Consuelo Sendino

ABSTRACT Our attraction to fossils is almost as old as humans themselves, and the way fossils are represented has changed and evolved with technology and with our knowledge of these organisms. Invertebrates were the first fossils to be represented in books and illustrated according to their original form. The first worldwide illustrations of paleoinvertebrates by recognized authors, such as Christophorus Encelius and Conrad Gessner, considered only their general shape. Over time, paleoillustrations became more accurate and showed the position of organisms when they were alive and as they had appeared when found. Encyclopedic works such as those of the Sowerbys or Joachim Barrande have left an important legacy on fossil invertebrates, summarizing the knowledge of their time. Currently, new discoveries, techniques, and comparison with extant specimens are changing the way in which the same organisms are shown in life position, with previously overlooked taxonomically important elements being displayed using modern techniques. This chapter will cover the history of illustrations, unpublished nineteenth-century author illustrations, examples showing fossil reconstructions, new techniques and their influence on taxonomical work with regard to illustration, and the evolution of paleoinvertebrate illustration.

An extensive sample of well-preserved conulariids from the Pennsylvanian of the North American Midcontinent (Texas and Oklahoma, USA) have been studied using X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (µCT) and have shown structures identified as longitudinal muscle bundles and a potential gastric cavity. These unequivocal structures appear in several specimens coming from different sites. Their preservation varies from a gastric cavity with muscle bundles in some individuals to only longitudinal muscle bundles in others. The muscle bundles fuse apically or medially, normally forming V-shaped pairs, and they extend along the theca/exoskeleton, parallel to the corner, towards the aperture. Longitudinal bundles have predominant perradial positions. Although there have been some articles on conulariid soft parts, most of them refer to relic soft parts. This is the first time that these structures are shown using µCT. Discovery of conulariid soft parts contributes to knowledge of metazoan evolutio...

ABSTRACTIncreasing current interest in sponge fossils includes numerous reports of diverse vermicular and peloidal structures interpreted as keratose sponges in Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic carbonates and in various open marine to peritidal and restricted settings. Reports of their occurrence are fundamental and far-reaching for understanding microfacies and diagenesis where they occur; and fossil biotic assemblages, as well as wider aspects of origins of animals, sponge evolution/ecology and the systemic recovery from mass extinctions. Keratose sponges: 1) have elaborate spongin skeletons but no spicules, thus lack mineral parts and therefore have poor preservation potential so that determining their presence in rocks requires interpretation; and 2) are presented in publications as interpreted fossil structures almost entirely in two-dimensional (thin section) studies, where structures claimed as sponges comprise diverse layered, network, particulate and amalgamated fabrics involving...

This paper presents a quantitative and detailed description of the Fossil Lithistida Collection in the Natural History Museum, London. This collection started to be built with the first fossil sponges from the Cretaceous of Wiltshire, collected by William Smith in 1816 and 1818 for the first geological map of England. The latest specimen to enter the collection was collected from the Permo-Carboniferous of Norway by Angela Milner, a researcher at the Museum, in 2000. Although they are mostly from the Cretaceous of England, lithistids are represented from the Cambrian to Cenozoic of England. This makes this collection key for studying this group. Lithistid study will help with understanding of biosilicification evolution in sponges to unlock the changing patterns in the silica cycle in the oceans through geological time. A dataset with information about all the Fossil Lithistida Collection is available through the NHM Data Portal and Suppl. material 1. This dataset includes taxonomic...

The present work describes the collection of conulariids in the Natural History Museum, London, with sections on the history of the collection, its stratigraphic and geographical distribution, and its taxonomic diversity and abundance. Determinations of 753 out of 1131 specimens in the collection have been revised and all associated information has been catalogued. We conclude that this is the most important collection of conulariids, scyphozoan cnidarians with conical, phosphatic skeletons, in the world.

This dataset contains a selection of reliable data from the main Late Miocene and Early Pliocene marine sites of paleontological and paleoclimatic interest from the Canary Islands, Spain. There are three sections: (1) Topographical location of the selected sites, in terms of UTM coordinates and heights (m), above present sea level (APSL); (2) geology and radiometric ages, including a short geological description of the marine deposits, their radiometric ages and dating methods; (3) paleontology and paleoclimate, with a summary of the main fossil fauna, species and/or subspecies, collected from the sites and properly classified in accordance with the systematic paleontology; and an interpretation of the paleoclimatic conditions at the time the fossils lived and were deposited. Moreover, when available, values of SST (Sea Surface Temperature) have been also calculated (or estimated). Each section is presented with their available scientific source(s).

This data set contains a selection of reliable data from the main MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 11 marine sites of paleontological and paleoclimatic interest from the Canary Islands, Spain. There are three sections: (1) Topographical Location of the selected sites, in terms of UTM coordinates and Heights (m), above the present medium sea level (a.p.s.l.); (2) Geology and Radiometric ages, including a short geological description of the marine deposits, their radiometric ages and dating methods; (3) Paleontology and Paleoclimate, with a summary of the main fossil fauna, species and/or subspecies, collected from the sites and properly classified in accordance with the Systematic Paleontology; and an interpretation of the paleoclimatic conditions at the time the fossils lived and were deposited. Moreover, when available, values of SST (Sea Surface Temperature) have been also calculated (or estimated). Each section is presented with their available scientific source(s).

This data set contains a selection of reliable data from the main Holocene marine sites of paleontological and paleoclimatic interest from the Canary Islands, Spain. There are three sections: (1) Topographical Location of the selected sites, in terms of UTM coordinates and heights (m), above the present medium sea level (a.p.s.l.); (2) Geology and Radiocarbon ages, including a short geological description of the marine deposits and their conventional and calibrated ages; (3) paleontology and paleoclimate, with a summary of the main fossil fauna, species and/or subspecies, collected from the sites and properly classified in accordance with the systematic paleontology; and an interpretation of the paleoclimatic conditions at the time the fossils lived and were deposited. Moreover, when available, values of SST (Sea Surface Temperature) have been also calculated (or estimated). Each section is presented with their available scientific source(s).<br>

FIG. 6. — Reworked Ordovician conulariids from the Triassic Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds Formation, Devon: A, B, Metaconularia? pyramidata (Bronn, 1837) (NHMUK PI G15294); C, D, conulariid indet. (NHMUK PI G15295); E, F, part and counterpart of conulariid indet., probably a juvenile individual of M.? pyramidata (NHMUK PI G15287); G, fragment of M.? pyramidata (NHMUK PI G15288); H, I, conulariid indet., probably a juvenile individual of M.? pyramidata (NHMUK PI G15289); J, K, conulariid indet., probably a juvenile individual of M.? pyramidata (NHMUK PI G15290); L, conulariid indet. (NHMUK PI G15291); M, conulariid indet., probably a juvenile individual of M.? pyramidata (NHMUK PI G15292); N, O, M.? pyramidata (Bronn, 1837) (NHMUK PI G15293). Scale bars: 10 mm.

ABSTRACT Recommended reference to this publication: Kershaw, S., Da Silva, A.-C. & Sendino, C. 2021. British Silurian stromatoporoids. Fauna, palaeobiology, and palaeogeographical significance. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London: 1-92; pls 1-22. (Publ. No. 660, part of Vol. 175 for 2021.) British Silurian stromatoporoids occur in carbonate rocks, mostly in the Wenlock Series, together with a small number in the Llandovery Series and very few in the Ludlow Series. Using field and museum material (408 samples) and literature, this study identifies 15 stromatoporoid genera, doubling the previously known generic diversity, so the British Isles holds the third highest genera-diversity Wenlock assemblage after Gotland/Estonia (23 genera) and the Siberian Platform (20 genera). Remarkably, nearly all samples come from the small (100 × 100 km) Much Wenlock Limestone Formation (MWLF) (Homerian Stage, uppermost Wenlock Series) in the Midland Platform of central England (Avalonia), surrounded, underlain, and overlain by siliciclastics. On the Midland Platform one sample is Llandovery age; 11 samples are Ludlow age (Aymestry Limestone). Other samples from the Isle of Man (Wenlock age, six samples) and south-west Scotland (Llandovery age, three samples) are in transported material, with associated corals and they indicate unpreserved carbonate platforms in northern Britain. A few Llandovery Series stromatoporoids are also reported from Ireland, both north and south of the Iapetus Suture; published reports of Wenlock stromatoporoids from Ireland are shown to be misidentified trace fossils. In the MWLF stromatoporoids (together with the more abundant rugose corals, tabulates, heliolitids, and some microbial carbonates) occur in small patch reefs and in bedded bioclastic grainstones, packstones, and nodular wackestones; stromatoporoids are more common in and near patch reefs. The MWLF stromatoporoid fauna has 15 confirmed low-level taxa: Labechia conferta (Lc), Lophiostroma schmidti (Ls), Ecclimadictyon macrotuberculatum (Em) and E. astrolaxum (Ea), Petridiostroma simplex (Ps) and P. linnarssoni (Pl), Actinostromella vaiverensis (Av), Araneosustroma fistulosum (Af), Densastroma pexisum (Dp), Plectostroma intertextum (Pi), Simplexodictyon yavorskyi (Sy), Eostromatopora impexa (Ei), ‘Stromatopora’ venukovi (‘S’v), Syringostromella borealis (Sb) and Parallelostroma typicum (Pt). No new taxa were found. The five most abundant taxa (Lc, Av, Dp, Px, and Sb) total 230 specimens, 64.2% of the MWLF assemblage, consistent with taxa proportions in other Palaeozoic stromatoporoid assemblages. The stromatoporoids have limited growth forms: Lc grew laminar frames, mostly in patch reefs; the other taxa range from laminar to high domical, maximum sizes around 40 cm basal diameter. They almost completely lack the complexities and diversities of form of their contemporaries in nearby large carbonate platforms of Baltica (Gotland/Estonia) and Laurentia (eastern USA and Canada); only two samples contain intergrown corals. Overall, British Silurian stromatoporoids may be viewed as a relatively limited shallow marine assemblage that took advantage of suitable conditions in a short time-and-space window in an episode of raised sea level with low siliciclastic input. The MWLF has the largest assemblage in the Avalonia microcontinent at the end of the Wenlock Epoch. Palaeogeographically, the Avalonia assemblage of stromatoporoids lay in an important location between Laurentia, Baltica and other Silurian continents and may have aided distribution pathways of stromatoporoids that presumably had planktonic forms for migration. Stromatoporoids were likely not affected by the mid-Silurian extinction event, but data are insufficient to be certain. Les stromatoporoïdes de Silurien de Grande-Bretagne. Faunes, paléobiologie et signification paléogéographique

The Ordovician succession of the Cantabrian Zone (northwestern Spain) is very incomplete and sparsely fossiliferous, especially in comparison with to other areas in the Hesperian (or Iberian) Massif. Lower to lower Middle Ordovician rocks overlie the Cambrian succession ...

FIG. 4. — Metaconularia? pyramidata (Bronn, 1837) from the Upper Ordovician Grès de May of May-sur-Orne, Normandy: Harvard, Bronn collection: A-D, lectotype, MCZ16028; E-H, plaster cast, MCZ16029; I, J, plaster cast MCZ (no number). Scale bars: 10 mm.

FIG. 2. — Locations of Budleigh Salterton (Devon) and May-sur-Orne (Normandy), with the approximate position of the Rheic Suture between the palaeocontinents of Avalonia and Gondwana. Both localities yield Metaconularia? pyramidata (Bronn, 1837): indigenous examples occur in the Upper Ordovician Grès de May of May-sur-Orne, while reworked fossils occur in the Triassic Budleigh Salterton Pebble Beds Formation of Budleigh Salterton.

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875) is one of the most important geologists of all time and was the pioneer of the principle of uniformitarianism. He was able to see that the present is the key to the past and that the geological processes that have shaped the Earth are not the consequence of catastrophes but routine processes we can observe today.\r\n\r\nThe Lyell Collection contains 1,735 specimens including fossils of reptiles, mammals, fishes, plants, bryozoans, brachiopods, trilobites, echinoderms, worms and molluscs, being the last ones the biggest part of the collection. Other specimens that are in these collections are the recent brachiopods that Charles Darwin (1809 \u2013 1882) collected from Tierra del Fuego or Galapagos during his trip on board of the Beagle and later gave to Charles Lyell. There are also 13 specimens more that were probably collected by Lyell. Although these ones do not have any label with them, some have numbers glued with similar handwriting to that of Charles Lyell.\r\n\r\nLyell Collection was constantly increasing by collection, purchase, exchange and gift. \r\n\r\nCharles Lyell\u2019s specimens came to the NHM (Natural History Museum) through different sources. Most of them were donated by Charles Lyell during his life in different dates, but others were given to the Geological Society and posteriorly this transferred them to the NHM in 1911. Also Leonard Lyell (1850 \u2013 1926), Charles Lyell\u2019s nephew, and other heirs, such as Sophie Mary Lyell (born Trafford) (1916-2012), 2nd Baron Lyell\u2019s wife, donated more specimens after Charles Lyell\u2019s death, in 1913 and 1980.\r\n\r\nThe last acquisition of Lyell\u2019s specimens came in 1980 donated by Lady Lyell, Sophie Mary Lyell, who gave a shark tooth, Carcharodon angustidens, Agassiz, 1843 (specimen with the registration number NHMUK PV P 60903). \r\nThis collection keeps very interesting specimens, not only from the scientific and taxonomic nature of the item, but also striking samples. Charles Lyell was interested in coll [...]

The sponge fossil record extends to 635 million years ago, and is considered the oldest multicellular animals to inhabit the Earth. The importance of these animals is their structure, which allowed them to survive until Recent times and their role in the marine environment preventing harmful ecosystems changes.\r\n\tThe NHM has more than 71,000 fossil sponges from all around the world (Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North America, Russia and South America); whose stratigraphical record goes from the Cambrian to Pleistocene. More than 2,000 of them are types and figured specimens and include numerous historical specimens such as the Hinde and Parkinson specimens, published in Hinde and Parkinson\u2019s monographs in 1883 and 1808 respectively. The NHM Porifera Collection is the best in the world for Mesozoic sponges and will be very useful to track changes through geological time in the geographical distributions of major sponge clades.\r\n\tThis Collection covers most of the Porifera groups such as non-lithistid demosponges; lithistids; hexactinellids; calcareous; archaeocyaths; and stromatoporoids. \r\n\tAlthough non-lithistid demosponges are not normally preserved as fossils, spongin fibers may leave imprints that are found from the Cambrian until Recent. Unlike, lithistid massive skeletons are easier to preserve in the geological record. These reached their greatest dominance in the Cretaceous. The NHM has the most important collection of Cretaceous sponges in the world, with hundreds of non-lithistid demosponges and more than 10,000 lithistids, mostly from Europe and North America. These will be useful to unveil the diverging silicification levels.\r\n\tHexactinellids are siliceous sponges that also spread from the Cambrian to Recent. They have been found living in both cold deep and warm shallow waters and have been defined as the oldest lineage of animals alive on earth today. The NHM Porifera Collection has almost a quarter of fossils of this group, mainly fr [...]

There are three historical collections in the Palaeontology which have great importance for the history of the NHM. These are the Sloane, K\xf6nig and Pennant Collections. Over 100 specimens belong to the Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) Collection. The collection of Carl Dietrich Eberhard K\xf6nig (1774-1851), first Keeper of the Department of Natural History and Modern Curiosities, numbers about 50 specimens, described in Icones fossilium sectiles (1825). Finally, there is the collection of Thomas Pennant (1726-1798), an 18th century zoologist, antiquarian and correspondent of Gilbert White, which was donated in 1912 by the Earl of Denbigh. This comprises about 1000 specimens, some of which were described in Pennant\u2019s manuscript Reliquiae Diluviannae, or a Catalogue of such bodies as were deposited in the Earth by the Deluge. Specimens in these collections are an invaluable resource for historical research and are the founding core of the British Museum and later The Natural History Museum. They mark the progress of early palaeontological exploration. Each collection contains fossils belonging to various groups, including molluscs, echinoderms, brachiopods, sponges, bryozoans, arthropods, fishes, reptiles, mammals and plants.

This article provides updated information about the Porifera Collection at The Natural History Museum (NHM), London. With very little information available regarding fossil sponge digitization or any similar initiative, this paper covers the type and figured specimens and drawer label content data of the Porifera Collection and also describes the collection and its research potential. With approximately 71,000 specimens, of which more than 60% are Mesozoic, the NHM holdings offer the best Mesozoic sponge collection in the world and one of the most important due to its breadth and depth. The Porifera Collection covers all stratigraphic periods and all taxonomic groups and includes almost 3000 cited and figured specimens including types. Although most of the specimens come from the British Isles, worldwide samples are also present, with abundant specimens from other Commonwealth countries and from Antarctica.

A fascination with natural history does not recognize class, as is shown through the activities of female aristocrats who, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, contributed significantly by increasing the number of collections at natural history museums. These women were not members of the Geological Society of London because, at that time, women were not even allowed to be members, but they still left their impressive legacy in museums. This paper will focus on three women who made extensive collections that are now incorporated into British museums. The first of these, the Duchess of Portland, made one of the finest collections in England and, possibly, the best collection of shells and fossils in Europe of her time, which was later acquired by the Natural History Museum, London. She was followed by the Countess of Aylesford who made one of the most important mineral collections of her time, which is now at the Natural History Museum, London. Finally, Baroness Brassey co...

A conulariid preserved in three dimensions from Ordovician fluvioglacial erratics of the Northern European Lowlands (North German Plain) is described under open nomenclature. It is assigned to the genus Conularia with similarities to Baltoscandian conulariids. The lithology of the erratic boulder and fauna contained in it provide important information on the origin and transport direction of the sediment preserved in a kame from the Saalian glaciation. This paper deals with the site of origin of the boulder in Baltoscandia analysing the comprised palaeofauna, from a palaeostratigraphic and palaeogeographic point of view, from its deposition in Ordovician times until its arrival at its current location in the Late Pleistocene. It also reveals for the first time the internal structure of the conulariid aperture.

Most bryozoans have calcareous skeletons that locally contribute large amounts of carbonate sediment to the sea floor. Whereas Recent bryozoans are diverse in shelf seas pan-globally, it is only in mid to high latitudes that they are potential limestone producers; tropical ...

ABSTRACT Sendino, C., Zágoršek, K. & Taylor, P.D. 2012: Asymmetry in an Ordovician conulariid cnidarian. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 423–431.Conulariids are fossils of the presumed polyps of an extinct scyphozoan cnidarian group. Their cone‐shaped skeletons normally show perfect tetraradial symmetry. However, in the Ordovician species Metaconularia anomala (Barrande 1867) from Drabov (Czech Republic), tetraradial symmetry is compromised in three ways: (1) the skeleton often shows torsion; (2) the four sides may vary in width at the same level within one individual; and (3) one side may be deleted to give a triradial skeleton. Almost 2000 specimens were studied in museum collections. About 56% of analysed specimens are twisted in an anticlockwise direction (sinistral) when viewed from the apex towards the aperture, 28% show no torsion, 1% exhibit clockwise torsion (dextral) and the remaining 15% cannot be classified. Maximum measured torsion rate was 1.5°/mm. A significant negative correlation between torsion rate and length suggests that more highly torted individuals may have survived less well. Almost 5% of individuals show loss of one side for at least part of their lengths. Although many individuals have four sides of equal width, in a significant proportion the sides are of unequal width, up to a maximum/minimum side width ratio of 2 (i.e. widest face twice the width of the narrowest). In the absence of a satisfactory taphonomic model to explain the asymmetries, they are regarded as mirroring asymmetries in the living conulariids, with the strong preference for sinistral torsion interpreted as an example of a fixed asymmetry that was genetically controlled and heritable. It is speculated that the signalling protein Nodal as well as Hox‐like genes were involved in controlling the asymmetries described in M. anomala.

Our attraction to fossils is almost as old as humans themselves, and the way fossils are represented has changed and evolved with technology and with our knowledge of these organisms. Invertebrates were the first fossils to be represented in books and illustrated according to their original form. The first worldwide illustrations of paleoinvertebrates by recognized authors, such as Christophorus Encelius and Conrad Gessner, considered only their general shape. Over time, paleoillustrations became more accurate and showed the position of organisms when they were alive and as they had appeared when found. Encyclopedic works such as those of the Sowerbys or Joachim Barrande have left an important legacy on fossil invertebrates, summarizing the knowledge of their time. Currently, new discoveries, techniques, and comparison with extant specimens are changing the way in which the same organisms are shown in life position, with previously overlooked taxonomically important elements being d...