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IGA VIRTUAL LECTURE: Middle Devonian Fish Fauna from SW Ireland: New Palaeontology and Euramerican Geological Heritage
28 June, 2023 @ 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM IST
Dr Vincent Dupret (Uppsala University, Sweden)
TO REGISTER please send an e-mail to info@geology.ie or please fill in the form HERE
Abstract:
The Middle Devonian of southwest Ireland is represented by rocks from the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) continent (~385 Ma) which have yielded a spectacular Greenschist facies ancient fish fauna. The most abundant fossil bones, found both on the Iveragh Peninsula and on Valentia Island, are those of a new species of the antiarch placoderm (bony fish) Bothriolepis. This Genus is simultaneously loved and loathed by palaeontologists: its ~100 species has precluded any clear classification of the Genus, yet Bothriolepis is a very useful stratigraphic and palaeogeographic indicator. I will present a new phylogeny for Bothriolepis and an X-ray analysis of other, previously published, fish fossils from SW Ireland, which has revealed several big surprises: for example, a supposed fin spine from an Acanthodian (“spiny shark”) turns out to be the fang of a giant lobe-finned fish (a Sarcopterygian). These taxa from SW Ireland are the first of their kind from the Euramerican Old Red Sandstone (ORS), demonstrating Ireland’s new-found geological heritage for these Irish fossils and localities.
Biography:
DR VINCENT DUPRET obtained his PhD at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris (France) in 2003. He then secured several positions as a researcher or teacher around the world (France, Sweden, China, Australia). He is now finishing a research contract at Uppsala University (Sweden). Vincent is deeply interested both in the natural world and in cultural heritage, something his students say is fresh and appreciated by his students. Vincent teaches best practice techniques in palaeontology and in research ethics, with the aim of helping to create a fairer and more sustainable world.
Date and Time: Wednesday, 28 June 2023, 19:00 pm via Zoom.
To Register: send an e-mail to info@geology.ie or please fill in the form HERE
A Zoom link will be sent on the day to those who have registered.