The John Williams Index of Palaeopalynology

Abstract

Occasionally (and fortunately), circumstances and timing combine to allow an individual, almost singlehandedly, to generate a paradigm shift in his or her chosen field of inquiry. William R. ('Bill') Evitt (1923À2009) was such a person. During his career as a palaeontologist, Bill Evitt made lasting and profound contributions to the study of both dinoflagellates and trilobites. He had a distinguished, long and varied career, researching first trilobites and techniques in palaeontology before moving on to marine palynomorphs. Bill is undoubtedly best known for his work on dinoflagellates, especially their resting cysts. He worked at three major US universities and spent a highly significant period in the oil industry. Bill's early profound interest in the natural sciences was actively encouraged both by his parents and at school. His alma mater was Johns Hopkins University where, commencing in 1940, he studied chemistry and geology as an undergraduate. He quickly developed a strong vocation in the earth sciences, and became fascinated by the fossiliferous Lower Palaeozoic strata of the northwestern United States. Bill commenced a PhD project on silicified Middle Ordovician trilobites from Virginia in 1943. His doctoral research was interrupted by military service during World War II; Bill served as an aerial photograph interpreter in China in 1944 and 1945, and received the Bronze Star for his excellent work. Upon demobilisation from the US Army Air Force, he resumed work on his PhD and was given significant teaching duties at Johns Hopkins, which he thoroughly enjoyed. He accepted his first professional position, as an instructor in sedimentary geology, at the University of Rochester in late 1948. Here Bill supervised his first two graduate students, and shared a great cameraderie with a highly motivated student body which largely comprised World War II veterans. At Rochester, Bill continued his trilobite research, and was the editor of the Journal of Paleontology between 1953 and. Seeking a new challenge, he joined the Carter Oil Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during 1956. This brought about an irrevocable realignment of his research interests from trilobites to marine palynology. He undertook basic research on aquatic palynomorphs in a very well-resourced laboratory under the direction of one of his most influential mentors, William S. 'Bill' Hoffmeister. Bill Evitt visited the influential European palynologists Georges Deflandre and Alfred Eisenack during late 1959 and, while in Tulsa, first developed several groundbreaking hypotheses. He soon realised that the distinctive morphology of certain fossil dinoflagellates, notably the archaeopyle, meant that they represent the resting cyst stage of the life cycle. The archaeopyle clearly allows the excystment of the cell contents, and comprises one or more plate areas. Bill also concluded that spine-bearing palynomorphs, then called hystrichospheres, could be divided into two groups. The largely Palaeozoic spine-bearing palynomorphs are of uncertain biological affin...

Taxonomic revision, phylogeny, and cyst wall composition of the dinoflagellate cyst genus Votadinium Reid (Dinophyceae, Peridiniales, Protoperidiniaceae)

“…The John Williams Index of Palaeopalynology (Riding et al 2012 proposed here. The references in the synonymy lists can be consulted in Williams et al (2017) and are not reproduced here for the sake of brevity.…”

An endemic flora of dispersed spores from the Middle Devonian of Iberia

“…Previous records are taken from consultation of the John Williams Index of Palaeopalynology (for details see Riding et al . ). Materials (rock samples, residues and slides) are housed in the collections of the Centre for Palynology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK.…”

Online access to the Kalgutkar and Jansonius database of fossil fungi

“…The Kalgutkar and Jansonius Fossil Fungus Database will be a convenient starting point for information on fossil fungi, and it can be used in conjunction with other databases, including those reviewed by Riding et al (2012). Palynodata (Palynodata Inc. & White 2008) has extensive records of fungal fossils, and although it is no longer actively updated, it is publicly available as a downloadable file.…”

“…The approach in the Kalgutkar and Jansonius Fossil Fungus Database provides a synthetic summary of characters and nomenclature for a form species while the approach in Palynodata lends itself to analyses of, for example, changes in abundance of species over time (White & Jessop 2002;White et al 2009). The John Williams Index of Palaeopalynology is an extensive and carefully curated card file system (Riding et al 2012). Until it becomes available electronically, access requires a visit to London's Natural History Museum, but it is the only database including fungal fossils that is actively updated.…”