9TH INTERNATIONAL MEETING
EARLY VERTEBRATES/LOWER
VERTEBRATES
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA, MAY 15-19, 2000

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
David K. Elliott
Northern Arizona University
Department of Geology
Box 4099
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
Tel: 520 523 7188
e-mail: David.Elliott@nau.edu
Heidemarie G. Johnson
David D. Gillette

The 9th International Meeting on Early Vertebrates/Lower Vertebrates was held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA on May 15 through 19, 2000. Many excellent presentations on Paleozoic vertebrates (fishes and amphibians) were given - reports will follow in Ichthyolith Issues 21. A volume of short abstracts and field guide was produced and a symposium volume is planned. A pre-meeting trip to the Harding Sandstone was cancelled but the post- meeting field-trip to Devonian localities across SW USA was successful.

The meeting included the following symposia:

Interrelationships of thelodonts
Agnathan interrelationships
Placoderm interrelationships
Chondrichthyan interrelationships
Actinopterygian interrelationships
Sarcopterygian interrelationships
Paleozoic vertebrate biostratigraphy Open and poster session

Post-Meeting Field Trip
May 20 - 27, 2000

Reports in next issue and see web site.

********** Memorial

Dr HANS LUDOLPH JESSEN,
1935 - 1999

Hans Jessen (pictured far right above with a group at the Naturiska Riksmuseet in Stockholm in the 1960s - photo by Alex Ritchie) died in early 1999 after suffering years of a debilitating illness. I met him only once, during my visit to the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet in Stockholm in 1970; he was very kind and explained to me the ins and outs of the museum. Sadly, I was not able to meet him again when I went to the University ofColognein November 1998. Hans went to that University in 1957 receiving his undergraduate degree in geology in 1960. During the summer of 1959 he met Dr. Tor Ørvig (NHRM, Stockholm) and joined his excavation of the Upper Devonian fish sites at Bergisch Gladbach, a town east of Cologne. This stimulated his interest in fossil fish, which remained the main focus of research. His body of work on osteichthyans provides a fine legacy to us all.