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Hi all, As a terrestrial researcher, I wonder about the meaning of "exceptional" too. Plant and insect fossils are MUCH more diverse and abundant than terrestrial vertebrates, yet there are many more vertebrate paleontologists than paleobotanists and paleoentomologists! If we look at sheer numbers...maybe we should call vertebrate fossils "exceptional," eh? ;) Best Regards, Cary R. Easterday PhD student, Geology, Paleobiology, Terrestrial Ecosystems, Geoarthropods, Biostatistics Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Illinois at Chicago 845 West Taylor Street, Room 2440 Chicago, IL 60607 ceaste2@uic.edu phone: 708.707.1030 fax: 312.413.2279 Geological Society of America, Geobiology & Geomicrobiology Division, Limnogeology Division Entomological Society of America Paleontological Society Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paleogeoarthropoda http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FossilBugz http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sciencehumor ----Original Message Follows---- From: Judith Harris <harrisj@cvn.com> Reply-To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk To: paleonet@nhm.ac.uk Subject: Re: paleonet 'Exceptional' preservation? Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 11:27:33 -0600 As a paleoecologist, I am excited to hear Joe's views about exceptional preservation. I work with the terrestrial (including freshwater) record. In going over my fieldwork in my mind, I believe that you are correct. Even in the terrestrial record where preservation is difficult, there are many occasions in which some fossils in the section are "exceptionally preserved" or at least that it seems like surprising that they are preserved at all. It is not the bones and the teeth but the roots, rootlets, trace fossils, seeds, insects, leaves, etc. I think that Joe might be right when he mentions that these may often be overlooked. As we paleoecologists look at the record, searching for something other than just the main systematic groups, we will begin to see more and more of this. Of course, T. rex blood cells and vessels are an extreme version of this. judith harris emerita professor university of colorado museum
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