The Palaeontological Association

Top left: Map of France indicating the Montagne Noire region where the specimens in this study came from. Bottom left: A 3D model of a Polygnathus P1 element with anatomical nomenclature and position of the landmarks and semi-landmarks used for the 2D morphometric analysis. Bottom right: Results of a principal components analysis of Polygnathus P1 element shape; plot shows the PC1 and PC2 on horizontal and vertical axes respectively. Each dot corresponds to a specimen and is coloured according to the stratigraphic level of the specimen (legend to the right). The shapes corresponding to the minimal and maximal values along each axis are also displayed on the graph.

Geometric morphometrics suggests different environmental pressures on small & large Polygnathus conodonts during the recovery after the Hangenberg crisis (latest Devonian – earliest Carboniferous) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @isemevol.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social

Sign the Petition Save Geology at the University of Leicester

Geology and palaeobiology at the University of Leicester are under threat, with at least 14 staff expected to be made redundant. Support them, their postdocs, and their students by signing this petition: c.org/SK8Xm8dhqK

Photograph of a fossil insect set in a pale yellow, speckled rock matrix. Laopsyllidium daohugouensis (holotype NIGP205637). Scale bar in bottom left corner is 5 mm.

The Paraprotopsyllidiidae: biodiversity, geographical distribution and taxonomic updates onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

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🛠️ 4 Pre-Conference Workshops
🎤 6 Invited Symposium Speakers
⚡ 18 Lightning Talks
🖼️ 71 Posters
🎙️ 88 Standard Talks

We can’t wait to see you there! 🙌💙

#conference #uk🇬🇧 #events #december #palass2025 #palaeontology #fossil

🎉 A few facts and figures about this year’s conference!
We’re excited to welcome 275 delegates from every continent (except Antarctica 🐧).
✨ Here’s what awaits you:
📣 1 Annual Address
🧪 1 ECR Workshop & Social
🥂 1 Icebreaker Reception
🚌 1 Post-Conference Field Trip [1/2]

Main image at the top: an artistic representation of two turtles on the beach of a shallow river, with water in the foreground. The turtles are reconstructions of the Miocene podocnemidad Shakiremys colombiana. Illustration by Juan Giraldo. Bottom right corner: two fossil images; on the left a shell of Shakiremys columbiana (paratype VPPLT-1721) showing the plastron in ventral view; on the right a dorsal view of a skull of the same species (holotype, VPPLT-1730). Scale bars below each specimen are 5 cm (shell) and 2 cm (skull).

Mosaic morphology in Podocnemididae revealed by a new turtle from the Middle Miocene La Venta Biome, Colombia onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @morphobank.bsky.social

Top left: photograph of a fossil palaeomonid arthropod from Villaggio del Pescatore, Italy; the image in the bottom right corner has colours superimposed to illustrate the various features of the animal. Scale bar in the bottom right corner is 10 mm for both images. Specimen number: MCSNT 57057. Bottom left: a map of Italy, with the a region in the northwest shaded grey and enlarged on the right to show the location of the study area near Trieste.

An Upper Cretaceous arthropod assemblage from Villaggio del Pescatore (Campanian, Italy) & its implications for peri-Tethyan palaeobiogeography & palaeoecology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @macroecoevoale.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology

CONGRATULATIONS to paleontologist Dr. Michael Benton for being awarded the highest and most esteemed award at #2025SVP: the Romer-Simpson Award!!! 🎉🎉🎉

Flow diagram illustrating the workflow for the ppgm R package. It starts with an extant envelope, fossil data is added, the evolution of climate niche is modelled, and finally climate niche & palaeoclimate are matched to show potential range.

ppgm: an R package for integrating neontological, palaeontological & climate data in a phylogenetic comparative framework onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #SVP2025 @alexh-palaeo.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social @tamueccb.bsky.social

Two people completing a jigsaw puzzle

The jigsaw is nearing completion - help us fit the final pieces... then we can start a new one! #SVP2025 Hall 3 (exhibition & coffee)

Top left: photographs of a vertical river bank showing the geological section studied, with a red arrow indicating holes from which samples were extracted. A close up shows the sampled section in more detail. Bottom left: a map of Argentina (in green) with a red dot indicating the approximate position of Doll Creek in Entre Rios Province. Top right: a single fossil conidium of Diplocladiella arambarriae (LAGEO-ARG-6585-1-AD-S2-07-E28/1); scale bar is 20 microns. Bottom right: vertical plot showing the geological age range of Diplocladiella species from the Paleocene at the bottom to the Pleistocene/Holocen boundary towards the top. Red lines show the ranges of four species, with Diplocladiella arambarriae at the top.

New fossil fungi! A new species of Diplocladiella from the lower Holocene of Argentina: insight into the palaeoecological & palaeoclimatic history of the fossil genus Triporicellaesporites onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology

Jo Hellawell representing the The Palaeontologial Association - table with books, postcards, pens, and a jigsaw puzzle that needs completing!

We're at #SVP2025 - come and say hello in Hall 3 (with the coffee) and put some pieces in our jigsaw puzzle! Free stickers & postcards...

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You must be a PalAss member 🦴

💼 Eligible costs include:
👶 Childcare or carer support (either locally or at home)
🚆 Travel (e.g., economy flights, train tickets)
🏨 Accommodation and subsistence

📅 Apply before the deadline!
#diversity #grant #palaeontology #PalAss

💡 Need support to attend your next palaeontology event?
Apply for a PalAss Diversity Bursary! 🌍✨

👉 palass.org/palaeontolog...

💷 Funding available: up to £250 GBP per individual bursary.

📝 What you’ll need:
A short supporting statement
A breakdown of your anticipated expenses [1/2]

Main picture is an artist's reconstruction of the Triassic fossil crustacean Yunnanocylus fortis, newly described from the Guiyan biota. The crab-like animal is shown on the sea bed. Inset in the lower left corner is an image of the holotype (CUGM 00359); scale bar in the lower left corner is 2 mm.

A new Early Triassic cyclidan crustacean from the Guiyang biota onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... - ecosystem recovery after mass extinction @morphobank.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology

A palaeogeographic map of the world in Permian times, showing the distribution of Cathaysia (red dots) and Paryphella (blue square) specimens. Underneath are specimens of four new brachiopod taxa. Clockwise from top left: Cathaysia plana, Paryphella yangshanensis, Cathaysia xiaojiangensis and Cathaysia striata. Scale bars under each image are 5 mm.

Quantitative review of the systematic taxonomy, distribution & palaeoenvironmental preferences of the productid brachiopods Cathaysia & Paryphella onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @paleodb.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social

Top: scheme showing the proposed new growth cycle model in an orthoceratoid. Ontogenetic progression of cameral deposits is shown from left to right (towards the apex). Organic sheets are formed when the soft body vacates the chamber, increasing the functional surface area of the siphuncle and guiding the precipitation of cameral deposits (red lines). Middle: Transmitted light (on the left) and cathodoluminescence (on the right in red and purple colours) microscopy images of Trematoceras elegans from the St Cassian Formation, Carnian, Late Triassic; PZO 16538-01, cross-section. Bottom: SEM image of Trematoceras elegans, PZO 16535-02, longitudinal section, showing the circular patterns of a single spherulitic sector, with a well-defined boundary to a neighbouring sector (interpreted as a cameral sheet).

Microstructural & geochemical evidence offers a solution to the cephalopod cameral deposits riddle onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @datadryad.bsky.social

A map of the study area on the west coast of Chile, enlarged on the right. At the bottom, two photographs of newly named fossil shark teeth from the Miocene Bahia Inglesa Formation, Chile: Pochitaserra patriciacanalae (PDE365; scale bar 1 mm) in labial view, and Dasyatis manuelcamposi (PDE356a; scale bar 2 mm) in lingual view.

Diving into the past: a new assemblage of Neogene elasmobranch microfossils from the eastern Pacific of South America onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #FossilFriday

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Careering of course. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. We are excited to bring you our next ECR webinar series on careers in Palaeontology on Wednesday, November 12th, at 05:30 pm (GMT). This event is free of charge, but you will need to register. Aim of...

[2/2] and answer your questions — all in a relaxed, friendly format. 🙌

📅 Upcoming sessions:
🚀 Careering Off Course! — 12 Nov

🕠 The webinars start at 17:30 GMT on Zoom.
🔗 Register via the links below and join the conversation!
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#research #earlycareerresearcher

🎓 Member News! 🌟

We’re excited to announce a brand-new series of Early-Career Researcher webinars all about careers and grants 💼💡

Our ERC Officer will be joined by inspiring grant awardees and professionals from diverse career paths who’ll share their experiences, tips, [1/2]

[2 /2] or spot a broken link, please contact 📧 webmaster@palass.org.

👉 Don’t hesitate — check it out today:
🔗 palass.org/masters-cour...

#Palaeosciences #MastersDegree #Fossils #EarthScience #Palaeontology

🦕 Thinking about a career in Palaeosciences? 🌍
Explore a list of Masters Courses and take the next step toward uncovering Earth's ancient secrets! 🔍✨

If you coordinate a Masters course that you’d like to see listed, need to update existing information,[1/2]

Artist's reconstructions of two phytosaur heads. At the top: Angistorhinus cf. talainti, with a fragmentary specimen of a previously unknown Portuguese phytosaur overlaid on lower jaw; in the centre, Nicrosaurus kapffi, also shown with superimposed fossil material. Both images were created by Adrián Blázquez Riola. At the bottom, a photograph of the fossil lower jaw of Mystriosuchus planirostris (specimen SMNS 91574, mirrored) in lateral view shown with landmarks (red dots) and semi-landmarks (blue dots) added. Scale bar for bottom image is 5 cm.

Systematic utility of the phytosaur post-dentary mandibular region onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Two photographs of Titanochelon richardi fossils, a Late Miocene giant tortoise from the Valle Penedes Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula. Top left: skull (IPS62095a) in left lateral view, scale bar at lower left 2 cm. On the right: plastron (IPS62095l) in visceral view, scale bar (mid right) is 4 cm.

New evidence of a European giant tortoise (Titanochelon richardi) from the Upper Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin: taxonomic & phylogenetic implications onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @morphobank.bsky.social

A photograph and line drawing interpretation of partial fossil skull in dorsal view, identified as the holotype of Asaphestera platyris (now considered nomen dubium). Scale bar at lower right of photograph is 1 cm.

Re-evaluation of the Carboniferous tetrapod Asaphestera platyris with comments on the amniote fauna of the Joggins Formation, Canada onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #PapersinPalaeontology @morphobank.bsky.social

Series of plots and graphs illustrating the five different evolution model configurations studied. They correspond to a range of simple to (moving down the page) increasingly complex and parameter-rich models of morphological evolution.

Assessing the impact of character evolution models on phylogenetic and macroevolutionary inferences from fossil data onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @daveyfwright.bsky.social @datadryad.bsky.social

🎓 Got a PhD opportunity to share? 🌍
We’d love to help spread the word! 💬

If you have an available PhD position in palaeontology or a related field, you can post it directly on our website using the link below: 👇
🔗 palass.org/form/webform...

#PhDOpportunity #Palaeontology #Research #Academia

Graphic summary of the proposed ten rules and steps to follow when cleaning occurrence data for palaeobiological analysis. The rules are grouped within their respective theme: project setup (Rules 1–3; blue); data exploration and cleaning (Rules 4–8; red); and reporting and archiving (Rules 9 and 10; green).

Ten simple rules to follow when cleaning occurrence data in palaeobiology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @lewisajones.bsky.social @es-ucl.bsky.social @paleodb.bsky.social #FossilFriday

[2/2]💡 Association members:
Make sure you log in here 👉 palass.org/user/login

to get free access to digital products 💻 and exclusive discounts on physical items 📦🎉
#palass #fossilfriday #friday #store

🛍️ Don’t forget to visit our store! → palass.org/palass-shop
Here you’ll find an overview of all the amazing products we offer 🧬📚✨
Each item has its own dedicated page with more details 🔍[1 /2]