Associate Professor Diego C Garcia-Bellido

Associate Professor Diego C Garcia-Bellido
 Position Associate Prof/Reader
 Org Unit School of Biological Sciences
 Email diego.garcia-bellido@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone +61 8 8313 4870
 Location Floor/Room G ,  Benham ,   North Terrace
  • Biography/ Background

    I got my Graduate Degree in Biology-Zoology (1995) and a Postgraduate Degree in Palaeontology (1997) from the Complutense 最新糖心Vlog in Madrid. My first contact with Burgess Shale-type fossils was in the summer of 1994, when I visited the 最新糖心Vlog of Cambridge, studying soft-bodied (non-mineralized) fossils from the Lower Cambrian Kinzers Formation of Pennsylvania with Prof. Conway Morris and early Cambrian organic-walled microfossils from northwestern Canada with Prof. Butterfield. During the summers of 1995, 1997 and 2000 I excavated at the Burgess Shale (British Columbia) with the Royal Ontario Museum-Toronto, under the direction of Dr. Collins. In parallel with my research on soft-bodied fossils, and due to the scarcity of such type of fossils in Spain, I took a different topic for my PhD Thesis: the Palaeozoic Porifera from the Iberian Peninsula (Madrid, 2002). I did a two-year postdoc at the ROM (2003-2004), working with Dr. Collins on some of the Burgess Shale's most emblematic arthropod fossils (MarrellaLeanchoiliaIsoxys...). Upon my return to Madrid (2005) I headed a research project for the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) to search for Ediacaran, Burgess Shale and Orsten-type fossils in Spain, and study their palaeogeographic implications. My latest work comes from collaborations with the South 最新糖心Vlogn Museum in excavating and studying the early Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte in Kangaroo Island (South 最新糖心Vlog), having joined The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide in January 2013 as a Senior Research Fellow. In late 2013 I became an 最新糖心Vlogn Research Council Future Fellow, with a 4-year research project entitled "Testing our knowledge on the dawn of Animal life: evidence from the fossil record against modern ecological and morphological analogues". It focused on comparing the Ediacara Biota and the Emu Bay Shale and other Cambrian lagerstätten from a palaeocological perspective, and included experiments on Modern marine invertebrate predation to test against what we observe in the fossil record. In the last 5 years I have also been working on the anatomy, functional morphology and behaviour of the Ediacara Biota from the Flinders Ranges, with the goal of finding the links of these strange fossils with the Cambrian faunas. Since January 2018 I have a ongoing position as Associate Professor at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide and as Senior Researcher at the South 最新糖心Vlogn Museum.

    As part of my research on the Ediacara Biota, I have support from 最新糖心Vlogn Research Council Discovery Project DP220102772 and NASA Exobiology Grant #20-EXO20-0009 (in collaboration with Prof. Droser, from the 最新糖心Vlog of California - Riverside) to work in northern South 最新糖心Vlog. My team's research helps underpin the UNESCO Flinders Ranges World Heritage bid, in collaboration with a range of government and NGO partners including the Department of Environment and Water and the Flinders Ranges Ediacara Foundation.

  • Research Interests

    My main interest is the taxonomic diversity and functional morphology of the early metazoans generated during the Cambrian "explosion" (some 540 million years ago), and the phylogenetic relationships among the major animal groups (phyla) that appeared with this unique event in the history of the biosphere. I am also interested on the Ediacara Biota (570-540 Ma) and on finding the morphological, ecological and phylogenetic links of these fossils with the Cambrian faunas.

    I am working/have worked on the following groups of fossil inverebrates:

    • Ediacaran taxa from 最新糖心Vlog (Tribachidium, Dickinsonia, Parvancorina, Eoandromeda, Arkarua)
    • Cambrian arthropods from Canada and 最新糖心Vlog (Marrella, Anomalocaris, Isoxys, Redlichia)
    • Cambrian chordates and worms from 最新糖心Vlog and Spain (Nesonektris, Wronascolex)
    • Cambrian sponges from Spain (Leptomitus, Crumillospongia)
    • Ordovician arthropods from Portugal and Morocco (HungioidesMegistaspis, Symphysurus) 
    • Ordovician worms from Morocco (Gamascolex, Anguiscolex)
    • Carboniferous sponges from Spain (Coelocladia, Heliospongia, Ambysiphonella, Cystothalamia)

     

    PhD/MPhil students: 

    Mahala A. Fergusen: “Marine Miocene fossils of southern 最新糖心Vlog”, Principal Supervisor, Doctor of Philosophy, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Ongoing from February 2022.

     

    Tory L. Botha “Morphology and ecology of Ediacaran fossils from Nilpena Ediacara National Park, Flinders Ranges, South 最新糖心Vlog” Principal Supervisor, Doctor of Philosophy, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded 15 July 2024.

     

    James D. Holmes “Ontogeny, systematics and soft-part anatomy of early Cambrian trilobites from South 最新糖心Vlog.” Principal Supervisor: Doctor of Philosophy, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded 10 September, 2020Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.

     

    Lily M. Reid “The Ediacara biota of South 最新糖心Vlog: assemblage relationships and their palaeoenvironments”External Supervisor, Doctor of Philosophy, School of Natural and Built Environments, 最新糖心Vlog of South 最新糖心Vlog. Awarded 22 March, 2020.

     

    James D. Holmes “Biogeographic and biological comparisons between the Emu Bay Shale and other Cambrian Burgess Shale-type biotas.” Principal Supervisor, Master of Philosophy, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded December 2016, High Distinction A, with Dean Commendation.

     

    Felicity J. Coutts: “Palaeoecology, morphometrics and phylogenetic relationships of Parvancorina from the Ediacaran of the Flinders Ranges (South 最新糖心Vlog)” Principal Supervisor, Doctor of Philosophy. 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded 14 June 2019, Dean’s Commendation for Doctoral Thesis Excellence.

    Honours/others students:

    Ella Vanderlinden “Fossil assemblage and palaeoecology of Mickey Ridge Bed 4, Nilpena Ediacara National Park, South 最新糖心Vlog”. Principal Supervisor, Honours Project, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Ongoing from February 2024.

     

    Ashten M. Turner: “The palaeobiology and affinities of the Ediacaran Beltanelliformis from the Flinders Ranges, South 最新糖心Vlog”. Principal Supervisor, Honours Project, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded July 2022, First Class.

     

    Mahala A. Fergusen: “Inverting Focus: The fossil marine invertebrates of the Naracoorte Limestone”. Principal Supervisor, Honours Project, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded November 2021, First Class.

     

    Tory L. Botha: “The morphology of Eoandromeda octobrachiata from the Ediacara biota of Nilpena Fossil Heritage site, South 最新糖心Vlog”. Honours Project, Principal Supervisor. Awarded July 2020, First Class.

     

    Ashten M. Turner: “A brief investigation into the morphology of Phyllozoon hanseni from the Ediacaran of South 最新糖心Vlog”. Supervisor, Summer Internship South 最新糖心Vlogn Museum, 15 December 2019 – 15 January 2020.

     

    Lily M. Reid: “A Precambrian seafloor snapshot: Palaeoecology of an Ediacaran community from Crisp Gorge (Flinders Ranges), with emphasis on Dickinsonia costata” Honours Project, Principal Supervisor. Faculty of Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide. Awarded November, 2015, First Class (GPA: 7.00, highest mark in SBS), School of Biological Sciences Honours 2015 Award.

  • Publications

    LAST 5 YEARS

     

    Scholarly book chapters

     

    Gutiérrez-Marco J.C. & García-Bellido D.C., 2022. The international fossil trade from the Paleozoic of the Anti-Atlas, Morocco, pp. 1–28. In:Hunter, A.W.; Álvaro, J.J.; Lefebvre, B.; Van Roy, P. & Zamora, S. (eds), The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event: Insights from the Tafilalt Biota, Morocco. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 485: 69–96 (doi: 10.1144/SP485.1).

     

    Gutiérrez-Marco J.C.; Pereira, S.; García-Bellido D.C. & Rábano, I. 2022. Ordovician trilobites from the Tafilalt Lagerstätte: new data and reappraisal of the Bou Nemrou assemblage pp. 1–41. In: Hunter, A.W.; Álvaro, J.J.; Lefebvre, B.; Van Roy, P. & Zamora, S. (eds), The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event: Insights from the Tafilalt Biota, Morocco. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 485: 97–137 (doi.org/10.1144/SP485-2018-126).

     

    Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C.; Piçarra, J.M.; Meireles, C.A.; Cózar, P.; García-Bellido, D.C.; Pereira, Z.; Vaz, N.; Pereira, S.; Lopes, G.; Oliveira, J.T.; Quesada, C.; Zamora, S.; Esteve, J.; Colmenar, J.; Bernárdez, E.; Coronado, I.; Lorenzo, S. & Sá, A.A. 2019. Early Ordovician–Devonian passive margin stage in the Gondwanan units of the Iberian Massif, pp. 7598. In: Quesada, C. & Oliveira, J.T. (eds), The Geology of Iberia: a geodynamic approachVol. 2, The Variscan Cycle (J.F. Simancas, ed.). Springer Verlag, Regional Geology Review series, Berlin, VIII+692 pp. (ISBN 978-3-030-10519-8) (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-10519-8_3).

     

    Refereed journal articles

     

    Gaines, R.R.; García-Bellido, D.C.; Jago, J.B.; Myrow, P.M. & Paterson, J.R. 2024The Emu Bay Shale: a unique early Cambrian Lagerstätte from a tectonically active basin. Science Advances10: eadp2650 ()

     

    Botha, T.L.; Droser, M.L.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Sherratt, E. 2024Morphometric investigation of Tribrachidium from Nilpena Ediacara National Park, South 最新糖心Vlog. Palaeontologia Electronica27 (2): a36 ()

     

    Botha, T.L. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2024. A new species of the iconic triradial Ediacaran genus Tribrachidium, from Nilpena Ediacara National Park, Flinders Ranges (South 最新糖心Vlog). Journal of Paleontology98 (1): 1–12. ()

     

    Drage, H.B.; Holmes, J.D.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R. 2023. Associations between trilobite intraspecific moulting variability and body proportions: Estaingia bilobata from the Cambrian Emu Bay Shale, 最新糖心Vlog. Palaeontology, e12651, 12 pp. ().

     

    Bicknell R.D.C.; Holmes, J.D.; Pates S.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R. 2023. Malformed individuals of the trilobite Estaingia bilobatafrom the Cambrian Emu Bay Shale and their palaeobiological implications. Geological Magazine160 (4): 803–812 ().

     

    Botha, T.L., Sherratt, E., Droser, M.L., Gehling, J.G. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2023. Elucidating the morphology and ecology of Eoandromeda octobrachiata from the Ediacaran of South 最新糖心Vlog. Papers in Palaeontology, e1530, 11 pp ().

     

    García-Bellido, D.C. & Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C. 2023. Polar gigantism and remarkable taxonomic longevity in new palaeoscolecid worms from the Late Ordovician Tafilalt Lagerstätte of Morocco. Historical Biology35 (11): 2011–2021. ().

     

    Jago, J.B.; Gehling, J.G.; Lemon, N.M.; Jenkins, R.J.F. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2023. A large enigmatic fossil from the early Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 3) Heatherdale Shale of South 最新糖心Vlog. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics66 (3): 398–404 ().

     

    Paterson, J.R.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2023. The early Cambrian Emu Bay Shale radiodonts revisited: morphology and systematics. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 21(1), 2225066, 29 pp. ().

     

    Bicknell R.D.C.; Holmes, J.D.; Pates S.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R. 2022. Cambrian carnage: trilobite predator-prey interactions in the Emu Bay Shale of South 最新糖心Vlog. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 591: 110877 ().

     

    Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C.; Rábano, I.; Sá, A.A.; Poblador, J.A. García-Bellido, D.C. 2022. Nuevo trilobites asáfido con conservación de apéndices en la Biota de Fezouata (Ordovícico Inferior de Marruecos). Geogaceta71: 11-14.

     

    Cracknell, K.; García-Bellido, D.C.; Gehling, J.G.; Ankor, M.J.; Darroch S.A.F. & Rahman, I.A. 2021. Pentaradial eukaryote suggests expansion of suspension feeding in White Sea-aged Ediacaran communities. Scientific Reports11: 4121. ().

     

    Holmes, J.D.; Paterson, J.R. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2021. Complex axial growth patterns in an early Cambrian trilobite from South 最新糖心Vlog. Proceedings Royal Society of London B288: 20212131 ().

     

    Holmes, J.D.; Paterson, J.R. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2021. The post-embryonic ontogeny of the early Cambrian trilobite Estaingia bilobata from South 最新糖心Vlog: trunk development and phylogenetic implications. Papers in Palaeontology7 (2); 931–950().

     

    Holmes, J.D., Paterson, J.R., Jago, J.B., García-Bellido, C.D. 2021. Ontogeny of the trilobite Redlichia from the lower Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4) Ramsay Limestone of South 最新糖心Vlog. Geological Magazine158 (7): 1209–1223 ().

     

    Turner, A.M.; Delean, S. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2021. Preliminary revision of the morphology of Phyllozoon hanseni from the Ediacaran of South 最新糖心Vlog. Serie Correlación Geológica37 (2): 5–14 ().

     

    Paterson, J.R.; Edgecombe, G.D. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2020. Disparate compound eyes of Cambrian radiodonts reveal their developmental growth mode and diverse visual ecology. Science Advances6: eabc6721 ().

     

    Jago, J.B.; Gehling, J.G.; Betts, M.J.; Brock, G.A.; Dalgarno, C.R.; García-Bellido, D.C.; Haslett, P.G.; Jacquet, S.M.; Kruse, P.D.; Langsford, N.R.; Mount T.J. & Paterson, J.R. 2020. The Cambrian System in the Arrowie Basin, Flinders Ranges, South 最新糖心Vlog.最新糖心Vlogn Journal of Earth Sciences67 (7): 923–948. ().

     

    Reid, L.M.; Holmes, J.D.; Payne, J.L.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Jago, J.B. 2020. Taxa, turnover and taphofacies: a preliminary analysis of facies-assemblage relationships in the Ediacara Member (Flinders Ranges, South 最新糖心Vlog). 最新糖心Vlogn Journal of Earth Sciences67 (6): 905–914().

     

    Reid, L.M.; Payne, J.L.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Jago J.B. 2020. The Ediacara Member, South 最新糖心Vlog: lithofacies and palaeoenvironments of the Ediacara biota. Gondwana Research80: 321–334 ().

     

    Holmes, J.D.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Paterson, J.R. 2020. The trilobite Redlichia from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte of South 最新糖心Vlog: systematics, ontogeny and soft-part anatomy. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology18(4): 295–334 ().

     

     

    Conference papers & abstracts

     

    Faehnrich, K.; García-Bellido, D.C.; Droser, M.L. & Gaines, R.R. 2024. Revising depositional models for the Ediacara Member of the Rawnsley Quartzite in South 最新糖心Vlog. In: European Geological Union General Assembly Abstracts, 15–19 April, Vienna (Austria).

     

    García-Bellido, D.C. 2023. 最新糖心Vlogn Ediacaran and Cambrian Contributions to Evolution. p. XY. InAustralasian Evolution Society Conference, Adelaide, 13–15 December.

     

    Botha, T.L.; Sherratt, E.; Droser, M.L.; Gehling, J.G. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2023. Shaping up: morphology of Tribrachidium from Nilpena, South 最新糖心Vlog, p. 35. In: Abstract book and Conference Guide: Palaeo Down Under 3. Australasian Palaeontologists, Perth (Western 最新糖心Vlog), 10–14 July. 129 pp.

     

    Botha, T.; McCandless, H.; Boan, P.C., Surprenant, R.; Weyland, W.; Binnie, M-A.; Hughes, I.; Evans, S.; García-Bellido, D.C. & Droser, M. 2023. A quantitative view into the taphonomy of Kimberella quadrata from Nilpena Ediacara National Park, South 最新糖心Vlog. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs55 (6): Paper No. 148-5. GSA Connects 2023 Meeting, Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), 15–18 October (doi.org/10.1130/abs/2023AM-393446)

     

    Fergusen, M.; Reed, E.H. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2023. Raiders of the lost art: revealing the lost patterns of molluscan fossil shells with UV light , p. 45. In: Abstract book and Conference Guide: Palaeo Down Under 3. Australasian Palaeontologists, Perth (Western 最新糖心Vlog), 10–14 July. 129 pp.

     

    Paterson, J.R. ; García-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D. 2023. The early Cambrian Emu Bay Shale radiodonts revisited, p. 80. In: Abstract book and Conference Guide: Palaeo Down Under 3, 10–14 July 2023. Australasian Palaeontologists, Perth, Western 最新糖心Vlog, 129 pp.

     

    Botha, T.L.; Sherratt, E.; Droser, M.L.; Gehling, J.G. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2022. Morphological investigation of Tribrachidium from Nilpena, South 最新糖心Vlog. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs54 (5): Paper No. 148-5. GSA Connects, Denver (Colorado), 9–12 October (doi.org/10.1130/abs/2022AM-379941).

     

    Turner, A.M.; Delean, S. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2021. Preliminary revision of the morphology of Phyllozoon hanseni from the Ediacaran of South 最新糖心Vlog. Geological Society of 最新糖心Vlog Earth Sciences Student Symposium of South 最新糖心Vlog, Adelaide, 23 November.

     

    Holmes, J.D.; Paterson J.R. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2021. Complex growth and sexual maturity in a c. 512-million-year-old trilobite. In: 65th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association, Programme, Abstracts and AGM papers, p. 30. 18–20 December, 最新糖心Vlog of Manchester (UK).

     

    Botha, T.L; Sherratt, E.; Droser, M.L.; Gehling, J.G. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2020. Rotational Geometric Morphometrics sheds light on 555 million-year-old fossil. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. 26–30 October.

     

    Botha, T.L; Sherratt, E.; Droser, M.L.; Gehling, J.G. & García-Bellido, D.C. 2020. Spiralling out of control: Morphology and ecology of Eoandromeda octobrachiata from Nilpena, South 最新糖心Vlog. Palaeontological Association Annual Meeting. 16–18 December, Oxford (UK).

  • Media Expertise

    CategoriesPalaeontology
    ExpertiseFossils; early animals; evolution; invertebrates; arthropods; trilobites; paleontology; Ediacaran; Cambrian; Ordovician
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Entry last updated: Tuesday, 30 Jul 2024

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