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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.
Dave Elliott (U.S.A.) spent a week in the lab of Ray
Thorsteinsson (Canada) in November, to
collaborate on completion
of a large monographic work on Silurian/Devonian
heterostracans
from Arctic Canada. Mark
Wilson (Canada) and Ken Soehn (Canada) joined them
briefly for a
discussion of common
problems involving heterostracan taxonomy.
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
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