Abstract
Photography using cross-polarized light is a standard technique for certain types of fossils such as Burgess Shale material; however, the technique has not been used for photography of graptolites. Here we demonstrate that cross-polarized illumination is useful for obtaining high-quality images of graptolites. The technique can also facilitate visualization of fusellar banding, allowing fossils of uncertain affinity to be identified as graptolites.
Lucy A. Muir [[email protected]], Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK; Lucy M.E. McCobb [[email protected]], Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK; Yuandong Zhang* [[email protected]], CAS Key Laboratory of Economic Geology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China; *also affiliated with University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
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Acknowledgements
The Leica microscope and ringlight and the GX camera were purchased by means of crowdfunding, including a Holloway grant from the Warwickshire Geological Conservation Group. We are grateful to all who contributed. LMEM acknowledges the support of Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales. Finally, we also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).