The Palaeontological Association 62nd Annual Meeting 14th–17th December 2018 University of Bristol PROGRAMME, ABSTRACTS and AGM papers MAPS The University in the City: The Meeting venues in the University: ANNUAL MEETING Palaeontological Association 1 The Palaeontological Association 62nd Annual Meeting 14th–17th December 2018 University of Bristol The programme and abstracts for the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association are provided after the following information and summary of the Meeting. An easy-to-navigate pocket guide to the Meeting is also available to delegates. Venue The Annual Meeting will take place at various locations within the University of Bristol. The Symposium will be taking place in the Great Hall in the Wills Memorial Building. The main meeting will take place at the Priory Road complex (talks) and the Life Sciences Building (posters and breaks). Registration Registration will be possible before and during the Symposium outside the Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building, and later in the Life Sciences Building during the icebreaker reception. During the main meeting a registration desk will be available at the Priory Road complex. Oral Presentations All speakers (apart from the symposium speakers) have been allocated 15 minutes. You should therefore present for only 12 minutes to allow time for questions and switching between presenters. We have a number of parallel sessions in adjacent lecture theatres so timing is very important. All lecture theatres have an AV projector linked to a large screen. All presentations not submitted to Jakob Vinther prior to the meeting must now be uploaded to the local system. During the meeting there will be a volunteer with a computer outside the lecture rooms who can upload your presentation from your USB memory stick. Please upload your presentation as soon as possible, and at least half an hour before your session. Poster presentations Poster boards can accommodate an A0-sized poster presented in portrait format only. Pins to affix your poster to the boards are available. Posters are displayed in the Life Sciences Building. Please put up your posters either during the icebreaker reception or in the mornings at times indicated in the detailed programme. Travel grants to student members Students who have been awarded a PalAss travel grant should see the Executive Officer Dr Jo Hellawell at the Association’s stand to receive their reimbursement. Childcare There are nursing rooms/baby changing facilities in the basement of the Life Sciences Building and at the Priory Road complex. Palaeontological Association 2 ANNUAL MEETING Accessibility There is access via elevators and lifts throughout the Life Sciences and Priory Road complex. An assistive listening / hearing enhancement system is available in each venue. For more information, see <https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/wills-memorial-building>, <https://www.accessable. co.uk/venues/life-sciences-building> and <https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/social-sciences- complex-priory-road-complex>. For assistance during the meeting please speak to volunteers on the registration desk. Bristol Bristol was named the best place to live in Britain in 2017. Described as ‘a small city that feels like a big city’, Bristol boasts a wide range of cultural events, restaurants, pubs, museums and historic buildings. Go through the town and see how many Banksy paintings you can spot or take part in one of the guided tours. The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a magnificent industrial age monument based on designs by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Stokes Croft is a great hub for music, art and counter- cultural lifestyles. See <https://visitbristol.co.uk> for information on events during your stay. Sponsors The organizers of the Annual Meeting gratefully acknowledge the support of the sponsors: John Wiley & Sons Nikon Metrology Thermo Fisher Scientific Nature Ecology & Evolution Geological Society Publishing House Cambridge University Press The Paleontological Institute Taylor & Francis Time Bites ANNUAL MEETING Palaeontological Association 3 Palaeontological Association 4 ANNUAL MEETING Summary of Schedule Friday 14th December: Workshops, Symposium and Reception The Annual Meeting will begin with a Symposium entitled “Frontiers and Advances in Dinosaur Palaeobiology” in the Great Hall, Wills Memorial Building. Following the Symposium there will be an icebreaker reception from 19.15 to 21.00 in the Life Sciences Building. The registration desk will open at 13.30 outside the Great Hall in the Wills Memorial Building and will be available during the reception in the Life Sciences Building. Saturday 15th December: Conference, AGM, Annual Address and Annual Dinner Registration will be open from 08.00 at the Priory Road complex. The conference will start at 09.00 in the Priory Road complex. Talks will be held in triple, double and single sessions in the three lecture theatres, all of which are close to each other. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at 14.45 followed by a brief coffee break, returning to the Annual Address at 16.00. Posters will be set up in the Life Sciences Building where lunch and coffee breaks will also be held. Please note that the Life Sciences Building is a five-minute walk from the lecture halls, and that lunch and refreshments are included in your registration fee. An informal LGBTQ+ gathering will be held during the Saturday lunch break (follow the rainbow trilobites). The afternoon will have a dedicated poster session (17.00–18.45) in the Life Sciences Building where drinks will be served. The Annual Dinner will be held in the Bristol City Museum. Doors open at 19.00. The Dinner will feature a three-course meal accompanied by drinks, an open cash bar, and the venue is ours until 01.00. Sunday 16th December: Conference and prizes Registration will be open from 08.00 at the Priory Road complex. Talks will begin at 09.30 in the Priory Road complex. Coffee breaks and lunch will be served at the Life Sciences Building and posters will be on display. Talks will end by 17.15, after which time the conference will close with presentations by the organizing committees of upcoming meetings, the award of the President’s Prize and the Council Poster Prize, and concluding remarks. ANNUAL MEETING Palaeontological Association 5 Monday 17th December: Post-conference field-trips Field-trip 1: Triassic–Jurassic section in Watchet, North Somerset We will visit the classic Triassic–Jurassic section in Watchet, North Somerset. At this locality, well-preserved ammonites can be found with ammolite-quality nacre. Soft-bodied coleoids and vertebrate remains are also regularly found. This will be both a fossil-hunting trip and a chance to see some spectacular geology and Alpine folding. Please remember that as this is a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) no hammering will be permitted on the bedrock, although loose blocks can be split, of which there are plenty. Due to the tide schedule we will need to make a very early start in the morning. For lunch we will visit a local pub with a magnificent West Country cider selection and have fish and chips. Departure time 07.00. We will leave from The Hawthorns on the corner of Woodland Road and Elton Road. Expect to return in the late afternoon/early evening. Field-trip leaders: Benjamin Moon and Jakob Vinther. Field-trip 2: Classic microvertebrate sites near Bristol At the end of the Triassic the Bristol area was located in tropical lagoons surrounding limestone islands. While the classic Rhaetian bone beds were accumulating during offshore storms, cracks in the rocks of the islands were gathering skeletons of reptiles and mammals. We will visit Aust Cliff, famous Rhaetian bone bed site, Manor Farm, and Cromhall, one of the famous Bristol fissures sites. Lunch will be served in a local hostelry. Departure time 08.30. We will leave from The Hawthorns on the corner of Woodland Road and Elton Road. Expect to return in the late afternoon/early evening. Field-trip leaders: Mike Benton, David Whiteside and Pamela Gill. The Palaeontological Association Registered Charity Number: 1168330 Code of Conduct for Palaeontological Association meetings The Palaeontological Association was founded in 1957 and has become one of the world’s leading learned societies in this field. The Association is a registered charity that promotes the study of palaeontology and its allied sciences through publication of original research and field guides, sponsorship of meetings and field excursions, provision of web resources and information and a programme of annual awards. The Palaeontological Association holds regular meetings and events throughout the year. The two flagship meetings are the Annual Meeting, held at a different location each December, and the annual Progressive Palaeontology meeting, run by students for students with the support of the Palaeontological Association. The Association Code of Conduct relates to the behaviour of all participants and attendees at annual events. Behavioural expectations: It is the expectation of the Palaeontological Association that meeting attendees behave in a courteous, collegial and respectful fashion to each other, volunteers, exhibitors and meeting facility staff. Attendees should respect common sense rules for professional and personal interactions, public behaviour (including behaviour in public electronic communications), common courtesy, respect for private property and respect for intellectual property of presenters. Demeaning, abusive, discriminatory,