Computer-aided visualization and analysis of fossils has revolutionized the study of extinct organisms. Novel techniques allow fossils to be characterized in three dimensions and in unprecedented detail. This has enabled paleontologists to gain important insights into their anatomy, development, and preservation. New protocols allow more objective reconstructions of fossil organisms, including soft tissues, from incomplete remains. The resulting digital reconstructions can be used in functional analyses, rigorously testing long-standing hypotheses regarding the paleobiology of extinct organisms. These approaches are transforming our understanding of long-studied fossil groups, and of the narratives of organismal and ecological evolution that have been built upon them.

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A virtual world of paleontology

Morphology, ontogeny, and life habit of Agnostus pisiformis from the Upper Cambrian of Sweden

When extracting or cleaning phosphatic fossils using acetic acid, the solutions must be buffered with calcium acetate to a pH greater than 3.6 for conodont and many fish taxa, and to a slightly greater pH for some conulariid, shark, and some fish taxa. Diagrams of the changes in pH and density during dissolution, rate of dissolution, and productivity per liter of acid provide a means for selecting the economically optimal process, monitoring the progress, and adjusting the composition of the solution when necessary.

The optimal acetate buffered acetic acid technique for extracting phosphatic fossils

The 'Orsten': more than a Cambrian Konservat-Lagerstätte yielding exceptional preservation

The new standard conodont zonation includes, in succession from below: Lower Ps bicornis Zone, Upper Ps bicornis Zone, Lower P procerus Zone, Upper P procerus Zone, Lower K ranuliformis Zone, Upper K ranuliformis Zone, 0 s rhenana Zone, Lower K walliseri Zone, Middle K walliseri Zone, K patula Zone, uppermost K walliseri range, post K walliseri interregnum, K o ortus Zone and 0 s sagitta Zone Lower boundaries for each zone are defined or redefined A less detailed biostratigraphic nomenclature at the superzone level is suggested for use where collections are inadequate: The Pterospathodus Zonal group, the Upper Pterospathodus Zonal group, the P amorphognathoides Zonal group, the Ps bicornis Superzone, the P procerus Superzone, the K ranuliformis Superzone, the O s rhenana Superzone, the K walliseri Zonal group, the Upper K walliseri Superzone and the K o ortus Superzone These partly overlap and can be used according to the taxa present The proposed zonation is applied to most known conodont sequences The taxonomic concept of the taxa used is discussed; new taxa include Nudibelodina sensitiva, Ozarkodina paraconfluens and O martinssoni The species name Ozarkodina ortus is a senior synonym of Kockelella absidata

Doris Fredholm

Papers

The optimal acetate buffered acetic acid technique for extracting phosphatic fossils

Acetic acid and phosphatic fossils; a warning