Comment on the letter of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) dated April 21, 2020 regarding “Fossils from conflict zones and reproducibility of fossil-based scientific data”: the importance of private collections

Haug, Carolin; Reumer, J.W.F.; Haug, Joachim T.; Arillo, Antonio; Audo, Denis; Azar, Dany; Baranov, Viktor; Beutel, Rolf G.; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Feldmann, Rodney M.; Foth, Christian; Fraaije, René H.B.; Frenzel, Peter; Gašparič, Rok; Greenwalt, Dale E.; Harms, Danilo; Hyžný, Matúš; Jagt, John W.M.; Jagt‐Yazykova, Elena A.; Jarzembowski, E. A.; Kerp, Hans; Kirejtshuk, Alexander G.; Klug, Christian; Kopylov, Dmitry S.; Kotthoff, Ulrich; Kriwet, Jürgen; Kunzmann, Lutz; McKellar, Ryan C.; Nel, André; Neumann, Christian; Nützel, Alexander; Perrichot, Vincent; Pint, Anna; Rauhut, Oliver W. M.; Schneider, Jörg W.; Schram, Frederick R.; Schweigert, Günter; Selden, Paul A.; Szwedo, Jacek; Bakel, Barry W.M. van; Eldijk, Timo van; Vega, Francisco J.; Wang, Bo; Wang, Yongdong; Xing, Lida; Reich, Mike

doi:10.1007/s12542-020-00522-x

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 101 publications

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“…This contract stipulates that the specimen is officially curated by the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum, and that it will not be sold to a non-public entity. BMMS-BK 1-2 thus has the same legal status as Sciurumimus albersdoerferi (BMMS-BK 11, permanent loan by Mr. Albersdörfer to the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum), Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi (SNSB-BSPG VN-2010/1, permanent loan by Mr. Albersdörfer to the Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie) and other recently described specimens from the Altmühl valley (e.g., Foth et al, 2014;Rauhut et al, 2012Rauhut et al, , 2018 or the limestones of Wattendorf (Joyce and Mäuser, 2020) (but see also discussion in Haug et al, 2020).…”

Section: Legal Statement and Data Permanencementioning

confidence: 79%

A new species of Cricosaurus (Thalattosuchia, Metriorhynchidae) based upon a remarkably well-preserved skeleton from the Upper Jurassic of Germany

Sachs

Young

Abel

et al. 2021

Palaeontol Electron

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Herein we describe a new and exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of the metriorhynchid thalattosuchian Cricosaurus from the upper Kimmeridgian Torleite Formation of Painten in Bavaria (Southern Germany). The specimen is articulated, shows soft-tissue preservation, and represents one of the most complete metriorhynchid skeletons known. The exceptional preservation allows us to explore the morphological variation of the tail region in the Metriorhynchidae, a part of the skeleton that has long been neglected. Based on our description and phylogenetic analyses, we name this specimen Cricosaurus albersdoerferi sp. nov. Our phylogenetic analyses recover a Cricosaurus subclade composed of four species from Southern Germany and one from Argentina. We provide revised diagnoses for the Southern German members of this subclade, revealing the presence of at least four closely-related Cricosaurus species in the upper Kimmeridgian-early Tithonian of Southern Germany. Interestingly, within this subclade there is evidence of rapid change in tail construction and feeding ecology. However, there is no evidence of sympatry between these taxa, and the two species known from the same ammonite subzone are exclusively found in different northern-Tethys lagoons. Most interesting, however, is the variation in the skulls, dorsal neural spines, the tail displacement units, and flukes between these different species. This previously unexplored variation within Metriorhynchidae hints to differences in locomotory abilities between different species.

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Section: Legal Statement and Data Permanencementioning

confidence: 79%

A new species of Cricosaurus (Thalattosuchia, Metriorhynchidae) based upon a remarkably well-preserved skeleton from the Upper Jurassic of Germany

Sachs

Young

Abel

et al. 2021

Palaeontol Electron

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“…In fact, Mongolia and Morocco, along with other countries such as China, Mexico and Brazil, have been the victims of fossil trafficking and parachute research, especially vertebrate fossils, for decades (17). Similarly, issues of legality and ethics surrounding Myanmar amber have not deterred researchers from pursuing their endeavors in the field (26,30,31).…”

Section: Scientific Colonialism In Paleontological Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity

Raja¹,

Dunne²,

Matiwane³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Sampling variations in the fossil record distort estimates of past biodiversity. However, compilations of global fossil occurrences used in these analyses not only reflect the geological and spatial aspects of the fossil record, but also the historical collation of these data. Here, we demonstrate how the legacy of colonialism as well as socio-economic factors such as wealth, education and political stability impact research output in paleontology. Re- searchers in high or upper middle income countries contribute to 97% of fossil occurrence data, not only leading to spatial sampling biases but also generating a global power imbalance within the discipline. This work illustrates that our efforts to mitigate the effects of sampling biases to obtain a truly representative view of past biodiversity are not disconnected from the aim of diversifying our field.

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“…Researchers may also be restricted by their professional societies, as some include restrictions on private specimens in their ethics statements (e.g,, The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology). The ramifications of such constraints, especially for amateur paleontologists, remain an active discussion (Haug et al, 2020). Currently, the ICZN Code (1999) does not require allotypes (specimen of the opposite sex of the holotype) to be included as a type specimen (Rec.…”

Section: Study and Publication Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropologically introduced biases in natural history collections, with a case study on the invertebrate paleontology collections from the middle Cambrian Spence Shale Lagerstätte

Whitaker

Kimmig

2020

Palaeontol Electron

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Comment on the letter of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) dated April 21, 2020 regarding “Fossils from conflict zones and reproducibility of fossil-based scientific data”: the importance of private collections

Cited by 17 publications

References 101 publications

A new species of Cricosaurus (Thalattosuchia, Metriorhynchidae) based upon a remarkably well-preserved skeleton from the Upper Jurassic of Germany

A new species of Cricosaurus (Thalattosuchia, Metriorhynchidae) based upon a remarkably well-preserved skeleton from the Upper Jurassic of Germany

Colonial history and global economics distort our understanding of deep-time biodiversity

Anthropologically introduced biases in natural history collections, with a case study on the invertebrate paleontology collections from the middle Cambrian Spence Shale Lagerstätte

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