October Program – Nigel Hughes -What’s new with ancient trilobites? Tails (and more) from close to home and far afield

Spectacular discoveries of “soft-bodied” fossils have, in recent years, tended to overshadow the “traditional” fossil record of invertebrate animals with mineralized shells, such as trilobites. However, these ancient arthropods still have a few tricks under their doublures for revealing important information about Earth and life’s co-evolution. Nigel will review some highlights of his career-long travels with trilobites, seeking to convince you that there’s life in these old bugs yet, including his recent description of a new species from Colorado and its connection to James Bond.

Nigel has worked as a professional paleontologist in museums and universities around the globe. He has been a faculty member at the University of California – Riverside since 1997, has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, and won the Moore Medal for paleontology from the Society of Sedimentary Geologists. He is interested in both the biological and geological applications of fossils and owes his career to help from “amateur” paleontologists. His talk is part of the Distinguished Speakers program sponsored by the Paleontological Society.