Staff Profile Dr Lucy McCobb
Senior Curator: Palaeontology (Arthropods)
Contact Details
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NP
Phone: +44 (0)29 2057 3352
Staff Name
Job Title
Areas of Responsibility:
Qualifications, memberships and relevant positions
BSc (First Class, Joint Hons) Biology and Geology (Bristol); PhD Taphonomy of exceptionally preserved tissues (Bristol).
Member of the Palaeontological Association, Geological Curators’ Group and Palaeontographical Society. Editor on Council for the Palaeontographical Society.
Research Interests
Taxonomy of Ordovician trilobites, and using trilobite fossils for biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeography. Recent research projects have focused on trilobite faunas from Greenland, Canada, Kazakhstan and Wales. Other research has focused on other groups of arthropods (insects, lobsters), problematic fossils (machaeridia), and the taphonomy of exceptionally preserved fossils. Current research includes work on trilobites from the recently-discovered Castle Bank Burgess Shale-type lagerstätte in mid Wales. Another key interest is outreach and dissemination, including work on several temporary exhibitions, and co-ordinating public events in the Natural Sciences Department.
Keywords
Taxonomy, palaeobiogeography, biostratigraphy, taphonomy, Arthropoda, Trilobita, trilobites, collections, Ordovician, Greenland, Newfoundland, Kazakhstan, Wales, Castle BankLinks
Selected Publications
Botting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Pates, S., McCobb, L. M. E., Wallet, E., Willman, S., Zhang, Y. & Ma, J. 2023. A Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Castle Bank, Wales (UK). Nature Ecology and Evolution, 7, 666–674. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02038-4
Birch, R. & McCobb, L. M. E. 2023. The oldest trilobites in Cambria: Early Cambrian trilobite faunas from the Llanberis Slates Formation, Gwynedd, North Wales. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 134 (2), 197–215.
Buttler, C. J., Cherns, L. & McCobb, L. M. E. 2022. Trepostome bryozoans encrusting Silurian gastropods: A taphonomic window and its implications for biodiversity. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 67 (3), 569–577 https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00964.2021
Muir, L. A., McCobb, L. M. E. & Zhang, Y. 2021. Cross-polarized light as an imaging technique for graptolites, Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology, 45 (4), 415–418. DOI: 10.1080/03115518.2021.1983652
Pates, S., Botting, J. P., McCobb, L. M. E. & Muir, L. A. 2020. A miniature Ordovician hurdiid from Wales demonstrates the adaptability of Radiodonta. Royal Society Open Science, 7 (6): 200459.
McCobb, L. M. E., McDermott, P. D. & Owen, A. W. 2019. The taphonomy of a trilobite fauna from an uppermost Katian echinoderm Lagerstätte in South West Wales. Fossils and Strata, 64, 193–203.
McCobb, L. M. E., Boyce, W. D., Knight, I. & Stouge, S. 2014. Lower Ordovician trilobites from the Septembersø formation, North-East Greenland. Alcheringa, 38, 575-598.
McCobb, L. M. E., Boyce, W. D., Knight, I. & Stouge, S. 2014. Early Ordovician (Skullrockian) Trilobites of the Antiklinalbugt Formation, North-east Greenland, and their biostratigraphic significance [PDF]. Journal of Paleontology, 88 (5), 982–1018.
W. D. Boyce, L. M. E. McCobb and I. Knight. 2013. Continuing stratigraphic and trilobite studies of the Watts Bight Formation (St. George Group), Port au Port Peninsula, Western Newfoundland. Current Research, Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey, Report 13-1, 205-222.
McCobb, L. M. E. 2013. Golden Wonder! Rare fossil trilobite preserved in stunning detail. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales website.
Ghobadi Pour, M., McCobb, L. M. E., Owens, R. M. and Popov, L. E. 2011 (for 2010). Late Ordovican trilobites from the Karagach Formation of the western Tarbagatai Range, Kazakhstan. Earth and Environmental Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 101, 161–187.
Ghobadi Pour, M., Popov, L. E., McCobb, L. M. E. and Percival, I. G. 2011. New data on the late Ordovician trilobite faunas of Kazakhstan: implications for biogeography of tropical peri-Gondwana. In: Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C., Rábano, I. and García-Bellido, D. (eds.), Ordovician of the World. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 14. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, 171-178.
McCobb, L. M. E., Boyce, W. D. and Knight, I. 2011. Correlation of Lower Ordovician (Ibexian) faunas in north-eastern Greenland and western Newfoundland - new trilobite and biostratigraphic data. In: Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C., Rábano, I. and García-Bellido, D. (eds.), Ordovician of the World. Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, 14. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, 339-346.
Boyce, W. D., McCobb, L. M. E. and Knight, I. 2011. Stratigraphic Studies of the Watts Bight Formation (St. George Group), Port au Port Peninsula, Western Newfoundland. Current Research, Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources, Geological Survey, Report 11-1, 215-240.
McCobb, L. M. E. and Hairapetian, V. 2009. A new lobster Paraclytia valashtensis (Crustacea, Decapoda, Nephropidae) from the Late Cretaceous of the central Alborz Range, Iran. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 83, 419-430.
McCobb, L. M. E. and Bassett, M. G. 2008. Machaeridians from the Lower Silurian (Llandovery, Telychian) of Shropshire, England. Journal of Paleontology, 82 (6), 1207-1214.
McCobb, L. M. E., Briggs, D. E. G. & Hall, A. R. 2004. The preservation of invertebrates in 16th century cesspits at St Saviourgate, York. Archaeometry, 46 (1), 157-169.
McCobb, L. M. E., Briggs, D. E. G., Carruthers, W. & Evershed, R. P. 2003. Phosphatisation of seeds and roots in a late Bronze Age midden at Potterne, Wiltshire. Journal of Archaeological Science, 30, 1269-1281.
McCobb, L. M. E., Duncan, I. J., Jarzembowski, E. A., Stankiewicz, B. A., Wills, M. A. & Briggs, D. E. G. 1998. Taphonomy of insects from the Bembridge Marls (Late Eocene), Isle of Wight, England. Geological Magazine, 135, 553-563.