The Palaeontographical Society

Research funding

1. The Edward Forbes Prize

The Palaeontographical Society invites applications for the newly instituted Edward Forbes Prize*, which aims to recognise outstanding contributions by early career researchers in the field of taxonomic and systematic palaeontology (encompassing invertebrates, vertebrates, palaeobotany and microfossils). The Prize, which is to be awarded for publication excellence, comprises £250 and a one-year membership of the Society. The Prize will be awarded at the Society’s Annual General Meeting each year.

 

Criteria for eligibility:

1. Papers should deal with the taxonomy and/or systematics of a group of fossil organisms from the British Isles and must appear in a peer-reviewed publication, such as a journal, monograph series or book chapter. In some cases, applicants may need to provide evidence that an article was peer-reviewed (in the case of some book chapters, for example). Papers whose primary focus is on a related subject area (e.g., palaeoceanography, palaeoclimatology, geochemistry) will not be considered.

 

2. Papers should either be the sole work of the applicant or the applicant should be the lead author on the publication. Where there is more than one author, the applicant must produce letters from the other co-authors stating that the lead author was responsible for leading the work. These letters should be submitted with the main application.

 

3. Early career stage researchers are considered to be those currently engaged in post-graduate research (Master’s or PhD) or to be within two years of the completion date of this work. Letters of support are required from the supervisor of the work to confirm the applicant’s eligibility. Such letters should be submitted with the main application.

 

4. Submitted papers must be written in English and sent to the Prize Committee as either a reprint-quality PDF (preferred) or as a hard copy (four copies required in the latter instance).

 

We invite submissions for the 2012 award on the basis of any eligible article that was published in 2011. Applications should be addressed to the Secretary, Prof. Steve Donovan (steve.donovan@ncbnaturalis.nl), and must be received by the closing date of 2^nd March 2012. The decision of the Prize Committee will be announced at the Society’s AGM on 18^th April 2012. The successful applicant will be informed in advance, so that they may attend the meeting if they wish.

 

*Edward Forbes (1815–1854) was an early supporter of the Palaeontographical Society, and palaeontologist to the fledgling Geological Survey before taking up the Professorship of Natural History at Edinburgh University. His beautifully illustrated publications in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey and his Palaeontographical Society monograph were milestones in the documentation of British fossil invertebrates.

 

2. The Richard Owen Research Fund

The Palaeontographical Society awards small financial Grants to assist palaeontological research (travel, visits to museums, fieldwork, etc.) within the Society’s remit of describing the fossil fauna and flora of the British Isles.

It is intended that two awards will normally be made in each year to a value of around £500 each, although the exact amount and the number of awards may vary at the discretion of the Council. No definite age limit or other restriction is applied, although preference will be given to applicants at the start of their careers or those without alternative sources of funding. The award is open to both amateur and professional palaeontologists, but preference will be given to members of the Society engaged in the production of a monographic piece of work.

How to apply

Applications should be submitted electronically to the Secretary, Dr Steven K. Donovan (Steve.Donovan@ncbnaturalis.nl). The application should comprise a short CV (including details of publications, appointments and distinctions: no longer than three sides of A4), an account of research aims and objectives (5,000 characters maximum), and a breakdown of the proposed expenditure. Each application should be accompanied by the name and contact details of an appropriate scientific referee. Failure to provide a complete application will result in disqualification. 

Timetable

Applications must be received by the 28th February 2012 and successful applicants will be informed shortly after the Annual General Meeting of Council in April.

Requirements

On completion of the work, successful candidates must produce a short report (500-1000 words) for the Palaeontographical Society Newsletter and website, and will be expected to submit receipts for expenditure encurred. Applicants are also asked to consider publication of their research results in the Palaeontographical Society’s monograph series.

 

 

3. The Bulman Fund

The Bulman Fund exists to help in the preparation of illustrations for monographs of the Society that have been accepted and are in an advanced stage of preparation.  Small grants of up to £300 are available to offset the costs of line drawings or other illustrations deemed essential for the monograph being prepared.  Authors wishing to apply for this fund should contact the secretary.

Research reports

2009 Research Grant Reports

1. Systematics of British Silurian crinoids in the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

 

Stephen K. Donovan

 

Department of Geology, NCB - Naturalis, Postbus 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden,

The Netherlands. E-mail Steve.Donovan@ncbnaturalis.nl

 

My original travel plans proved impractical and, instead, I visited the NMNH after the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in Denver, arriving in Washington D.C. on the evening of Wednesday, 3^rd November, and departing on the evening of Friday, 5^th November. My grant was used to purchase a return ticket London Heathrow - Washington Dulles and to pay (in part) for my hotel accommodation. Plans to include the data collected on this trip in Part 2 of British Silurian Crinoidea proved impractical when the publication of this volume was accelerated to December 2010.

The largest and most important collection of fossil crinoids in the world is that of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (USNM). This is based on the collection of the distinguished amateur Frank Springer (1848-1927).

         The purpose of this visit was to research species of British flexible crinoid that were, at best, poorly represented in European collections. The most important of these was Icthyocrinus phillipsianus Springer, 1920, from the Much Wenlock Limestone Formation at Dudley. This was originally described from a small collection of four specimens, all now in the USNM; no specimens in UK museums have been considered conspecific. The Springer Collection of the USNM includes four specimens in S.1708. Following examination, the complete crown (Springer 1920, pl. 36, fig. 13a, b) is regarded as the unique type. The other three specimens include groups of arms that form incomplete crowns and are not necessarily conspecific; two other species of Icthyocrinus are reported. These may be conspecific, but I prefer to recognise this uncertainty in calling them Icthyocrinus sp. cf. I. phillipsianus. Icthyocrinus phillipsianus has now received its first description since 1920 and has been photographed for the first time.

         Also important was the rare Meristocrinus minor Springer, 1920, also from the same formation at Dudley. One specimen is in the Natural History Museum in London (NHMUK) and two were reported in the USNM (Springer 1920, p. 213). One of the USNM specimens is an electroplate cast provided by Francis Bather (1863-1934), former Keeper of Geology at the NHMUK, of that institution’s specimen. The USNM specimen has been redescribed and photographed for the first time, and will contribute to a new description of this species based on both types.

         Descriptions and photographs of both of these species will be included in an addendum to Part 2 at the beginning of the third and final part of British Silurian Crinoidea. The (still incomplete) typescript of this part was over 24,000 words in length at the time of writing and is expected to be submitted later in 2011.

 

REFERENCE

 

SPRINGER, F. 1920. The Crinoidea Flexibilia. Smithsonian Institution Publication, 2501 (2 volumes), 1-486.

 

2. A monograph of the ammonites of the British Lower Callovian (Middle Jurassic)

 

Kevin N. Page

 

University address: c/o School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences,

University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK  (kpage@plymouth.ac.uk)

 

 

Introduction

 

The early Callovian, was a time of great biogeographic exchange of ammonite faunas across Europe, with Macrocephalitinae arriving from the Sula-New Guinean Province of southeast Asia, Keppleritidae and Cadoceratinae arriving from different parts of the Boreal Sea (including from an Arctic Province), and various Perisphinctidae venturing from the Sub-Mediterranean Province to the south (Page 2008, fig. 3). These events are recorded in the lower Callovian rocks of Britain, especially in southern areas, which provide, therefore, one of the most complete records of ammonite faunas from this time known anywhere across Europe. Elsewhere, non-sequences are widespread at the base of the stage (e.g. Iberia, western France, central and northern Britain) or successions are highly condensed, with many stratigraphical gaps (e.g. southern Germany, southern Poland).

These problems have meant that it still has not been possible to formally establish a Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Stage, and it is likely that only sections outwith of Europe (e.g. in East Greenland) will eventually provide the expanded and complete sequence required by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). Although sequences in southern Britain are probably not faunally rich enough to provide a suitable GSSP, they have, nevertheless, yielded sufficient stratigraphically useful ammonites to indicate their relative completeness. Any study of lower Callovian ammonites from Britain, therefore, has a broader relevance for global stratigraphy and correlations.

 

Progress

 

The aim of the current and ongoing project is to review and update the taxonomy of lower Callovian ammonites established in the author’s PhD thesis of 1988, entitled “The Stratigraphy and Ammonites of the British Lower Callovian” (University of London, unpublished), preparing the work in the format of a Palaeontographical Society monograph. In total forty-six species were recognised in the 1988 study, of which 12 were considered to be ‘new’ (i.e. undescribed). Although the stratigraphical conclusions were subsequently published (Callomon et al. 1988; Page 1989, 2001; Page in Cox & Page 2002a, b, Sumbler et al. 2002a, b, Cox et al. 2002a, b, c, etc.), the taxonomy of the ammonite faunas has not been published in full (excepting brief extracts in Page 1991). Amongst these faunas the following families, subfamilies and genera can now be recognised:

 

Suborder AMMONITINA Hyatt, 1889, Superfamily SPIROCERATACEAE Hyatt, 1900, Family SPIROCERATIDAE Hyatt, 1900:

Genus Parapatoceras Spath, 1924,

Genus Crioconites Buckman, 1925

Suborder HAPLOCERATINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily HAPLOCERATACEAE Zittel, 1884, Family OPPELIIDAE Bonarelli, 1894, Subfamily OPPELIINAE Bonarelli, 1894:

Genus Paralcidia Spath, 1928

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily SPHAEROCERATACEAE nov., Family MACROCEPHALITIDAE Buckman, 1922, Subfamily MACROCEPHALITINAE Salfeld, 1921:

Genus Macrocephalites Zittel, 1884

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily SPHAEROCERATACEAE nov., Family CARDIOCERATIDAE Siemiradzki, 1891, Subfamily ARCTICEPHALITINAE Meledina, 1968:

Genus Chamoussetia R. Douvillé, 1912

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily SPHAEROCERATACEAE nov., Family CARDIOCERATIDAE Siemiradzki, 1891, Subfamily CADOCERATINAE Hyatt, 1900:

Genus Cadoceras Fisher, 1892

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova 1983, Superfamily STEPHANOCERATACEAE Neumayr, 1875, Family KOSMOCERATIDAE HAUG, 1887:

Genus Kepplerites Neumayr & Uhlig, 1892 (including the subgenera Kepplerites (Kepplerites) Neumayr & Uhlig, 1892 and Subgenus Kepplerites (Gowericeras) Neumayr & Uhlig, 1892

Genus Sigaloceras Hyatt, 1900 (including the subgenera Sigaloceras (Sigaloceras) Hyatt, 1900 and Sigaloceras (Catasigaloceras) Buckman, 1923

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily PERISPHINCTACEAE Steinmann, 1890, Family PERISPHINCTIDAE Steinmann, 1890, Subfamily ‘PSEUDOPERISPHINCTINAE’ Schindewolf, 1925:

Genus Homeoplanulites Buckman, 1922

?Genus Anaplanulites Buckman, 1922 (or Proplanulitinae)

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily PERISPHINCTACEAE Steinmann, 1890, Family PERISPHINCTIDAE Steinmann, 1890, Subfamily PROPLANULITINAE Buckman, 1921:

Genus Proplanulites Buckman, 1922

Suborder PERISPHINCTINA Bessanova & Michailova, 1983, Superfamily PERISPHINCTACEAE Steinmann, 1890, Family REINECKEIIDAE Hyatt, 1900:

Genus Reineckeia Bayle, 1878

 

Subsequently work in Russia by authors such as V. Mitta and D. Kiselev has provided a plethora of new, nominal species names especially for Arctocephalitinae, Cadoceratinae and Keppleritidae and the relationship between these and British species now requires assessment. For other groups such as ‘Pseudoperisphinctinae’, Proplanulitinae and Macrocephalitinae no significant recent works have appeared, although further progress is now being made on upper Bathonian–Callovian Pseudoperisphictinae in conjunction with Dr G. Meléndez (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain: preliminary results published in Page & Meléndez 2000). The proposed monograph, therefore, will mark a major new contribution to a European understanding of these latter groups.

As part of the process of reviewing the original taxonomic work of 1988 a range of UK museum visits are being undertaken to reassess material previously studied, as well as describe more recently acquired faunas. This process is ongoing, but in the last year, several unexpected opportunities arose to revisit institutions in other countries, notably the collections of the Geological Survey of Poland and the Department of Geology of the University of Warsaw, Poland, as well as those of the Palaeontology Department of the University of Zaragoza, Spain. These visits contributed significant to the ongoing study as it became possible to reassess lower Callovian ammonite faunas from Iberia and eastern central Europe in the context of a contemporary view of Jurassic biogeography (as reviewed by Page 2008). A revelation here was that whereas a view previously established that differences in faunas recovered from different areas across northern Europe could primarily be accounted for by stratigraphical gaps and non-preservation, examination of associated faunal elements as an independent age-control, clearly indicated that biogeographical effects are also very significant. Most affected appear to be Macrocephlitinae, with Keppleritinae and Pseudoperisphinctinae also apparently showing some differences. The Macrocephalitinae in particular, have defied virtually all attempts to establish a workable taxonomical framework at species level across Europe (cf. Page 1988, p. 41), but the answer now seems clear - they really are different in different regions. With this effect in mind, it is now possible to progress with the production of a clear and reliable taxonomy of British lower Callovian ammonites, a essential pre-requisite for the projected monograph.

 

Future work

 

The taxonomic framework established in the present draft of the projected monograph will continue to be developed, and will then be applied to and tested on existing museum and other available collections containing lower Callovian ammonites, during forthcoming visits. In is hoped that high quality photographic negatives dating from the original 1988 study can be digitised in the near future and draft plates assembled. In addition, figures of specimens not previously seen, or misinterpreted, will be required, and preliminary discussions with several institutions indicate that they may be able to provide such resources. Once digital pictures area available, compilation of Part 1 of the projected monograph will be possible – it is envisaged that this will ready for submission in Autumn 2011.

 

Acknowledgements

 

My grateful thanks to the Society for providing the resources necessary to complete this project. In addition I would like to thank Dr Ewa Głowniak (University of Warsaw) and Dr Guillermo Meléndez (University of Zaragoza) for making possible visits to their institutions.

 

REFERENCES

 

CALLOMON, J. H., DIETL, G. & PAGE, K. N. 1988. On the ammonite faunal horizons and standard zonations of the Lower Callovian Stage in Europe. Pp. 359–376. In ROCHA, R. B. & SOARES, A. F. (Eds). Second International Symposium on Jurassic Stratigraphy, Centro de Estratigrafia e Paleobiologia de Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

COX, B. M. & PAGE, K. N. 2002a. Chapter 2 - The Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of Wessex. Pp. 13–111. In COX, B. M. & SUMBLER, M. (Eds). British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series, 26, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

COX, B. M. & PAGE, K. N. 2002b. Chapter 5 - The Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of North Yorkshire. Pp. 313–362. In COX, B. M. & SUMBLER, M. (Eds). British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy.  Geological Conservation Review Series, 26, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

COX, B. M., PAGE, K. N. & MORTON, N. 2002. Chapter 6 - The Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of Scotland.Pp. 363–426. In COX, B. M. & SUMBLER, M. (Eds). British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy. Geological Conservation Review Series, 26, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

PAGE, K. N. 1989. A stratigraphical revision for the English lower Callovian. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 100, 363–382.

PAGE, K. N. 1991. Ammonites. Pp. 86–143. In MARTILL, D. M. & HUDSON, J. D. (Eds). Fossils of the Oxford Clay. Palaeontological Association Field Guide to Fossils, 4.

PAGE, K. N. 2001. Up a Bathonian backwater – a review of the ammonite evidence of the correlating sequences with interdigitating non-marine facies in central and northern England. Hantkeniana, 3, 131–148.

PAGE, K. N. 2008. The evolution and geography of Jurassic ammonites. Proceedings of the Geologist’s Association, 119, 35–57.

PAGE, K. N. & MÉLENDEZ, G. 2000. Correlation of late Bathonian ammonite faunas between England and North East Spain and a proposed standard zonation for the upper Bathonian of northern and eastern Europe. Pp. 153–162. In HALL, R. L. & SMITH, P. L. (Eds). Advances in Jurassic Research 2000.  Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on the Jurassic System, GeoResearch Forum, 6, Trans Tech Publications.

SUMBLER, M. G., COX, B. M., WYATT, R. J. & PAGE, K. N. 2002a. Chapter 3 - The Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of the Cotswolds. Pp. 113–226. In COX, B. M. & SUMBLER, M. (Eds). British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy.  Geological Conservation Review Series, 26, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

SUMBLER, M. G., COX, B. M., WYATT, R. J. & PAGE, K. N. 2002b. Chapter 4 - The Middle Jurassic stratigraphy of the East Midlands. Pp. 227–312. In COX, B. M. & SUMBLER, M. (Eds). British Middle Jurassic Stratigraphy.  Geological Conservation Review Series, 26, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

 

3. Revision of Devonian Brachiopods from Devon

 

Mena Schemm-Gregory

 

Geosciences Centre, University of Coimbra, Largo Marquês de Pombal, 3000-272 Coimbra, Portugal, e-mail: Mena.Schemm-Gregory@dct.uc.pt

 

 

Brachiopods, especially of Devonian age, are important index fossils for Paleozoic rocks and important tools for palaeobiogeographical interpretation, due to their fast evolution and widespread abundance in this time interval. Devon is eponymous with the Devonian system, which was introduced by R. Murchison and A. Sedgwick. Since the 19th Century the brachiopod fauna from Devon has been reported and described (e.g. Davidson 1864, 1865; Evans 1985), however, a modern revision is lacking and their affinities to brachiopods occurring in the German and Belgium Rheno-Ardenne Mountains are still a matter of debate (Jansen 2001; Schemm-Gregory & Jansen 2007; Schemm-Gregory 2009). This project was initiated on the type collections by Davidson and Evans, which have been studied at the Natural History Museum, London. In collaboration with Dr Kevin Page (University of Plymouth), various classical outcrops along the coast of southern Devon were visited and sampled last year. Melanie Border kindly helped to get permission to sample the rocks of the English Riviera Geopark in which most of the classical sections are situated. Special attention was paid to the Lower Devonian Meatfood Group, which is currently assigned to the Siegenian and Emsian stages (middle and upper Lower Devonian) in the classical German sense. The rocks consist of grey sandstones, siltstones and shales. The brachiopod fauna in this unit occurs in lenses, which are often unfortunately tectonically deformed, complicating their identification. The specimens are mostly preserved as internal and external moulds. These specimens will be cleaned and photographed. Latex casts will be prepared to study the shell morphology, especially the micro-ornamentation which is essential for systematic assignment. The brachiopod fauna is quite diverse, however, the majority of the brachiopod fauna is almost monospecifically dominated by chonetid brachiopods: spiriferids, strophomenids and a few orthids have also been found. Side-by-side comparisons will show if the Devonian of southern England is related to the Rheno-Ardennen Mountains, to the northern Gondwanan terrains (Cantabrian Mountains, Eastern Iberian Chains, Armorcain Massif), or even to the Appalachian Mountains. It is planned to present the results of this project at the Devonian Meeting in Novosibirsk (Summer 2011) and at the Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association in Plymouth (December 2011). A monograph on this fauna has been started which will be submitted to the Palaeontographical Society. Further sampling in north Devon and Cornwall are planned to complete the revision of the Devonian brachiopods from southern England.

 

REFERENCES

 

DAVIDSON, T. 1864. The fossil Brachiopoda. Volume 3, Part 6, Number 1, Devonian. Palaeontographical Society Monographs, 16 (number 68), 1–56 + pls i–ix.

DAVIDSON, T. 1865. The fossil Brachiopoda. Volume 3, Part 6, Number 2, Devonian. Palaeontographical Society Monographs, 17, 57–131 + pls x–xx.

EVANS, K. M. 1985. The brachiopod fauna of the Meadfoot Group (Lower Devonian) of the Torbay area, south Devon. Geological Journal, 20, 81–90.

JANSEN, U. 2001. Morphologie, Taxonomie und Phylogenie unter-devonischer Brachiopoden aus der Dra-Ebene (Marokko, Prä-Sahara) und dem Rheinischen Schiefergebirge (Deutschland). Abhandlungen der senckenbergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 554, 1–389.

SCHEMM-GREGORY, M. 2009. Phylogeny, taxonomy, and palaeobiogeography of delthyridoid spiriferids (Brachiopoda, Silurian to Devonian). Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, 610 pp.

SCHEMM-GREGORY, M. & JANSEN, U. 2007. A new genus of terebratulid brachiopod from the Siegenian of the Rhenisches Schiefergebirge. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 52, 413–422.

 

 

4. Systematics of British Upper Silurian trilobites

 

Andrew J. Storey

School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham

 

Descriptions of trilobites from the Silurian of Britain have been ongoing since the 17th Century, but more recent publications have focussed on the Llandovery and Wenlock series. To date around 31 genera and 43 species have been recognised from the British Upper Silurian, but many have not been studied in over 35 years and are in need of systematic revision. My research project aims to extend previous studies by formally documenting British Upper Silurian trilobite taxa and establishing their affinities. Descriptions are primarily based on collections amassed by my supervisors and this has been supplemented by fieldwork. Substantial collections exist in various museums in Britain also, and comprise some of the largest Silurian trilobite collections in the world. Funding from the Palaeontographical Society has allowed me to study trilobite collections at the British Geological Survey (Keyworth: BGS), National Museum of Wales (Cardiff), Sedgwick Museum (Cambridge: CAMSM), Oxford University Museum (OXFUM), National History Museum (London: NHMUK) and Ludlow Museum. The study of figured and unfigured material from museums around the UK has provided new data aiding both the identification and documentation of British Upper Silurian faunas.

Work is proceeding on the systematics and palaeobiology of British Upper Silurian trilobites, and is largely based on the description of trilobites that commonly occur in platform facies. The Ludlow Elton Group, is one example, and includes several taxa including Dalmanites, Raphiophorus, Calymene, Exallaspis, a phacopid, and an encrinurid. A comparison with the type material of Forbes (1848) and Whittard (1938) has confirmed the presence of Raphiophorus parvulus and Exallaspis coronata in the Middle and Upper Elton formations. Several well-preserved specimens at Ludlow Museum, Salop may also allow Calymene and the encrinurid to be identified to species-level for the first time. Dalmanites myops, D. caudatus and D. nexilis are, to date, the only recognised dalmanitids occurring in the Elton Group. It is likely, however, that specimens formerly assigned to one of the first two species, in fact represent different taxa. A comparison of type material at the NHMUK with material from the Elton Group is ongoing and may yield additional species. Material collected from the Bringewood and Leintwardine formations is also being compared with museum collections and will provide additional data on the taxa concerned.

Work is also progressing on the documentation of an unusual deep-water fauna from the late Wenlock\early Ludlow Coldwell Formation (Tranerth Group), of the Lake District. The most abundant trilobites include Decoroproetus scrobiculatus, Delops nobilis marri, and Struveria howgillensis (Storey & Thomas 2008). Based on collections in the Sedgwick Museum, and the British Geological Survey, Calymene and Encrinurus are herein known to occur in the Tranearth Group for the first time. A survey of Owens’ (1973) Decoroproetus material at the National Museum of Wales has helped identify additional species in the Coldwell Formation, and this includes Decoroproetus cf. wigwig and Decoroproetus sp. nov.? In addition, a detailed study of the Rickards (1965) collection (CAMSM) in comparison with Delops obtusicaudatus (CAMSM, BGS and NHM) and Delops nobilis nobilis (OXFUM) has helped to revise the characters diagnostic of each species along with the genus.  A comparison of existing collections from the Coldwell Formation demonstrates strong similarities with the fauna of the Swedish Colonus Shale (Hede 1915). In particular Delops nobilis marri, and Struveria howgillensis are thought to be conspecific with Dalmanites mobergi and Dalmanites simricus respectively.

Work will continue on the documentation of British Upper Silurian trilobites, and it is anticipated that this will be published in a form of a monograph. The author would like to thank the Palaeontographical Society for funding this research project, and allowing a complete coverage of the British Silurian trilobite fauna. This will complement a similar survey of Gotland, and it is expected that this will allow a more complete understanding of the differences and similarities of trilobite taxa occurring in Britain and Gotland. The study of endemic and shared taxa between these two regions will also allow a better appreciation of the spatial distribution of taxa. This has broader implications for future biogeographic and palaeoenvironmental studies on Silurian trilobites.  

 

REFERENCES

 

FORBES, E. 1848. Palaeontological Appendix. Pp. 331–386. In PHILLIPS, J. and SALTER J. W, Memoir on the Malvern Hills compared with the Palaeozoic Districts of Abberley etc. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, 2(1).

HEDE, J. E. 1915. Skånes Colonusskiffer. Acta Universitets Lund N. F. Avd. 2, 11(6), 1–65 + pls. 1–4.

OWENS, R. M. 1973. British Ordovician and Silurian Proetidae (Trilobita), Palaeontographical Society Monographs, 127 (Number 535), 1–98 + 15 pls.

RICKARDS, R. B. 1965. Two new genera of Silurian phacopid trilobites. Palaeontology, 7, 541–551 + pls 84–85.

STOREY, A. J. and THOMAS, A. T. 2008. A deep water trilobite fauna from the British lower Ludlow. Pp. 375–379. In RÁBANO, I. et al. (Eds). Advances in trilobite research. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 9. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid.

WHITTARD, W. F. 1938. The Upper Valentian trilobite fauna of Shropshire. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, (11) 1, 85–140 + pls 2–5.s

 

 

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