1
		Annual Report for 1998 IGCP 406 "Circum-Arctic Lower-Middle Palaeozoic Vertebrate Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy" 1. Summary of Major Past Achievements of the Project During 1996, IGCP 406 meetings and workshops were held in Edmonton, Canada, in Uppsala, Sweden, in Tallinn, Estonia, and in Vilnius, Lithuania. International collaborative field work was carried out in northern Canda. Working groups began research initiativesinvolving the Canadian, Greenland, Spitsbergen, and northern Russian parts of the Circum-Arctic region. During 1997, IGCP 406 held two meetings, in Buckow, Germany during July, and in St. Petersburg, Russia during September. Both meetings resulted in substantial volumes of abstracts published as special publications of Ichthyolith Issues. The St. Petersburg meeting also included a workshop for authors of a volume on Severnaya Zemlya stratigraphy, part of it to be published in Russia and another part by Geodiversitas, Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. In addition, smaller workshops, discussions, and field meetings, funded by other agencies, were held in London, Vilnius, and Edinburgh, and project-related field work took place in northern Canada, Alaska, and Scotland. The project has grown to more than 100 participants from 18 countries. 2. Achievements This Year 2.1 General scientific achievements (including societal benefits) News of the project continues to be spread through articles in newsletters (e.g. Ichthyolith Issues), through electronic mail to all participants, and through the Palaeozoic MicrovertebratesWorld-Wide-Web page. The main IGCP 406 meeting was held in Warsaw, Poland. This meeting brought together more than 50 scientists and graduate students from 16 countries to share research results, to plan further collaborative studies of fossil collections, and to plan collaborative applications for field-work and research funding. Workshops on Lower and Middle Palaeozoic geology of the Timan-Pechora region and on the early fossil record of chondrichthyans were part of the meeting. IGCP 406 participants also represented the project at other important meetings during 1998. Important examples (supported by modest funding from the Project) are the Silurian Subcommission meeting in Spain, the ECOS VII (conodont) meeting in Italy, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology annual meeting in U.S.A. Several smaller workshops, field meetings, and field trips (funded by other agencies) were also held by project participants. Achievements of these smaller workshops are mentioned where known. Research in addition to that reported at the meetings has been carried forward by national participants. Their progress is also summarized below. IGCP 406 Annual Meeting: Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Faunas and Facies Geological Institute, Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland, September 3-8, 1998 Please see the program and abstracts volume, Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 4 . More than 50 participants from 16 countries (Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, U.K., U.S.A.) attended. The main emphasis was on palaeobiological and biostratigraphic studies of both vertebrates and invertebrates in the Canadian, Russian, Danish, and Norwegian Arctic. Two workshops were held, one on geology of the Timan-Pechora region, and another on the early fossil record of Chondrichthyes (sharks and relatives). A two-day field excursion included visits to most of the important Devonian localities of the Holy Cross Mountains. The meeting provided a forum for reporting of significant advances in biostratigraphical and paleobiological research. More than 30 oral presentations and several posters were given. Some 41 extended abstracts were published in the conference volume: M. Ginter and M.V.H. Wilson (eds). 1998. Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Faunas and Facies. Warszawa, Poland, 1998. Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication4, 62 pp. Several participants brought with them manuscripts for the Severnaya Zemlya volume, which will be published in Paris, as a special issue of Geodiversitas. These papers include studies of Ordovician through Devonian thelodonts, anaspids, and conodonts, and involve confirmation of biostratigraphic zonation as well as significant revisions to accepted stratigraphy. Many other participants brought manuscripts for publication in a special conference issue of Acta Geologica Polonica, or indicated that their manuscripts would be submitted within a few weeks of the end

		2 of the meeting. Other participants presented papers that will be published in other international journals. Typical papers dealing with new species and assemblages include one by P.-Y. Gagnier et al. on a new acanthodian found in Lower Devonian strata northern Canada during IGCP 406-related field work in 1996. M. Otto reported on a new antiarch from the Devonian of Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada, while D. Goujet demonstrated higher than expected diversity of placoderms after IGCP 328 - sponsored field work in 1994 and 1995 that in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. R. Carr and E. Mark-Kurik presented results of their joint research on systematics and palaeogeography of arthrodires, and Mark-Kurik reported 7 chronological placoderm assemblages in the Lower and Middle Devonian of Severnaya Zemlya. O. Afanassieva presented her recent findings on osteostracans from Severnaya Zemlya. T. Märss et al. correlated thelodont bearing Llandovery-Wenlock boundary beds of Selwyn-Root and Franklinian basins. H.-P. Schultze presented exciting findings on the early actinopterygian fish Dialipina, based on IGCP 406-related field work at the Anderson River, northern Canada, in 1997. New results in sedimentological and palaeogeographical studies include those by A. Antoshkina about stages in the history of Palaeozoic reef formations in the Pechora Urals. V. Karatajute-Talimaa compared Silurian and Devonian vertebrate faunas in the Circum-Arctic region and found that the late Silurian - early Devonian vertebrate assemblages from Timan-Pechora, Northern and Polar Urals, Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya belong to the Cephalaspid Vertebrate Province, pointing to the close relationship of these regions to the Baltica and Laurentia palaeocontinents. On the other hand, the early Devonian vertebrates from Taimyr and Novosibirsk Islands represent the Amphiaspid Vertebrate Province characteristic of the Siberian palaeocontinent. Data about the distribution of shelly fauna and conodonts support these conclusions. M. Lewandowski presented a series of palaeogeographic maps for Gondwana, Baltica, and Laurentia for the early Ordovician - early Permian time span. T. Modzalevskaya reported on similar isotopic signatures in Ludlow brachiopods from the Timan-Pechora region and Gotland. T. Märss added that the carbon isotope curve found by T. Martma, Tallinn, in sections from Baillie-Hamilton and Cornwallis islands is very similar to that which T. Modzalevskaya presented. P. Männik contributed conodont age data for the Canadian island sections, and recognized in the Telychian two conodont faunal provinces - one connected with the northern and northeastern parts of Baltica and Laurentia, and the other with the southeastern parts of the same palaeocontinents. Workshops at the Warsaw Meeting Two workshops, one on Lower and Middle Palaeozoic geology of the Timan-Pechora region, and another one on the early fossil record of chondrichthyans were organized. (1) Timan-Pechora Workshop The main topics of discussion were: 1) the state of studies of Lower-Middle Palaeozoic strata in the region. 2) publication. 3) IGCP 406 future meeting in Syktyvkar and excursions to the Timan-Pechora region. During recent decades extensive geological studies have been carried out in the Timan-Pechora region. A large amount of information about palaeontology, sedimentology, mineralogy, geochemistry etc. is available. Many outcrops and core sections have been studied in detail. The results of these studies have been discussed in a number of conferences and field-meetings (e.g. 1983, 1987), and published in many papers. Several monographic studies have been published (T. Beznosova) or prepared (A. Abushik and L. Shamsutdinova; S. Melnikov in press). Unfortunately, at the moment, almost all published geological information available about this region is in Russian. All participants in the discussions agreed that the main task in the near future will be to publish the general information about the region in English. To begin with, 4-5 papers dealing with general problems of Silurian and Devonian palaeontology, stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeogeography will be published at the end of 1999 in Estonia (in the Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology Series). Also, some authors are thinking about the possibility of re-publishing their monographs in English. As the Timan-Pechora region is one of the easiest, and least expensive of the Arctic regions to reach, and as the Palaeozoic strata are well exposed and studied there, it will be the best region for IGCP 406 to organize a field meeting. The specialists working in the region accepted this suggestion enthusiastically and have started with preparations. The First Circular of the IGCP 406 Meeting "Palaeozoic pan-Arctic Tectonics, and Evolution of Basins and Fauna" Syktyvkar, Russia, July 12-15, 2000 (CAPV-2000) has already been prepared (see Appendix of project report). (2) Workshop on Early Fossil Record of Chondrichthyans This workshop attracted many scientists and graduate students with interests in early fossil chondrichthyans,

		3 including several who had not previously partipated in IGCP 406 meetings. Participants had the opportunity to examine each other's specimens as well as the chondrichthyan microvertebrate collections of the Geology Institute, Warsaw, and to present technical papers. Some examples of papers presented include those by Hanke and Wilson and by Wilson and Hanke on a diverse assemblage of acanthodian-like chondrichthyans and chondrichthyan-like acanthodians from the Lochkovian MOTH locality in northern Canada. Karatajute-Talimaa and Mertiniene summarized morphogenetic types of chondrichthyan scales as recognized in Devonian and Carboniferous deposits. Papers on undoubted Devonian chondrichthyans were presented by M. Williams, K. Trinajstic, and C. Derycke, and on Late Palaeozoic chondrichthyans by A. Ivanov, R. Soler-Gijón, O. Hampe, and G. Johnson. New Working Group: Early and Middle Palaeozoic Basins in the Circum-Arctic Region: Palaeotectonics and Palaeogeography The proposal byV.V. Menner and P. Männik to organize a new working group with the above titlewas approved by IGCP 406 at its business meeting. The new working group's objective is to give special attention to comparative analysis of data from different parts of the Circum-Arctic region, with the aim of reconstructing the palaeogeographical situation, and to evaluating and improving palaeotectonic reconstructions. The group will focus studies in the following directions: 1. Improvement of global correlations of Silurian and Devonian sequences (based on detailed studies of some selected intervals, particularly of the series boundaries). 2. Comparative analysis of the evolution of the Silurian and Devonian sedimentary basins in Canada, Greenland, NE Europe (Timan-Pechora region) and the northern part of Central Siberia. 3. Comparison of associations of Silurian and Devonian faunas (brachiopods, ostracodes, conodonts, vertebrates, etc.) from different palaeobasins in the Circum-Arctic region. 4. Improvement ofbiogeographical subdivision of the studied regions. 5. Evaluation and improvement of palaeotectonic reconstructions. A more detailed program for the new working group is found as an appendix to the project Annual Report for 1998. Publications and Follow-Up: Extended abstracts for the papers presented at the meeting were published in the conference proceedings volume, Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 4,pp. 1-62. A field guide (Skompski, 1998) was also compiled for the conference field excursion. Many of the studies reported at the meeting and workshops will be more completely published by the participants in separate papers and monographs. Two special volumes (mentioned above) are also planned: one on the palaeontology of Severnaya Zemlya, to be published in Paris by Geodiversitas, and the other as a special issue of Acta Geologica Polonica. Numerous manuscripts have been received for both volumes and many of them are now in review. As mentioned above in connection with the Timan-Pechora Workshop, plans are also in place to publish papers on Timan-Pechora geology, in English, in Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology Series). The next Annual Meeting of IGCP 406 will be in September 1999, in connection with the Baltic Stratigraphical Association in Riga, Latvia. Meetings for 2000, the final year of the project, include a workshop in association with the Early Vertebrates meeting in Flagstaff, Arizona, together with field excursions to the Ordovician and Devonian of Colorado and Utah, and the final Annual Meeting of IGCP 406 to be held in Syktyvkar, Russia, which will include a field excursion to the Ordovian through Carboniferous of the subpolar Urals. Seventh International Conodont Symposium (ECOS VII), Bologna-Modena, June 18-22, 1998 ECOS VII was devoted to all aspects of conodont studies (paleobiology, palaeoecology, taxonomy, biostratigraphy, mineralogy, geochemistry etc.). The Symposium was attended by more than 100 specialists all over the world. Some 55 lectures were given and 47 posters presented. Two excursions - a pre-conference excursion to Sardinia to study Lower and Middle Palaeozoic sections, and a post-conference excursion to the Southern Alps to visit several Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous and Triassic sections, were organized. IGCP 406 was represented in ECOS VII by A. Yudina, P. Männik and T. Nemirovskaya. They all presented papers (see Abstracts in references). A. Yudina (together with N. Savage) reported about the results of the most recent studies of the upper Devonian conodonts from various biofacies from the Timan-Pechora Basin. Detailed comparisons of conodont associations and sedimentological data allowed them to conclude that "the variety of conodont biofacies in this well-studied basin enhances their usefulness as Frasnian and Famennian reference faunas." P. Männik presented his results of studies of the evolution of the Telychian conodont faunas. Re-study and revision of collections from several regions all over the world allowed recognition of the

		4 main evolutionary trends and considerable improvement in the conodont biozonation for this interval. Also, during ECOS VII he had the opportunity to show some conodonts from Severnaya Zemlya and the Canadian Arctic to colleagues, and to discuss with them the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of these regions. It appeared that specimens of a peculiar conodont, found on Baillie-Hamilton Island, Canadian Arctic, evidently represent a new genus. T. Nemirovskaya presented papers on the origin of the conodont Gnathodus bilineatus(T. Nemirovskaya and D. Meischner), and on the evolution and stratigraphy of the Moscovian (late Carboniferous) conodont faunas (T. Nemirovskaya, M.-F. Perret and A. Alekseev). Several other participants in IGCP 406 (V. Menner, S. Melnikov, A. Kuzmin) prepared papers on the Ordovician, Silurian and Frasnian conodont faunas from the Timan-Pechora region but had no possibility to take part in the meeting. International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy -SW Iberia Field Meeting 1998 T. Märss represented IGCP 406 at the Silurian Subcommission Meeting in Madrid and field trip to the Iberian Peninsula. She gave a talk on the results of the expedition to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. At the SSS business meeting, (1) the new Vice Chairman (Rong Jia-yu) was introduced. (2) Dr. M.E. Johnson reported on publication of the James Hall Meeting proceedings (1999 is scheduled for Part I; 2000 - for part II). (3) There was a debate over conversion of Silurian Series into stages (postal ballot will follow); the meeting was in opinion that the Series should be kept in use. (4) Meeting dates for the next biennial meeeting and field conference in Australia were chosen. (5) Among others, Wang Nianzhong, a microvertebrate researcher, was elected as a new corresponding member of SSS. During the field trip, only a few samples were taken because the rocks of mainly graptolite facies were not promising for microremains of vertebrates. In discussions with Dr. T. Koren, St.-Petersburg, it was agreed to include under the umbrella of IGCP 406 research on the fauna and biostratigraphy of Kotelnyi Island. Macrofossils will be studied by St. Petersburg paleontologists (T. Koren, A. Abushik, T. Modzalevskaya). The samples that need to be dissolved are already sent to Tallinn. Possible conodonts, vertebrates, scolecodonts, chitinozoans and acritarchs will be studied in Tallinn. By the end of 1999, the material should be ready to discuss at the first workshop. The journal where the results will be published will be chosen later. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA At least ten participants in IGCP 406 representing Australia, Canada, U.S.A., and U.K. attended the Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Utah. Published abstracts and oral and poster presentations covered a diversity of topics mostly relating to the significance of Palaeozoic fossils in the early evolution and biogeography of vertebrates. Papers were presented on the evolution of major features of vertebrates (G. Hanke and M. Wilson, Canada, M. Coates and K. Freedman, U.K.), functional morphology of early fishes (M. Smith, U.K.), biostratigraphically important vertebrates (I. Sansom, U.K.), and paleoecology of early vertebrates from Greenland (J. Clack, U.K.). Also participating in the meeting were G. Johnson and M. Williams, U.S.A., and Z. Johanson, Australia. Meeting abstracts were published in the SVP's program and abstracts volume (Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, Volume 18, Supplement to Number 3). Several of the studies have recently been published or are now in press (e.g. those by Clack, Coates, Sansom, and Smith - the latter in an upcoming issue of Nature). Other Workshops, Field Meetings, and Field Trips A number of smaller workshops, meetings, discussions, and field trips, all funded by other agencies, were held by IGCP 406 participants during 1998. The following is a partial list: Carole Bureau (Australia) and Zerina Johanson (Australia) separately visited Mark Wilson's lab in Edmonton to examine acanthodians, placoderms, and putative chondrichthyans. Hans-Peter Schultze (Germany) joined Mark Wilson and Brian Chatterton with students B. Hunda and G. Hanke in field work at the Avalanche Lake (Silurian) and MOTH (Silurian - Devonian) sections in the Mackenzie Mountains, northern Canada. Progress by National Groups Australia: Four Australian participants were active this year in the IGCP 406 program, C.J. Burrow, Z. Johanson, R. Parkes and S. Turner. Ph.D student C. Burrow (UQ, Australia) is working with S. Turner and J.M.J. Vergoossen (U Groningen, Netherlands) on Late Silurian and Early-Middle Devonian samples collected by R. Thorsteinsson from Prince of Wales, Cornwallis, Young and Dundas islands, Canadian Arctic. Microvertebrates comprise thelodonts, heterostracans, anaspids, acanthodians, placoderms, chondrichthyans, sarcopterygians. Preliminary results

		5 were presented at the St. Petersburg meeting. Burrow continued work on the Arctic material of acanthodians, and in July 1998 was able to visit Dr. Mark Wilson's Lab at Edmonton to examine recent collections from the Arctic, especially of acanthodians, to compare with those from eastern Australia. Z. Johanson is working on 1995 IGCP 328 Arctic Canada Field Meeting samples that she collected on Prince of Wales Island. She attended the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Salt Lake City and later presented an invited talk at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, entitled "Studies on Australian fossil placoderm and sarcopterygian fishes." R. Parkes (MUCEP) is helping to prepare and sort the 1995 samples and is comparing material with samples from the Lower Devonian of Nevada (M. Murphy coll.). He has visited Dr. L. Jeppson (Lund Univ.) this year to work on Silurian conodonts. S. Turner submitted a manuscript to J. Paleontology on Lower Silurian (Aeronian) thelodonts from Wisconsin and Michigan, U.S.A., in conjunction with D.C. Clark and J.J. Kuglitsch (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison). This assemblage has elements in common with one from Québec (Turner and Nowlan 1995). New material collected from the field locality in Door County, WI, in May 1997 is being prepared and studied. With James Savelle (McGill Univ., Canada) she is writing a paper on material from the Late Silurian of Somerset Island, Arctic Canada, especially thelodonts (Turner 1997). She is also preparing a manuscript in conjunction with M. Ginter (Poland) on a Late Devonian, early Famennian microvertebrate sample from Melville Island, Arctic Canada, especially phoebodont shark teeth (e.g. Turner in Harrison ed. 1995, Ginter and Turner 1997 at St. Petersburg meeting) and comparative taxa worldwide. Canada: Ph. D. student G. Hanke, M.Sc. students B. Hunda and K. Soehn, technician A. Lindoe, and Prof. H.-P. Schultze of Germany joined Drs. B.D.E. Chatterton and M.V.H. Wilson in field work at the Avalanche Lake sections (Ordovician -Silurian) of the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, in the summer. Hanke, Lindoe, Soehn, Schultze, and Wilson also did field work at the Silurian - Devonian 'MOTH' section in the same area. Large samples of vertebrate macrofossils and of rocks for microvertebrate and geochemical processing were obtained from the two field areas. B. Hunda's thesis concerns Ordovician/Silurian trilobites, while K. Soehn continues his thesis and related work on Silurian heterostracans and vertebrate biostratigraphy, both theses based on the Avalanche Lake sections. Soehn, Wilson, and Hanke collaborated with T. Märss, Estonia (Soehn et al. In press) on a study of the vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Avalanche Lake sections, and Soehn and Wilson collaborated with T. Märss on a comparison of the Wenlockian sections at Avalanche Lake and Baillie-Hamilton Island (Märss et al. 1998). G. Hanke's thesis concerns chondrichthyan, acanthodian, and thelodont microvertebrates and the same taxa known by articulated skeletons from the Lochkovian fish locality at 'MOTH'. G. Hanke and M. Wilson attended the Warsaw meeting of IGCP 406 (Ginter and Wilson 1998), where they both presented papers (Hanke and Wilson 1998, Wilson and Hanke 1998) at the workshop on early chondrichthyan fossils. Later they attended the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Salt Lake City, U.S.A., where Hanke presented a platform paper (Hanke and Wilson 1998) on acanthodian and chondrichthyan scales and spines, while Wilson gave a plenary talk on the origin of paired fins of gnathostomes (Wilson 1998). Hanke and Wilson both collaborated with P.-Y. Gagnier (Gagnier et al. 1998) for the Warsaw meeting on a new acanthodian from the 'MOTH' locality (manuscript for submission to Acta Geologica Polonica). All of these studies include material collected during the 1996 IGCP 406-related field work at the 'MOTH' site. C. Burrow and Z. Johanson (Australia) both visited Edmonton where they examined specimens of acanthodians, chondrichthyans, and placoderms from the 'MOTH' locality. A major paper describing a new order of vertebrates with thelodont squamation was published this year (Wilson and Caldwell 1998). M. Caldwell and Wilson also contributed to an abstract (Märss et al. 1998) and a journal paper (Märss et al. 1998) on Silurian and Lower Devonian microvertebrates from Baillie-Hamilton and Cornwallis Islands, northern Canada. Caldwell has recently taken a position as vertebrate paleontologist with the Museum of Nature, Ottawa. R. Thorsteinsson continues to work on his monographic study of Canadian Arctic heterostracans. D. Elliott (U.S.A.) has recently joined this project as a collaborator. P. R. China: Three Chinese participants were active in 1998. Zhu Min returned from Europe to China and has continued his current focus on sarcopterygians in collaboration with H.-P. Schultze of Germany and others (Zhu and Schultze 1997, Zhu 1998). Chang Meemann continues her studies on Silurian and Devonian sarcopterygians

		6 from China and northern Canada. Wang Nianzhong, a microvertebrate researcher, was elected as a new corresponding member of Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy at its 1998 meeting in Madrid, and continues his studies of thelodonts and other fishes from the Devonian of northern China and elsewhere (Wang 1997, Wang et al. In press). Estonia: Five Estonians were active in 1998: O. Hints, E. Mark Kurik,P. Männik, T. Märss, and T. Martma. Männik, Märss, and Mark-Kurik attended the Warsaw meeting. O. Hints has finished a revision of the Ordovician and Silurian Ramphoprionid polychaetes from Severnaya Zemlya (results of this work are published). He plans to begin to study collections of scolecodonts from Siberia. E. Mark-Kurik presented in Warszaw two papers (Kurik 1998, Carr and Kurik 1998) dealing with placoderms (on Devonian assemblages of Severnaya Zemlya and on taxonomy and distribution of arthrodires). Two papers were also submitted for publication and a poster presented in Warsaw (Kurik submitted, Kurik et al. submitted and poster), one on correlation of units based on Devonian fishes of the Baltic states and the other on miospore assemblages from the Devonian of Estonia. Peep Männik represented IGCP 406 at ECOS VII in Italy and attended IGCP 406 in Warsaw. In both meetings he gave presentations about biostratigraphy, palaeogeographical distribution and provinciality of Telychian conodonts. He co-authored a paper (Märss et al. 1998) and an abstract (Märss et al. 1998) on vertebrate biostratigraphy in the Canadian Arctic islands. He continues to work with conodonts from Severnaya Zemlya and Novosibirsk archipelagos, and has started to process samples from northern Siberia. A study of carbon isotopes from Severnaya Zemlya in cooperation with T. Martma is in progress. Tiiu Märss submitted three manuscripts (two of them in co-authorship with V. Karatajute-Talimaa) for the Severnaya Zemlya monograph: one on Ordovician - Lower Silurian thelodonts, another on Upper Silurian thelodonts, and a third on Silurian - Devonian anaspids; one paper with O. Afanassieva on osteostracans is in preparation. A paper on thelodonts from Boothia Peninsula is also submitted. Work with M. Wilson, Edmonton, on taxonomy of thelodonts from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago has begun. T. Märss represented IGCP 406 at the Silurian Subcommission Meeting in Madrid (see Meetings and Märss et al. 1998 abstract), and published a paper (Märss et al. 1998) on Silurian/Devonian vertebrate biostratigraphy of Baillie-Hamilton and Cornwallis islands. She also published her major work on Silurian thelodonts from Scotland (Marss and Ritchie 1998) and a paper with many other authors on scolecodonts from Novaya Zemlya. France: D. Goujet, C. Derycke-Khatir, and P.-Y. Gagnier represented France at the Warsaw meeting of IGCP 406. A. Blieck was also an active project participant in 1998. A. Blieck has assumed direction of UPRESA 8014. His studies of Spitsbergen and Severnaya Zemlya vertebrates should be finished in 1999. A brief paper on placoderms from Luxemburg (Blieck et al. 1998) was published, along with several other abstracts and/or reports on microvertebrates (see publications list). M. Ginter of Poland met with C. Derycke and A. Blieck at Villeneuve d'Asq to discuss Devonian-Carboniferous chondrichthyans. A. Blieck is also completing his report for IGCP project 328 Palaeozoic Micro-vertebrates, to be published by Cour. Forsch. Senckenberg, as well as acting as editor for that volume. C. Derycke-Khatir presented a paper in Warsaw on mid-Palaeozoic vertebrates from Mauritania. She now has a university position at Lille. P.-Y. Gagnier continues to work on material collected on Prince of Wales Island in the Canadian Arctic in 1995, and collaborated with Märss et al. (1998) on study of Silurian/Devonian vertebrates collected in 1994. He presented a paper (Gagnier et al. 1998 abstract) and has submitted a manuscript on a new acanthodian from the Mackenzie Mountains of Canada. He hopes to organise a field trip to the Arctic in the year 2000 or soon after. D. Goujet has concentrated on acid preparation and sorting of the material collected on Prince-of-Wales Island in 1995. A wealth of macro-remains (placoderms and heterostracans) prepared with the transfer method, as well as micro remains have been obtained from the residue together with silicified invertebrates (brachiopods, trilobites, coralos, ostracods, conodonts). The new material has provided evidence of several taxa of Acanthothoraci in the "Romundina" locality, with a report presented at the Warsaw meeting (Goujet 1998). Other Canadian Arctic studies were published in collaboration with T. Märss et al. (1998, 1998 abstract). A study on "Arctaspis", from the Lower Devonian Wood Bay Formation of Spitsbergen has been completed under Goujet's supervision by F. Steeman (University of Amsterdam). Editorial work on the papers for the

		7 Severnaya Zemlya volume of Geodiversitashas started, with publication scheduled for 1999. Germany: M. Otto, G. Arratia, and H.-P. Schultze attended the Warsaw meeting. M. Otto presented a paper (Otto 1998 abstract) on a new antiarch from Ellesmere Island, Canadian Arctic, based on material collected in 1975.Thomas Becker and others worked on Timan/Pechora Devonian cephalopods. They, and Klapper and M. House, have published work on that area. 1975 was also the last time that H.-P. Schultze was in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. An English version of his report on that field work, previously available only in German, has now been published. The Middle and Upper Devonian material collected in 1975 includes phoebodonts and sarcopterygians now described. At the Warsaw meeting H.-P. Schultze presented an oral paper on exciting new data about the primitive actinopterygian fish Dialipina, resulting from IGCP 406-related field work in 1997 with S. Cumbaa of Canada at the Anderson River, Northwest Territories, Canada. In 1998 Schultze joined in IGCP 406-related field work with Canadian colleagues (Chatterton, Wilson, and others) at the Avalanche Lake and MOTH sections in the Mackenzie Mountains. Ireland: M. Duncan has concentrated on writing her thesis on Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian and Tournaisian/Visean) ichthyoliths from Ireland, including more than 90 plates illustrating the microvertebrate fauna. She gave a talk at Palaeontological Association in Cardiff in December 1997 on palaeoenvironmental aspectsof this study. She also participated in the Warsaw meeting of IGCP 406. Italy: A. Tintori attended the Warsaw meeting of IGCP 406 to learn more about chondrichthyan fossils, and presented a poster on Permian chondrichthyans that he has found in Oman (Tintori 1998). Japan: M. Goto continued to be active in IGCP 406-related activities, publishing a number of papers and reports emaphasizing the evolution of bony tissues in vertebrates and the fossil record of chondrichthyans in Japan (see publications list). Latvia: Ervins Luksevics continued his studies of bothriolepidid antiarchs from the Severnaya Zemlya and Timan- Pechora region. Papers on the subject are prepared for publication (Luksevics In press). At the IGCP 406 meeting in Warszaw he gave a general review of taxonomy and distribution of this group in the Circum-Arctic and adjacent regions. Luksevics also attended the 46th Symposium on Vertebrate Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy, Bournemouth University, UK, where he (together with P.E. Ahlberg, P. Forey and I. Zupins) presented a paper on "New Devonian sarcopterygians from Lode clay quarry, Latvia". In the next year he will concentrate on the organization of the 4th Baltic Stratigraphic Conference and the IGCP 406 annual meeting in Riga. I. Upeniece participated in the Warszaw meeting and reported about the first finds of fossil parasitic flatworms (Platyhelminthes) found in fish carcasses (acanthodians and antiarchs) from Lower Frasnian strata (Upeniece 1998). Upeniece has also been studying the acanthodians and antiarchs, and has published with V. Kurshs et al. (In press) on the fishes from Lode. Lithuania: Both V. Talimaa and J. Valiukevicius attended the Warsaw meeting. They have finished detailed studies of the compositon and evolution of fish faunas from the Lower and Middle Palaeozoic strata on the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago. Several papers dealing with taxonomy and biostratigraphy of acanthodians, thelodonts, heterostracans and osteostracans are prepared for publication (in co-authorship with O. Afanassieva, A. Blieck, and T. Märss). The main results of these studies were presented by V. Karatajute-Talimaa at the IGCP 406 meeting in Warszawa. V. Talimaa, I. Evdokimova and J. Valiukevicius have been working together on micro-remains. V. Talimaa is writing an article on the methodology of the determination of micro-remains, to be published in a new German journal. J. Valiukevicius is writing a large paper on species from the Lower Devonian of Novaya Zemlya. Netherlands: J. Vergoossen has made progress in two areas: 1) He has worked on erratic material from the Netherlands

		8 which he has related directly to drill cores by using particular acanthodians. Some 360 metres below the surface are scales similar to some from erratics from Lithuania. He intends to submit a paper in November. 2) Material from Sacania is similar to some of the material he has studied elsewhere. F. Steeman (University of Amsterdam) has completed a study on "Arctaspis", from the Lower Devonian Wood Bay Formation of Spitsbergen, under the supervision of D. Goujet (France). Poland: M. Ginter visited colleagues in other European countries during 1998 (including France and England) collecting information. He also organized the Warsaw annual meeting of IGCP 406, and edited the conference volume (Ginter and Wilson 1998). Russia: A. Antoshkina, T. Beznosova, I. Evdokimova, A. Ivanov, T. Nemyrovska, N. Belyaeva, O. Afanassieva and husband, R. Matukhin, S. Melnikov, and T. Modzalevskaya, and M. Shishkin attended the Warsaw Meeting and made presentations. In addition to these, A. Abushik, Y. Gubin, A. Kanygin, A. Kuzmin, A. Orlov, D. Sobolev, V. Tsyganko, Y. Vevel, and A. Zhuravlev authored or co-authored reports for the meeting. A. Abushik has completed a manuscript for a monograph "Lower Devonian ostracodes of Timan-Pechora Province" (together with L. Shamsutdinova), and of taxonomy, biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of Silurian and Early Devonian ostracodes from Severnaya Zemlya (papers on the subject are submitted). In the next year she will concentrate on Silurian and Early Devonian ostracodes from Novaya Zemlya and Kotel'ny Island. A. Antoshkina is preparing a paper on specific Palaeozoic reef associations of the Ural Mountains, Russia, and presented a paper on the subject in Warsaw (Antoshkina 1998 abstract). She also carried out field work in July, 1998, in the Northern and Middle Urals together with C. M.Soja (Colgate University, NY, USA) and B. White (Smith College, MA, USA) to study Upper Silurian reefs with sponge-microbial associations in accordance with a joint project (Northern Ural-Southeastern Alaska) with C. Soja (1996-1999). Publications on this subject are being prepared. She also plans to finish a post-doctoral manuscript about the platform margin reef formation in the Palaeozoic of the Pechora Urals the during first half of next year and to prepare materials for the field-guide to ICGP-406 Meeting in the Subpolar Urals scheduled for Syktyvkar in 2000. N. Belyaeva is studying the sedimentology the Late Devonian - Early Carboniferous reef complex of the Timan Pechora and Volga Urals regions, and is preparing a post-doctoral manuscript on the subject. She has collected fish fossils, which are in St. Petersburg with A. Ivanov, this past field seasonin South Timan, Lyaiol' River, from fossil reefs. Belyaeva's manuscript based on the previous summer's(1997) field work is published. She also has an article published in the journal of her institution about the different kinds of fish fossils from the Frasnian/Fammenian which she has found (placoderms, Bothriolepis, etc.). Field work in 1999 is planned on the South Timan. She invites IGCP 406 participants to Syktyvkar to see these fishes. T. Beznosova is preparing material on the Silurian sections for the field-guide in the Subpolar Urals in connection with the IGCP-406 Meeting in 2000. In 1999, field work will be on the Kozhim River in the Ordovician/Silurian boundary together with P. Mannik and S.V.Melnikov. Beznosova is also studying samples of the Ordovician/Silurian boundary in the Chernyshev swell, and materials on the Llandovery/Wenlockian boundary for a joint article with A. Antoshkina, S.Melnikov and P. Mannik. S. Cherkesova continues to study Devonian rhynchonellids from Central Taimyr. I. Evdokimovagave a talk in Warsaw about different Late Silurian - Early Devonian ostracode associations from the Eurasian Arctic. In the next year she will start to study Early Devonian ostracodes from the Kotel`nyi Island (Russia) and from the Northwest Territories, Canada. The Canadian samples, from IGCP 406-related field work at Anderson River, have been provided to her by H.-P. Schultze and S. Cumbaa. A. Ivanov is working on the chapter "Placodermi" (all groups except antiarchs) in cooperation with Ervins Luksevics (antiarchs) for the handbook "Fossil vertebrates of Russia and adjacent countries". Also, he is organizing a meeting (February, 1999) which will be dedicated to the A. P. Bystrov's centenary. He plans field work in 1999 in the South Timan, Ukhta Region. G. Kisselev participated in International conference "Problems of Sedimentary Geology" in St.Petersburg, November 1998, where he gave a report " A diversity of the Silurian cephalopods in the different Silurian sedimentary basins." S. Melnikov's monograph "Ordovician and Silurian conodonts of the Timan-Pechora region" (in Russian) is in press.He has also started to compile a data base of all kinds of geological information about the Timan-Pechora region. In future he will continue his program in cooperation with other specialist who have studied this region. Two papers have been written, one by him on the conodonts of Timan (Melnikov In press), and the

		9 other paper about Lower Devonian ostracods withA. Abushik and L. Shaifutdinova. T. Modzalevskaya reported in Warsaw the results of her studies (together with Dr. B. Wenzel from Erlangen, Germany) of biostratigraphy and isotopic composition of upper Silurian brachiopods from the Timan-Pechora Region (Modzalevskaya 1998). She also was a co-author of a talk about the reconstruction of the Palaeozoic sedimentary basins and palaeotectonic conditions in the modern Arctic shelves. She continues to study pentamerids (with M. Rubel, Estonia) from Timan, and Ordovician and Silurian brachiopods from Kotel'ny Island and Taimyr. She has been working on the biostratigraphy and biogeography of the Silurian and Lower Devonian brachiopods and ostracods and Silurian bryozoans from Novaya Zemlya. A manuscript has been submitted. S. Snigirevski S. defended in 1998 his Ph.D. dissertation"Late Devonian flora from Northern Timan". A. Yudina attended ECOS-VII in Italy, giving two talks and participating in the post-session field trip to the Southern Alps. A. Zhuravlev did field work in 1998 in the North Urals, Iz-Ya-Yu River, Lower Carboniferous, together with O. Kossovaya, D. Sobolev, and Ya. Vevel. Sweden: H. Blom completed a manuscript on microremains of vertebrates from the upper part of the Franklinian Basin, North Greenland (Blom and Peel, submitted). Studies on the Lower Silurian thelodonts from North Greenland continue. He attended the Warsaw meeting, and successfully defended his"Filosofie Licentiat" thesis (Swedish degree representing a half way Ph.D.) with the title "Vertebrate remains from the Upper Silurian- Lower Devonian of North Greenland" in May 1998. Plans for 1999 include studies on the taxonomic, biostratigraphic and palaeogeographic significance of the Devonian thelodont taxon Amaltheolepis, based on material from the Circum-Arctic region. U. Borgen has completed his monograph on osteolepiforms from East Greenland, and is now making revisions following review. J. Peel continues his diverse research program on the Palaeozoic stratigraphy of North Greenland. Ukraine: T. Nemirovskaya, the first IGCP 406 participant from Ukraine, joined the project in 1998 . She attended the conodont symposium (ECOS VII) in Italy and took part in the post-conference field-trip to Southern Alps. In Italy she presented papers on the origin of the conodont Gnathodus bilineatus(T. Nemirovskaya and D. Meischner), and on the evolution and stratigraphy of Moscovian (late Carboniferous) conodont faunas (T. Nemirovskaya, M.-F. Perret and A. Alekseev). She also attended the Warsaw meeting of IGCP 406 where she told about faunal changes close to the Bashkirian-Moscovian boundary in Europe and North America (Nemyrovskaya 1998). Detailed studies of the Moscovian in Donbas, Moscow Basin and North America are in progress. United Kingdom: The number of U.K. participants and persons expressing interest in the project continues to grow, thanks mainly to the work of S. Young, U.K. correspondent. There are now approximately 25 participants from the U.K. P. Ahlberg holds a NATO grant for comparing British and Baltic Old Red Sandstone faunas; the grant continues until January 1999. As part of this grant, he visited A. Ivanov in St. Petersburg in late September, taking a set of silastic peels of an undescribed ploudosteid arthrodire from the Brecon Beacons for Ivanov to study. Work is in progress on a paper describing a new basal tetrapod from the Gauja Formation of Latvia and Estonia (Ahlberg, Luksevics & Mark-Kurik, in prep.). Later in the autumn Per will begin writing up the porolepiform data from the project. I. Zupins, a young palaeontologist from Latvia, visited Ahlberg's lab in September to study British Old Red Sandstone fishes and to attend the SVPCA meeting in Bournemouth. P. de Buisonje is a retired palaeontogist of the University of Amsterdam. He and J. dem Blaauwen are working on Middle Devonian vertebrate material from Scotland and Orkney, particularly coprolites, revealing that the prey were fishes (mostly acanthodians) and invertebrates. Part of the work is to be published in the near future. R. Davidson kindly donated some of the fossil material for this study. J. Clack, in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and the Geological Museum, Copenhagen, led a team of four people from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol that took part in a five-week expedition to the Upper Devonian deposits of Central East Greenland. Other team members

		10 were S. Finney, S. Neininger (University of Cambridge) and R. Hitchin (University of Bristol). The objectives of the expedition were study the geological and paleoecological context of the early tetrapod assemblages from East Greenland, and to obtain additional well-preserved material for anatomical study. Numerous fish and early tetrapod fossils were collected. Clack plans to present preliminary results at an Old Red Sandstone meeting in December (called 'New perspectives on the Old Red Sandstone', to take place in Burlington House, Geol. Soc. rooms, on December 7-8. More details from Peter Friend, Earth Sciences, Cambridge), and will preapre a report for GEUS internal distribution. R. Davidson and N. Trewin have their Tynet Burn paper accepted for publication by the Geol. Soc. London. Davidson continues to collect at several localities with good success and has donated comparative specimens to a number of researchers. M. Newman is also involved in some of the same studies, and with reconstructions of fish fossils for Jack Saxon's new edition of "Fossil Fishes of the North of Scotland." D. Dineley continues his studies of Devonian agnathans, their morphology, biostratigraphy, distribution, palaeo-environments and biogeography. C. Duffin also continues his work with Palaeozoic sharks, their morphology, biogeography, biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment. R. Hitchin and L. Cook have been working at an Upper Devonian site at Portishead, North Somerset, in the Upper Old Red Sandstone, finding fishes and eurypterids. A paper on the stratigraphy, sedimentology, and palaeontology is in preparation. P. Forey has agreed to be external examiner for Hitchin's Ph.D. Its title is now, officially, "Acentrophorusand the basal crown-group neopterygians (Pisces: Actinoptergyii); a stratigraphic, phylogenetic and macroevolutionary study". Hitchin also participated in five weeks of field work on the Late Devonian rocks of East Greenland with the expedition organised by J. Clack. M. House continues his studies of Middle Palaeozoic biostratigraphy, and Devonian sea levels. D. Howley is studying the sediments and fossils of the Brecon Beacons area for a PhD. Interests include sedimentology, palaeontology, palaeo-environments, palaeo-geography and field mapping. S. Turner, J. Vergoossen and R. Williams are pursuing micro-vertebrate work in the same area. E. Loeffler continues her studies on Devonian vertebrates from the Canadian Arctic, recently publishing a paper with D. Elliott on new Poraspisfrom the Canadian Arctic. J. Marshall and T. Astin continue their research in palynology and sedimentology, respectively, of the Devonian of East Greenland. G. Miller is studying Silurian (Wenlock) ostracods from Baillie Hamilton and Cornwallis islands of Arctic Canada, and conodont biostratigraphy. In August of 1998 he visited the Academy of Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia, with Tiiu Marss finishing off a paper on thelodonts, acanthodians and conodonts from the Pridoli (Silurian) of the Welsh Borderland. This was funded under the Royal Society exchange scheme. During this time we also discussed the above project and thelodont material that I provided for Tiiu for her part in IGCP 406 project. M. Purnell continues his interests in biostratigraphy using conodonts and in conodont and early vertebrate feeding mechanics. J. Richardson continues his interests in biostratigraphy of the Devonian using spores. N. Trewin is studying the sequence stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeoecology, interpretation of environments of Devonian fish, particularly the Silurian and Old Red Sandstone of Scotland. Trewin's and Davidson's paper about the Scottish locality, Tynet Burn, has been accepted for publication. R. Williams (Talgarth, South Wales) collects vertebrates from Lower Devonian sediments of the Welsh Borderlands for study by specialists, and has helped form a local Welsh Borders Research Grouph. He and others are currently emphasizing vertebrates from the Ludlow and Brecon areas. S. Young has been UK national correspondent for The Royal Society since January, 1997.She is interested in the anatomy, taxonomy, phylogeny, biostratigraphy, palaogeography, and palaeoenvironments of early vertebrates, particularly acanthodians and placoderms. She met with S Turner at the Natural History Museum, London, in July, and attended the Warsaw meeting of IGCP 406 as well as the 46th Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy at Bournemouth in September, 1998. S. Y. completed her chapter on surface micro-ornament of scales of British acanthodians for the Special Report on Palaeozoic Vertebrate Micro-remains of the U. K. USA: R. Carr has been working with E. Kurik are on the taxonomy of Heterosteusand Homosteus. They are also working on freshwater/marine Scottish material, and also on the Cleveland Shale, and updating descriptions of other placoderms.

		11 D. Elliott recently published a paper on vertebrate biostratigraphy and another on a new species of cyathaspid from the Northwest Territories of Canada. He is currently Editor (Lower Vertebrates) for the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, and is now collaborating with R. Thorsteinsson on completion of a monograph on Canadian Arctic heterostracans. J. Repetski is working on Ordovician conodont-bearing craters, some of them from northern regions, with M. Lindstrom (Lindstrom and Repetski 1998 abstract). A volume of Ordovician circum-polar correlation charts is in press, and a manuscript on the conodont genus Clavohamulusfurnish, which occurs in northern Alaska, is nearly ready for submission. G. Johnson and M. Williams both attended the Warsaw meeting, presenting papers at the workshop on Palaeozoic chondrichthyan fossils. Both also attended the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Salt Lake City, U.S.A. Societal benefits Benefits include greater international cooperation, especially for this year the successful large-scale contacts between Eastern European and Western researchers of Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic biostratigraphy and paleontology at the Warsaw meeting; assistance for scientists including graduate students from countries with limited financial resources; dissemination of knowledge about geological sections where multidisciplinary studies can be undertaken; and discovery of and intensive study of exceptional fossiliferous deposits (e.g. Devonian localities at 'MOTH' and Anderson River in the Northwest Territories of Canada; Devonian tetrapod- bearing sites in East Greenland) that might need future protection under national or international laws. 2.2 List of meetings with approximate attendance and number of countries Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Faunas and Facies Warsaw, Poland, September 3-8, 1998 Workshop on Timan-Pechora geology. Workshop on Early Fossil Chondrichthyans. Field Excursion to Holy Cross Mountains. 50 researchers from 16 countries attended. Representation by IGCP 406 at Other Meetings SSS Meeting, Madrid, Spain: T. Märss attended. ECOS VII, Bologna, Italy: P. Männik and two others attended. SVP, Salt Lake City, U.S.A: M. Wilson, Ph.D. student G. Hanke, and eight others attended. Vertebrate Paleontology and Vertebrate Anatomy Mtg., Bournemouth U.K: S. Young and several others attended. Smaller Meetings and Field Trips (funded by other agencies): Field Work in Silurian and Lower Devonian of Northern Canada Avalanche Lake and MOTH sections, N.W.T., Canada, July 15 - August 7, 1998 Five researchers from 2 countries, led by Drs. M. Wilson and B. Chatterton, Canada, with Dr. H.-P. Schultze, Germany, M.Sc. student B. Hunda and Ph.D. student G. Hanke, Canada. This field work resulted in collection of geochemical and micropalaeontological samples from sections across the Ordovician/Silurian boundary and across the Llandovery/Wenlock boundary in the Avalanche Lake sections, as well as through the fossiliferous interval in the Lochkovian part of the MOTH section. Numerous macrofossils of Silurian and Devonian vertebrates were also collected. Field Work in the Devonian of Eastern Greenland This field work led by Dr. J. Clack, U.K., resulted in the collection of significant new remains of early tetrapods, as well as documentation of sedimentological context and associated flora and fauna. 2.3 List of most important publications (including maps) Please see the separate list for a more complete account. Afanassieva, O.B., and Karatajute-Talimaa V. N. 1998. New osteostracans (Agnatha) from the Silurian and the Lower Devonian of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago (Russia). Paleontologicheskiy Zhurnal, 6. [in Russian. English translation will be in Paleontological Journal]. Antoshkina, A.I. 1998. Organic buildups and reefs on the Palaeozoic carbonate platform magin, Pechora Urals, Russia. Sedimentary Geology, 118:187-211.

		12 Elliott, D. K., E. J. Loeffler, and Y. Liu. 1998. New species of the cyathaspidid Poraspis(Agnatha: Heterostraci) from the Late Silurian and Early Devonian of Northwest Territories, Canada. Journal of Paleontology 72:360-370. Ginter, M., and M. V. H. Wilson, Eds. 1998. Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Faunas and Facies. Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication, 4. Faculty of Geology, Warsaw University, Warsaw. 62 pp. Harris, A.G., Dumoulin, J.A., Repetski, J.E., and Carter, Claire. In press. Arctic circumpolar correlation charts: Ordovician (Alaska): Geological Survey of Canada Paper, 34 ms. pp. text, 1 fig., 1 oversize chart. Luksevics, E., and Sorokin, V. In press. New species of placoderm fish Bothriolepis(Placodermi, Antiarcha) from the Upper Devonian of North Timan.Paleontologicheskiy Zhurnal. [In Russian] Männik, P. In press. Evolution and taxonomy of the Silurian conodont Pterospathodus. Palaeontology, 41: 1001-1050. Märss, T., Caldwell, M., Gagnier, P.-Y., Goujet, D., Männik, P., Martma, T. and Wilson, M. 1998. Distribution of Silurian and Lower Devonian vertebrate microremains and conodonts in the Baillie-Hamilton and Cornwallis Island sections, Canadian Arctic. Proceedings of Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology, 47: 51-76. Soehn, K.L., Märss, T., Hanke, G. F. and Wilson, M. V. H. In press. Preliminary vertebrate biostratigraphy of the Avalanche Lake sections (Wenlock, Silurian), southern Mackenzie Mountains, N.W.T., and review of northwestern Canadian vertebrate localities of Silurian Age. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg. Valiukevicius, J. 1998. Acanthodians and zonal stratigraphy of Lower and Middle Devonian in East Baltic and Byelorussia. Palaeontographica, 248: 53 pp. Wang, N. Z. 1997. Restudy of thelodont microfossils from the lower part of the Cuifengshan group of Qujing, Eastern Yunnan, China. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 35:1-17. Zhu, M. 1998. Early Silurian Sinacanths (Chondrichthyes) from China. Palaeontology 41:157-171. 2.4 List of countries involved in the project (*countries active this year)
			*Australia *P.R. China *France *Ireland *Japan *Lithuania Norway Portugal *Sweden *United Kingdom		*Canada *Estonia *Germany *Italy *Latvia *Netherlands *Poland *Russia *Ukraine *U.S.A.
		2.5 Activities involving other IGCP projects or IUGS IGCP 406 began as a successor project to IGCP 328 (Palaeozoic Microvertebrates), which ended in 1996, and is attempting to help bring some IGCP 328 initiatives to a productive conclusion. For example, IGCP 406 participants are collaborating in study of specimens collected under IGCP 328-sponsored field work in Arctic Canada, and IGCP 406 participants (A. Blieck and S. Turner, editors; numerous IGCP 406 participants as authors) are playing a major role in bringing IGCP 328's final volume to completion and publication in CFS. Research on Severnaya Zemlya vertebrates and biostratigraphy continues, and publication of the Russian and French volumes (D. Goujet, editor, for Geodiversitas)on this subject will also further the aims of IGCP 328. IGCP 406 continues to make good use of the newsletter Ichthyolith Issuesand the Palaeozoic Microvertebrates WWW page, both begun under IGCP 328, to keep participants informed and to disseminate project news and announcements. Many participants are also associated with one or more of the relevant subcommissions of the International

		13 Commission on Stratigraphy, especially the Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy (SDS) and the Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy (SSS). 2.6 Participation of scientists from developing countries IGCP 406 has excellent participation from several countries of the former Soviet Union: Russia (including remote regions), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, as well as from Poland. We also have several active participants from P.R. China, who are of great importance for helping to solve problems of global correlation and paleobiogeography. 3. Proposed activities of the project for the year ahead 3.1 General goals Working group members will carry forward planning for joint research on existing fossil collections as well as applying for funding for field work as appropriate. 1. Preparation of papers treating general problems of Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeogeography in the Timan-Pechora region. Papers will be published at the end of 1999 or at the beginning of 2000 (deadline for submission - the end of 1999) in a special volume of the Proceedings of Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology. 2. Study of faunas from Kotel'nyi Island (Novosibirsk Archipelago), started under the IGCP Project 328, will continue in cooperation with IGCP 406. Papers dealing with the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of graptolites (T. Koren), ostracodes (A. Abushik), brachiopods (T. Modzalevskaya) and conodonts (P. Männik) will be prepared for a special volume (submission in 2000). At the end of 1999 a workshop on geology of Kotel'nyi Island is planned. 3. Members of the Canadian Arctic Working Group will continue collaborative studies on Devonian acanthodian faunas and Silurian-Devonian heterostracan and thelodont faunas from the Mackenzie Mountains, on Lower Devonian vertebrates from the Anderson River, and on heterostracan, thelodont, anaspid, and placoderm faunas from Cornwallis, Baillie-Hamilton, Prince of Wales, and Somerset Islands (some of which were collected by participants in IGCP 328). H.-P. Schultze of Germany, together with M. Otto, continues to study vertebrates collected on Ellesmere Island in 1975 and deposited in Göttingen. 4. Members of the Greenland Working Group will continue studies of biostratigraphically and paleobiologically important fossils from Greenland. H. Blom and J. Peel have completed manuscripts on microvertebrates from North Greenland, and attention will now turn to correlative beds in other regions. Plans for research in East Greenland include collaborations of sedimentologists, palynologists, and vertebrate paleontologists on the continental deposits that contain early tetrapods, resulting from field work completed in 1998 and led by J. Clack. 5. For the working groups dealing with the Russian Arctic, assembly of manuscripts and edited volumes on the geology and palaeontology of Severnaya Zemlya, Timan-Pechora, Kotel'nyi Island, etc. is a main goal. Collaboration on the study of samples collected in earlier years continues to be encouraged by sharing acid residues with researchers in as many disciplines as possible. There are also plans to facilitate field work in preparation for our proposed meeting in 2000 in Syktyvkar. 6. Researchers including V. V. Menner of Russia and P. Männik of Estonia have won approval from IGCP 406 to establish a new working group, EARLY AND MIDDLE PALAEOZOIC BASINS IN THE CIRCUM- ARCTIC REGION: PALAEOTECTONICS AND PALAEOGEOGRAPHY. A more detailed announcement of this group and its research plans are attached to this report as Appendix 1. 7. IGCP 406's annual meeting will be held in Riga, Latvia, in late September of 1999. Several IGCP 406 participants will also participate in an interdisciplinary (developmental biology and palaeontology) meeting in London in April 1999. As has been the case in each year of the project, numerous smaller workshops will be held in regional centres as well. 8. Planning for 2000 includes a meeting in Syktyvkar, Russia, that will include a field trip in the northern Urals. A workshop of IGCP 406 is also planned in conjunction with the Early Vertebrates meeting in Flagstaff, U.S.A., in 2000, and there is the strong possibility of a Canadian Arctic working group workshop in Ottawa in 1999 or 2000 as well. 3.2 Specific meetings and field trips 1. Organization of the 4th Baltic Stratigraphic Conference, and the IGCP406 annual meeting and workshop, with field excursion to the Devonian of northeastern Latvia, will be held in Riga, Latvia (organizer E. Luksevics). The theme of the meeting is "Lower-Middle Palaeozoic Events Across the Circum-Arctic." A draft

		14 of the first circular is attached to this report as Appendix 2. 2. In April 1999 there will be a meeting in London, U.K., organised by Per Ahlberg: Major Events in Early Vertebrate Evolution - Phylogeny, Palaeontology and Development. Several IGCP 406 members will participate, and the project's recent research and field activities will be able to make a large contribution. Palaeontology of Ordovician through Devonian vertebrates has much to offer to a modern synthesis of vertebrate developmental biology and vertebrate anatomy and evolution, and this meeting will allow Palaeozoic vertebrate workers to share their insights and to learn from some of the world's leading molecular developmental biologists. 3. We will continue to advance awareness of IGCP in general and IGCP 406 in particular through participation in discipline-specific and regional meetings. 3.3. Future meetings: 2000 and beyond 1. The IGCP 406 final meeting (CAPV-2000) will be held during July and August of 2000 in Syktyvkar, Russia, and hosted by Anna Antoshkina and colleagues. Preparations now underway include restudy of information about sections in order to prepare a field-guide for excursion (A. Antoshkina, T. Beznosova, V. Lukin, V. Tsyganko), field work in the Sub-Polar Urals in order to prepare sections for the excursion (T. Beznosova, V. Lukin, S. Melnikov, P. Männik), and preparation and distribution of the first circular, to be mailed in the late 1998. To complement the Flagstaff meeting (see below), the Syktyvkar meeting will focus more on palaeo-bio-stratigraphy, and will include all fossil groups, not only vertebrates. The field excursion would involve ten days in the Sub-Polar Ural mountains, and would be limited to perhaps 20 participants. It will be possible to see facies of Landoverian and Devonian stratified deep water deposits, and the boundary between Ludlowian/Devonian. Travelling would be by car, and then by boat, which is necessary to see the outcrops. Participants must be healthy! It is a very interesting Palaeozoic section. After the field trip there would be a meeting in Syktyvkar. The meeting would be open to all interested participants, not restricted to the 20 people who go on the excursion. There may be a possibility to make an abstract volume of the meeting. Cost would be at least 550 dollars for the sub-polar Urals field trip. 2. An Early Vertebrates meeting will be held in Flagstaff, Arizona, in early summer of 2000, and organized by David Elliott, to include field excursions to Ordovician sections in Colorado and Devonian sections in Nevada and Utah. IGCP 406 participants will attend in large numbers, and IGCP 406 will also hold a workshop at this meeting. The Flagstaff meeting will nicely complement the Syktyvkar meeting, because the Flagstaff meeting will have a greater emphasis on palaeo-biology, and will be restricted to vertebrates and their close relatives. 3. John Talent, President of the International Palaeontological Association, proporses to organize an International Palaeontological Congress, which could be held every four years, and which could alternate with the Geological Congress. It would be a large international meeting and field trip, requiring partipation and organization by numerous scientists at different institutions. IGCP 406 members endorsed this proposal at our annual meeting in Warsaw this year. The first IPC could be held in Australia in 2002 and thereafter every four years. 4. Project funding request Funds are requested to allow as broad a participation as possible, especially by graduate students, researchers from poorer nations, and working group leaders, in the Annual Meeting in Riga, and to send representatives who lack substantial institutional support to related meetings where they can publicize the activities and results of the project. The project is now in an exciting phase, with strong participation by researchers in many countries, and the several different lines of research beginning to converge on a synthetic understanding of the evolution of Circum-Arctic depositional basins and their fauna and flora. 5. N/A 6. Attachments: Appendix 1: Announcement of new working group. Appendix 2: Draft circular for 1999 meeting in Riga, Latvia. Appendix 3: Draft circular for 2000 meeting in Syktyvkar, Russia. A copy of the Warsaw meeting volume (Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 4) will be sent to IUGS in Norway and another copy to IGCP in Paris as soon as they are available.

			15
		Appendix 1: NEW WORKING GROUP INVITATION to join the new IGCP Project 406Working Group "THE EARLY AND MIDDLE PALAEOZOIC BASINS IN THE CIRCUM-ARCTIC REGION: PALAEOTECTONICS AND PALAEOGEOGRAPHY" Objectives Half of the time planned for the IGCP Project 406 has passed. At the Project 406 meetings in Canada, USA, Estonia, Germany, Russia, and Poland new and interesting data about Silurian and Devonian stratigraphy, palaeontology, sedimentology, and palaeoecology in the Circum-Arctic region have been presented. We believe that in our future studies it will be important to pay more attention to comparative analysis of data from different parts of this region, with the aim of reconstructing the palaeogeographical situation, and to evaluating and improving palaeotectonic reconstructions. Program We suggest focusing our studies in the following directions: 1. Improvement of global correlations of Silurian and Devonian sequences (based on detailed studies of some selected intervals, particularly of the series boundaries). 2. Comparative analysis of the evolution of the Silurian and Devonian sedimentary basins in Canada, Greenland, NE Europe (Timan-Pechora region) and the northern part of Central Siberia. 3. Comparison of associations of Silurian and Devonian faunas (brachiopods, ostracodes, conodonts, vertebrates, etc.) from different palaeobasins in the Circum-Arctic region. 4. Improvement ofbiogeographical subdivision of the studied regions. 5. Evaluation and improvement of palaeotectonic reconstructions. Main problems to study 1. Improvement of correlations Main aim - recognition and correlation of the standard series boundaries in the shelf sediments of Silurian and Devonian basins in the Circum-Arctic region. In the Silurian of particular interest are Llandovery and Wenlock strata of Anticosti Island, Arctic Canada, Timan-Pechora region, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, etc. In the Devonian special attention should be paid to the Lower Devonian, to the boundary between the Middle and Upper Devonian, and to the Frasnian. 2. Analysis of the evolution of palaeobasins During recent years lithofacies and palaeogeographical schemes have been composed for several stratigraphic levels of the Silurian and Devonian palaeobasins in the Baltic area, Timan-Pechora region, Polar Urals, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Taimyr, and northern Central Siberia. Also, sea-level curves have been compiled and major evolutionary events recognized in these basins. The palaeogeographical schemes allow a generalized and detailed reconstruction of the evolution of these basins. Comparative analysis of the histories of different palaeobasins allows us to work out an improved version of event stratigraphy and sedimentological history for the main Silurian and Devonian sequences of the Circum-Arctic region. The proposed studies include also detailed comparison of the Silurian reefs in Alaska with those from Polar Urals, and of Upper Devonian organic buildups in NW Canada with those in the Timan-Pechora region. 3. Biogeographical regions Comparative analysis of faunal associations from different regions will provide a basis for the evaluation and improvement of existing ideas about the distribution/configuration of the biogeographical regions/faunal provinces. 4. Evaluation and improvement of palaeotectonic reconstructions Published palaeotectonic reconstructions for separate time intervals in the Silurian and Devonian are, in general, well founded and differ only in details. However, some details in such reconstructions, connected with the location of Svalbard, Greenland, the Urals, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Taimyr, Siberia, and eastern parts of Baltica, are problematic in that they do not agree with the latest palaeotectonical data. Comparative analysis of sedimentological, palaeontological, and palaeoecological data from the Silurian and Devonian of the Arctic region of America and Eurasia provides a basis for the recognition of relationships between the palaeobasins on the shelf areas and their connections with the palaeooceans.

		16 These data allow us to evaluate palaeotectonical reconstructions proposed by several authors. Meetings In 1999, at the IGCP Project 406 meeting in Riga, we hope to be able to report on the first results of our studies, and in 2000, in Syktyvkar, to present general results and conclusions. The idea to organize the IGCP Project 406 working group "THE EARLY AND MIDDLE PALAEOZOIC BASINS IN THE CIRCUM-ARCTIC REGION: PALAEOTECTONICS AND PALAEOGEOGRAPHY " was accepted at the Project 406 annual meeting in Warszawa, September 4, 1998. We invite all persons interested in the studies proposed above to join the working group. The Eurasian team, led by Dr. V.Vl. Menner, has started to work already. V.V.Menner, Moscow, Russia P. Männik, Tallinn, Estonia For more information or to join the working group please contact: P. Männik Institute of Geology Estonia Ave 7 10143 Tallinn Estonia Fax: 372 6 312 074 e-mail: mannik@gi.ee

		17 Appendix 2. Draft First Circular for Riga Meeting in 1999 IGCP 406: Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates Meeting "Lower-Middle Palaeozoic Events Across the Circum-Arctic" Riga/Jurmala, Latvia, September-October, 1999 FIRST CIRCULAR Invitation All interested Palaeozoic workers are invited to attend the two-day 1999 annual meeting of the IGCP 406 project which will be held in conjunction with (immediately before or after) the 4th Baltic Stratigraphic Conference in Riga and/or Jurmala, Latvia. The 4th BSC is planned to be held on September 27-30, 1999. After the scientific sessions of BSC a two-day field trip (October 1-2) is proposed to the most exciting outcrops of Devonian rocks in Vidzeme (north-eastern Latvia). Conference topics Presentations to the IGCP 406 meeting are welcome on any topic related to the palaeontology, paleoecology, stratigraphy, palaeogeography, etc. of Ordovician through Devonian fossils, as well as their associated fauna and flora and related geological subjects. For this meeting, contributions on the theme "Geological and Biological Events Across the Circum-Arctic" in connection with palaegeography and stratigraphy are especially encouraged. Contributions on geochemistry are also welcome. We invite suggestions for topics of conference workshops. Abstracts Abstracts of conference papers should be submitted before March 30, 1999. The text (in English, no more than 2 pages, including illustrations and references) should be sent by e-mail as ASCII files or as plain text on a DOS-formatted diskette. If you use special or national letters, or you want to add illustrations, please send a hard copy separately. Estimated costs Registration fee: 10 LVL (Latvian lats; approximately 18 USD) The fee will be collected during the meeting at the registration desk. Accommodation: see the First Circular of the 4th BSC. The medium cost of meals in Riga is ca. 5-10 LVL/day. Limited financial support from IGCP is possible. If you are interested, please inform us as soon as you can. Excursion A two-day (October 1-2) excursion after the BSC conference to the most exciting outcrops of Devonian rocks in Vidzeme (north-eastern Latvia) is planned (see the First circular of the 4th BSC). Estimated cost: 40 LVL (early registration, before April 30, 1999) or 50 LVL (late registration, after April 30, 1999, if free places will be available). The cost of the trip is approximate; it will be given more exactly in the second circular. Deadlines Preliminary registration - December 1, 1998 Abstracts - March 30, 1999 Please let us know if you need an official invitation. Address Ervins Luksevics Latvian Museum of Natural History K.Barona 4 Riga LV-1050 LATVIA e-mail: ldm@com.latnet.lv fax: (371) 7220092
			***************************************** IGCP 406 Circum-Arctic Palaeozoic Vertebrates Riga meeting, September-October, 1999

									18
		REGISTRATION FORM First Name: Initial(s): Last Name: Title: Sex (M/F): Institution: Address: E-mail: Fax:
		I shall attend: possibly _
				probably _			almost certainly _
		and I intend to be accompanied by: one _two _more accompanied persons _ I intend to give a lecture _ I want to present a poster _ I intend to submit an abstract entitled (coauthor's names): I intend to join the two-day field trip (40 LVL) _ I would like this type of accommodation: A (single, 25-55 LVL per person/per night) _ B (double, 20-40 LVL) _ C (single, 12 LVL) _ D (double, 8 LVL) _ E (single, 9 LVL) _ F (double, 7 LVL) _ I wish to make my own arrangements for accommodation _ I need an official invitation: yes _no _ Please complete and return by e-mail (if possible) or post before December 1, 1998 e-mail: ldm@com.latnet.lv Ervins Luksevics Latvian Museum of Natural History, K.Barona 4, Riga LV-1050 LATVIA

		19 Appendix 3. Draft First Circular for Syktyvkar Meeting in 2000 IGCP Project 406 Circum-Arctic Lower and Middle Palaeozoic Vertebrate Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy Meeting "Palaeozoic Pan-Arctic Tectonics, and Evolution of Basins and Faunas" Syktyvkar, Russia, July 12-15, 2000 FIRST CIRCULAR Invitation. All interested Palaeozoic workers are invited to attend the IGCP Project 406 meeting (CAPV- 2000) in Syktyvkar, Russia, from July 12th to 15th, 2000. The conference will be devoted to the evolution of Early and Middle Palaeozoic faunas and sedimentary basins, and palaeotectonical development of Circum- Arctic regions. Program. Excursions. Two simultaneous pre-conference excursions are planned: 1. July 5-11 - this excursion will visit the Lower and Middle Palaeozoic sections in the Subpolar Urals. Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous strata, representing various sedimentary environments, can be examined. The maximum number of participants in this excursion is 20. 2. July 7-11 - this field-trip will take the participants to the Southern Timan where various facies (including stratotype of the well-known "Domanic facies") of the strata of Late Devonian age will be demostrated. At the end of the excursions, both groups will meet in Ukhta where several core-sections representing Lower and Middle Palaeozoic strata in the Pechora Synecline will be demonstrated by the Timan-Pechora Scientific Research Centre. Post-conference excursion July 16-20 - if there will be more than 20 persons interested in visiting the Lower and Middle Palaeozoic sections in the Subpolar Urals, also a post-conference excursion to this region can be organized. Scientific sessions July 12-15 - sessions will be held in Syktyvkar, in the Institute of Geology, Komi Science Centre, Uralian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences. The main topics of presentations will be: A. Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy; B. Sedimentology and Sequence Stratigraphy; C. Tectonics and Basins. Both talks and posters are welcome. Abstracts Abstracts should be submitted before January 31, 2000. The text (in English, no more than two printed pages, including illustrations and references) should be sent by e-Mail as an ASCII file or as a text-file on 3.5" discette (use MS "Word" or "WP for Windows"). If you use special or national letters, or you want to add illustrations, please send a hard copy separately. Abstracts will be puplished in special publications of Ichtyolith Issues. Estimated costs Because of uncertainties of the economic situation in the country the final costs are not yet known. We hope to give the details in the Second Circular (January, 2000). Considering the prices at the moment, the estimated costs are: registration fee - 50$ (includes excursion guide, abstract volume, programme, and coffe-breaks during sessions); accommodation in Syktyvkar - 30$ (cheepest hotel) - 130$ (the best hotel) per person per day; conference dinner - 30$; excursion to Subpolar Urals - 800$ (includes transportation and accommodation during excursion); excursion to Souther Timan - 500$ (includes transportation and accommodation during excursion). An attempt will be made to reduce price for students and to give some financial support to other participants. Also, we are trying to find sponsors. Any suggestion concerning sources of financial support are greatly appreciated.

		20 Preliminary registration In order to know the number of interested persons and to start with organization, please complete the Registration Form included. The Registration Forms must be returned before July 13th, 1999. The Second Circular will be sent only to persons who pre-registered.
		Contact addresses (1.) Anna Antoshkina Instute of Geology, Komi Science Centre, Uralian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences 54 Pervomayskaya St. 167610 Syktyvkar RUSSIA Fax: 821 2 425 346 e-mail: Antoshkina@geo.komi.ru
					(2.) Peep Männik Institute of Geology 7 Estonia Ave 10143 Tallinn ESTONIA Fax: 372 6 312 074 e-mail: mannik@gi.ee
			Draft Pre-registration Form for Syktyvkar 2000************************************
		Please complete and return to: Anna Antoshkina CAPV-2000 Instute of Geology, Komi Science Centre, Uralian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences 54 Pervomayskaya St. 167610 Syktyvkar RUSSIA Fax: 821 2 425 346 e-mail: Antoshkina@geo.komi.ru CAPV-2000 Pre-registration Given Name:Initial(s):Family Name: Title:Sex (M/F): Institution: Address (street):City: Postal code:Country:State: Phone: Fax: e-Mail: Please underline: I shall attendyesprobably and intend to be accompanied byonetwomoreaccompanying persons I intend to give a lectureyesno I want to present a posteryesno I intend to submit an abstract (abstracts) entitled I intend to join excursion to the Subpolar Urals pre-conferenceyesno post-conferenceyesno I intend to join excursion to the Southern Timanyesno I need financial supportyesno I need an official invitationyesno Signature [Accommodation will be specified in future]