The Palaeontology Newsletter Contents 57 Association Business 2 Association Meetings 6 From our correspondents Tainting of Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 10 Time and time-rock again 18 Stratigraphy over-simplified? 27 Palaeo-math 101: Regression 3 32 Meeting Reports 44 Future meetings of other bodies 56 Mysterious Fossils 67 Book Reviews 68 Post-graduate opportunities 85 Discounts for PalAss members 89 Special Papers 70–72 90–95 Palaeontology vol 47 part 6 96 48th Annual Meeting Programme 98 Abstracts of Seminars 106 Abstracts of Talks 110 Abstracts of Posters 137 Reminder: The deadline for copy for Issue no 58 is 11th February 2005 On the Web: <http://www.palass.org/> Newsletter 57 2 Newsletter 57 3 Association Business 3. Election of Council and vote of thanks to retiring members i. Dr Smith extended a vote of thanks to the retiring members of Council Dr J. Clack, Dr A.L.A. Johnson, Dr I.J. Sansom, Dr S. Gabbott, Dr P. Orr and Dr Milsom. Dr Purnell 48TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND extended a vote of thanks to Dr Smith. ANNUAL ADDRESS ii. It was noted the following members of Council would be moving to new posts: Dr M.A. Purnell (Vice president), Prof. E.N.K. Clarkson (Ed.) and Dr Polly (Ed.). Dr Hilton will take over responsibility as Web Officer. 48th Annual General Meeting and Annual Address iii. New members of Council include Dr. L. Anderson (Ed., co-opted), Dr Per Ahlberg (Ed.). Saturday, 18th December 4.45 to 5.10 pm 4. Sylvester-Bradley Awards MACC Congress Centre, USTL campus at Villeneuve d’Ascq. i. Dr Smith announced eight grants had been awarded to Broughton, Gladwell, Harrington, AGENDA Hernandez-Castillo, Lane, Joomun, Tetlie and Zuykov 1. Apologies for absence 5. Proposed change to Constitution article 3 2. Annual Report for 2003 i. It was agreed to include the category of Honorary Life Membership, proposed by Prof. E.N.K. Clarkson, seconded by Dr Cusack. 3. Accounts and Balance Sheet for 2003 Howard A. Armstrong 4. Changes to subscription rates Secretary 5. Presentation of the Lapworth Medal 6. Presentation of the Hodson Fund 7. Presentation of the Mary Anning Awards Sylvester-Bradley Award 8. Election of Council and vote of thanks to retiring members 9. Annual address Awards are made to assist palaeontological research (travel, visits to museums, fieldwork etc.), with each award having a maximum value of £1,000. Preference is given to applications for H. A. Armstrong a single purpose (rather than top-ups of other grant applications) and no definite age limit is Secretary applied, although some preference may be given to younger applicants or those at the start of their careers. The award is open to both amateur and professional palaeontologists, but preference will be given to members of the Association. The awards are announced at the AGM. AGM MINUTES 2003 Council will also consider awards in excess of £1,000, particularly for pilot projects which are Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday, 7th May 2003 at the Natural History likely to facilitate a future application to a national research funding body. Museum, London. Electronic submission of applications, through the website, is preferred and will comprise a CV, Apologies for absence: Prof. D.E.G. Briggs, Prof. S.K. Donovan, Dr S. Evans, Dr S. Gabbott, an account of research aims and objectives (5,000 characters maximum), and a breakdown of Prof. J. Hancock, Prof. D.A.T. Harper, Dr E. Harper, Dr J. Hilton, Dr A.L.A. Johnson, Dr I.J. Sansom. the proposed expenditure. Each application should be accompanied by the names of a personal and scientific referee. Successful candidates must produce a report for Palaeontology Newsletter 1. Annual Report for 2002. Agreed, proposed by Dr Donoghue and seconded by Dr Purnell. and are asked to consider the Association’s meetings and publications as media for conveying 2. Accounts and Balance Sheet for 2002. Agreed, proposed by Dr Polly and seconded by the research results. Deadline: Friday 26th November 2004. Dr Manning. Newsletter 57 4 Newsletter 57 5 Prestigious new website award from PalAss “The Golden Trilobite Awards” Over the past few years there has been an exponential increase in the number of quality websites promoting palaeontology and its allied sciences. These are widely used by professionals and amateurs alike and are a valuable resource Palaeontology: for our science. Council has decided to recognise the work that goes into developing these sites by CALL FOR SHORT PAPERS! awarding an annual Website Award. Awards will be announced at the AGM and published on our website and in the Newsletter. There will be two awards, decided by Council members for the best institutional and amateur sites. From January 2005 Palaeontology will be published in A4 size with a new layout. In line with this development space will be reserved To get the ball rolling for this year, two websites have been recognised as reaching the highest for rapid publication of short papers on topical issues, exceptional standards: new discoveries, and major developments that have important Institutional Award: The echinoid directory implications for evolution, palaeoclimate, depositional environments and other matters of general interest to palaeontologists. Papers, <http://www.nhm.ac.uk/palaeontology/echinoids/> which should not exceed 6 printed pages, should be submitted in the The echinoid directory is ostensibly a taxonomic resource for the scientific community normal way, but they will be refereed rapidly and fast tracked, on in which the genera and higher taxa of echinoids can be simply and rapidly identified. acceptance, for publication in the next available issue. There are currently over 350 pages of detailed information about echinoid taxa, including colour images of the highest quality. The site also provides an introduction to the Submission of longer review papers is also encouraged, and these anatomy, biology, ecology, ontogeny and phylogeny of echinoids, as well as a key to aid too will be given priority for rapid publication. While Palaeontology identification. The site has been designed and created by Andrew Smith of the Department maintains its reputation for scientific quality and presentation, these of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, London. developments will ensure that the Impact Factor of the journal reflects its status as a leading publication in the field (rising to 1.19 Amateur Award: Fossils of the Gault Clay and Folkestone Beds of Kent, UK in 2003). <http://www.gaultammonite.co.uk/home.html> This site is dedicated to the fossils of the Lower Cretaceous Albian (Gault Clay and Folkestone Beds) in the county of Kent, south-east England, providing a pictorial identification to the fauna. The colour photographic images are of the highest quality. The site is based on the work and collections (much of which has subsequently been donated to the Natural History Museum, London) of the late Jim Craig, and is maintained by Fred Clouter. Please send your nominations for the 2005 Awards to <[email protected]>. NewsletterNewsletter 55 57 6 6 NewsletterNewsletter 55 577 7 ASSOCIATION MEETINGS Venue and Travel Details about the City of Lille can be found on the website at <http://www.mairie-lille.fr/>. Lille is less than two hours from London by Eurostar (<http://www.eurostar.com/>), and tickets 48th Annual Meeting of The Palaeontological Association at reduced prices are available if you book some weeks in advance. Lille can also be reached Lille, France 17 – 20 December 2004 easily from Paris and its airport Charles de Gaulle (about one hour) and from Brussels (about 40 minutes) by TGV high speed trains. The Congress Centre can easily be reached by Metro. The 48th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association will be held in the Congress Centre Accommodation (MACC) of the Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (USTL), on its campus at Villeneuve Accommodation will mostly be organised in hotels around the Congress Centre at Villeneuve d’Ascq near Lille. The opening session with a seminar on Palaeobiogeography will be held on d’Ascq. This is approximately 15 minutes’ walk from the conference venue. Participants are Friday afternoon, 17th December, in the lecture hall of the Beaux Arts Museum in the centre of free to book alternative accommodation at a wide range of prices. Please note that the strict Lille. In the evening the Icebreaker Party will be held in the Natural History Museum of Lille, in deadline for reservation of accommodation through the organisers is 10th September. After this the heart of the Capitale Européenne de la Culture 2004 (<http://www.lille2004.fr/>). date, accommodation must be arranged by the participants themselves. The technical sessions will consist of two full days of talks in the main lecture hall of the Registration and booking Congress Centre at Villeneuve d’Ascq on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th December, with poster sessions in an adjoining lecture hall. Technical sessions are open to all aspects of palaeontology. Booking for accommodation, field excursions and also abstract submission for the conference All talks will be scheduled for 15 minutes including five minutes for discussion; there are must be completed by Midnight on Friday 10th September 2004. After this date participants no parallel sessions so it is possible that some proposed oral contributions will have to be will have to organise their own accommodation in Lille in order to attend the meeting. After rescheduled as posters. On Monday 20th December two geological excursions will be organised; 10th September registration for the meeting is still possile but will incur additional costs. Final one to examine the Mesozoic sediments on the coastal sections in the Boullonnais area, the registration for the meeting will be Friday 3rd December.