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SUMMARY:Exceptional preservation in tropical settings: A glimpse into the 
 fossil record of northern South America - Javier Luque\, Department of Zoo
 logy\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20241119T120000Z
DTEND:20241119T130000Z
UID:TALK222355@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Rachael Rhodes
DESCRIPTION:Extraordinary fossils transform our understanding of evolution
 ary history\, particularly when they fill major gaps in space and time. Un
 fortunately\, the origins and phylogenetic relationships of several groups
  are often obscure because (i) early fossils tend to be rare and/or poorly
  preserved\, (ii) few early-splitting branches have left living descendant
 s\, (iii) intermediate forms are scarce\, and (iv) there is a considerable
  collection bias towards fossil-rich deposits in modern mid-to-high latitu
 des. Such biases affect the ways that major spatio-temporal\, phylogenetic
 \, and evolutionary questions are addressed. Can we predict the occurrence
  of evolutionary novelties based on phylogenetic relationships? Do similar
  forms correlate with similar function\, biology\, and ecology? What role 
 have mega-diverse areas\, like the tropics\, played in the emergence of di
 fferent groups through time?\n\nIn this talk I will present new fossils an
 d fossil-rich localities with exceptional preservation from the Neotropics
 \, with particular emphasis on Cretaceous marine invertebrates. These trop
 ical Konservat-Lagerstätten give us access to larval\, juvenile\, and adu
 lt organisms\, preserving in great detail soft to lightly-biomineralized t
 issues such as guts\, muscles\, sexual organs\, antennae\, mouthparts\, gi
 lls\, eyes\, and neural tissues. Such features—seldom preserved in the f
 ossil record—are crucial to assess the phylogenetic relationships across
  extinct and extant groups\, and to investigate the evolution of key trait
 s leading to the emergence of novel forms. My results\, the product of act
 ive fieldwork\, paired with museum collection-based work and laboratory st
 udies\, challenge the paradigm of a high-latitude origin for several taxa\
 , bridge the gaps between their predicted molecular divergences and the fo
 ssil record\, and highlight the role of ecology and development in the evo
 lution of convergent and novel forms\, through the lens of exceptional pre
 servation in past and present tropical settings.\n
LOCATION:Department of Earth Sciences\, Tilley Lecture Theatre
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