

Matthew Kosnik Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98507249 Fax: +61-2-98508245 E-mail: [email protected]

John Laurie Energy Division Geoscience Australia GPO Box 378 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Tel: (02) 6249 9412 Fax: (02) 6249 9980 E-mail: [email protected]

82

Sangmin Lee School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood. Victoria, 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7296 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected]

Wenzhong Li School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood. Victoria, 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7191 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected]

Julien Louys Geosciences, Queensland Museum 122 Gerler Rd, Hendra 4011 QLD 07 3406 8347 [email protected]

Amy Macken School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 mob.: 0405 710 648 tel.: 08 8201 2630 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

David Mathieson Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Postal address: 26 St Albans St, Abbotsford, NSW 2046, Australia Phone: +61-2-97135814 E-mail: [email protected]

Briony Mamo Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University

83

North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98507719 E-mail: [email protected]

Julieta Martinelli Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98507719 E-mail: [email protected]

Ruth Mawson Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Postal address: 228 Ridgecrop Drive, Castle Hill 2154, Australia Phone: +61-2-96341815 E-mail: [email protected]

Matthew McDowell School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 2764 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Brian McGowran Earth & Environmental Sciences The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia Ph: 61 8 8278 2222 [email protected]

Stephen McLoughlin Department of Paleobotany, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm SWEDEN Ph: +46 (0)8 5195 4142 Fax: +46 (0)8 5195 4221 Email: [email protected]

James Moore School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001

84

tel.: 08 8201 2630 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Roger Morgan Jeffery Goodall Morgan Goodall Palaeo Pty Ltd Box 161, 27 Elizabeth St Maitland SA 5573 +61 8 8832 2795 [email protected] [email protected]

Qamariya Nasrullah School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 5342 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

John R. Paterson Division of Earth Sciences, Earth Studies building (C02) School of Environmental and Rural Science University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351 Phone: (02) 6773 2101 Fax: (02) 6773 3300 Email: [email protected]

Ian Percival Geological Survey of NSW WB Clarke Geoscience Centre 947-953 Londonderry Rd, Londonderry. NSW Australia 2753 tel. (02) 4777 0315 e-mail: [email protected]

Roger Pierson School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood. Victoria 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7191 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected]

85

Geoffrey Playford School of Earth Sciences University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD tel. +61 7 3365 2366 or +55 3865 4700; fax +61 7 3365 1277 or +55 3865 7093; email [email protected] [email protected]

Nick Porch School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7620 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 Web: www.deakin.edu.au/scitech/les/staff/porchn/ E-mail: [email protected]

Christian Pott Department of Paleobotany, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm SWEDEN Phone: +46 (0)8 519 551 50 Fax: +46 (0)8 5195 4221 E-mail: [email protected]

Gavin Prideaux School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 2305 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Gregory J. Retallack Department of Geological Sciences University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA 9740301272 Ph. 541 346 4558 Fax 541 346 4692 [email protected]

Thomas Rich Museum Victoria PO Box 666 Melbourne, Victoria 3001

86

Telephone: (03) 9270 5054 Fax: (03) 9270 5043 e-mail: [email protected]

Andrew Rozefelds Queensland Museum, Geosciences 22 Gerler Rd, Hendra 4011 QLD Telephone number: 07 3406 8345 email: [email protected]

Bruce Runnegar Department of Earth and Space Sciences University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, U.S.A. 1 310 206 1738 [email protected]

Rolf Schmidt Museum Victoria PO Box 666 Melbourne, Victoria 3001 Telephone: (03) 9270 5052 Fax: (03) 9270 5043 e-mail: [email protected]

J. William Schopf Department of Earth and Space Sciences University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567, U.S.A. 1 310 825 1170 [email protected]

Vic Semeniuk V & C Semeniuk Research Group 21 Glenmere Rd., Warwick, WA, 6024 [email protected]

Lawrence Sherwin Geological Survey of NSW Dept of Trade & Investment Locked Bag 21, Orange. New South Wales 2800 Ph. (02) 6360 5349 Fax (02) 6360 5363 [email protected]

87

Guang R. Shi School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University Burwood Campus 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125 Telephone number: +61 3 9251 7619 Fax number: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail address: [email protected]

Andrew Simpson Department of Environment and Geography Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98508183 Fax: +61-2-98509671 E-mail: [email protected]

Christian Skovsted Department of Paleozoology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm SWEDEN Phone: +46 (0)8 5195 5133 E-mail: [email protected]

Ben Slater School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Science, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)121 41 46151 Fax: +44 (0)121 41 44942 Email: [email protected]

Jeffrey Stilwell School of Geoscience Monash University P.O. Box 28 Victoria 3800 Telephone: (03) 9905 1642 FAX: (03) 9905 5161 e-mail: [email protected]

Desmond L. Strusz 97 Burnie Street, Lyons, ACT, Australia 2606 tel. (02) 6281 4569 or (02) 6125 2065 e-mail [email protected] [email protected]

88

John Talent Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109. Australia Phone: +61-2-404395032 E-mail: [email protected]

Timothy Topper Geological Museum University of Copenhagen Øster Voldgade 5-7 DK - 1350 Copenhagen K. Denmark Phone: +45-3532-2362 E-mail: [email protected]

Katherine Trinajstic QEII Fellow, Western Australian Organic Isotope Geochemistry Centre, Department of Chemistry, Curtin University GPO Box U1987, WA, 6001. Australia Ph. (08) 9266 2492 [email protected]

Susan Turner Queensland Museum Geosciences, 122 Gerler Road, Hendra, Qld 4011 Telephone number: 07 3406 8350 Fax number: 07 3406 8355 E-mail address: [email protected] [email protected]

Vivi Vajda Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences Division of Geology, Lund University Sölvegatan 12, S-223 62 Lund, SWEDEN Telephone: +46 46-2224635 Fax: +46 46-2224419 E-mail: [email protected]

James Valentine Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia Phone: +61-2-98508238 E-mail: [email protected]

89

Fons VandenBerg Geosciences Museum Victoria GPO Box 666, Melbourne Vic 3001 Email: [email protected]

Tegan A. Vanderlaan Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.bees.unsw.edu.au/

Patricia Vickers-Rich School of Geosciences Monash University P.O. Box 28, Victoria 3800 Telephone: (03) 9905 4889 Fax: (03) 9905 5161 e-mail: [email protected]

Mark Warne School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University Burwood Campus 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125 Telephone number: +61 3 9251 7622 Fax number: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail address: [email protected]

Barry D. Webby Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Macquarie University North Ryde, NSW 2109. Australia Phone: +61-2-98164020 E-mail: [email protected]

Elizabeth A. Weldon School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125 Tel: 0448117714 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

90

Rod Wells School of Biological Sciences Flinders University GPO Box 2100, Adelaide SA 5001 tel.: 08 8201 2437 fax: 08 8201 3015 email: [email protected]

Yang Zhang School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7296 Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected]

Yichun Zhang School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125 Tel: +61 3 9251 7304 (mob. 0413 977 641) Fax: +61 3 9251 7416 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

Yong Yi Zhen Palaeontology, Natural Science Collections, The Australian Museum, 6 College St., Sydney, NSW 2010. Australia Telephone 02 9320 6132 E-mail address: [email protected]

91