Embryos have been found in ‘old’ rocks on four continents, especially in Siberia, Nevada, Australia and China. They have been discovered in sedimentary rocks of even Late Neoproterozoic age, assuming the evolutionary geological column1 (figure 1). The Neoproterozoic is the period, so called, between 1 billion and 550 million years ago. This discovery was in the Doushantuo Formation, Guizhou Pro...

BACKGROUND Molecular dating has gained ever-increasing interest since the molecular clock hypothesis was proposed in the 1960s. Molecular dating provides detailed temporal frameworks for divergence events in phylogenetic trees, allowing diverse evolutionary questions to be addressed. The key aspect of the molecular clock hypothesis, namely that differences in DNA or protein sequence between two...

Since the mid 1990’s, the field of paleoherpetology in Germany has experienced a remarkable burst in research productivity and importance. In particular, young students were developing a new interest in the study of fossil amphibians and reptiles, paralleling a growing enthusiasm for new analytical tools and methodologies. One of the best signs of this “new movement” was the establishment and s...

Asymmetry is a fundamental aspect of the biology of all organisms, and has a deep evolutionary history. The fossil record contains evidence of both morphological and behavioural asymmetries. Morphological asymmetry is most commonly expressed as conspicuous, directional asymmetry (either lateral asymmetry or spiral asymmetry) in body fossils. Few examples of fluctuating asymmetry, a form of subt...

of randomly distributed fossil horizons. Paleobiology 20:459–469. MAXWELL, W. D., AND M. J. BENTON. 1990. Historical tests of the absolute completeness of the fossil record of tetrapods. Paleobiology 16:322–335. NORELL, M. A., AND M. J. NOVACEK. 1992a. Congruence between superpositional and phylogenetic patterns: Comparing cladistic patterns with fossil records. Cladistics 8:319–337. NORELL, M....

2.4 Cyanobacterial Fossils.................................................. 22 2.4.1 Filamentous Cyanobacteria ............................................ 22 2.4.1.1 Oscillatoriaceae .............................................................. 22 2.4.1.2 Nostocaceae .................................................................... 24 2.4.2 Coccoid and Ellipsoid Cyanobacteria ...............

Ippolitov, A.P., Vinn, O., Kupriyanova, E.K. and Jäger, M. 2014. Written in stone: history of serpulid polychaetes through time. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 71: 123–159. Although the fossil record of annelids in general is poor, calcareous tube-building Serpulidae are a notable exception. The “stumbling block” of understanding the serpulid fossil record is obtaining reliable taxonomic interpreta...

Abstract The concept of evolvability—the capacity a population to produce and maintain evolutionarily relevant variation—has become increasingly prominent in evolutionary biology. Paleontology has long history investigating questions evolvability, but paleontological thinking tended neglect recent discussions, because many tools used the current evolvability literature are challenging apply fos...