Ancient Penguins- New paper published
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
Our very own FUPS member and Flinders University Palaeontology PhD student, Jacob Blokland, has recently published his first, first-authored paper on the work conducted during his masters at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. In the paper, a new species of ancient penguin is described from fossil material discovered on Chatham Island in the Paleocene age Takatika Grit fossil deposit. This penguin is the first species from this time to show striking similarities with the penguins of today, including their smaller body-size compared to the giant penguins roaming the Paleocene oceans, an ..read more
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Annual Wells Lecture 2019
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
Following the triumph of the inaugural Wells Lecture in 2018, Flinders University Palaeontology and Flinders University Palaeontology Society hosted the second Wells Lecture on the 18th of October 2019. Professor Gavin Prideaux and Professor Rod Wells opened the event, both highlighting the incredible palaeontology research achieved within the Flinders University Palaeontology Labs during its now 31-year existence, and the reason for the formation of Wells Series including raising funds for the James Moore Memorial Award, a foundation close to out hearts here in the Flinders University Palaeo ..read more
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Jurassic World: A Fallen Franchise
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
Okay so the title is a little harsh. I’d like to start this review with the disclaimer that if you were going to go and see this movie DO IT. Do not read a pile of negative reviews and change your mind, any dinosaur screen time is still worth watching regardless of what other people have to say about it! I promise I won’t reveal any major spoilers in this review, I don’t usually do this kinda thing so I’ve kept it short. Thanks to ol’ mate Professor Flint for bringing me along as his +1. Fun times were had! So we reach movie #5 in the Jurassic franchise. No one has managed to kill of B D Wong ..read more
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Riversleigh Society Medal 2017
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
At the CAVEPS event in 2017 (Conference on Australasian Vertebrate Evolution, Palaeontology and Systematics) held at Queenstown, New Zealand in October, our very own Assoc. Prof. Trevor Worthy won the Riversleigh Society Medal for his contributions to Australian and New Zealand avian palaeontology. The medal was awarded jointly with Dr. Ken Aplin. The Medal is the highest honour the Riversleigh Society bestows each year. Past recipients have included our own Prof. John Long, Prof Mike Lee, and Sir David Attenborough. The Riversleigh Society is a non-profit organisation that supports research ..read more
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Dr. Alice Clement receives Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Early Career Researcher
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
In November 2017 Dr. Alice Clement received a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for an Early Career Researcher.  Alice works on early vertebrate evolution especially  early tetrapods and their closest fish relatives. In particular she has been re-constructing brain morphology using endocasts of the braincases of fossil lungfish (Sarcopterygii: Dipnoi) in comparison with extant lungfish. She was the first to produce the first virtual endocast of any lungfish published, in this case Rhinodipterus kimberleyensis, from the Late Devonian Gogo Formation of Australia. Congratulations Alice ..read more
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Ancient fossil rewrites the hiss-tory of lizards and snakes
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
By Research Associate Dr. Alessandro Palci It’s quite odd how sometimes things unexpectedly come back from our past in circuitous ways. It was the summer of 2000 when, still an undergraduate student, I was touring the Dolomites as part of a field trip organised by the department of Geological Sciences of the University of Trieste (Italy). It was a sunny spring day, and I was looking down at some Jurassic dinosaur footprints, when I first heard of a small fossil reptile that had recently been found nearby, in 240 million-years-old rocks. The rumour was that someone was already working on its d ..read more
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On the hunt for tetrapod footprints
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
Dr Alice M. Clement The appearance of the first tetrapods, the limbed vertebrates which today dominate the land, represents one of the greatest ‘steps’ in evolution. Evidence for the first vertebrates with four limbs and digits (fingers and toes) can come from fossilised body parts, or from trace fossils, such as footprints. The oldest widely accepted tetrapod trackway, and indeed the oldest widely accepted evidence for tetrapods in general, come from intertidal sediments from a quarry near Zachełmie, Poland. These prints, first announced in 2010, have been dated to the Middle Devonian, about ..read more
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Research Group Profile: Dr. Alice Clement
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
Alice didn’t come to Flinders Palaeontology via the usual route – she travelled half the world to get here, but, as in all the other profiles we have presented here, she just followed her dreams…. Somewhat unusually for a palaeontologist, I never caught the “dinosaur bug” as a child. I always had a great love for animals and the outdoors, but wasn’t one of those children who knew all the dinosaur names. I was born in England, but my family moved to Australia when I was four years old. My parents were amazed by their new country, and we endeavoured to experience as much of it as we could. Ever ..read more
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Research Group Profile: Professor John Long
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
Professor Long is an expert in ancient fishes, and has undertaken many international expeditions in search of them, but he has many other strings to his bow, some of which are quite surprising… read on. My interest in palaeontology started  in grade 2 at school (aged 7) when I sat next to a kid whose father collected fossils for a hobby. I was invited to go ‘fossiling’ with them to a quarry near Lillydale, Victoria, where we found 400 million year old Devonian trilobites and other marine creatures. From there I discovered sites closer to home, around Melbourne, so searched the beach ..read more
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Research Group Profile: Dr. Aaron Camens
Flinders University Palaeontology Society
by flinderspalaeo
2y ago
I’m one of those annoying people who decided what they wanted to do when they were five and didn’t look back. No agonising over what subjects to choose in high school, no worrying over whether or not my degree would result in me actually being employable. I’ve always had a strong interest in natural history, I started collecting rocks and fossils when I was five or six and never looked back. I was lucky enough to undertake my degree at the University of Adelaide at a time when it had a strong invertebrate palaeontology group and a diverse range of geology topics available for study. I ended u ..read more
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