Symposium on paleontology

61st Symposium on Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy
22nd Symposium on Palaeontological Preparation and Conservation
Edinburgh
27-31 August 2013

Welcome to the Third Circular for the 2013 GCG/SPPC/SVPCA meeting.
In this circular we will provide you with basic instructions on how
to find the venues, along with other details relevant to the meeting
and your stay in Edinburgh. Other information about presentation
guidelines etc. is available in the Second Circular. This year has
seen a record number of registrations with a commensurate number of
offers of oral and poster presentations. In generating the platform
presentation schedule for SVPCA we have sought to avoid having to
offer poster slots to delegates wishing to give oral presentations.
In the schedule below you will see that to achieve this we have had
to extend some of the sessions.

Registration and Payment: Thank you to all of you who have already
paid for your booking. Although the deadline for payments passed a
number of weeks ago, we still await payment from a large number of
delegates. We have now been given SWIFT and IBAN details for
overseas electronic bank transfers, and if you would prefer to pay
for your booking in this way please contact Stig Walsh
(s.walsh<-at->nms<.>ac<.>uk for instructions.

Cheques should be sent to

    Stig
    Walsh National Museums Scotland
    Chambers Street
    Edinburgh
    Midlothian EH1 1JF

and made payable to National Museums Scotland. Please make sure you
include your name and registration number on all payments.

The Jones-Fenleigh Memorial Fund Auction Last year's auction smashed
all records, so with a record number of registered delegates this
year, expectations for another good year are high. The
Jones-Fenleigh Memorial Fund exists thanks to your kind donations,
and we can no longer rely on interest alone to renew the fund each
year. So please bring along your items for auction and please be
generous. Storage space will be available at the Royal Society of
Edinburgh if you wish to drop items off early from the Wednesday.

Provisional Schedule

    Monday 26, 2013         SPPC/GCG registration at Pollock Halls
                            (1600-1800)

    Tuesday 27, 2013        SPPC/GCG registration and presentations
                            at the Grant Institute, University of
                            Edinburgh

    0800-0850               Registration

    0850-0900               Welcome

    0900-0920               Special care for historical collections:
                            The Timor Collection at Naturalis
                            Biodiversity Center (the Netherlands)
                            Natasja den Ouden and Becky Desjardins

    0920-0940               Why look at fossils in infra-red? Nigel
                            Larkin

    0940-1000               'Kong Long Dan': excavation, export and
                            experience. Jeff Listont

    1000-1020               The Trento Experience: building
                            life-like models of extinct species and
                            shipping them 1000 miles to Italy
                            Robert Nicholls

    1020-1100               Coffee break

    1100-1120               The use of expansive demolition agents
                            for the extraction of large and delicate
                            dinosaur fossils from the Upper
                            Cretaceous of South-Central Pyrenees
                            (Catalonia, Europe)
                            Angel Galobart, Albert Garcia-Selles and
                            Bernat Vila

    1120-1140               Estimating the volumes and masses of big
                            plaster field jackets. Donald Henderson

    1140-1200               The new Palaeobiology Store at National
                            Museums Scotland. Andrew Ross

    1230-1300               Transport to National Museums
                            Collections Centre

    1300-1400               Lunch and poster session

    1400-1600               Tour of National Museums Scotland
                            Collections Centre: Palaeobiology Store,
                            Mineral Store, Taxidermy lab and
                            Preparation Laboratory

    1900                    SVPCA registration and Icebreaker
                            reception at the Royal Society of
                            Edinburgh

    Wednesday 28, 2013      SVPCA registration and presentations at
                            the Royal Society of Edinburgh

    0830-0840               Welcome by Stuart Monro of Our Dynamic
                            Earth

    0840-0900               A first time for everything: the
                            earliest multituberculate,
                            pseudotribosphenic and crown group
                            mammals, and other major clades from the
                            Middle Jurassic Hornsleasow Quarry,
                            Gloucestershire, UK. Ian Corfe, Pam
                            Gill, Philippa Brewer, David Ward and
                            Mike Benton

    0900-0920               The marsupial-placental mammal dichotomy
                            revisited: new morphological data and
                            the relevance of geography on
                            evolutionary patterns of diversity and
                            disparity. Marcelo R. Sanchez-Villagra,
                            Madeleine Geiger and Analia M. Forasiepi

    0920-0940               Zalambdodonty and the phylogenetic
                            position of Necrolestes patagonensis:
                            assessing the presence of a 45 million
                            year dryolestoid ghost lineage Rachel
                            O'Meara and Richard Thompson

    0940-1000               Sorting through the wastebasket: a
                            phylogeny of Palaeocene mammals. Thomas
                            J. D Halliday, Paul Upchurch and Anjali
                            Goswami

    1000-1020               The biomechanics of feeding in the
                            Laotian rock rat, Laonastes aenigmamus
                            Philip Cox

    1020-1100               Coffee break and poster session

    1100-1120               Exploring the patterns of cranial and
                            mandibular co-variation within the order
                            Rodentia. Elizabeth Kerr, Sam Cobb and
                            Phil Cox

    1120-1140               Modern tracks, ancient steps. Sarita Amy
                            Morse, Matthew R. Bennett and Robin H.
                            Crompton

    1140-1200               Postural stability during locomotion:
                            the effects of object tracking and dual
                            tasking Emma Webster, Russell Savage,
                            Robin Crompton and Nathan Jeffery

    1200-1220               Claddis: a new R package for automating
                            disparity analyses based on cladistic
                            datasets Graeme Lloyd

    1220-1240               Trace elemental imaging of
                            exceptionally-preserved fossils:
                            palaeontological and taphonomical
                            implications. Pierre Gueriau, Cristian
                            Mocuta, Didier Dutheil, Serge Cohen and
                            Loac Bertrand

    1240-1400               Lunch

    1400-1420               Cephalopods in the diet of pterosaurs:
                            evidence from a Rhamphorhynchus
                            coprolite David Hone, Donald Henderson,
                            Michael Habib and Francois Therrien

    1420-1440               Air space proportion in pterosaur wing
                            bones. Elizabeth Martin and Colin Palmer

    1440-1500               The taxonomy of GSM 3166 Parapsicephalus
                            purdoni Arthaber 1919, a three
                            dimensional pterosaur skull from the
                            Lower Alum Shale of Whitby. Michael
                            O'Sullivan

    1500-1520               Pterosaur overlords of Transylvania:
                            short-necked giant azhdarchids in Late
                            Cretaceous Romania. Mark Witton, Matyas
                            Vremir, Gareth Dyke, Darren Naish,
                            Stephen Brusatte and Mark Norell

    1520-1540               DGM 1475-R, a fragment of
                            three-dimensionally preserved pterosaur
                            wing membrane from the Santana Formation
                            of Brazil. David Unwin, David Martill
                            and Richard Hing

    1540-1600               Coffee break and poster session

    1600-1620               Terrestrial vertebrates from the Late
                            Triassic of Portugal: new records of
                            temnospondyls and archosauriforms from a
                            Pangaean rift sequence. Stephen L

                            Brusatte, Richard J. Butler, Octavio
                            Mateus, J. Sebastien Steyer and Jessica
                            H. Whiteside

    1620-1640               The sexual selection debate: extravagant
                            structures and 'species recognition' in
                            Mesozoic dinosaurs and other animals
                            Darren Naish, David Hone and Robert
                            Knell

    1640-1700               Making some headway: retro-deformation
                            of a tectonically deformed chasmosaurine
                            ceratopsian skull. Donald Henderson

    1700-1720               Wear pattern, dental function and jaw
                            mechanism in the Late Cretaceous
                            ankylosaur Hungarosaurus. Attila and
                            Paul M. Barrett

    1720-1740               Edinburgh Museum's dinosaur, Waterhouse
                            Hawkins's Hadrosaurus foulkii. Michael
                            Taylor

    1900 TBC:               Whisky tasting at the Royal Society of
                            Edinburgh

    Thursday 29, 2013       SVPCA registration and presentations at
                            the Royal Society of Edinburgh 0830-0850
                            Barosaurus revisited: the concept of
                            Barosaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) is
                            based on erroneously referred specimens
                            Michael P. Taylor and Mathew J. Wedel

    0850-0910               A giant, skeletally immature individual
                            of Apatosaurus from the Morrison
                            Formation of Oklahoma. Matt Wedel

    0910-0930               Biomechanical evidence of niche
                            partitioning between sympatric sauropod
                            dinosaurs David Button, Emily Rayfield
                            and Paul Barrett

    0930-0950               New data on Early Jurassic theropod
                            diversity in the Lufeng Formation of
                            Yunnan Province, China. Jeff Liston and
                            Darren Naish

    0950-1010               Using the Character Completeness Metric
                            to examine completeness of Mesozoic
                            dinosaurs: a Maastrichtian high and a
                            palaeoequatorial low. Mark Bell, Paul
                            Upchurch, Philip Mannion and Graeme
                            Lloyd

    1010-1030               Large geographic ranges confer little
                            protection against extinction in
                            terrestrial tetrapods across the T-J
                            boundary. Alexander Dunhill and Matthew
                            Wills

    1030-1050               Coffee break and poster session

    1050-1110               The aerodynamics of feather asymmetry
                            and implications for paravian flight
                            Michael Habib

    1110-1130               Early evolution of the modern avian
                            wing. Gareth Dyke, Gary Kaiser and
                            Darren Naish

    1130-1150               Studies of endocasts in extant and
                            extinct birds: flying and behavioural
                            implications Vincent Beyrand, Paul
                            Tafforeau, Vincent Fernandez and Eric
                            Buffetaut

    1150-1210               Neogene auks (Aves, Alcidae) in North
                            Atlantic cool waters: review and quest
                            Ella Hoch

    1210-1230               An unusual macrophagous metriorhynchid
                            from the Late Jurassic of England. Mark
                            T. Young, Lorna Steel, Stephen L.
                            Brusatte, Eliza A. Howlett, Matt Riley,
                            Erich Fitzgerald, Brian L. Beatty, Casey
                            Holliday

    1230-1400               Lunch

    1400-1420               Tooth replacement in durophagous
                            placodont marine reptiles
                            (Sauropterygia, Placodontia), with new
                            data on the dentition of Chinese taxa
                            James M. Neenan

    1420-1440               Reassessment of the 'Paris Plesiosaur'
                            Mark Evans and Michael A. Taylor

    1440-1500               Understanding the hydrodynamics and
                            ecomorphology of plesiosaurs: a
                            computational and experimental approach
                            Luke Muscutt

    1500-1520               A new rhomaleosaurid pliosaur from the
                            Sinemurian (Lower Jurassic) of Lyme
                            Regis, England. Adam Smith and Ricardo
                            Araujo

    1520-1540               The early evolutionary radiation of
                            Triassic marine reptiles. Tom Stubbs and
                            Michael Benton

    1540-1600               Morphological and hydrodynamical
                            convergence in pelagic vertebrates
                            Benjamin Moon

    1600-1620               Coffee break and poster session

    1620-1640               A fresh look at the genus Ichthyosaurus:
                            species characteristics, phylogeny and
                            evolutionary drivers. Jessica Lawrence
                            Wujek, Darren Naish and Gareth Dyke

    1640-1700               Variation in the forefin morphology of
                            the lower Jurassic ichthyosaur genus
                            Ichthyosaurus. Judy A. Massare and Dean
                            R. Lomax

    1700-1720               A first report on a nearly complete
                            Middle Triassic mixosaurid ichthyosaur
                            from Edgeoya, Svalbard archipelago. Jorn
                            Harald Hurum, Aubrey Jane Roberts, Hans
                            Arne Nakrem, Jan Stenlokk and Atle Mork

    1720-1740               A new Upper Jurassic ophthalmosaurid
                            ichthyosaur from central Spitsbergen
                            Aubrey Jane Roberts, Jorn Harald Hurum
                            and Patrick S. Druckenmiller

    1740-1800               On the taxonomy, life history and
                            evolutionary patterns of diversification
                            of the basal actinopteryigian fish
                            Saurichthys. Erin E. Maxwell, Marcelo R.
                            Sanchez-Villagra*, Torsten M. Scheyer,
                            Leonhard Schmid, Laura A. B. Wilson and
                            Heinz Furrer

    1900 Jones              Fenleigh Fund auction at the Royal
                            Society of Edinburgh

    Friday 30,              2013 SVPCA registration and
                            presentations at National Museums
                            Scotland

    0830-0840               Welcome by Jane Carmichael, Director of
                            Collections, NMS

    0840-0900-              150 million years of morphological
                            evolution in neopterygian fish:
                            implications for notions of teleost
                            superiority John Clarke and Matt
                            Friedman

    0900-0920 '             Fin End of the Wedge': variability of
                            pectoral fin shape in a group supposedly
                            uniformly 'scythe-like'. Jeff Liston,
                            Anthony Maltese and Jesus Alvarado
                            Ortega

    0920-0940               Getting inside the head of
                            Cretaceous-Palaeogene teleosts: new
                            morphological and functional data from
                            the exceptional fish fossils of the
                            English Chalk and London Clay

                            Roger Close, Hermione Beckett, Norman
                            MacLeod, Zerina Johanson and Matt
                            Friedman

    0940-1000               Early pufferfishes and kin (Percomorpha:
                            Tetraodontiformes) from the Eocene
                            London Clay: new anatomical insights
                            from computed tomography. Matt Friedman,
                            Roger Close, William Fowler and Zerina
                            Johanson

    1000-1020               A virtual view of early ray-finned fish
                            endocasts. Sam Giles and Matt Friedman*

    1020-1040               Coffee break and poster session

    1040-1100               What made Stan such a successful
                            collector? Ian Rolfe

    1100-1120               Stan loved a good fossil: some recent
                            spectacular fossil fish finds from Gogo
                            (late Devonian, Australia). John A. Long
                            and Kate Trinajstic

    1120-1140               Tournaisian tetrapods from Scotland
                            Jenny Clack and Tim Smithson

    1140-1200               A partial lower jaw of a tetrapod from
                            the Tournaisian of Scotland. Per Erik
                            Ahlberg, Donglei Chen, Martin Brazeau
                            and Henning Blom

    1200-1220               Glencartholm revisited. Margaret Elliot

    1220-1400               Lunch

    1400-1420               Lungfishes from Romer's Gap: experiments
                            in tooth plate morphology. Tim Smithson
                            and Jenny Clack

    1420-1440               Ageleodus: widespread mid-Palaeozoic
                            sharks known only from teeth. Susan
                            Turner

    1440-1500               Computed tomographic investigation of
                            newly recognized specimens of
                            Tristychius, a pivotal taxon in
                            chondrichthyan phylogeny. Michael
                            Coates, Katherine E. Criswell, Ellen
                            Verner and John Dick

    1500-1520               Fossilized ontogenies: Gogo placoderms
                            reveal embryonic development in 370
                            million year old early vertebrates
                            Zerina Johanson and Kate Trinajstic

    1520-1540               Coffee break and poster session

    1540-1600               Fossils of early vertebrates and the
                            evolution of the gnathostome face
                            revealed by synchrotron imaging. Vincent
                            Dupret, Sophie Sanchez, Daniel Goujet,
                            Paul Tafforeau and Per E. Ahlberg

    1600-1620               Cranial roof bone names and
                            homologizations between fishes and
                            tetrapods. An old controversy revisited
                            Ulf J. Borgen

    1620-1640               Palaeoneurology in Devonian lungfish:
                            morphological diversity or conservatism
                            in the neurological system? Tom
                            Challands

    1900                    Annual Dinner at the Royal College of
                            Physicians

* indicates presenting author where the first author is not present.

Getting to Edinburgh: By train: Edinburgh city has a number of train
stations, but the most centrally located (in terms of the venues
used in this meeting) is the main Waverley Station, situated between
Princes Street, North Bridge, Waverley Bridge and Market Street.
>From here the Pollock Halls accommodation is approximately 1.2 miles
to the south, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and National Museum
of Scotland venues are respectively approximately 0.6 of a mile east
and 0.4 of a mile south east from the station. For delegates
attending GCG/SPPC in the Grant Institute (Edinburgh University),
the King's Buildings venue is approximately 2.2 miles south of the
station and may be better reached using the city's bus service (see
below).

By car: Edinburgh is easily accessible by car from the south via the
main A1, A68, A7 roads and motorway network to the west. Parking is
available for those who have booked accommodation at Pollock Halls,
but it should be noted that parking within the city for those
staying elsewhere is extremely limited and expensive. Edinburgh City
parking attendants have a fearsome reputation and hunt in packs.

By air: Edinburgh Airport is situated some 8 miles west of the
centre. The infamous (over budget, over time) tram service is not
yet operational, and travel to the centre is by either the Airlink
100 bus (every 10 minutes, costing UKP3.50 single or UKP6.00
return), the Lothian Buses number 35 service (every 15 minutes,
UKP1.50 single or UKP3.50 for day ticket anywhere in the city) or by
one of the numerous taxis, which will be more costly (usually around
UKP20-25) depending on the time of day.

Pollock Halls is situated on Holyrood Park Road (EH16 5AY), which is
off the main A7 (Dalkeith Road) that runs south east from the city
centre. From the South use the A720 (Edinburgh Bypass), and take the

A7 Old Dalkeith Road exit at the Sheriffhall roundabout towards the
city centre. Continue straight for approximately three miles, then
turn right onto Holyrood Park Road just after the Royal Commonwealth
Pool. Pollock Halls is the second turning on the right. Report to
the Reception and state that you are staying as part of the SVPCA
meeting (event reservation 171885). You will be issued with a key
and be directed to your room. Rooms will be available from 1400 on
the day of your arrival, and must be vacated by 1030 on the day of
your departure. Parking is available on site. Note that there will
be no conference registration at Pollock Halls. Registration desks
will be situated at the King's Buildings (SPPC; Tuesday morning),
Royal Society of Edinburgh (Icebreaker, Tuesday evening and
Wednesday morning to Thursday afternoon) and National Museums
Scotland (Friday morning) (see below).

The GCG/SPPC meeting will be held in the Grant Institute at the
King's Buildings, which are located at West Mains Road (EH9 3JN).
Several Lothian Buses services stop close to the King's Buildings:
the 24, 38 41 all stop on West Mains Road itself; the 41 route along
Causewayside (A700) is the closest to Pollock Halls. Detailed
information about Lothian Buses routes can be found at

    <URL:http://www.lothianbuses.com/timetables-tickets-maps/timetables/>

and a detailed route map accompanies this circular and can be
downloaded at

    <URL:http://lothianbuses.com/assets/files/RM130701.pdf>

Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) (Map inset A) The RSE is the venue
for the first two days of the SVPCA meeting, and is situated at
22-26 George Street (EH2 2PQ) approximately 1.8 miles (around half
an hour's walk) from Pollock Halls. The number 2 Lothian Buses
service can be caught outside of Pollock Halls and crosses George
Street. A registration desk will be set up close to the entrance.

National Museums Scotland (NMS) (Map inset A) NMS is situated on
Chambers Street (EH1 1JF), and is the venue for the presentations on
Friday. Because the meeting begins before the Museum opens at 1000,
access will be by the Lothian Street entrance. NMS is approximately
1.1 mile from Pollock Halls (under half an hour's walk). A
registration desk will be set up outside the auditorium.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) (Map inset A) The RCP is the
venue for the annual dinner on Friday, and is situated at 9 Queen
Street (EH2 1JQ), approximately 1.9 miles from Pollock Halls
(roughly 40 minute's walk). The number 2 Lothian Buses service can
be caught outside of Pollock Halls and crosses Queen Street.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact one
of the organisers. We look forward to welcoming you to Edinburgh.

Host committee

    Nick Fraser
    National Museums Scotland

    Stig Walsh
    National Museums Scotland

    Stephen Brusatte
    University of Edinburgh

    Jeff Liston
    Yunnan Key Laboratory for Palaeobiology
    Yunnan and National Museums Scotland

    Vicen Carrio
    National Museums Scotland)


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:10
                  Distributed: Monday, August 26, 2013
                       Message Id: cdl-27-10-009
                                  ***