Author: Allison Daley

In a paper published this week in Geological Magazine, Pierre Gueriau, ANOM Lab External Collaborator Greg Edgecombe and co-workers describe eurypterids (‘sea scorpions’) from the Upper Devonian aquatic continental ecosystem of Strud, Belgium. The material consists of semi-articulated juvenile specimens assigned to Hardieopteridae recovered from pool and floodplain deposits, as well as larger isolated fragments likely of adult identity recovered from a higher energy fluvial environment. This apparent habitat partitioning reveals, as already suggested for some Carboniferous eurypterids, that juveniles have developed separate from adult populations in ‘nursery’ pools, which keep them safe from predators (fish) and give access to prey (small branchiopods and/or their eggs), before migrating to rivers during periods of flooding, or, though unlikely, by traversing land to reach adjacent rivers. The discovery of such a life habit among the Strud eurypterids is important as it indicates that this behavior may have been common among freshwater eurypterid groups, and highlights the complexity of the earliest continental biocenoses.

Read more about the research here:

Lamsdell, Lagebro, Edgecombe, Budd & Gueriau – Stylonurine eurypterids from the Strud locality (Upper Devonian, Belgium): new insights into the ecology of freshwater sea scorpions.

The ANOM Lab is looking for an early career postdoc with skills in mathematical biology and/or quantitative paleoecology to join our team! You will work with a team of enthusiastic paleontologists, leading the quantitative aspects of our research on the Fezouata Biota from Morocco. Check out the “Opportunities” page for more details.

The recently built aquarium room of the ANOM Lab has this week been installed with its first aquariums, marking the start of our maiden voyage in studying taphonomy and population dynamics in deep time, using modern animals as analogues. This work is being led by ANOM Lab members Jonathan Antcliffe and Lorenzo Lustri, our aquarium specialists. Two freshwater tanks were installed as part of a sump system that will eventually house populations of shrimps for studying on moulting, taphonomy, and decay. So far the tanks are full of water, but do not yet house plants or animals as we wait for the water chemistry to stabilise. Watch this space as organisms are added in the coming weeks!

In January 2019, ANOM Lab leader Allison Daley was delighted to be named as Guest Professor to Yunnan University. This reflects the long-running research collaborations with Prof. Peiyun Cong and Prof. Xianguang Hou at the Yunnan Key Laboroty for Palaeobiology, studying radiodont fossils from the Chengjiang Biota together with ANOM Lab External Collaborator Greg Edgecombe. Allison looks forward to the exciting future collaborations on Chengjiang Fossils, and visiting the YKLP in Kunming in the near future. Thank you for this great honour!

Members of the ANOM Lab recently visited Kunming, China to attend the Inaugural Meeting of the Ministry for Education and China (MEC) International Joint Laboratory for Palaeobiology and Palaeoenvironment. The ANOM Lab is honoured and delighted to be collaborating with the Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology, and we thoroughly enjoyed this important first meeting of minds, as we explore our future research efforts together.

Francesc Perez Peris, Pierre Gueriau, and Lorenzo Lustri started the trip by attending three field excursions to important paleontological localities near Kunming: the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary at Meishucun, the Jurassic Lufeng Dinosaur Valley, and the Chengjiang Biota museums located in the Chengjiang city and over the site of the first fossil discoveries in Miaotanshan.

Allison Daley joined them on 8 and 9 December, for the academic sessions of talks and posters. We enjoyed hearing about the newest paleontological research coming out of the YKLP, as well as from numerous international guests. Pierre Gueriau spoke about advanced chemical imaging methods, that shed light on early arthropod evolution, and Allison Daley presented ANOM Lab research on the early evolution of arthropods during the Cambrian Explosion. We wrapped up our trip to China by working on fossil specimens at the YKLP and at the Chengjiang Fossil Site museum, with our colleagues Greg Edgecombe and Peiyun Cong. In particular, we thank Peiyun for hosting using during our fantastic stay in China!