I was born in Wexham (near Slough) in May 1986. I decided at any early age that I wanted to follow palaeontology as a profession, thanks largely to many trips to the natural history museum and a full collection of the Dinosaurs! weekly magazine, and joined first Rockwatch then the Palaeontological Association. I spent my work experience helping out Andy Ross in the arthropod department of the Natural History Museum and In 2004 went to the University of Birmingham to study Geology with Biology, graduating in 2007. I studied for my Master's in Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol, and it was there that I first became interested in eurypterids, graduating with a distinction in 2008. Since then I have done odd bits of work (including exam marking for NFER) and continue to work on papers. I am currently studying for a PhD at the University of Kansas with Paul Selden, continuing my work on arthropod phylogeny and looking at patterns of selection across extinctions. Beyond palaeontology my interests include travel, ancient and medieval history, fiction writing and reading. I have a love for nature in all its forms, instilled in me from my parents, and take an active interest in conservation and general science. My academia.edu page: http://kansas.academia.edu/JamesLamsdell Below is a list of my publications to date. To view an abstract click on the number beside the reference.

Published Meeting Abstracts:
1. Lamsdell, J. C., Stein, M., Oleson, J. & Selden, P. A. 2012. Testing the Arachnomorpha and lamellipedian hypotheses: Whither the trilobites? Talk Abstract, 5th Conference on Trilobites and their Relatives.
2. Lamsdell, J. C. & Stein, M. 2011. Differentiating arthropod segment articulation morphology and its bearing on a revised phylogeny of basal chelicerates. Talk Abstract, Palaeontological Association Newsletter.
3. Lamsdell, J. C. 2011. The eurypterid Stoermeropterus conicus from the lower Silurian Pentland Hills, Scotland, and sexual dimorphism in eurypterids. Poster Abstract, Palaeontological Association Newsletter.
4. Marshall, D. J., Lamsdell, J. C., Braddy, S.,J. & Shpinev, E. 2011. A diverse chasmataspidid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) fauna from the Early Devonian (Lochkovian) of Siberia. Poster Abstract, Palaeontological Association Newsletter.
5. Lamsdell, J. C. 2011. Ties that bind: segment articulations in arthropods and their implications for basal chelicerate phylogeny.Talk Abstract, GSA Annual Meeting Programme and Abstracts.
6. Lamsdell, J. C. & Selden, P. A. 2011. Fossil spiders from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Lagerstätte, Brazil. Poster Abstract, Programme and abstracts, 35th Meeting of the American Arachnological Society.
7. Lamsdell, J. C. 2010. Character acquisition and relationships of the basal Eurypterida. Talk Abstract, Programme and abstracts International Palaeontological Congress 3.
8. Lamsdell, J. C. 2010. A new genus of eurypterid from the Lower Silurian Pentland Hills of Scotland and its implications for the phylogeny of the basal Eurypterina. Talk Abstract, Progressive Palaeontology Programme and Abstracts.
9. Lamsdell, J. C. & Braddy, S. J. 2009. A new phylogeny for Stylonurina and gigantism and competitive replacement among the Eurypterida. Poster Abstract, Palaeontological Association Newsletter.
10. Lamsdell, J. C. 2009. Competing sweep-feeding strategies in stylonurid eurypterids. Poster Abstract, Progressive Palaeontology Programme and Abstracts.
11. Lamsdell, J. C., Braddy, S. J. & Tetlie, O. E. 2008. The Portishead eurypterid Drepanopterus abonensis: implications for stylonurid phylogeny. Poster Abstract, Palaeontological Association Newsletter.

Papers in International Journals:
1. Lamsdell, J. C. In review. Revised systematics of Palaeozoic 'horseshoe crabs' and the myth of monophyletic Xiphosura. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
2. Lamsdell, J. C. In review. Redescription of Drepanopterus pentlandicus Laurie 1892, the earliest known mycteropoid (Chelicerata: Eurypterida) from the early Silurian (Llandovery) of the Pentland Hills, Scotland. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
3. Lamsdell, J. C., Hosgor, I. & Selden, P. A. In press. A new Ordovician eurypterid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from southeast Turkey: evidence for a cryptic Ordovician record of Eurypterida. Gondwana Research.
4. Dunlop, J. A. & Lamsdell, J. C. 2012. Nomenclatural notes on the eurypterid family Carcinosomatidae. Zoosystematics and Evolution 88, 19-24.
5. Lamsdell, J. C. 2011. The eurypterid Stoermeropterus conicus from the lower Silurian Pentland Hills, Scotland. Monograph of the Palaeontolographical Society, London: 1–84, pls 1–15.
6. Lomax, D. R., Lamsdell, J. C. & Ciurca Jr., S. J. 2011. A collection of eurypterids from the Silurian of Lesmahagow collected pre 1900. Geological Curator 9, 331-348.
7. Lamsdell, J. C. & Legg, D. A. 2010. An isolated pterygotid ramus (Chelicerata: Eurypterida) from the Devonian Beartooth Butte Formation, Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology 84, 1206-1208.
8. Lamsdell, J. C., Braddy, S. J., Loeffler, E. J. & Dineley, D. L. 2010. Early Devonian stylonurine eurypterids from Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 47, 1405-1415.
9. Lamsdell, J. C., Braddy, S. J. & Tetlie, O. E. 2010. The systematics and phylogeny of the Stylonurina (Arthropoda: Chelicerata: Eurypterida). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 8, 49-61.
10. Lamsdell, J. C. & Braddy, S. J. 2010. Cope’s Rule and Romer’s theory: Patterns of diversity and gigantism in eurypterids and Palaeozoic vertebrates. Biology Letters 6, 265-269.
11. Lamsdell, J. C., Braddy, S. J. & Tetlie, O. E. 2009. Redescription of Drepanopterus abonensis (Chelicerata: Eurypterida: Stylonurina) from the Late Devonian of Portishead, UK. Palaeontology 52, 1113-1139.