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Welcome to the C.O.R.E.-Group Website

With deepest sadness we have to tell you that on March 12, our dearest colleague, friend, and discoverer of the Orsten, Klaus J. Müller, passed away in his home in Bonn, age 87.

Until last, Klaus was interested in many things and was even working hard on a book on gemstones, his main and long-lasting hobby over the past.

We all benefitted very much from Klaus' great scientific work and likewise knowledge, and we are very grateful that he could have been around supporting us for so long.

Thank you so much, Klaus, for a wonderful time together!

About the C.O.R.E. Group

CORE stands for an excellent example of a close and necessary alliance between Biology and Palaeontology to improve our understanding of Metazoan evolution. Our study objects are the Cambrian 'Orsten' fossils. These exceptionally preserved fossils have opened a unique window into early life at the bottom of the Cambrian Sea – even in a three-dimensional view. This aided to boost our understanding of the early evolution and phylogeny of especially the Arthropoda and to understand more about functional aspects and evolutionary changes toward the modern taxa.

In 2005 we established the Center of 'Orsten' Research and Exploration (= C.O.R.E.) and the informal research alliance CORE Group based on common interest in the 3D 'Orsten' fossils. The CORE Group currently has 34 members from no less than 9 countries and from 4 continents (don't know how to handle Japan). Our main idea is to concentrate expertise about 'Orsten' type fossils and lagerstätten and related topics and to disseminate information on the 'Orsten'.

At present we still have some bias on information from Swedish 'Orsten' lagerstätten, but we hope to add more from other sites, such as China, the UK (Comley), Poland, and Australia progressively, because the new localities from these countries have contributed significantly to and expanded the knowledge about and around the 'Orsten'. This is true as much for the time span of occurrences and range of fossils as for aspects of lithology, preservation and taphonomy. And, of course, for evolutionary implications, as you can see from our paper published in Nature in 2007 (click on publications above).

Enjoy our 'Orsten' web page, and feel free to send us an email; we are grateful for any kind of suggestions, additions, critics, etc.

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Left: Preservation of complete animals and of details. Right: Animals from sites around the world.
More pictures, e.g., in our gallery (click on left side)

About Our Research on the 'Orsten'

CORE Group Objectives and Aims, see here

CORE Group Scientific Activities

Ulm Team, see here – slight update March 01, 2010

Leicester Team, see here – updated September 30, 2009

Kunming Team – to be added

Non-Scientific Activities of the Ulm Team (e.g. fistball tournaments), see here
Orstenies won the 2010 Competition in Burlafingen, their first win in a tournament

News Ticker

2010

MS on stomatopod phylogeny and on crustacean limb evolution re-submitted, MS on Henningsmoenicaris in press

April 10: 1. place for Orstenies at Hobby Fistball Competition

April: Fossils & Strata volumes are scanned in, PDFs available in due course

April: Taxon list updated to more than 50 Orsten taxa

March 12: Klaus Müller died

March: Martinssonia pre-press available, see references

2009

December 24: 2 publications on nemathelminths from Australia out

December 13–15: Christopher and Andreas in Birminham at the PALASS Meeting, so were other CORE members, e.g. David, Euan and Tom

December 10: Henningsmoenicaris accepted

December 1: Yu Liu starting his new job in Munich

November: Goticaris & Cambropachycope published

October 4–7: PalGes Ann. Meeting in Bonn incl. Klaus Müller Symposium, Klaus receiving Honorary membership, Joachim receiving Tilly-Edinger-Prize

News Archive

since July 16, 2007


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