Research Students since 2001

Elisabeth S. Macdonald. Current. Micropalaeontology and Ichnology of the Triassic-Jurassic boundary interval, Southern UK, NERC funded (with Tony Hallam, Birmingham).

Neil S. Davies. PhD awarded 2003. The Ringerike Group (Late Silurian, Oslo Region): Palaeoenvironmental analysis of an Old Red Sandstone sequence in the foreland basin of the Norwegian Caledonides, NERC funded.

• Early vertebrate developmental biology and evolution
• Palaeobiology of conodonts and lower palaeozoic fish
• Development of the early vertebrate exoskeleton
• Origin of the gnathostomes
• Palaeoecology of lower palaeozoic vertebrates

The Ordovician radiation of fish: a Gondwanan perspective on diversification in fluctuating palaeoenvironments (with Dr Neil Davies; Alex Ritchie, The Australian Museum, Sydney; Bob Nicoll, Australian National University, Canberra; Carole Burrow, University of Queensland, Brisbane; and Guillermo Albanesi, CONICET, Cordoba, Argentina), funded by NERC Grant NE/B503576/1

Cambro-Ordovician fish from North America (with Paul Smith, Bham and Moya Smith, Kings)
Palaeobiology of Ordovician fish from South America (with Philippe Janvier, Paris)
The origins and early evolution of vertebrate biomineralisation (with Phil Donoghue, Bristol)
Investigating the origin of the gnathostomes (with Mike Coates, Chicago)

Administrative Responsibilities

Head of Education

Key Publications since 2001

Davies, N.S., Sansom, I.J., Albanesi, G.L. & Cespedes, R. 2007. Ichnology, palaeoecology and taphonomy of a Gondwanan early vertebrate habitat: Insights from the Ordovician Anzaldo Formation, Bolivia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 249, 18-35.

Pradel, A., Sansom, I.J., Gagnier, P-Y., Cespedes, R. & Janvier, P. 2007. The tail of the Ordovician fish Sacabambaspis. Biology Letters 3, 72-75.

Donoghue, P.C.J., Sansom, I.J. & Downs, J.P. 2006. Early evolution of vertebrate skeletal tissues and cellular interactions, and the canalization of skeletal development. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 306B: 278-294.

Davies, N.S., Sansom, I.J. & Turner, P. 2006. Trace Fossils and Paleoenvironments of a Late Silurian Marginal Marine/Alluvial System: the Ringerike Group (Lower Old Red Sandstone), Oslo Region, Norway. Palaios 21, 46-62.

Wang, N-Z, Donoghue, P.C.J., Smith, M.M. & Sansom, I.J. 2005. Histology of the galeaspid dermoskeleton and endoskeleton, and the origin and early evolution of the vertebrate cranial endoskeleton. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25, 745-756.

Sansom, I.J.., Donoghue, P.C.J. & Albanesi, G. 2005. Histology and affinity of the earliest armoured vertebrate. Biology Letters 1, 446-449.

Sansom, I.J., Wang, N-Z & Smith, M.M. 2005. The histology and affinities of sinacanthid fishes: primitive gnathostomes from the Silurian of China. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 144, 379-386.

Davies, N.S., Turner, P. & Sansom, I.J. 2005. Soft-sediment deformation structures in the Late Silurian Stubdal Formation: the result of seismic triggering. Norwegian Journal of Geology 85, 233-243.

Davies, N.S., Turner, P. & Sansom, I.J. 2005. A revised stratigraphy for the Ringerike Group (Upper Silurian, Oslo Region). Norwegian Journal of Geology 85, 193-201.

Davies, N.S., Turner, P. & Sansom, I.J.. 2005. Caledonide influences on the Old Red Sandstone fluvial systems of the Oslo Region, Norway. Geological Journal 40, 83-101.

Sansom, I.J. & Smith, M.P. 2005. Late Ordovician vertebrates from the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming USA. Palaeontology 48, 31-48.

Donoghue, P.C.J., Smith, M.P. & Sansom, I.J. 2004. The origin and early evolution of chordates: molecular clocks and the fossil record. 190-223. In: Donoghue, P.C.J. & Smith, M.P. (eds), Telling the evolutionary time: molecular clocks and the fossil record. Taylor & Francis, London.

Smith, M.P., Donoghue, P.C.J. & Sansom, I.J. 2002. The spatial and temporal diversification of Early Palaeozoic vertebrates. In: Crame, J.A. & Owen, A.W. (eds) Palaeobiogeography and Biodiversity Change: The Ordovician and Mesozoic-Cenozoic Radiations. Geological Society, London, Special Publications 194 69-83.

Sansom, I.J. & Elliott, D.K. 2002. A thelodont from the Ordovician of Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(4) 867-870.

Donoghue, P.C.J. & Sansom, I.J. 2002. Origin and early evolution of vertebrate skeletonization. Microscopy Research and Technique 59, 352-372.

Sansom, I.J., Smith, M.M. & Smith, M.P. 2001. The Ordovician radiation of vertebrates. 156-171. In P.E. Ahlberg (ed) Major events in early vertebrate evolution. Taylor & Francis, London.

Smith, M.P., Sansom, I.J. & Cochrane, K.D. 2001. The Cambrian origin of vertebrates. 67-84. In P.E. Ahlberg (ed) Major events in early vertebrate evolution. Taylor & Francis, London.

Smith, M.P. & Sansom, I.J. 2001: Vertebrate origins. 43-48. In: Briggs, D.E.G. & Crowther, P.R. (eds) Palaeobiology II. Blackwell Science