Previous Meetings of the Ostracod Group Spring Meeting 2008 25-27 April, Suffolk, UK The Ostracod Group of the Micropalaeontological Society Spring Meeting was held at the Field Studies Council Flatford Mill site in Suffolk. Members of the Ostracod Group - Flatford Mill, Suffolk, 2008. David Horne in "The Haywain redux" Spring Meeting 2007 28-29 April, Leicester, UK A good mixture of students, academics and consultants attended this very successful meeting of TMS Ostracod Group in Leicester. The meeting ran over a weekend, with an afternoon of talks and two morning visits to local scientific sites. The Friday evening started with many attendees visiting the Leicestershire village of Leire where we were superbly hosted by David and Pauline Siveter; indeed it was a family occasion, several wives were present and many of us stayed with the Siveters over the weekend period, the main result of which was a serious assault on the eminent Professor’s wine and whiskey supplies (thanks David). It was thankfully sunny for the Saturday morning fieldtrip, a visit to Groby* Pool (north of Leicester) to collect some Recent ostracods. This may have had its origins in a medieval fishpond. Today it is a SSSI to protect birds and other wildlife, but the ostracods have been rather neglected, until now that is (as far as we know there are no published records of living ostracods form Leicestershire). Leicester undergraduate Katy Gosling will be doing her third year dissertation on the ostracods from the pool. We sampled from various sites, with the knowledge of local expert Roy Clements who helped us identify freshwater gastropods and molluscs (see summary of molluscs at end of this report). Ostracods were present, although only one could be recognised in the field, a species of Herpetocypris (after all it was over 2mm long!). We look forward to learning more about the populations from Katy in due course. There was a packed schedule of talks and discussions on Saturday afternoon at the University of Leicester, on a wide variety of ostracod related topics. Dinah Smith (University of Leicester) introduced her PhD studies on the Roddons: microfossils and Holocene palaeoenvironmental change in the Fenlands. John Athersuch (StrataData) talked about how ostracods from the Caspian Sea are used for biostratigraphy in the Petroleum Industry. Ian Boomer (University of Birmingham) discussed the fate of the Metacopina, with a new look at the early Toarcian extinction. Roy Clements (University of Leicester) gave a detailed history of Groby Pool. Alan Lord (Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt) showed us some Middle Jurassic ostracods from Western Australia. John Whittaker (The Natural History Museum) reviewed ostracods from the Pleistocene of the Nene Valley. Vince Williams (University of Leicester) then introduced the ostracod fauna of (the recently created) Rutland Water which was initiated during a TMS ostracod Group visit to Rutland a few years ago. Carys Bennett(University of Leicester) updated us on her PhD work on Carboniferous ostracods from Scotland and the invasion of the non-marine realm. Mark Willliams (University of Leicester) showed an exceptionally preserved ostracod from the Miocene of Antarctica, and some special photos from a recent Antarctic field expedition. Finally, Ian Wilkinson (BGS) gave a talk on Cretaceous climate and ostracod distribution, David Siveter (University of Leicester) valiantly forfeiting his planned item on brood care in a Silurian ostracod, due to lack of time. We gathered on Saturday evening for a first class dinner at the White Horse pub in Leire, Leicestershire (David Siveter was clearly well-known by the proprieter). The meal and fine wines were much needed and appreciated after a hard day of fieldwork and discussions. A wonderful evening was had by all, and sleeping accommodation at David Siveter’s house was fortunately within staggering distance! On Sunday morning part of the group travelled to the British Geological Survey in Keyworth, for an informative two hour tour of the facility with curator Mike Howe and micropalaeontology researcher Ian Wilkinson. At the National Geoscience Records Centre Ian Wilkinson gave a brief talk on the history of the BGS, and Mike Howe showed us some of the many online databases that are available, including geological maps and borehole records. We walked through the huge core store and later had a chance to peek through the palaeontological collections, housed in beautifully preserved antique cabinets, with larger specimens out on display. The good attendance, friendly atmosphere, large number of talks and fine weather helped make it a special meeting to remember.  Carys Bennett & Ian Boomer Spring Meeting 2006 19-21 May 2006, Drongen, Ghent, Belgium A highly successful Spring Meeting was held in Drongen Abbey, near Ghent, excellently organised by Koen Martens and Isa Schoen (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), where the following talks were presented.

Carys Bennett (Leicester)	Ostracods from the Midland Valley of Scotland: colonisation of the non-marine realm in the Lower Carboniferous
Ian Boomer (Birmingham) et al.	Late Quaternary ostracod fauna and stable-isotope record from the Caspian Sea
Patrick De Deckker (Canberra)	Comparison between laser ablation ICP-MS and microprobe analyses of ostracod valves calls for caution on standard analyses of valves through solution chemistry
Dave Horne (Queen Mary, London)	'Why are darwinuloid males like London buses?
David Siveter (Leicester)	'The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang, China: the flowering of early animal life'
Ian Slipper (Greenwich)	The life and times of William Harris of Charing
John Whittaker (NHM, London)	Some new and imperfectly known Pleistocene ostracods from the UK

After the talks a short business meeting was held:

General notices:
1. John Whittaker was 'elected' as successor to Alan Lord as OG Secretary from the AGM in November 2006.
2. The next meeting is expected to be in Birmingham in October, details to follow.
3. John Whittaker and Alan Lord were presented with engraved glass goblets and a bottle of fine french wine with which to test them with! They received these awards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to ostracod research and to the Ostracod Group.

Spring Meeting 2005

The meeting was held on Wednesday 18 May 2005, in the Palaeontology Demonstration Room, The Natural History Museum.

13.30	Welcome and Introductions - Dr Ian Slipper (Chair, Ostracod Group).
	Housekeeping notices - Dr John Whittaker (Local Secretary).
13.35	The Natural History Museum Ostracod Collections - Dr Giles Miller (NHM)
14.00	The myodocope Entomozoe from the Silurian of the Russian Arctic - Professor David Siveter (Leicester)
14.25	Ostracod shell chemistry and the West Sussex raised beaches - Dr Jonathan Holmes (UCL)
14.50	What are Ostracoda? A cladistic analysis of the extant superfamilies of the subclasses Myodocopa and Podocopa - Dr Dave Horne (Queen Mary, London) with Isa Schoen, Robin Smith and Koen Martens
15.15	Tea
15.45	Musings on the Aral, Caspian and Black Sea ostracods - Dr Ian Boomer (Newcastle)
16.10	Biogeography and phylogeography of non-marine Ostracoda - Dr Dave Horne (Queen Mary, London) with Isa Schoen and Koen Martens
16.35	Demonstration of Plates for the Second Edition of 'A stratigraphical Index of British Ostracoda' - Dr John Whittaker (NHM)
16.50	Short Business Meeting
17.00	Close

The outline programme was as follows:

• Saturday 6 March - 'Wapping Seminar' of presentations and posters followed by dinner
• Sunday 7 March: Upper Cretaceous of Charing, Kent (classic Locality of T.R. Jones) and living freshwater localities (Leaders: Drs I.J. Slipper [Greenwich] and D.J. Horne [QMW London]).
  

Whitby Mudstone Fm., Bed RGC12, base immediately above Ironstone Mbr., tenuicostatum zone, sample yielded:
Trachycythere verrucosa Triebel & Klingler, 1959
Kinkelinella tenuicostata Martin, 1960
?Monoceratina sp.
Paracypris sp.

Modern Locality 1: Tilton Railway Cutting, seepage-fed swampy pond with abundant macrophytes in the bottom of the cutting close to the road bridge.
Abdundant Psychrodromus olivaceus (Brady & Norman, 1889).

Modern Locality 2: Tilton Railway Cutting, seepages / ponds under wooden walkway in bottom of cutting, abundant decidous leaf litter.
Abundant Eucypris pigra (Fischer, 1851);
Also some Potamocypris fulva (Brady, 1868).

Following lunch in the Noel Arms, Whitwell, the party sampled Rutland Water for living ostracods.

Whitwell Water Sports Centre (SK926082)
Ian Boomer demonstrated the workings of a Renberg corer and a dredge.

Modern Locality 3: margin of Rutland Water, sandy/muddy bottom 1-2m deep, adjacent to the jetty from which an intrepid boat team set sail to sample deeper waters.

Candona cf. candida (O. F. Mueller, 1776)
Cypria ophthalmica (Jurine, 1820) (abundant)
Cypridopsis vidua (O. F. Mueller, 1776)
Ilyocypris sp.
Limnocytherina sanctipatricii (Brady & Robertson, 1869) (one living adult female; several empty male and female carapaces also obtained)

Deep water sample, north arm of Rutland Water, near Limnological Tower (circa SK931073):
Material dredged by the boat crew yielded live
Candona cf. candida (O. F. Mueller, 1776)
Cypria ophthalmica (Jurine, 1820) (abundant)
Cypridopsis vidua (O. F. Mueller, 1776)
Cytherissa lacustris (Sars, 1863)
Ilyocypris sp.
Limnocytherina sanctipatricii (Brady & Robertson, 1869)

This is essentially the same fauna that was found on the margin at the jetty, with the addition of C. lacustris; this is only the third locality in Britain where you can find living Cytherissa lacustris, the other two being Semerwater in Yorkshire and Loch Assynt in Scotland (pers. comm. DJH, and IDB for the latter record).

Previous collecting on 28 September 1975 (Siveter 1975) yielded live:
Ilyocypris gibba (Ramdohr) - females only, very common, smooth and noded
Cypria opthalmica (Jurine) - adults and instars, common
Potamocypris villosa (Jurine) - common
Eucypris virens (Jurine) - rare
Erpetocypris reptans (Baird) - rare

Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre lagoons (lagoon no. 3, at circa SK893078):

Modern Locality 4 - small creek on lake margin, surface covered with duckweed (Lemna sp.). organic rich mud on bottom.
Cypria ophthalmica (Jurine, 1820)
Juvenile Candona sp

Modern Locality 5 – Phragmites reed bed on lake margin – organic-rich mud and reed debris.
Candona sp.
Cypria ophthalmica (Jurine, 1820)
Cypridopsis vidua (O. F. Mueller, 1776)
Ilyocypris sp.
Isocypris beauchampi (Paris, 1920)
Potamocypris cf. villosa (Jurine, 1820)
Additionally some large empty valves of Cypris pubera O. F. Mueller, 1776 were found among the reeds at Loc. 5.

Burley Fish Ponds area, north arm of Rutland Water (circa SK886086)

The Burley Fish Ponds are now beneath the north arm of Rutland Water, but in 1975 yielded (Siveter 1975):
Mud from Phragmites reed bed:
Cypridopsis vidua (Müller) - adults, very common
Candona neglecta Sars - valves only, rare, dead
Erpetocypris reptans (Baird) - adult valve fragments, rare
Ilyocypris gibba (Ramdohr) - rare

Open water pond:
Cypria opthalmica (Jurine) - adults and instars, common

Strand line sediment sample (SK889086):
A dry strand-line deposit of plant debris left by a former high lake level yielded empty valves of Herpetocypris sp., Candona sp. and juveniles of a large cypridid, possibly Cypris pubera.

Vince Williams will be conducting his undergraduate long project on Rutland Water ostracods, and we look forward to his results in due course.