Arthropod types from Sparth Bottoms in the Howard Collection (Rochdale Museum Service)

Rochdale Museum Service holds a large collection of fossils from the important Carboniferous site of Sparth Bottoms (Lancashire, UK; Middle Coal Measures). Several of these are type specimens donated by Harold Howard in 1939. These objects were stored in the museum basement for several decades, and were thought to have been lost. The types are the holotype of the scorpion Eobuthus holti Pocock, 1911 and the holotype of the crustacean Anthrapalaemon grossarti var. holti Woodward, 1911a. These species were not named after Howard, because the describers thought that Fred Holt was the rightful collector. The holotype of the myriapod Euphoberia woodwardi Baldwin, 1911 (put into synonymy with Palaeosoma robustum Baldwin, 1911) is known to have originally been in the collection, but was not located in a recent survey.     

On the evolution of the black hole: spheroid mass ratio

We present the results of a study which uses the 3C RR sample of radio-loud active galactic nuclei to investigate the evolution of the black hole:spheroid mass ratio in the most massive early-type galaxies from  0 < z < 2  . Radio-loud unification is exploited to obtain virial (linewidth) black hole mass estimates from the 3C RR quasars, and stellar mass estimates from the 3C RR radio galaxies, thereby providing black hole and stellar mass estimates for a single population of early-type galaxies. At low redshift  ( z ≲ 1)  , the 3C RR sample is consistent with a black hole:spheroid mass ratio of   M _bh/ M _sph≃ 0.002  , in good agreement with that observed locally for quiescent galaxies of similar stellar mass  ( M _sph≃ 5 × 10¹¹ M_⊙)  . However, over the redshift interval  0 < z < 2  the 3C RR black hole:spheroid mass ratio is found to evolve as   M _bh/ M _sph∝ (1 + z )^2.07±0.76  , reaching   M _bh/ M _sph≃ 0.008  by redshift   z ≃ 2  . This evolution is found to be inconsistent with the local black hole:spheroid mass ratio remaining constant at a moderately significant level (98 per cent). If confirmed, the detection of evolution in the 3C RR black hole:spheroid mass ratio further strengthens the evidence that, at least for massive early-type galaxies, the growth of the central supermassive black hole may be completed before that of the host spheroid.