Terrestrial Fossil Lagerstätten HALF PRICE OFFER!

Wow ... this is an AMAZING OFFER, not to be missed. We are pleased to announce that we have teamed up with Dunedin Academic Press to offer a massive 50% discount on their recent title: Terrestrial Conservation Lagerstätten edited by Nicholas C. Fraser & Hans-Dieter Sues (ISBN: 978178046014), which normally sells for £98.00. We can offer our customers and followers the special price of £49.00 (which includes P+P within the UK, add a flat rate of £20.00 for orders from overseas ... the book weighs 1.4kg). Please note this offer is only available to retail customers and ends 31 May 2023. Details of how to order are at the end of this blog post.

Evolutionary biologists have long been concerned by the incompleteness of the fossil record. Although our knowledge of the diversity of life in ‘deep time’ has improved, many lineages of extant animals and plants still have only sparse fossil documentation. Even groups with ‘hard parts’ that render them suitable for fossilization often only have a limited record. Thus, although the fossil record is viewed as critical to the reconstruction of the evolutionary history of life, many biologists question its full value.

Fortunately discoveries of occurrences of exceptionally preserved fossils, known as conservation Lagerstätten (Konservat-Lagerstätten), shed much light on the past diversity of life. This volume reviews selected conservation Lagerstätten for continental animals and plants throughout the Phanerozoic worldwide and includes sites in Asia, in Europe and in North and South America. Together the papers demonstrate the enormous progress made in recent years both in documenting the biodiversity of such extraordinary fossil deposits and also in elucidating the geological conditions for and biogeochemical processes behind the formation of conservation Lagerstätten.

Each contribution has been written by eminent palaeontologists who have enlisted additional expertise to make each chapter as comprehensive as possible. The volume is edited by Nicholas C. Fraser of the National Museum of Scotland and Hans-Dieter Sues of the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Outline Contents:

1. Rhynie Chert (Early Devonian, Scotland) – N. Trewin (Aberdeen), H. Kerp (Münster)
One of the earliest terrestrial fossil sites known, Rhynie is world-renowned for its exquisitely preserved early land plants and arthropods. The unique depositional environment is associated with silica-bearing hot springs, which played a significant role in the remarkable preservation of the biota.

2. East Kirkton (Early Carboniferous, Scotland) - J. Clack (Cambridge)
This site in eastern Scotland preserves a wealth of early tetrapods. In addition, a variety of plants and arthropods are preserved in the non-marine limestone that are associated with lava flows.  

3. Madygen Formation (Middle or Late Triassic, Kyrgyzstan) – S. Voigt (Freiberg)
Best known for two unusual reptiles, Sharovipteryx and Longisquama, the Madygen Formation contains extraordinarily rich assemblages of fossil insects and plants from a number of localities. Renewed field work is yielding additional new material and a better understanding of the depositional environment.

4. Solite Quarry (Late Triassic, USA) – N. Fraser (Edinburgh)
This locality in lacustrine black shales on the North Carolina-Virginia state line is the only site in the world yielding a wealth of completely preserved Triassic insects. The oldest known truly aquatic insect assemblage, it documents the oldest records of a number of living insect orders and families. It also has a rather unusual vertebrate fauna.

5. Daohugou Biota (Late Jurassic) –   X. Xing and Z. Zhou (Beijing).  The lacustrine mudstones of the Daohugou extend from Inner Mongolia into Liaoning Province. This biota comprises mammals, feathered dinosaurs, pterosaurs, lizards, and a diversity of early salamanders as well as hundreds of beautifully preserved insects and plants.  

6.  Jehol Group (Early Cretaceous, China) – Z. Zhou and X. Xing (Beijing)
Stratigraphically younger than the Daohugou assemblage, the Jehol Group biota is also known from northeastern China. It is best known for its remarkable feathered dinosaurs and birds. In the media they often overshadow the equally important and spectacular array of other forms including plants, insects, fishes, amphibians and mammals.

7. Santana Formation (Early Cretaceous, Brazil) – D. Martill (Portsmouth)
Deposited in a shallow inland sea, the fossils of the Santana Formation are preserved in limestone nodules. Although the nodules are particularly rich in fish, they also contain diverse terrestrial faunal elements including pterosaurs and other reptiles, amphibians, and insects.  Some of the fossils have remarkable three-dimensional preservation of soft tissues.

8. Green River (Eocene, USA) - L. Grande (Chicago)
Perhaps best known for their vast numbers of beautifully preserved fish fossils, these fine-grained lake deposits are also known as a source of numerous insects and plants. In recent years it has become increasingly important as an occurrence of  phylogenetically important terrestrial vertebrates, including early bats and a diversity of birds.   

9. Messel (Eocene, Germany) – S. Schaal (Frankfurt am Main)
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Messel pit is notable for the diversity of vertebrates and insects. The remarkable vertebrate assemblage continues to yield new information with the basal primate, Darwinius masillae, being the latest significant find. The fossils are preserved in lacustrine "oil shale" that was deposited in a volcanic caldera. They often include preserved soft parts in vertebrates and actual color in insects, and require special “transfer techniques” to prevent their destruction as exposed shale dries out.

10. Amber (Mesozoic-Cenozoic) – D. Grimaldi (New York)
Amber deposits are widely distributed in Mesozoic and Cenozoic terrestrial strata around the globe and are especially important for extraordinary detailed preservation of insects. Inclusions also include plants and small vertebrates. This chapter will look at the most significant occurrences of Cretaceous and Cenozoic ambers, including those from Myanmar (Burma), India, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and the Baltic region.

In order to get this special offer, please follow the instructions below:

To get the special price of £49 (half published price), retail customers (only) must order direct from Combined Book Services. The offer code SSPTCL23 needs to be quoted to CBS. Orders to be placed by phoning CBS on 01892 837171, plastic card in hand, and quoting the reference to get the 50% off. Postage in the UK, free of charge, otherwise a flat £20 worldwide. Please note this offer is only available to retail customers and ends 31 May 2023.

We appreciate this is a rather messy way of doing things, but there are reasons it needs to be done like this and this beautiful and informative book is well worth the minor effort involved to take advantage of this great offer.