This week's paper was an interesting insight into the world of trace fossils. The paper described the discovery of ant "bite marks" on leaves. The bite marks are the same as those left by ants infected with a deadly fungus that grows out of their heads (Grotesque!). It is the earliest record of this type of host-parasite interaction (Eocene) and has interesting implications for the evolution of host behavioral control in fungal parasites. We all wondered how old this interaction really is and wondered what this means for hypotheses of arms races between hosts and parasites. If these interactions were the same millions of years ago, can we begin to question these hypotheses?
On another note, next week is the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) meeting in Pittsburgh. Several of the groups members are presenting posters and talks (listed below are the ones I can currently recall, if you have been forgotten, post a comment):
Danielle Fraser, Thomas Cullen, Joanna Northover
There are also a few talks by our group's alumni and professors. There is technically still a press embargo on all of the SVP abstracts, does that extend to posting just the titles?
ReplyDeleteI think they are concerned more generally about the abstracts themselves or the content.But I see what you mean.
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