Continental trace fossils and museum exhibits - Geological Curators ...

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DONOVAN, S.K., PICKERILL, R.K. and BLISSETT,D.J. 2006. Collecting invertebrate trace fossils. TheGeological Curator 8, 205-210.ENSOM, P.C. 2006. Dinosaur tracks from Dorset: atwenty-five year retrospective. The GeologicalCurator 8, 227-241.JEFFERIES, R.P.S. 1984. Locomotion, shape,ornament, and external ontogeny in some mitratecalcichordates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology4, 292-319.LEWIS, D.N. 2000. Fossils explained 30: macrofossilsin flint. Geology Today 16, 153-158.OWEN, H.G., PARSONS, E. and PATERNOSTER, R.1982. Rationalized storage of fossils in the BritishMuseum (Natural History). Curator 24, 77-88.PICKERILL, R.K. 1994. Nomenclature and taxonomyof invertebrate trace fossils. In Donovan, S.K. (ed.).The palaeobiology of trace fossils. John Wiley andSons, Chichester, 3-42.PICKERILL, R.K., DONOVAN, S.K. and PORTELL,R.W. 2003. Teredolites longissimus Kelly &Bromley from the Miocene Grand Bay Formation ofCarriacou, the Grenadines, Lesser Antilles. ScriptaGeologica 125, 1-9.SUTCLIFFE, O.E., SÜDKAMP, W.H. and JEFFERIES,R.P.S. 2000. Ichnological evidence on the behaviourof mitrates: two trails associated with the Devonianmitrate Rhenocytis. Lethaia 33, 1-12.TAYLOR, P.D. 2004. Beringer’s iconoliths:palaeontological fraud in the early 18th century. TheLinnean 20(3), 21-31.WHITTINGTON, H.B. 1992. Trilobites: FossilsIllustrated, Volume 2. Boydell Press, Woodbridge,Suffolk, xi+145 pp.-259-
BOOK REVIEWSPellant, Chris & Pellant, Helen. 2004. A Guide to CommonFossils. Field Studies Council Publications, PrestonMontford, Montford Bridge, Shrewsbury, 12 pp. Pocketguide. ISBN 1-85153-288-9. Price: £3-25.Pellant, Chris & Pellant, Helen. 2004. Guide to CommonMinerals. Field Studies Council Publications, PrestonMontford, Montford Bridge, Shrewsbury, 12 pp. Pocketguide. ISBN 1-85153-897-6. Price: £3-25.Following the success of the earlier A Guide to Rocks by thesame authors, the Field Studies Council has published a furthertwo pocket geological guides in its AIDGAP series. AIDGAP,or ‘Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals andPlants’, is obviously moving out of its own defined parameterswhen considering rocks and minerals, but this should surely bewelcomed. However, there is the question of scope and what isattainable in 12 fold out pages, divided evenly between text andillustrations. On my shelf I have specialist AIDGAP guides on,for example, shieldbugs and the ‘top 50’ garden birds of theBritish Isles. A worthwhile guide to common rock types orcommon minerals is achievable, but, frankly, trying to covereven common fossils in such a limited space was always goingto be impossible. My comments in this review will focus mainlyon some of the shortcomings that I perceive of A Guide toCommon Fossils (GCF).I appreciate that introducing fossils and palaeontology in such alimited space is problematic and probably impossible.Nevertheless, the text would have benefited from more criticalreview before publication. There are some errors, such as referringto the trivial name of a Linnean taxon as its specific name, butmy main criticism is that it could have been written so muchbetter. For example, the two paragraphs on fossil corals arepoorly structured, even given the limitations of space. The fourentires under ‘Further reading’ will not help the novice, includingas it does one volume from 1985 (good, but presumably out ofprint) and three guides by the authors, two of which are notconcerned with fossil. Reference to, say, the three guides toBritish fossils published by the Natural History Museum inLondon and an up to date textbook would have served the readerrather better.A stratigraphic distribution chart in the text is inaccurate inplaces. For example, there are entries for my beloved ‘crinoids’(Lower Ordovician to Recent) and, ambiguously, ‘echinoderms’(Ordovician to Recent); crinoids are echinoderms, too. If truly‘echinoderms’, then the oldest examples from the British Islesare Lower Cambrian (Comley, Shropshire); if echinoderms isused in error for echinoids, then the oldest British occurrencesare from near the top of the Ordovician (Lady Burn starfish beds,Girvan), not the base. Are there really British Lower Ordoviciancorals or Triassic scleractinians? And why are belemnites shownto range from the Lower Carboniferous to Upper Eocene?There are 71 photographs of diverse fossils in colour, each withan informative caption. The photographs are generally fine,although the novice might be confused by obvious differences inorientation; for example, the five echinoids illustrated are shownin five different orientations. The stratigraphic coverage isdominated by Carboniferous (15) and, particularly, Jurassictaxa (33 entries, although seven range beyond the Jurassic).Some of my favourite groups with a good fossil record are notcovered, such as the crabs, barnacles and borings. There is oneCambrian trilobite and one Bartonian gastropod. The GaultClay, London Clay and East Anglian crags, to name threepersonal favourites, are ignored.My criticisms of GCF are unfortunate as, in principal, I can onlywelcome such a guide. Part of the problem is the impossibilityof dealing with such a broad subject area in such a limited space.Guides to particular groups (e.g., British ammonites) orstratigraphic divisions (e.g., British Lower Carboniferous fossilsor fossils of the Chalk), which still couldn’t pretend to the depthattained in the shieldbug guide mentioned above, wouldnevertheless be potentially far more worthy contributions. TheGuide to Common Minerals, dealing with a far less diversesubject area, and with a three page table of properties of all 71illustrated examples, appears to succeed where the GCF couldnot.Stephen K. Donovan, Department of Geology, NationaalNatuurhistorisch Museum, Postbus 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, TheNetherlands. 14th May 2006.-260-
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TRACE FOSSILS IN THE MUSEUM: GUEST
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Figure 1. Field photograph of an ou
Page 8 and 9: elements actually containing boring
Page 10 and 11: CONTINENTAL TRACE FOSSILS AND MUSEU
Page 12 and 13: Figure 1. Continental environments.
Page 14 and 15: Behrensmeyer and Hill 1980). Burrow
Page 16 and 17: Continental environments and their
Page 18 and 19: entombed within the trace itself (e
Page 20 and 21: The exhibit of skink burrows could
Page 22 and 23: of more social advanced wasps (Sphe
Page 24 and 25: HASIOTIS, S.T., FIORILLO, A.R. and
Page 26 and 27: DINOSAUR TRACKS FROM DORSET:A TWENT
Page 28 and 29: & Archaeological Society paid for t
Page 30 and 31: Figure 1. A Westland Wessex helicop
Page 32 and 33: Figure 7. A BBC Southern TV crew fi
Page 34 and 35: Figure 12. In the foreground, volun
Page 36 and 37: Figure 18. The exposed surface of t
Page 38 and 39: Figure 24. The 1 m 2 stringed grid
Page 40 and 41: ENSOM, P.C. 1995b. Dinosaur footpri
Page 42 and 43: TRACE FOSSIL COLLECTIONS AT THE UNI
Page 44 and 45: Figure 2. Life size reconstruction
Page 46 and 47: TRACE FOSSILS: A SMALLER MUSEUM’S
Page 48 and 49: of the Field Club (see above) and l
Page 50 and 51: Naturalists’ Field Club (e.g., Ra
Page 52 and 53: Keuper von Warwickshire. Neues Jahr
Page 54 and 55: TRACE FOSSILS - THE POOR RELATIONS
Page 56 and 57: amount of space needed to accommoda
Page 60 and 61: TRACE FOSSILS IN TWO NORTH AMERICAN
Page 62 and 63: One time was by a biology student w
Page 64 and 65: eggs, are displayed just above, nex
Page 66 and 67: Figure 8. This Early Cretaceous tra
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