PhD: Exceptionally Preserved Brachiopods from the Herefordshire Lagerstatte

Brachiopods, familiar shellfish important in the Palaeozoic, are known almost entirely from shelly remains. What data exists on their soft-tissues is primarily from Cambrian phosphatic-shelled inarticulate forms; the record for the more common articulates is woefully inadequate. Many articulate groups are extinct, and hypotheses of mode-of-life and anatomy are often based on analogies with distantly related extant forms. Phylogenetic models are likewise less-than-well informed. The Herefordshire Lagerstätte preserves a Silurian marine invertebrate fauna in exquisite 3D anatomical detail. It includes many brachiopod fossils; those reconstructed to date have soft tissues intact (including pedicles, lophophores and setae). The rest of the brachiopod fauna awaits study; it should reveal previously unavailable anatomical data that will reshape the way we look at these common fossils. This project will analyse all Herefordshire brachiopod specimens (through serial-grinding and computer-based reconstruction), and compare them to extant and fossil forms. It will put our understanding of the anatomy and phylogeny of Palaeozoic brachiopods onto a more evidence-based footing.