Re: paleonet 'Exceptional' preservation?

[Judith Harris <harrisj@xxxxxxx>]

Well, I guess in a way all terrestrial forms are "exceptional" but some 
are more exceptional than others. And those "some" might be, in the 
main, inverts and plants. However muscle tissue preservation which I 
have seen in dinos and fish are amazing but I guess the most amazing 
that I have heard of is the recent finding of the tissue and cells in 
T. rex. Wowie-zowie.

I think that Joe has given us the morals to this story which is that 
(1) we must continually be on the lookout for these things and (2) it 
helps if you are studying the deposit as a potential paleoecosystem 
(taphonomy willing).

Judith,

judith harris
emerita professor
university of colorado museum

On Apr 7, 2005, at 2:45 PM, Cary Easterday wrote:

> 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
>
>
>