Our Upcoming Speaker
Note: Since October 2022, we have returned to in-person meetings at the Birmingham Zoo using a hybrid Zoom-In Person format with the in-person meeting at the Lodge at the Birmingham Zoo

​Title: "Chondrichthyans of the Early Carboniferous Bangor Limestone, north Alabama

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Speaker: Chase Egli, BS, Masters Degree Candidate, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Alabama

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Abstract:

​The Bangor Limestone has been the subject of numerous paleontological studies regarding its prolific and diverse invertebrate faunas; despite this, vertebrate taxa have remained relatively understudied until recently. Historical collections and ongoing fieldwork have yielded a rich chondrichthyan fauna in the Bangor Limestone, with over 50 distinct taxa being identified, including multiple new genera and species. Of the total, 11 taxa are represented by Elasmobranchii (relatives of sharks, skates, and rays) while the remainder are dominated by Holocephali (relatives of chimaera/ratfish). Efforts are ongoing to continue growing the taxa count while also processing teeth for various peer-reviewed articles.

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About the Speaker: 

Chase Egli holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology and is a master’s student in the Department of Geological Sciences at The University of Alabama. While his master’s thesis pertains to geologic mapping of the Cahaba synclinorium, his independent research centers on palaeoichthyology, particularly within the Paleozoic Era. He has led and coauthored multiple scientific publications describing new taxa from both Mammoth Cave National Park and the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, while also expanding understanding of poorly understood chondrichthyans based on newly found Alabama material. He hopes to continue into a PhD studying stable isotope geochemistry of shark teeth.

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