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Problems and Hypotheses in Palaeontology
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CNRS (UMR 8538), Laboratoire de Géologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris, CEDEX 05, France
Dr. Julien Claude
Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, CNRS/UM/IRD/EPHE, 2 Place Eugène Bataillon, cc64, CEDEX 05, 34095 Montpellier, France
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Problems and Hypotheses in Palaeontology

Abstract submission deadline
15 February 2025
Manuscript submission deadline
15 April 2025
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Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Like all sciences, palaeontology has its unanswered questions and unsolved problems. They include the phylogenetic and systematic position of enigmatic organisms, the palaeobiology of forms that have no obvious counterparts in the living world, the age of poorly dated specimens, the unusual preservation of certain fossils, the poorly understood causes of extinction events, the surprising geographical or stratigraphical distribution of certain fossil species, and so on. Finding answers to such questions sometimes requires a good deal of speculation, but palaeontologists should not be afraid of speculation, as long as it is based on solid facts and sound reasoning. We encourage the submission of papers, including speculative ones, dealing with outstanding problems and unanswered questions in all fields of palaeontology.

Dr. Eric Buffetaut
Dr. Julien Claude
Topic Editors

Keywords

  • palaeontology
  • fossils
  • origin and extinction of taxa
  • palaeobiogeographical distributions and patterns
  • phylogenetic interpretations
  • morphofunctional and palaeoecological reconstructions
  • gaps in the fossil record

Participating Journals

Journal Name Impact Factor CiteScore Launched Year First Decision (median) APC
Diversity
diversity 		2.1 3.4 2009 15.4 Days CHF 2100 Submit
Geosciences
geosciences 		2.4 5.3 2011 26.2 Days CHF 1800 Submit
Life
life 		3.2 4.3 2011 18 Days CHF 2600 Submit
Fossil Studies
fossstud 		- - 2023 15.0 days * CHF 1000 Submit

* Median value for all MDPI journals in the first half of 2024.


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Published Papers (2 papers)

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15 pages, 4439 KiB  
Article
The Life and Death of Jamoytius kerwoodi White; A Silurian Jawless Nektonic Herbivore?
by Michael E. Brookfield
Foss. Stud. 2024, 2(2), 77-91; https://doi.org/10.3390/fossils2020003 - 9 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2691
Abstract
Jamoytius kerwoodi, is a primitive, eel-like jawless vertebrate found uniquely in an Early Silurian (Llandovery epoch; 444–433 Ma) horizon near Lesmahagow, Scotland. This species is a rare component of a low-diversity dominantly nektonic detritus-feeding and herbivorous fauna living over an anoxic bottom [...] Read more.
Jamoytius kerwoodi, is a primitive, eel-like jawless vertebrate found uniquely in an Early Silurian (Llandovery epoch; 444–433 Ma) horizon near Lesmahagow, Scotland. This species is a rare component of a low-diversity dominantly nektonic detritus-feeding and herbivorous fauna living over an anoxic bottom and is found at the transition from a marine-influenced, probably brackish-water, deep-water basin to a shallower-water, less saline and likely freshwater basin. In the absence of true teeth, Jamoytius was probably a detritivore or herbivore feeding on Dictyocaris. Jamoytius may have a common ancestor with living lampreys, especially as their ectoparasitic mode of life might have evolved from ancestral detritivores or herbivores. Full article
(This article belongs to the Topic Problems and Hypotheses in Palaeontology)
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15 pages, 10216 KiB  
Article
A Late Triassic Nuculanoid Clam (Bivalvia: Nuculanoidea) and Associated Mollusks: Implications for Luning Formation (Nevada, USA) Paleobathymetry
by Mark A. S. McMenamin
Geosciences 2023, 13(3), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences13030080 - 10 Mar 2023
Viewed by 2902
Abstract
A silicified, thick-shelled, smooth-surfaced nuculanoid bivalve has been recovered using acid maceration of the Late Triassic (Carnian–Norian) strata of the Luning Formation, Nevada. Comparable modern nuculanoid clams inhabit water depths from 525 to 2562 m, and the living clam (an undescribed species of [...] Read more.
A silicified, thick-shelled, smooth-surfaced nuculanoid bivalve has been recovered using acid maceration of the Late Triassic (Carnian–Norian) strata of the Luning Formation, Nevada. Comparable modern nuculanoid clams inhabit water depths from 525 to 2562 m, and the living clam (an undescribed species of Pseudoneilonella from Caleta Sierra, Coquimbo, Chile) most similar to the fossil lives at 878–933 m. The Triassic nuculanoid clam (possibly a neilonellid) is inferred here to have inhabited marine waters at approximately 1000 m deep during the deposition of the Shaly Limestone Member of the Luning Formation. The acid maceration sample also produced a silicified specimen of an abyssochrysoid gastropod. The most similar living species to the fossil snail is Abyssochrysos brasilianus, an abyssochrysoid known to occur in water depths from 1540 to 620 m. This depth range also suggests an approximate 1000 m depositional depth for the silicified fossil-producing acid maceration sample from the Luning Formation. These new fossil discoveries falsify hypotheses that the ichthyosaurs (Shonisaurus popularis) of Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park, Nevada, USA, were deposited, respectively, in either shoreline deposits or in strata that accumulated above the storm wave base. Evidence is also presented here for the existence of a giant Triassic cephalopod that, by comparison with the modern Mesonychoteuthis, preferred water depths of approximately 1000 m. Full article
(This article belongs to the Topic Problems and Hypotheses in Palaeontology)
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