THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR BULLETIN No. 65 JANUARY 2002 Neocalamites hoerensis (Schimper) Halle. From the Triassic deposits of Southeast Queensland. Published by THE FOSSIL COLLECTORS’ ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALASIA ISSN 1037-2997 Page 2 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR January 2002 THE FOSSIL COLLECTORS’ ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALASIA SECRETARY/TREASURER Frank Holmes. 15 Kenbry Road, Heathmont. Victoria. 3135. (03) 9729 0447 STATE REPRESENTATIVES Australian Capital Territory Mrs. M. Webb. Fairlight Station, R.M.B. 141, Weston. 2611. (02) 6236 5123 New South Wales Eric Nowak. 29 Bungalow Road, Roselands. 2196. (02) 9758 1728 South Australia John Barrie. 1 George Terrace, Coonalpyn. 5265. (08)8571 1172 Queensland Ian Sobbe. M/S 422, Clifton. 4361. (07) 4697 3372 Victoria Frank Holmes. 15 Kenbry Road, Heathmont. 3135. (03) 9729 0447 Western Australia Mrs. L. Schekkerman. 11 Marion Street, Innaloo. 6018. (08) 9446 3583 Taxonomic Disclaimer This publication is not deemed to be valid for taxonomic purposes [see article 8b in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature 3rd edition 1985. Eds W. D. Ride et al]. CONTENTS Editorial Notes 3 Books and Book Reviews 4 - Palaeobiogeography of Australasian Faunas and Floras. 4 - A Short History of Planet Earth. 4 - Basic Palaeontology. 5 - The Map That changed the World 6 - Fossils: Teachers Notes, Fact Sheets and Student Activities. 7 In The News 8 - Cottons Hill Quarry (Forbes NSW) Trilobites Described. 8 - Chaos Clues to Dinosaur Demise. 8 - New Dinosaurs From North America. 9 - Ancient “Chewing” Reptile Linked With Leap in Animal Diversity. 10 - Tidal Giant Roamed Coastal Swamps of Ancient Africa. 12 - Tiny Fossil From Eariy Jurassic Fills New Niche in Mammal Evolution. 13 - Dinosaur Skin Find. 16 - Researcher Discovers Signs of Rapid Extinction. 17 - T. rex Ancestor Found in UK. 19 - Jurassic Coast is World Wonder. 20 - When Birds Ate Horses. 21 - Largest Fossil Cockroach Found 22 - Giant Fossil Crocodile Found in Africa. 23 - Dinosaur Eggs Discovered. 25 - When Whales Walked the Land. 26 - Dinosaur Skull Fills Knowledge Gap. 27 January 2002 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR Page 3 EDITORIAL NOTES Since taking over the job of editor of The Fossil Collector, twenty issues ago, this is the first time I have not had a major article for page five. While I am a little disappointed, it is not my philosophy to harass people for material and this opportunity has allowed me to catch up on the backlog of news stories . Indeed, the original draft of this issue was forty plus pages so it became a hard job to cut those stories that I thought were less interesting. One story, which has been left out of the In The News section, was that of Elliot the dinosaur, which was discovered in the Winton area of central Queensland. Elliot, as most people would already know, is the largest recovered example of a sauropod so far found in Australia, there is evidence of larger specimens (footprints found in the Broome, WA area) but remains of these creatures have not yet been found. Elliot is similar to members of the Titanosaur family and based on this it is estimated that Elliot would have been 16-21 metres long and weighed about 30 tonnes. So far the two ends of one femur, portions of ribs, vertebrae, and various other bits of bone have been recovered from an area measuring some 350 square metres. Unfortunately a one to two metre thick layer of black soil covers the rock unit (the Winton Formation) that Elliot is in, this black soil expands and contracts with the changing seasons and this is responsible for the movement of the fossils as they rise up through the soil. It is hoped that when the next expedition to recover more of Elliot is held (June/July 2002), heavy machinery will be available to remove the black soil overburden thus exposing the shale layer Elliot is in and making the work of recovery somewhat easier. This is truly an exciting time for dinosaur discoveries in Australia and for optimists like me, the chance of finding a large carnivore is doubly exciting. The Triassic deposits I am working on have continued to provide new insect material, with specimens from the Orders Odonata, Blattodea, Orthoptera, Hemiptera, Megaloptera?, Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera. Although the deposits are small, the number of insects are large and coupled with the plants and bivalves, it is an exciting assemblage The deadline for the next issue of The Fossil Collector is March 26, 2002. Page 4 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR January 2002 BOOKS AND BOOK REVIEWS PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHY OF AUSTRALASIAN FAUNAS AND FLORAS edited by A. J. Wright, G. C. Young, J. A. Talent and J. R. Laurie (2000). Memoir 23 of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 515p. (softcover). Price (including postage and GST) AU$81.95 within Australia, AU$84.50 overseas. Available from the Geological Society of Australia, Suite 706, 301 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. Tel: (02) 9290 2194; Fax: (02) 9290 2198; Email: [email protected] Memoir 23 is a summary document based on the conference on Palaeobiogeography of Australasian Faunas and Floras (PAFF) held at the University of Wollongong in December 1997. It is the first extended biogeographic synthesis on the evolution of the Australasian region through ‘deep time’ (especially pre-Cainozoic time) published in nearly two decades. It contains numerous comprehensive lists of Australasian invertebrate and vertebrate fossils, both marine and non-marine, as well as plant groups from nine of the ten Phanerozoic systems (unfortunately a chapter on the Triassic could not be completed in time). Extensive references at the end of each chapter form an invaluable bibliography - something rarely available in a single volume. The Memoir, the work of eighty-nine listed contributors and four editors, will be a great help to both professional and amateur palaeontologists alike. A detailed review of this Memoir, by Art Boucot (Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, USA), can be found on page 22 of The Australian Geologist, Newsletter No. 120, September 2001. Information supplied by Frank Holmes. A SHORT HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH by Ian Plimer. Published by ABC Books, July 2001, 250p. (softcover). RRP AU$32.95. Available from ABC shops or contact ABC Enterprises Tel: (02) 9950 3982; Email: [email protected] Geologist Ian Plimer’s history of Earth, both before and after life, is a fascinating detective story that pulls together thousands of pieces of evidence from the beginning of the Solar System through to the path some ‘stardust’ took to become the dominant life form on the Earth - bacteria - January 2002 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR Page 5 to the recent short period of time known as History. Information supplied by Frank Holmes. BASIC PALAEONTOLOGY by Michael Benton and David Harper. Published by Addison, Wesley and Longman Ltd 1997. 342 pp (softcover). Available in Australia at all good bookstores for approx. AU $100 or at online bookstores, for example Amazon.com for US$44.00 plus postage. As with most hobbies, a library, to some extent, is an essential tool for research in relation to those particular hobbies, and I find that fossil collecting is no exception. Like most other fossil collecting enthusiasts, I started with books pertaining to fossil localities, these were quickly followed by publications on fossil identification. For some people, collecting and identifying their fossil specimens is enough, but for many others, myself included, collecting fossils continually raises many questions for which the ever-enquiring mind must have answers. For example, what circumstances lead to fossil preservation? What is the geology of the rocks that fossils are found in? When and why did the Earth have mass extinctions and what are the latest theories? How did many of the organisms evolve? What was the landscape like during the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous and so on? Perplexing questions continue to be raised as we become more involved with this wonderful pastime. So how does one obtain answers to such questions? Basic Palaeontology is a book that can thoroughly answer these few questions and many more like them. This British publication is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to palaeontology. I found the text to be well set out and relatively easy to read, with superb diagrams and photographs to break up the narrative. In addition to this, there is a detailed index, bibliography and outstanding glossary. There are thirteen chapters in all, specialising in topics that would be of interest to fossil collectors and students alike. Some of the chapter headings include Palaeontology as a Science, Macroevolution, The Origin of Life, Vertebrates, Fossil Plants, Microfossils, Radiolarians: Echinoderms and Hemichordates, Arthropods and Molluscs, and so on. As is the case with some texts, there can be the occasional discrepancy. Page 6 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR January 2002 This publication is no exception and an example of this appears on page 238 of the text. Here the authors have made the general assumption that Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are known as fossils from only the Cretaceous and Tertiary. Specimens of Lepidoptera have, however, been collected from the Late Triassic Molteno Formation in South Africa, which significantly precedes the Cretaceous. This oversight may stem from the fact that one author, Benton, is a professor of vertebrate palaeontology while Harper is a lecturer in geology, suggesting that as neither author specialises in invertebrates, such an oversight could be possible. Overall though, this is a very good text and I recommend it to anyone who has a desire to immediately increase their knowledge of palaeontology or who simply wants to have the book in their library to answer those nagging questions that will inevitably arise as we actively explore our prehistoric past. Reviewed by Mark Saul. THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: THE TALE OF WILLIAM SMITH AND THE BIRTH OF A SCIENCE by Simon Winchester. Published by Viking (the Penguin Group) 2001. RRP AU$30.00. This book, by the bestselling author of The Surgeon of Crowthom, is a moving and inspiring story of the life and time of an Oxfordshire blacksmith’s son named William Smith (1769-1839). Known today as The father of English Geology’, whose passion for fossils came above all else, William Smith single handedly and without financial or professional support journeyed across Britain for nearly twenty years investigating and naming the layers of rock beneath his feet. Based on this work he eventually published, in the summer of 1815, an extraordinary hand-painted brightly coloured map some eight feet tall and six feet wide bearing the inscription: A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales with part of Scotland; exhibiting the Collieries and Mines; the Marshes and Fen Lands originally Overflowed by the Sea; and the Varieties of Soil according to the Variations in the Sub Strata; illustrated by the most Descriptive Names. This was the first true geological map of anywhere in the world, a map that heralded the beginnings of a whole new science. January 2002 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR Page 7 Shatteringly, such heroic and painstaking work extracted a terrible price: imprisoned for debt in 1819, Smith was turned out of his home; his work was plagiarized and the scientific establishment of the time turned its back on his troubles. It was not until 1829 that in a fairy-tale twist of fate Smith returned to London in triumph, to be hailed as a genius. In 1831 he became the first recipient of the prestigious Woolaston Medal, the highest honour that can be given to a geologist. Information supplied by Frank Holmes. FOSSILS: Teacher Notes, Fact Sheets and Student Activities by Rachael Rothwell. AGSO Geoscience Australia Record 2001/32, 17 pages + 24 fact sheets and student activities. Available from AGSO Geoscience Australia Sales Centre, GPO Box 378, Canberra, ACT 2601 for AU$11.00 plus postage and handling of AU$7.50. For further information on the booklet contact Cindy Trewin on (02) 6249 9800 or e- mail [email protected] This booklet is written particularly for middle and upper primary school teachers and students but will be of interest to anyone who has never become acquainted with the basic concept of geological time and the various groups of animals and plants that make up the Earth’s fossil record. As well as providing a simple geological time scale, the general text includes information on what constitutes a fossil, types of fossil preservation, trace fossils and the use of fossils in determining the relative age of rocks, past environments and species lifestyles. There are also four pages of references to books and World Wide Web sites. The twenty-four pages of fact sheets cover all the main fossil groups from simple bacteria (stromatolites) to mammals, including five pages on plants, twelve pages on invertebrates and six pages on vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds and mammals). At the end of the booklet is a short section on possible student activities. For curriculum relevance, teachers can consult the AGSO web site at www.agso.gov.au/education Reviewed by Frank Holmes. Page 8 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR January 2002 IN THE NEWS Cottons Hill Quarry (Forbes, NSW) Trilobites Described Three species of trilobites from the Early Silurian Cotton Formation, outcropping near Forbes in central west New South Wales, have been described in the journal Alchennga. The common species, Odontopleura (Sinespinaspis) markhami Edgecombe & Sherwin 2001, forms about 99% of all trilobite remains found in the formation. It has been collected for many years from the Cottons Hill Quarry and was illustrated on the front page of The Fossil Collector, Bulletin 55 (September 1998). The two other species, Raphiophorus sandfordi Edgecombe & Sherwin 2001 and Aulacopleura pogsoni Edgecombe & Sherwin 2001 are extremely rare. Several specimens of the trilobites, including the holotype of R. sandfordi, were collected by FCAA subscriber Geoff Thomas and donated to the Australian Museum, Sydney. Reference Edgecombe, G. D. and Sherwin, L., 2001. Early Silurian (Llandovery) trilobites from the Cotton Formation, near Forbes, New South Wales, Australia. Alchennga 25,87-105. Chaos Clues to Dinosaur Demise A mysterious disturbance in the forces at the heart of the Solar System could have triggered the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. This intriguing new theory has been put forward by scientists who have calculated the paths of the inner planets of the Solar System over the past 100 million years. A US team believes a change in the dynamics of the Solar System caused Mercury, Earth and Mars to veer off course; this could have pushed a giant asteroid towards Earth, resulting in the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K-T) extinction event around 65 million years ago. The idea has been floated by a team of astrobiologists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), based on simulations of the historical positions of the major planets. “Our best calculations show that the dynamical state of the inner January 2002 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR Page 9 Solar System changed abruptly about 65 million years ago,” said Dr. Bruce Runnegar, director of UCLA’s centre for Astrobiology. The event modified the average orbit of Mercury, Mars and the Earth in significant ways, possibly perturbing asteroids in the inner part of the asteroid belt and throwing one or more of them into Earth crossing orbits. “Thus, the ultimate cause of the K-T impact may have been a chaos induced change in Solar System dynamics,” said Dr. Runnegar. The basis of the theory, deduced by team members Ferenc Varadi and Michael Ghil, is chaos in the Solar System. Under this scenario, a small shift in the orbit of one or more planets could destabilise much of the Solar System, to test their theory the researchers simulated the orbits of the major planets, working back in time over tens of millions of years. To their surprise, computer models pointed to a change in the dynamics of the inner Solar System at the time of the K-T mass extinction. Dr. Runnegar said the researchers were now carrying out further studies to test their theory. “At the moment the link with the dinosaurs is based on a coincidence in time and a plausible mechanism," he added. The research has received a mixed reaction from other experts. Professor Mark Bailey, of the Armagh Observatory, Armagh, Ireland, said the asteroid link appeared tenuous, but not impossible. “[It] relies not least on the assumption that the killer projectile was an asteroid and not a comet. Nevertheless, the idea that the resonant frequencies of the Solar System change chaotically on time scales of tens to hundreds of millions of years (albeit slowly and by relatively small amounts) is an interesting one which adds yet another wrinkle to the story of the changing Solar System." Summary of story from BBC News Online, June 27, 2001. New Dinosaurs from North America Palaeontologists have discovered two new dinosaurs from the Zuni Basin, on the Arizona - New Mexico border and they come from a period in time in which few dinosaur fossils have been found, the so-called Cretaceous Gap, from 105 to 75 million years ago. At the time these dinosaurs roamed western North America, about 91 million years ago, the Western Interior Seaway covered much of the landscape and the Earth was in the Page 10 THE FOSSIL COLLECTOR January 2002 throes of an extreme global warming event that had melted the polar ice caps and dramatically reduced the land area on the planet. The two dinosaurs are the sloth like Nothronychus and a small carnivore from the coelurosaur family that has not yet been named. Nothronychus (pronounced no-thron-EYE-kus) is a member of the theropod class of meat eating dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus, but it apparently evolved into a plant-eater, said Jim Kirkland, a palaeontologist with the Utah Geological Survey. The creature weighted about a tonne, was 4.5 to 6 metres (15 to 20 feet) long and stood 3 to 3.6 metres (10 to 12 feet) tall, he said. It had stout back legs and walked more upright than its meat-eating cousins, it also had a long, thin neck, long arms, dexterous hands, 10 cm (4 inch) curved claws on its fingers, a large abdomen, a small head with a mouth full of leaf-shaped teeth designed for shredding vegetation and a relatively short tail. “They are truly, truly bizarre,” added palaeontologist Doug Wolfe, director of the Zuni Basin Paleontological Project and adjunct curator at the Mesa Southwest Museum. It is also the first example of a group of dinosaurs called therizinosaurs to be found in the Americas, all other examples of this group have been found in China and Mongolia. Also from the same deposit are the bones of six individuals of the ceratopsid dinosaur called Zuniceratops, which are North Americas earliest horned dinosaur and the world’s oldest specimen with horns above the eyes. “It’s a very interesting fauna," said Phil Currie, of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada, about the Zuni Basin specimens. “It’s going to change a lot of perceptions about dinosaur evolution." Summary of stories from BBC News Online and Discovery Online, June 18, 2001. Ancient “Chewing” Reptile Linked With Leap in Animal Diversity Researchers have discovered the first known example of a land based vertebrate that had the ability to fully chew and digest plants, this trait is important because it enables animals to break down and efficiently process many different kinds of vegetation. The development of a