Lisa Amati

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Lisa Amati is an invertebrate paleontologist who has discovered new species of trilobites, naming one of her discoveries Kermiti for its resemblance to Kermit the Frog. [1] She became New York State's Paleontologist in 2015 and as such curates the New York State Museum's palaeontology collection. [2]

Career

Amati was appointed New York State's paleontologist in June 2015 by the New York State Board of Regents, becoming the first woman in over 50 years to serve as New York State Paleontologist.

(Winifred Goldring was the first woman New York State Paleontologist and served in that role from 1939 to 1954.) [3] In this position Amati curates the New York State Museum's paleontology collection and conducts field and laboratory research focusing on 450 million year old Trilobites. [4] For 11 years she served as a professor of geology at the State University of New York at Potsdam. [5]

Her publications include co-authoring "Systematics and paleobiogeographic significance of the Upper Ordovician pterygometopine trilobite Achatella Delo,1935," (2016), Journal of Paleontology; [6] "The Upper Ordovician trilobite Raymondites Sinclair, 144 in North America," (2015), Journal of Paleontology; [7] and authoring "Isoteline trilobites of the Viola Group (Ordovician: Oklahoma): systematics and stratigraphic occurrence" (2014). [7] Dr. Amati earned her B.S. in geology in 1997 from University of Wyoming, a M.S. in geology in 1999 from Kent State University and a Ph.D. in geology in 2004 from the University of Oklahoma. [8]

Related Research Articles

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Trilobites are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic before slipping into a long decline, when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetida died out. The last extant trilobites finally disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described.

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<i>Isotelus</i> Extinct genus of trilobites

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<i>Flexicalymene</i> Genus of trilobites (fossil)

Flexicalymene Shirley, 1936. is a genus of trilobites belonging to the order Phacopida, suborder Calymenina and Family Calymenidae. Flexicalymene specimens can be mistaken for Calymene, Gravicalymene, Diacalymene and a few other Calymenina genera. They are used as an index fossil in the Ordovician. Ohio and North America are particularly known for being rich with Flexicalymene fossils.

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Calymene blumenbachii Brongniart in Desmarest (1817), sometimes erroneously spelled blumenbachi, is a species of trilobite discovered in the limestone quarries of the Wren's Nest in Dudley, England. Nicknamed the Dudley Bug or Dudley Locust by 18th-century quarrymen it became a symbol of the town and featured on the Dudley County Borough Council coat-of-arms. Calymene blumenbachii is commonly found in Silurian rocks and is thought to have lived in the shallow waters of the Silurian, in low-energy reefs. This particular species of Calymene is unique to the Wenlock series in England, and comes from the Wenlock Limestone Formation in Much Wenlock and the Wren's Nest in Dudley. These sites seem to yield trilobites more readily than any other areas on the Wenlock Edge, and the rock here is dark grey as opposed to yellowish or whitish as it appears on other parts of the Edge, just a few miles away, in Church Stretton and elsewhere. This suggests local changes in the environment in which the rock was deposited.

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Thaleops is an extinct genus of trilobite of the family Illaenidae. It lived from the Floian to the Katian of the Ordovician in what is now North America. Thaleops can be told apart from other illaenids because of the cheek spines that many species possess under their eyes. Thaleops had a large distribution range, With some species being found in parts of Canada to some U.S states including Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and New York. It is thought to have lived in shallow water, as a study published in Oklahoma found that deposits that contained Thaleops and the asaphid trilobite Bumastides contained 4 times as many trilobite genera, where associated with shallow water areas.

References

  1. Swarns, Rachel L. (12 July 2015). "New York State's Paleontologist Seeks to Bring Prehistoric Era to Life". The New York Times . Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  2. "Lisa Amati Appointed New York State Paleontologist | The New York History Blog". 5 July 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  3. "Lisa Amati Appointed New York State Paleontologist | The New York History Blog". 5 July 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  4. "Dr. Lisa Amati Appointed New York State Paleontologist | The New York State Museum". www.nysm.nysed.gov. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  5. Swarns, Rachel L. (2015-07-12). "New York State's Paleontologist Seeks to Bring Prehistoric Era to Life". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  6. "Systematics and paleobiogeographic significance of the Upper Ordovician pterygometopine trilobite Achatella Delo, 1935Abstract | The New York State Museum". www.nysm.nysed.gov. doi:10.1017/jpa.2015.71. S2CID   132088071 . Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  7. 1 2 "Lisa Amati". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2016-08-26.
  8. "lisa.amati | The New York State Museum". www.nysm.nysed.gov. Retrieved 2016-08-12.