PAL ASS 2002 ABSTRACTS

[darren.naish@port.ac.uk]

Newsletter 51 (2002) of The Palaeontological Association 
arrived a short while ago and includes the abstracts for the 
46th Annual Meeting of The Palaeontological Association. 
This meeting will be held 15th-18th December 2002 at the 
University of Cambridge. Of interest to this list are the 
following...

Jackson, S. How to make dinosaur tracks: interpreting 
dinosaur footprint formation and preservation using 
laboratory controlled simulations.

Tracks. 'Nuff said. 

MacEwan, V. Application of high-resolution computed 
tomography in palaeontology: analysis of a Middle 
Devonian labyrinthodont tooth from New York State, USA.

The term 'labyrinthodont' seems to be used here as a 
morphological descripter, not as a group name.

Milan, J. & Bromley, R. G. The influence of substrate 
consistency on footprint morphology: field experiments 
with an emu.

More tracks. This will presumably be similar to the talk on 
undertracks Jesper gave at SVPCA '02.

Norman, D. B., Crompton, A. W. & Charig, A. J. The 
cranial morphology and systematics of the enigmatic basal 
ornithischian _Heterodontosaurus tucki_ Crompton and 
Charig, 1962.

As some of you may recall this talk was advertised for 
SVPCA but wasn't given in the end. The abstract is just a 
brief review of the history of _H. tucki's_ discovery and 
notes that detailed accounts of the morphology are needed. 
While heterodontosaurs are consistently regarded as basal 
ornithopods, Norman et al. say that reanalysis 'has provided 
an opportunity to reassess (_H. tucki's_) systematic position 
within Ornithischia'.

Clack, J. A. & Ahlberg, P. E. A new stem tetrapod from the 
mid-Carboniferous of Northern Ireland. 

A partial left jaw discovered in 1843 and described as a 
rhizodont is a new taxon of primitive tetrapod. It is of 
_Whatcheeria_-like grade and less derived than 
_Crassigyrinus_, _Greererpeton_, anthracosaurs, 
temnospondyls etc.

Clark, N. D. L. Tracking dinosaurs in Scotland. 

Tridactyl tracks from the Duntulum Fm (Bathonian) 
represent medium to large bipedal forms.

Corfe, I. J. & Saila, L. K. Questioning the tetrapod diversity 
of a Jurassic island, Glamorganshire.

Same as presentation given at SVPCA.

Jones, M. E. H., Evans, S.E. & Ruth, B. Ontogenetic 
variation in the frog ilium and its impact on classification.

Anuran ilia are employed heavily in classifying fossil 
anurans as they are generally the best represented elements. 
But does their diversity reflect true diversity or represent 
ontogenetic stages? Studies of bufonid and hylid ilia show 
that the diagnostic features seen on anuran ilia generally 
don't change with ontogeny though some subtle changes in 
acetabulum shape, shape of dorsal tubercle and other 
features were observed.

Lipkin, C. & Sereno, P. C. A spinosaurid furcula and its 
phylogenetic implications.

A _Suchomimus_ furcula is flattened and V-shaped with a 
tongue-shaped hypocleidium. Overall it resembles the 
furcula of _Allosaurus_. The specimen found with the 
furcula is a new one discovered in 2000.

There's another abstract on tracks but I've run out of time.
 
-- 
Darren Naish
School of Earth & Environmental Sciences
University of Portsmouth UK, PO1 3QL

email: darren.naish@port.ac.uk
tel: 023 92846045