For all you other marine (and aquatic) tetrapod paleontologists (and biologists and anatomists) out there, the deadline for abstract submission for the 6th Triennial Conference on Secondary Adaptation of Tetrapods to Life in Water has been extended to May 1st.
That means that any of you who were hesitant about submitting something because you didn't have time because your master's level comprehensive exams were scheduled for the same day as the abstract deadline (and you totally kicked comps in the ass like a boss, and got your abstract on marine vertebrate taphonomy submitted anyway) can go ahead and take a couple more weeks to think about what you're going to submit.
Seriously, it should be a totally awesome meeting; aside from having events at a totally awesome institution like the San Diego Natural History museum and being organized by a couple of really great paleontologists (Annalisa Berta, Tom Demere, and their postdoc Eric Ekdale), it's in San Diego.
San Diego. In June. San Diego in June.
It's like going to Mexico for spring break, except there's marine mammal fossils, other paleontologists, the San Diego Zoo, and you don't have to worry about getting beheaded by drug cartel members and someone finding your head in a cooler on the side of the road (although if you decide to take a side-trip to Tijuana that could be a possibility).
I strongly urge all marine tetrapod folks to seriously think about submitting something; there are still plenty of slots open for oral and poster presentations, and the email that Eric sent out indicates that you can submit abstracts for an oral and poster presentation.
If you have projects concerning any of the following, SUBMIT SOMETHING!
-Cetaceans & other aquatic cetartiodactyls
-Pinnipeds
-Sirenians
-Desmostylians
-Other semiaquatic basal tethytheres
-Otters
-Polar bears
-semiaquatic rodents
-aquatic sloths
-Functional morphology of any of these critters
-Plesiosaurs & 'Pliosaurs'
-Placodonts
-Other whacky sauropterygians
-Thalattosaurs
-Mosasauroids and other 'pythonomorphs'
-Ichthyosaurs
-marine crocodylians
-TURTLES
-Marine iguanas
-Hesperornithiformes
-Penguins!
-Plotopterids
-Auks and Puffins! (Alcidae)
-Flightless cormorants (and other diving birds)
-all sorts of nonmarine aquatic birds I've forgotten
-Tanystropheus!
Again, here's the conference website:
http://www.sdnhm.org/satlw/
perspectives on marine vertebrate paleontology