N u d u m omen number 31 Published December 2011

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.

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, 1-94.

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.

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.

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 ‘Cambro-Ordovician 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 5^th International Trilobite Conference in Prague and the 34^th 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

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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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), 207-214. 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.

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 Oligo-Miocene koalas (Diprotodontia: Phascolarctidae): stages in the evolution of an extreme leaf-eating specialization. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29, 981-992.

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 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), 1158-1162.

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 12^th 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.