Author: Gaëtan Potin

From August 25^th to 31^st, Prof. Allison Daley, Dr. Damien Pas, Dr. Harriet B.B. Drage, PhD candidates Gaëtan Potin, and Valentin Jamart participated in the IGC 2024 meeting in Busan, South Korea. During the meeting, members of the ANOM Lab had the opportunity to present their research (through talks and/or posters), establish new connections, and experience the culture and cuisine of South Korea. Additionally, Prof. Allison C. Daley, Dr. Harriet B. Drage, and PhD candidates Gaëtan J.M. Potin and Valentin Jamart represented Switzerland at the IUGS council, where their responsibilities included participating in the election of the new IUGS committee and voting for the country that will host the next IGC meeting in 2028.

After the congress, A.C. Daley, H.B. Drage, G.J.M. Potin, and V. Jamart participated in the field trip, ‘The New Perspective of the Cambro-Ordovician of the Taebaksan Basin, Korea.’ This field trip gave ANOM Lab members the opportunity to explore the Lower Paleozoic geological wonders of South Korea.

From July 08^th to July 10^th, Dr. Damien Pas and Valentin Jamart (PhD candidate) participated in the Cyclostratigraphy Intercomparison Project 2.0 workshop in Brussels, Belgium. During the workshop, discussions and debates took place with cyclostratigraphers at all levels (from PhD students to senior professors) and from various universities across Europe, China, and the USA. Additionally, three case studies were analyzed to test the replicability of cyclostratigraphic studies.

Nora Corthésy published her first article in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology this summer. The project was conducted with the invaluable help of Camille Thomas from the University of Bern, along with Farid Saleh, Allison Daley, and Jonathan Antcliffe. The paper explores how different clays influence bacterial community composition during shrimp decay and how this affects tissue preservation. Check it out!

Corthésy, N., Saleh, F., Thomas, C., Antcliffe, J. B., & Daley, A. C. 2024. The effects of clays on bacterial community composition during arthropod decay. Swiss journal of palaeontology, 143(1), 26.

This year, the ANOM Lab participated in the University’s open days, Les Mystères de l’Unil, by presenting an interactive workshop for children and families. Organized by Dr. Farid Saleh, the workshop aimed to introduce Ordovician ecosystems in a fun and engaging way. Children were tasked with identifying fossils on a large reconstruction and comparing the differences and similarities between fossils and modern animals to better understand their evolution and fossilization.

ANOM Lab members published 4 articles on the Frontiers research topic “Insights on the Rise of Animal Life from Cambro-Ordovician Lagerstätten”. 3 articles report on fossil arthropods from the Fezouata Shale in Morocco. Potin et al. describe new suspension-feeding radiodonts from the Fezouata Shale (Fig. A), and discuss their ecological and evolutionary implications. Drage et al. document the moulting behavior of the Moroccan marrellid (Fig. B) and compare it to that of other marrellomorphs and modern arthropods. Laibl et al. also focus on marrellids, but this time characterizes the morphological changes occurring during their development based a nice set of juvenile and adult specimens including tiny immature stages (Fig. C). The fourth article, by Lustri et al., explores the environmental evolution of xiphosurids (Fig. D), and compare it to other euchelicerates groups.

Additional digital ressources:

A 3D model, based on µCT data, of one of the frontal appendage of the new taxon described by Potin et al. can be seen and manipulated online on Sketchfab.

A video presenting the three-dimensional rendering of the smallest immature stage of the Fezouata marrellid can be viewed here.