Re: Conodont elements

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> Date:          Wed, 31 May 95 17:10:15 -0600
> From:          Andrew MacRae <macrae@pandora.geo.ucalgary.ca>
> To:            paleonet@nhm.ac.uk
> Subject:       Re: Conodont elements
> Reply-to:      paleonet@nhm.ac.uk

>Andrew MacRae <macrae@pandora.geo.ucalgary.ca> wrote:
>
>However, I disagree that  the presence of covering tissues has "no 
>bearing on their function".  One of the features that really puzzled 
>me when I looked more closely at the reconstructions of Aldredge et 
>al., 1987 for the ozarkodinid apparatus is how close together the 
>individual S and P elements are positioned in bedding plane 
>assemblages. 
>One hypothesis I (and I am sure others) have considered is the  
>possibility the bedding plane assemblages represent the "rest" or 
>some other position of the apparatus rather than the "functional" 
>position --  i.e. the geometry that has been reconstructed is *not* the 
>operational geometry. 

As one of the authors of the Aldridge et al. 1987 paper, I can confirm 
that this idea has been previously considered - in that paper (p.73) we 
clearly stated that the reconstruction presented, and the attitude of 
most bedding plane assemblages, is the resting position.  We were 
not the first, the idea had previously been forwarded by, at least, 
Lennart Jeppsson and Stefan Bengtson.

Paul Smith
m.p.smith@bham.ac.uk