Joseph P. Botting. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China and Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK. acutipuerilis@yahoo.co.uk ORCID: 0000-0003-0388-8677
Joe Botting is a Guest Scientist at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and an Honorary Research Fellow at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales. He is originally from Hereford, and was educated at the University of Cambridge and University of Birmingham (PhD, 2001). After starting to work on sponges (because no-one else would do it for him), he developed an interest in their early evolution, and in exceptional preservation in general. He is currently a consultant entomologist, folk musician and tutor in palaeontology and natural history, living in the middle of Wales, and is occasionally paid to study fossils.
Lucy A. Muir. Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK. lucy@asoldasthehills.org
ORCID: 0000-0001-6324-2259
Lucy Muir is an Honorary Research Fellow at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge (1997) and then undertook an MSc in Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol (1999). Since gaining her PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2004, she has worked as a museum curator, a freelance geological consultant, a postdoctoral researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, and a freelance editor of scientific papers. Her research is primarily on Ordovician communities, particularly the graptolites, sponges and worms.
Junye Ma. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China. jyma@nigpas.ac.cn
ORCID: 0000-0002-0798-0529
Junye Ma is an associated researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academic Science. He received his undergraduate degree from Jilin Agriculture University (2000) and then undertook an MSc at the Shandong Agriculture University (2003). He got his PhD from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS in 2007. He has worked as an assistant researcher since then. His research is focused on the evolution of sponges and bryozoans.
