Paleontology Study Group Meeting
November 15, 2003
Chairman John Good called the meeting to order and introductions were made. John mentioned that the club has lost member Andrew Hay this month. He reminded all that MAPS is March 26-28 in Macomb next year.
Future Paleontology Group Meetings
January 17 Paleotechniques (volunteers wanted)
February No Meeting Due To Burpee PaleoFest
We are looking for a new chairman and secretary for this
group. Volunteers are welcome. John will be working with new Field Trip Chairman
Randall Buitman on many new field trips for next year. Member Bob Beadle
mentioned that other clubs were arranging for training and he will let us know
their plans. Although not all places require training it is thought that it
would be a good idea to get participants in ESCONI trained. Dave Bergmann
reported that the March Show will not have 2 of its regular vendors because
Larrry Osterberger and Bear Paw will not be able to make it. Irene Broede
reported on the Holiday Party December 6. Member Jim Schmidt reported on books
that he read and would recommend. They are “Taking Wing’, “Shapes of Time” and
“1421 – the Year that China Discovered America”. John then introduced our
speaker for the evening, member Tom Testa.
Vertebrates from Mazon Creek
Tom Testa has accumulated a wonderful collection of Mazon Creek fossils and
shared some of his vertebrates with us. Some of them are museum caliber and
probably represent new species. He had a case full of interesting animals,
mainly fish. He had a huge hybodont spine tip with organic remains within it. He
estimated that it must have been a foot long. He has a series of primitive
coelcanth Rhabdoderma. Modern ones make the eggs and hatch them internally
in the female. One is seen coiled in an egg sac and one is hatched with the yolk
sac hanging below the body. A very large Latimera scale had to come from
an animal at least 10 feet long. Another coelcanth is shorter and stubbier than
the more common R. elegans and has no yolk sac. It may be a new species
of coelcanth.
He had 2 types of blades he calls snub nosed and flat head. The flat head has
fairly large eyes and placed back on the skull. The snub nose had smaller eyes
that were close to the nose. Both have branching feathery gills. He has 3
specimens of flat head with tentacles coming from the heads just forward of the
branching gills. There is no mouth trace or jaws and can not be larval lungfish
that would have had jaws. They appear to be related to amphioxus that has
pleural lobes on the belly. There is another fish he calls skinny that looks
like a skinny Esconichthys. They have flaring jaws and tiny eyes by the
snout. Some specimens have yolk sacs and are like hagfish. This may be a new
hagfish but Dave Bardack would need to see it. He has two Gilpichthys,
one large and one small, that have muscular tongues with fangs and are thought
to be grasping animals. None of these specimens have gut contents. However, some
of the blades do; one with gut contents, one with feces, and one with inflated
rectum (which is also used in reproduction also). One concretion has 2 coupled
blades indicating that they needed a coupling organ to hold them together. These
must have been adults, not larvae. There are some fish that are males when small
and become functional females when big for making egg yolks. He also had one
Platysoma (like an angelfish). A lungfish scale again has organic remains
and was probably from the head because it is irregular. There are several
Elonichthys that are hard to tell apart because they are so small. The
Acanthodes look like sharks and teleosts. They often have 2 brown lumps in
the back of their heads that are identified as otoliths. They have big eyes and
probably were active at night or in murky water. They had good ears. They have
spines and they have 3 forms, chubby, regular and long (may be new species).
Tom then answered questions. After more discussion the meeting was adjourned for
refreshments and much more discussion. Several members had brought fossils in
for identification.
Respectfully Submitted Karen Nordquist, Secretary
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