Exceptionally Preserved Fossils and the Cambrian Explosion

I am interested in the establishment of the modern animal groups. My work includes the study of unusual organisms from Burgess Shale type deposits and their microscopic counterparts, the Small Carbonaceous Fossils. I also have an interest in the phylogenetic techniques used to identify the affinity of these organisms.

Selected publications:

Smith, M.R. (2013). "Nectocaridid ecology, diversity and affinity: early origin of a cephalopod-like body plan". Paleobiology, 39:345-357. doi:10.1666/12029

Smith, M.R. & Butterfield, N. J. (2013). "A new view on Nematothallus: coralline red algae from the Silurian of Gotland". Palaeontology, 56:297-321.  doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2012.01203.x

Smith, M.R. (2012). “The mouthparts of Odontogriphus and Wiwaxia: implications for the ancestral molluscan radula”.  Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279:4287–4295. doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.1577

Smith, M.R. & Caron, J-B. (2010). "Primitive soft-bodied cephalopods from the Cambrian".  Nature, 465:469-472. doi:10.1038/nature09068

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Last updated on 15-Mar-13 12:01