Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

ESCONI Events June 2022

Field trips require membership, but visitors are welcome at all meetings!

Fri, June 10th	ESCONI General Meeting 8:00 PM Zoom - Topic: “Off-Axis Seamount Investigations at Siqueiros: The OASIS Expedition” by Dr. Patricia Gregg, University of Illinois. This meeting will be held via Zoom.  Zoom link
Sat, June 11th	ESCONI Junior Meeting - 7:00 PM at College of DuPage - Topic: "Our Juniors' Rock Viewing Microscope" Specifics of this meeting are available from Scott Galloway, 630-670-2591, gallowayscottf@gmail.com. The meeting will be in person at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building, Room 1038A (Map).
	ESCONI Paleontology Meeting - No Meeting in June... see you in September!

 

A Canine Companion So Nice It (Maybe) Evolved Twice #dog #evolution #dogs #wolf #wolves

Wolf pups enjoyed snack time at Wolf Park, a zoo and research facility in Battle Ground, Ind. Scientists agree that gray wolves are ancestors of dogs, but there are still many unanswered questions about the origins of dogs.Credit...Andrew Spear for The New York Times

The New York Times has a story about man's (and woman's) best friend.  For a long time, we've wondered "where did dogs come from?".  Now, after research that has looked at 72 ancient wolf genes, we might finally know.  It seems that two different lineages of ancient wolves contributed to the DNA of modern dogs.  Research published in the journal Nature found that a population in Asia and a separate population in the Middle East or the surrounding area make up the ancestry of modern dogs.

For years, one of the most confounding questions in science — alongside “What is dark matter?” and “Why do we sleep?” — has been one that many pet owners may have found themselves casually pondering: Where did dogs come from?

Scientists generally agree that humanity’s best friend descended from gray wolves, scampering into our lives at least 15,000 years ago. Virtually everything else is a matter of debate.

“When and where did this happen and with whom — with what human group?” said Pontus Skoglund, a paleogeneticist at the Francis Crick Institute in London. “It’s really a mystery.”

Studies have turned up widely divergent answers, variously concluding that dogs were first domesticated somewhere in Asia or Europe or the Middle East or perhaps in multiple locations.

Mazon Monday #119: Carboniferous Insects #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #Carboniferous #insects #insect #fossil #ISM

This is Mazon Monday post #119.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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In 1943, the Illinois State Museum published the first paper in a series that would form the basis of the third volume of the Scientific Papers of the Illinois State Museum. All of the papers in that volume entitled "Coal Age Fossils" (see Mazon Monday #80) addressed the Carboniferous nodules which occur near Mazon Creek in Illinois.  This first paper was titled "Carboniferous Insects from the Vicinity of Mazon Creek Illinois".  It was written by F. M. Carpenter, who also wrote Chapter 14A "Insecta" of the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

Frank Morton Carpenter was an absolute giant in the field of fossil insects.  He had a tremendous impact on the field of paleoentomology during his career (from 1928 to the 1990's), publishing many papers and describing many new species.  In 1947, he described Meganeuropsis americana, which is still the largest insect ever discovered.  It lived in what is now Oklahoma about 300 million years ago and had a wingspan of 75 centimeters or about 30 inches.

Here is a summary of Dr. Carpenter and his accomplishments.

Frank Carpenter’s professional career at Harvard University began by his being appointed as a Research Fellow in Applied Biology (1928), supported by a three year National Research Council postdoctoral grant, and continued with the following appointments: Associate in Entomology, MCZ (1931); Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Palaeontology, MCZ (1932); Instructor in Zoology (1935); Curator of Fossil Insects, MCZ (1936); Assistant Professor of Palaeontology, MCZ (1936); Associate Professor of Entomology, MCZ (1939); Member of the Board of Freshman Advisers (1942-1946, 1963-1965); Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology (1945) [four appointments for five years each and a final one for four years, all consecutively, 1950, 1955, 1960, 196511; Acting Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1946); Acting Director of University Extension (1954, 1958, 1964-1966); Chairman of the Evolutionary Biology Training Grant Committee (1965-1973); Fisher Professor of Natural History (1969) and Emeritus (1973); President of Phi Beta Kappa (1970-1971); Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology Emeritus (1973); Honorary Curator of Fossil Insects, MCZ (1973).

The fossil insect collections at Harvard’s MCZ are second in importance only to those at the Institute of Palaeontology of the Russian Academy of Science (Moscow). This excellence was due to Frank Carpenter, the only curator of these collections, including during the last 20 years of his life as (voluntary) Honorary Curator. Frank had a very good relationship with his Russian colleagues and, through collaboration and two visits to Moscow, he amassed a superb library of Russian paleoentomology literature.

For almost 40 years Frank Carpenter taught entomology, paleontology, and related subjects at Harvard. He never took a sabbatical! His famous year-long course in entomology stimulated many students, a number of whom went on to become professional entomologists. As Edward O. Wilson wrote (1976, J. Paleontology 50(3):549-550), Frank Carpenter was the "embodiment of entomology at Harvard" and played a "role as paterfamilias of the Harvard entomological community." Carpenter was chairman of the Department of Biology from 1952-1959, an important period of biological development at Harvard. Frank Carpenter was also a devoted teacher at the Harvard Extension School for more than 30
years, longer than any other professor, and besides being Acting Director several times, he was renowned for stimulating the interest of many students in insects and he considered this a very fulfilling experience.

Frank Carpenter’s influence in evolutionary biology was also recognized outside Harvard. During, and even after, his official academic career at Harvard he was awarded a number of research grants, especially from the National Science Foundation. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and its Vice President from 1961 to 1963 and President of the National Scientific Research Society (Sigma Xi) from 1955 to 1957. In 1975 he was awarded the Paleontology Society Medal and in 1983 was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. Finally, in 1993 he received the Thomas Say Award from the Entomological Society of America (Fig. 1).

As Robin Wootton, a close colleague of Frank Carpenter’s, described him (1994, Antenna 18(2):56-58): "Simply, he was the greatest ever palaeoentomologist." Carpenter conducted research on fossil insects for almost 70 years, specializing in insects from the Paleozoic Era, an especially significant time, when many entire orders and families were completely different from the modern ones, unfike the Mesozoic. Carpenter particularly concentrated on the Permian and Carboniferous, publishing numerous papers on the Lower Permian fauna of Elmo, Kansas; the Lower Permian of Midco, Oklahoma; and the Carboniferous of North America (especially Mazon Creek, Illinois). However, he also published important works on other periods, e.g., Miocene shales of Florissant, Colorado and studies of amber from the Tertiary Baltic and Cretaceous Canadian deposits. Carpenter described one of the most famous fossil insects, a dragonfly from Elmo, with a wingspan of about 29 inches, Meganeuropsis americana Carpenter 1947, the
largest insect ever known (Fig. 2).

In "Carboniferous Insects", he discusses the sixteen insect fossils found in the Mazon Creek deposit by George Langford, Sr. and George Langford, Jr.  Those fossils were sold to the Illinois State Museum and still reside in its collections.  Previously, he had described two new insects in 1938 in a paper called "Two Carboniferous insects from the vicinity of Mazon Creek, Illinois", which was published in the American Journal of Science.  That paper described Lithoneura lameerei and Adeloneura thompsoni, which are mentioned in the text.

The ironstone nodules occurring near Mazon Creek, Illinois, are the most important source of Carboniferous insects in North America. Although actually very rare in the nodules, about 150 specimens have been found during the past 78 years, and a few still turn up. The present paper is based on sixteen insects included in a large collection of fossiliferous nodules secured over a period of many years by George Langford, Sr., and George Langford, Jr., and recently acquired by the Illinois State Museum. I am indebted to Dr. H. A. Lowenstam for his courtesy in loaning the fossils for study.

The Langford collection is remarkable for the inclusion of sev eral excellent specimens which rank among the very best ever found at Mazon Creek. One of these, the type of Thesoneura americana, n. sp., is by far the largest complete wing which has turned up in the nodules. Five insects in the collection are sufficiently well preserved for specific description or determination. Three belong to the Order Palaeodictyoptera and one to the Protorthoptera. The fifth specimen probably represents a new order, but its affinities are uncertain and until more of its structure is known, I have placed it under incertae sedis. The remaining eleven specimens are so fragmentary or poorly preserved that nothing can be done with them.

All nodules in the Langford collection were found at the strip mine of the Northern Illinois Coal Corporation, between the towns of Wilmington and Braidwood, only a few miles from Morris. The Francis Creek shales, which yield the nodules, are part of the Carbondale group (Upper Carboniferous). This is considered by geologists to be about the same age as the Alleghenian of Pennsylvania and the middle or late Westphalian of Europe. The Mazon Creek insects therefore are older than those of the famous Commentry shales, in Central France.

The article contains detailed drawings of insect wings.

Text-figure 1. Thesoneura americana, n. sp. Drawing of holotype. Sc, sub costa; R1, radius; Rs, radial sector; MA, anterior media; MP, posterior media; CuA, anterior cubitus; CuP, posterior cubitus; 1A, first anal. +, convex veins; concave veins.

Text-figure 3. Lithoneura mirifica, n. sp. Drawing of holotype. Lettering as in figure 1.

The back of the book has beautiful black and white pictures of some of the insects discussed.

Meet Psittacosaurus, The Dinosaur That Keeps on Giving #dinosaur #paleontology #fossil #cretaceous

Psittacosaurus (centre) and an unnamed stegosaur (left)

Max' Blogo-Saurus has a fantastic post about Psittacosaurus.  Psittacosaurus means "parrot lizard", which comes from it's beaked face.  It is related to all ceratopian dinosaurs like Triceratops and is classified near the base of Marginocephalia.  There are at least 12 species of Psittacosaurus.  Their abundance in Asia during the Cretaceous Period has lead to the discovery of many non-avian dinosaur characteristics, like feathers, gastroliths, and social behavior.

What is the most abundant dinosaur?

If you guessed Psittacosaurus – a small horned dinosaur from across Asia – you are correct!

While most dinosaurs have just one species, Psittacosaurus has twelve. Twelve! Having eleven more species than the average dinosaur may seem insane, but when you consider that thousands of Psittacosaurus specimens have been discovered, it becomes easier to fathom.

Despite being so common, I bet you’ve never heard of Psittacosaurus. There are two understandable reasons for this. First, at under two meters long and weighing no more than 40 kilograms (88 lbs), Psittacosaurus was tiny compared to dinosaurs like Triceratops or Stegosaurus. Second, while it was a member of the ceratopsian order (horned dinosaurs), Psittacosaurus was an early genus and thus lacks the massive frills and horns that became widespread in later members.  

Giant Viruses Blur The Line Between Alive and Not #virus #biology #evolution

PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one is about the evolution of giant viruses.

In 2003, microbiologists made a huge discovery. One that would force us to reconsider a lot of what we thought we knew about the evolution of microbial life: giant viruses.

Fossil Friday #115: Ordovician Conulariid #fossil #paleontology #conularid #fossils #Ordovician #galena

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #115.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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For this weeks Fossil Friday, we have something different... very different.  It's a Conulariid.  It was found by Connor Puritz on the May 21st, 2022 ESCONI field trip to a Belvidere, IL quarry.

Conulariia are mystery animals.  They are often classified with Cnidaria, but may represent a separate, extinct phylum.  UCMP has a nice description of them.

Conulariids have been the subject of speculation for a century and a half. They aren't that uncommon; there are a number of genera, and they ranged from the Middle Ordovician to the Triassic. There are even a few cases in which conulariid soft parts have been preserved. Nonetheless, exactly what they were is still not settled. Because of their fourfold symmetry, they have often been placed in the Cnidaria by analogy with the fourfold Scyphozoa. However, their skeleton was very different from anything known in the Cnidaria, and they may represent a separate, extinct phylum, probably triploblastic (see Babcock 1991 for a defense of the separate phylum hypothesis, and Van Iten 1991 for a defense of the cnidarian hypothesis).

What can we say about conulariids? They had elongated, pyramidal exoskeletons, made up of rows of calcium phosphate rods. Most were square or rectangular in cross section, with prominent grooves at the corners. They lived attached to hard objects by a flexible stalk, and often lived in groups. Presumably they were filter feeders; how they reproduced is not known.

Thanks for the interesting contribution, Connor!  These are fascinating animals and you have a very nice specimen!  Connor has a nice field trip report over on the Fossil Forum.

Throwback Thursday #117: Trilobite Troubles #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #fossil #paleontology #trilobite

This is Throwback Thursday #117.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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For this week throwback, we have a poem called "Trilobite Troubles" from the November 1963 edition of the newsletter.  This poem was written by Bob Bennett of the Elgin Rocks & Minerals Society, which is now known as the Elgin Rock Club,

TRILOBITE TROUBLES

In the Paleozoic Era of prehistoric time
Lived a three-lobed little creature,
Burrowing in ocean bottom slimo.
He lived, and died, and fossilized,
His race now is no more.
He lies encased in hard old rock,
Which was once the ocean floor.

My search for him covers many miles,
Cost in time and money alone,
Of Band-Aids, gas, and worn-out shoes,
Is enough to make one groan!
Ten million tons of rock I've climbed,
Of the following limestone;

I've combed through cliffs of Cambrian,
And over Ordivician, too.
And sleuthfully searched for him in vain,
In what was Silurian goo.
I've dug and delved in Devonian,
And Mississippian rocks were a mess.
Those piles of Pennsylvanian proved,
No better than the rest.
Over pyramids of Permian,
I've poked and pried 'til pooped,
Now prematurely aged, I'm worn-out, grey, and stooped!

It's true I have some pieces,
Middles, ends, a staring eye,
Please smile on me, O Lady Luck,
One WHOLE ONE before I die!!!

-- Bob Bennett Elgin Rocks & Minerals Society --

New Illinois Supreme Court Decision Regarding Access to the Mazon River #fossil #morris #fossils

The Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI) was founded in 1949 with an aim to promote public interest in the earth sciences. In addition to advancing education through publications, scholarly lectures, student research grants, and field trips, the club fosters ethical conduct, especially as it pertains to collecting on private property. Personal safety, respectful cooperation, and adherence to the law are paramount to any successful outing. As a member of ESCONI, one is also a representative of the club.

Rule Number 6 of the ESCONI Code of Ethics states specifically, “Members will not collect without appropriate permission on private or public lands.” This is particularly relevant to a case just decided by the Illinois Supreme Court (Holm v. Kodat 127511, June 16, 2022) clarifying private property rights on non-navigable waterways in the state.

The matter of a riparian owner on the Mazon River, or their licensee, having the right to use the river to cross the property of another riparian owner without permission has been for years working its way through the Circuit and Appellate Courts, and most recently the Illinois Supreme Court. On June 16, 2022, it was decided by the Supreme Court that case law (Beacham, 1988) permitting certain lakefront landowners free passage (because property boundaries on the surface of a lake are difficult to ascertain) does not apply to non-navigable rivers like the Mazon River where property boundaries are more established.

Further, under Illinois Common Law – on the books now for well over a century –riparian ownership is considered private property, which includes the riverbed and any articles upon it, the water and its surface. (Two landowners on opposite sides of a river would share a property boundary at the center of the current.) Another angle in the Common Law discussion was that of “reasonable use,” but this concept was found by the court to address consumptive and diversionary uses of water and not the surface of the river to enter another’s property without their consent. Thus, access to non-navigable river property in Illinois is by law not granted without specific landowner authorization. The Supreme Court’s decision was unanimous.

As many of us in the club know, the Mazon River contains exquisite and much sought-after fossils, so scientifically important that a section of the river (on private property) was made a National Historic Landmark in 1997. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling to uphold the Circuit Court’s Order (2018 CH90-March 10, 2020) is definitive. It states that riparian landowners “shall have exclusive rights to all property owned by them, including the land, water, surface of the water, and any and all substance of whatever nature both upon the land and beneath the surface of the Mazon River.” (See also Illinois Supreme Court opinion 127511 June 16 2022).

As enthusiasts for all things Mazon Creek, we must strictly observe the law in this matter. Trespassing and illegal procurement of private property (in this case, fossils) are punishable, so one must seek explicit permission from landowners for access. It is our responsibility as a community, and it will ensure legal and productive collecting for all in the future.

 

'She's perfect and she's beautiful': Frozen baby woolly mammoth discovered in Yukon gold fields #fossil #mammoth #mummy #canada #woolymammoth

A well-preserved whole baby woolly mammoth was discovered at Treadstone Mine in the Yukon’s Eureka Creek, south of Dawson City, on Tuesday. (Government of Yukon)

CBC News has a story about the discovery of a mummified baby woolly mammoth.  The animal lived about 35,000 years ago in the Canadian Yukon Territory near Eureka Creek, south of Dawson Creek.  A gold miner was digging through muck with a front end loader when he discovered the find of a lifetime.

A perfect storm of events has led to a once-in-a-lifetime discovery for a gold miner, a First Nation, a veteran paleontologist and a territory.

"I don't know how to process it all right now, to be honest with you. It's amazing," said Dr. Grant Zazula, the Yukon government's paleontologist.

A little after noon on June 21, National Indigenous People's Day, a young miner working in Yukon's Eureka Creek, south of Dawson City, was digging up muck using a front end loader when he struck something.

He stopped and called his boss who went to see him right away.

When he arrived, Treadstone Mining's Brian McCaughan put a stop to the operation on the spot.

Within half an hour, Zazula received a picture of the discovery.

According to Zazula, the miner had made the "most important discovery in paleontology in North America."

It was a whole baby woolly mammoth, the first one ever found in North America and, according to Zazula, only the second in the world.

"She has a trunk. She has a tail. She has tiny little ears. She has the little prehensile end of the trunk where she could use it to grab grass," said Zazula.

"She's perfect and she's beautiful."

Mazon Monday #118: Mazonova helmichnus #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #eggs #amphibian #fossils #lungfish

This is Mazon Monday post #118.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Last Friday (Fossil Friday #114), we featured Mazonova helmichnus, which are eggs - possibly amphibian or lungfish eggs.  Here's a little more information about them.

Mazonova helmichnus were classified in 1995 by Stephen Godfrey in the paper "Fossilized eggs from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois".  The paper appeared in the journal Ichnos - an International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces.  For more on Dr. Godfrey, see his website - Paleo Skullptures.

Nine siderite concretions from the Middle Pennsylvanian, Francis Creek Shale (Carbondale Formation, Desmoinesian Series, West‐phalian C‐D), in the Mazon Creek area, Will‐Kankakee Counties, Illinois, U.S.A. preserve clusters of impressions of small eggs. Differential staining of the matrix suggests that the eggs were originally spawn within gelatinous strings containing 1 or 2 rows of eggs. Unfortunately, these egg impressions lack the diagnostic features needed to identify the zoological taxon (taxa) from which they originated.

"Nine siderite concretions"... did we say rare?!?

M. hlmichnus appears in "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna" by Jack Wittry, with a few nice examples.

Mazonova helmichnus Godfrey, 1995

Egg cases other than those of sharks from the Paleozoic are extremely rare in the fossil record. However, many unique eggs have now been discovered in Mazon Creek fossils. The exact types of animals that laid these eggs are unknown, but there must have been several. The eggs are likely from both fish and amphibians. They have been found as strings, as clusters, and as masses of individual eggs, from six to fifty in number. No internal structures have been seen in the egg impressions.

Mazonova helmichnus eggs are found as blackened spheres often encased in lighter color material, usually in the form of a string. Individual eggs range in size from 3 to 6 mm.

The "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek" have a nice description by Dr. Godfrey in chapter 21 "Coprolites and Trace Fossils (Biogenic Structures)".

Fossilized Eggs from Pit 11

Mazonova helmichnus

Apart from the egg capsules of chondrichthyans (sharks and their kin; Zidek, 1976), fossilized eggs from the Paleozoic are exceedingly rare. Nine nodules from the spoil heaps within the Pit 11 area are an exception, as they preserve strings of eggs that closely resemble those spawned by some living fish and amphibians. To my knowledge, fossilized eggs of this type have never been found elsewhere. The known specimens are currently held by the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Canada), Mary Pat Smith (Chicago, Illinois), and the Mazon Creek Project (Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois). These unique trace fossils have been named Mazonova helmichnus (Godfrey, 1995).

Differential staining of the iron carbonate (Figure 21.8) immediately around the egg impressions indicates that they were originally spawned within a gelatinous sheath containing one or two rows of eggs. The preserved remnants of the sheath are almost always a lighter color than the eggs, ranging from tan to white. What is now interpreted as the sheath remnant does not appear to be a preservational artifact. In ROM 47490, for example (Figure 21.8), some of the egg impressions are seen to zig-zag within the ribbon. Had the decomposing eggs altered the appearance of the surrounding matrix, one would expect the outer margin of the sheath to follow more closely the alignment of the eggs within. Furthermore, in some specimens, short segments of the sheath are devoid of eggs. In the known specimens, the diameter of the sheath ranges from 3.0 to 6.0 mm.

The number of eggs per nodule varies from 6 to 50. The diameter of the eggs ranges from 1.4 to 1.7 mm. Adjacent ova frequently abut; others are separated by 1-2 mm. In most specimens, the ova are about the same color as the iron carbonate matrix, although they can be either darker or lighter. Embryological differentiation within the egg impressions has not been observed.

Discussion. The Pit 11 fauna consist primarily of the marine Essex type, but freshwater Braidwood elements are also found. In the Pit 11 area, a 2-5 km wide zone of mixing occurs between the Braidwood and Essex, particularly at the northern end (Schram, 1979). Baird (1979) has suggested that the Braidwood faunal constituents within this area were washed into the sea during distributary flooding of the neighboring swamps and delta levees. Unfortunately, as a result of this localized faunal mixing, it is uncertain whether M. helmichnus eggs were spawned by a marine or freshwater or ganism. Nevertheless, on the basis of the spawn morphology in living organisms, the fol lowing observations are given: Among the invertebrates, some opisthobranch molluscs extrude eggs in gelatinous ribbons or sheets (Thompson, 1976). However, opisthobranch eggs range in diameter from about 40 to 400 μm, with most about 100 μm in diameter, much smaller than those described here. The diameters of both the eggs and surrounding sheaths lie within the vertebrate range. Among extant vertebrates, at least five species within the Teleostei spawn egg ropes or ribbons (Breder and Rosen, 1966). A greater number of living amphibian species spawn egg strings that resemble those figured here (Duellman and Trueb, 1986). One should note however that amphibians assignable to the extant orders and teleosts do not appear in the fossil record until the Mesozoic. Nevertheless, the Mazon Creek fauna is not without fish or amphibians that could have spawned these eggs.

Specimens

From "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna"

From ESCONI member Ralph Jewell

 

"Meet the Fossils": Ancient life that powers our world #fossil #fossilfuels #fossils #coal #energy #SundayMorning

 

CBS Sunday Morning has a video about fossil fuels... where did they come from?  Two Lepidodendron trees a month!

When we burn fossil fuels to power our homes and cars, we're burning the remains of ancient life – plants and animals that were transformed over millions of years into coal or oil. And we are using up that resource at a rapid rate. Writer and narrator Robert Krulwich explains how in this "CBS Sunday Morning" video essay, based on the work of Aatish Bhatia. Animation directed and designed by Nate Milton. Music by Buck St. Thomas.

Fossil-finding ants amass huge haul of ancient creatures #fossil #paleontology #fossils #ants #mammals #mammal

National Geographic has a story about tiny fossil collector.  The tiny collectors are harvester ants.  They uncovered more than 6000 micro fossils as they built their mounds,  The micro fossils included small teeth and jaw fragments - all at most a few millimeter wide.  These micro fossils are believed to be parts of ten new mammal species, including nice species of rodent and a new insect eating shrew-like mammal.

Across the western United States, the industrious insects known as harvester ants are often cast as pests. These ants gather seeds and live in large sediment mounds, and they can deliver nasty stings to creatures they perceive as threats. A mound can last for decades and, to the chagrin of some property owners, the land up to 30 feet away is protectively picked clean of vegetation.

But as these ants construct their mounds, they do something remarkable: act as the world’s smallest fossil collectors.

The colonies clad their mounds with a half-inch-thick layer of small rocks about the size of beads, possibly to protect the structures from wind and water erosion. To find material for this cladding, the ants venture more than a hundred feet from the mound. In addition to bits of gravel, they gather up any tiny fossils and archaeological artifacts that they happen upon.

Fossil Friday #114: Basket of Mazon Eggs #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #FossilFriday #eggs #amphibian #fossils

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #114.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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For this week, we have some exciting Mazon Creek fossils... I know, I know, we never do Mazon Creek.   Well, here is another... These are Mazonova helmichnus, which are eggs.  They were classified in 1995 by Stephen Godfrey in the paper "Fossilized eggs from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois".  The paper appeared in the journal Ichnos - an International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces.  For more on Dr. Godfrey, see his website - Paleo Skullptures.  The current thinking is they are either fish or amphibian eggs.

These photos were sent in by ESCONI member Ralph Jewell, whom you might know from his generous contributions of fossils at our Braceville trips.  These specimens were all collected in Pit 11 at various times. In his epic Fossil Forum thread "Sometimes You Have To Whack It !!", he just recently opened the last one shown below.  I always look forward to when he updates that thread.  In it, he's opened a nice insect, many beautiful plants, and of course a whole bunch of jellies.  Check it out!

From Ralph:

The first and third specimens were collected in the 70’s and identified at the Field Museum by Dr. Richardson, the second specimen was collected in 1989 and the specimen that I opened this month (last one) was collected around 1992.

These are rare and beautiful fossils!  Thanks for sharing, Ralph!

Collected in the 1970s

Collected in 1989

Collected in the 1970s

Collected around 1992 - opened last week!

Throwback Thursday #116: Field Museum Photo Archives #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #FieldMuseum @SUEtheTrex #trilobite #kingtut

This is Throwback Thursday #116.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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Here's a few photos from the Field Museum Photo Archives over on Tumbler.  Unfortunately, the photo blog hasn't updated since 2015, but there is still many good photos to browse on it!

Fossil Friday, Tully Monster. Check out one of our scientific illustrators working on the model of the Tully Monsters. The Tully Monster is Illinois state fossil. 

I really imagined it would be bigger with a name like Tully Monster.

© The Field Museum, GEO82828.

Tibor Perenyi, scientific illustrator, creating a model of the Tully Monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium for exhibit.

8x10 negative 

11/19/1963 

Taxidermy Tuesday, Hippo model. 

We just couldn’t resist this adorable baby hippo model.

© The Field Museum, Z84742.

Mr. Leon L. Walters making Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) Celluloid acetate reproduction model Zoology specimen 22367.

5x7 negative

1949 

Fossil Friday. Check out the amazing texture on this fossil trilobite tail. 

Also not to sure what’s going on with the photos under the fossil, seems like a strange backdrop. 

© The Field Museum, GEO80562

Odontocephalus bifidus tail.

4x5 negative

3/1/1948 

Taxidermy Tuesday, Moose transport. When the Field Museum switched buildings in 1920, everything was moved by train including this lovely moose. 

© The Field Museum, GN84639, Photographer Herbert P. Burtch, Oriental Institute.

Men and Moose outside Field Museum Exterior. Moving from old building.

5x7 negative 

4/26/1920

Here is a great view of the museum which shows how very different the South Loop looked back in 1952. 

© The Field Museum, GN78957.

Field Museum Building [exterior]. Across Lake Shore Drive from Shedd Aquarium.

4x5 negative

3/1/1952 

International Dinosaur Month.

Fossil Friday Protoceratops. 

© The Field Museum, GEO81449.

Protoceratops skeleton with fossil eggs. Late Cretaceous fossil from Djadochta beds, Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Hall 38 Case 42. Pre-installation Geology specimen P14046. Ceratopsian.

8x10 negative

7/1/1954 

How about a throw back to 1962 for the first time “Tutankhamun Treasures” went on display at the Museum from June 15-July 15.

© The Field Museum, GN79697.

Churchhill School Pupils presenting General card to the Director.

4x5 negative

5/1/1962

 

CBC Quirks & Quarks: Black Death origins, chicken domestication, the life of a mastodon... #fossil #paleontology #archaeology #chicken #blackdeath #mastodon

A mounted skeleton of the Buesching mastodon, based on casts of individual bones produced in fiberglass, on public display at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. (E. Bronson, Michigan Photography)

CBC's Quirks & Quarks podcast has some interesting stories this week. 

Origins of the Black Death... it didn't come from where everyone expected

A team of historians, archeologists and geneticists, including Philip Slavin from Stirling University in Scotland, has identified what they believe to be ground zero in the medieval bubonic plague pandemic known as the Black Death. They've found a graveyard in Kyrgyzstan where gravestones identify victims of a "pestilence," dating to just before the plague exploded around the world in the late 1340s. DNA recovered from the victims also has the fingerprint of the tell-tale plague bacteria. Their research was published in Nature.

Fossil Mastodon tusks left clues as to their life story

Scientists have used chemical analysis of the growth layers in the tusk of a 13,000 year-old mastodon fossil to reconstruct its life and migrations. Joshua Miller, an assistant professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati, matched chemical isotopes found in the tusk to particular geographic locations at particular times in the mastodon's life to map out where it travelled. It thrived in childhood, had a rough adolescence and annually migrated to mating sites as an adult, where it ultimately met its end in a fight as another mastodon's tusk punctured its skull. The study was published in the journal PNAS. 

There are the other three stories:

• When we first kept chickens it was likely because they were pretty, not tasty
• Elephant seals feel their way to prey using whiskers in the deep, dark ocean
• How do birds smell? A new book says very well, and sometimes very good

New prehistoric plant discovery highlights the unexpected diversity of non-flowering plants #fossil #paleontology #botany #paleobotany #plants #vancouverisland #fossils #evolution

Holberg Inlet, along the north shore of Vancouver Island, is a rich site for Cretaceous flora. (Az Klymiuk), Author provided

The Conversation has an interesting post about non-flowering plants.  A new genus of non-flowering plants discovered in the Apple Bay fossil locality of northern Vancouver Island is shedding light on the evolutionary relationships between the major lineages of seed plants.

The new plant, Xadzigacalix quatsinoensis, probably also represents yet another order of extinct plants. The name is a nod to Kwak̓wala-speaking First Nations — the Apple Bay locality occurs within traditional and unceded territory of the Quatsino First Nation. Xadzigacalix derives from xa̱dziga, a Kwak̓wala word for plant resin, and calix, which is Latin for chalice. The name reflects the resinous, fleshy cupule that surrounds and protected the seeds of the Xadzigacalix plant.

The seeds of this plant have complex three-layered seed coats and were produced at the tip of a woody stem. A cupule encloses most of the seed, except for a narrow tube through which the embryo would have been pollinated. This organography, along with anatomical features like vascular tissue that are observable at a cellular level, constitute a novel combination of features not found in any other lineage of plants.

It’s not yet clear which group of seed plants actually gave rise to the angiosperms. Xadzigacalix likely represents a new order of seed plants, perhaps distantly related to gnetophytes or angiosperms. While research in plant molecular systematics (a discipline that uses genetic data to understand plant relatioships) has resolved most evolutionary relationships within flowering plants, their origins and nearest relatives remain mysterious.

Mazon Monday #117: Crenulopteris mazoniana #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #fern #plant #fossils #pennsylvanian

This is Mazon Monday post #117.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Crenulopteris mazoniana is a somewhat uncommon extinct species of fern from the Mazon Creek fossil flora.  It was first named by Leo Lesquereux in 1870 as Alethopteris mazoniana.  As seen from its fertile form shown in a specimen below, it was a spore fern unlike the seed fern Alethopteris.

The names of some of these common fern species have tortured pasts, which only makes them harder to classify.  In Jack Wittry's first book, "The Mazon Creek Fossil Flora", it was referred to as Pecopteris mazoniana and to add to the confusion Pecopteris miltoni in the ESCONI "Keys to Identify Pennsylvanian Fossil Plants of the Mazon Creek Area".  P. miltoni is a British species, which was named by Edmund Tyrell Artis in 1825 as Filicites miltoni.

From George Langford

Asterotheca miltoni. Artis; GL handwritten text.

From the ESCONI Keys.

Pecopteris miltoni

This species was formerly named Asterotheca miltoni. The frond is large and quadripinnate. The pinnules are alternate on, and perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to, the rachis. On the lower portion of the pinna, they are separate. Near the apex of the pinna, the pinnules become united in varying degrees. At the apex of the pinna, the pinnules become merely the crenulate margin of the elongate primary pinnule. The ventral (upper) surface is villous. (hairy).

The venation is thin and indistinct, and often obscured by a covering of fine hairs. The midvein is straight, at a right angle to the rachis, and extends nearly to the apex where it forks.

The lateral veins arise at a 45 degree angle, are straight, fork once near the base, sometimes forking a second time. In larger pinnules, the lower veinlet is commonly unforked while the upper veinlet is forked. The smaller, more terminal pinnules commonly show single forking, with the smallest, united pinnules having unforked veins. In such pinnules the midvein is usually slightly curved.

The fertile pinnules are similar in shape and venation to the infertile. The dorsal surface has Asterotheca-type synangia that are roughly shaped like a star or cross, having four or five arms of unequal length.

This most common of the Mazon Creek Pecopterid fronds, named "miltoni," after a British species by earlier paleobotanists, can be quite variable in size and appearance. A recent restudying of Mazon Creek specimens demonstrates enough consistent differences between the British paratype and those from Illinois, to prompt some workers into advocating naming the species "mazoniana" as did Lesquereux more than a century ago.

Wittry recategorizes P. mazoniana as Crenulopteris mazoniana in "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".

Crenulopteris mazoniana (Lesquereux) Wittry, comb. nov.

1870. Alethopteris mazoniana Lesquereux: p. 391, pl. 9, figs. 1-8; pl. 13, figs. 5, 6
1879-80. Pseudopecopteris mazoniana Lesquereux: p. 190, pl. 32, figs. 1-7a, (fig. 2 re-figured here as Fig. 1)
1903. Mariopteris mazoniana (Lesquereux) White
1940. Mariopteris mazoniana (Lesquereux) White; Janssen: p. 58. pl. 14, figs. 1-3, 7
1963. Pecopteris mazoniana (Lesquereux) Langford: p. 206, figs. 809-811, (fig. 809 re-figured here as Fig. 4)
1969. Mariopteris mazoniana (Lesquereux) White; Darrah: p. 122

Basionym; Alethopteris mazoniana Lesquereux, 1870. Ill. Geol. Surv., Vol. 4, Report on the Fossil Plants of Illinois. p. 391 pl. 9, figs. 1-8; pl. 13 figs. 5, 6

DESCRIPTION: The pinnae are linear and gradually contract to a blunt apex. The rachis is marked by fine, irregular, longitudinal striations, and is channeled and winged when the upper surface of the pinna can be seen (see Fig. 8). The lower surface of the rachis is narrowed by decurrent pinnules that may overlap at the their bases (see Fig. 5). The mature pinnules on the ultimate pinna (see Fig. 1) are close, oblong, obtuse, joined at the base, slightly oblique to the rachis, and crenate. The margins of the pinnules are generally reflexed. The pinnules are variable in length along the pinna. The venation is very thin and is often totally obscured in the lamina. The midvein is well marked by a groove and is slightly decurrent, becoming thinner near the tip. The lateral veins are distant, rise at a 30° angle, and meet the margins obliquely. They fork once near the base with the lower veinlet becoming straight and meeting the margin at an acute angle. The upper veinlet will remain simple or fork once or twice more. The sori touch each other as they closely follow the edge of the margin, and have an asterothecoid appearance with 4 or 5 sporangia. The isolated spores are correlated with Punctatosporites/Laevigatosporites minutus.

REMARKS: Crenulopteris mazoniana is uncommon. The features of C. mazoniana necessitate its removal from Alethopteris, Pecopteris, and Mariopteris. The spores are monolete and thus quite different from the trilete spores of Pecopteris sensu stricto; the sori most resemble those of the marattialean ferns. The well-documented Palaeozoic marattialean ferns, with mostly crenate or lobed mature pinnae and "lobatopterid" venation, are now accommodated in Crenulopteris.

Specimens

From Langford

Wittry

Keith Robitschek - fertile form

Mazon River

Massive bulldog-faced dinosaur was like a T. rex on steroids #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #fossils #dinosaurs #egypt #africa

A newly discovered, as-yet unnamed abelisaurid cautiously approaches a watering hole, in this detail from an artistic representation of the ecosystem of the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt's Sahara Desert approximately 98 million years ago. (Image credit: Image by Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

Live Science has a post about a new dinosaur discovery.   This new dinosaur is still unnamed and is known to be a meat-eater, which belonging to a group called the abelisaurids.   This dinosaur lived during the Cretaceous Period about 98 million years ago in the famous Bahariya Formation in what's now Egypt's Sahara Desert.  From previous discoveries, this large predator would have shared the ecosystem with a number of other large predators like Carcharodontosaurus, Bahariasaurus, and Spinosaurus.  For more details, you can find the description in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Like other abelisaurids, the newfound dinosaur had a shortened, bulldog-like face. And despite its ferocious appearance, this carnivore probably wasn’t the biggest, baddest boss to roam its stomping grounds.

"We’re about 99% sure that, unlike some of its relatives from other times and places, this particular abelisaurid was not at the top of its food chain," Matthew Lamanna, a paleontologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and one of the researchers who discovered the dinosaur, told Live Science in an email.

 

 

Though Lamanna and his fellow scientists found only a single bone, they were able to identify the fossil as an abelisaurid vertebra almost immediately, based on distinctive structures called epipophyses. "That’s a multisyllabic word that basically means 'sticky-outy bits on the top left and top right of the vertebra,'" Lamanna said. This abelisaurid is the first dinosaur of its kind to be discovered at the Bahariya Formation site. After running a computer-based analysis of the bone’s morphology, the team concluded that it belonged to a previously unknown species, which has yet to be given a scientific name. They published their findings June 8 in the journal Royal Society Open Science(opens in new tab). 

Something Has Been Making This Mark For 500 Million Years #fossil #paleontology #fossils #mystery #paleodictyon #alps

 

PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one is a about a fossil mystery... what is Paleodictyon, a hexagonal-patterned fossil?

Paleodictyon, a hexagonal-patterned fossil, is a bit of a mystery. We don’t even know if it’s a trace fossil, or the organism itself. So… what could it be?

Fossil Friday #113: Alethopteris serlii #fossil #paleontology #FossilFriday #fossils #MazonCreek

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #113.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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Alethopteris, in its many forms, is a popular favorite among the many Mazon Creek fossil plants.  They belong to a group called Pteridospermatophyta, which are commonly called seed ferns.  Seed ferns evolved way back during the Devonian Period.  Unfortunately, they had largely gone extinct by the late Cretaceous Period with just a few species surviving into the Eocene (fossils from Tasmania).  These plants made up part of the forest understory during the Carboniferous.  See our Mazon Monday #57 post for more information.

Today's fossil specimen of Alethopteris serlii is one of the best examples I've ever seen.  It is stunning!  And, yes... that is a quarter for size.  It's preserved in the classic Alethopteris 3 dimensional detail.  Collected in either Pit 1 or 2 way back in the day, this contribution comes from ESCONI member Jeremy Zimmerman.  Thanks for sharing the beauty of this truly extraordinary specimen!

 

Throwback Thursday #115: Safety Tip from 1972 #TBT #history #fossil #bone #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #115.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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Licking a rock can give you valuable information when trying to identify it. See this story from Discovery.com.

Claire E. Terhune from Discovery.com

Back up. We agree, licking maybe-ancient maybe-fossils doesn't sound like a thing you should be trying. But for seasoned geologists, licking specimens is an average day on the job. According to The Earth Story, poking your tongue at a sample for taste and consistency can give you specific valuable information: "There is sylvite, a mineral closely related to halite, but with an even more pungent, disgusting salty taste. Then there are the "sticky" minerals, like chrysocolla or kaolinite (a type of clay), which make up in texture what they lack in taste. Their flavor is not distinctive but these minerals will stick to your tongue when you give them a lick — a dead giveaway."

The dino fossil lick will be stickier than a stone slobber because of the porous nature of bone. As the organic material of the dinosaur (guts, muscles, fat, etc.) breaks down over time, the inorganic stuff will stick around longer. These parts of the bone were made of minerals like calcium, which leaves a fragile, porous mineral in the shape of the internal bone structure. After licking your fossil, the next step is to seek out a cold glass of water. Unless you've been craving fossilized bone for dinner.

However, be careful as this safety tip from the ESCONI newsletter in June 1972.  This was originally published in the Ozark Earth Science News, which seems to be the newsletter of the Ozark Earth Science Club in Mountain Home, AR.  Remember, Howard and Olive Knight moved there in 1968.  They were very active original members of ESCONI.  That explains the shared articles in the early 1970's.

SAFETY TIP

This may sound like bragging-
But there I was--Alone
When I found this funny fossil rock
That looked just like a bone.
Well, Sir, as I studied it
I saw some words was writ
Upon it--so I licked it well.
And cleaned it good with spit--
Then I read this Readin'
"Beware of Rocky Fungus-
Birds and Dogs have passed this way-
And Fungus is among us".

Alas, tis true--California clubs have reported great danger of a lung fungus from licking rocks in certain areas. It is a good practice to break--right now. Carry a squirt bottle of water with you--it's safer.

via Ozark Earth Science News

How little, furry mammals that scurried under dinosaurs' feet came to rule the world #fossil #paleontology #mammal #fossils #mammals #evolution

"The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us" explores the wild mammal lineage from the Triassic period to present day. (Image credit: Mariner Books, Courtesy Steve Brusatte)

Live Science has a new book review... "The Rise and Reign of the Mammals".  Looking for some summer reading material?  Steve Brusatte, who hails from Ottawa, IL, has a new book out.  This one tracks the rise of mammals from the synapsids of the Carboniferous (like the sail-backed Dimetrodon) up to modern day mammals.  His previous book "The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World" was a New York Times bestseller!

In his new book, Brusatte dives into the mammalian lineage dating back to the synapsids, a bizarre group of animals that lived during the Carboniferous period (359 million to 299 million years ago) that eventually evolved into the mammals. He traces the evolution of mammals up to the present day, sharing quirky facts (did you know that mammals' ear bones were once part of the jaw?) and introducing readers to the scientists who have made the study of mammals what it is today.

 

 

But don't take it from us. You can learn more about his new book from Brusatte himself, in an email Q&A with Live Science about his work. Brusatte's responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

Trilobite Tuesday #41: Travels with Trilobites #fossil #paleontology #trilobite #TrilobiteTuesday #fossils

There's a new trilobite book coming out on June 21st, 2022.  It's called "Travels with Trilobites".   The author is Andy Secher a prolific collector of trilobites.  He lives in New York City just a few blocks from the American Museum of Natural History.  He's co-editor of the AMNH's very informative trilobite website.

Trilobites were some of the most successful and versatile organisms ever to exist. Among the earliest forms of complex animal life, these hard-shelled marine invertebrates inhabited the primal seas of the Paleozoic Era. Their march through evolutionary time began in the Lower Cambrian, some 521 million years ago, and lasted until their demise at the end of the Permian, more than 250 million years later. During this vast stretch of planetary history, these adaptable animals filled virtually every available undersea niche, evolving into more than 25,000 scientifically recognized species.

In Travels with Trilobites, Andy Secher invites readers to come along in search of the fossilized remains of these ancient arthropods. He explores breathtaking paleontological hot spots around the world—including Alnif, Morocco, on the edge of the Sahara Desert; the Sakha Republic, deep in the Siberian wilderness; and Kangaroo Island, off the coast of South Australia—and offers a behind-the-scenes look at museums, fossil shows, and life on the collectors’ circuit. The book features hundreds of photographs of unique specimens drawn from Secher’s private collection, showcasing stunning fossil finds that highlight the diversity, complexity, and beauty of trilobites. Entertaining and informative, Travels with Trilobites combines key scientific information about these captivating creatures with wry, colorful observations and inside stories from one of the world’s most prolific collectors.

The Smithsonian Magazine website has a nice review of the book.

Hooked is an understatement. Fast forward to adulthood and Secher has amassed a personal collection of some 5,000 fossils, which he houses inside his 1,650-square-foot Manhattan apartment. His passion for fossils, and specifically trilobites—extinct hard-shelled marine invertebrates that existed during the Paleozoic Era, a time period that stretched around 289 million years—led him to a career as a field associate in paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). There, for the past 15 years, he has been co-editor of the museum’s popular Trilobite website.

“I often joke that I have the largest trilobite collection on the Upper West Side,” Secher says. (The fact that the world-renowned museum, with its thousands of specimens, is less than a half-mile walk from his apartment makes the quip all the more humorous.)

So, what is it about trilobites that make them different from other fossils? For Secher, the answer is simple. In his book he writes, “Even at a very early stage in the history of life on our planet, the trilobite design had already proven to possess a certain degree of evolutionary perfection.” Add to that the fact that there’s such a variety of specimens out there, resembling everything from what he describes as a “hydrodynamic spaceship” to “nothing more than a primordial meatloaf,” and it’s easy to see why collectors like Secher are thirsty for trilobites.

More recently, Secher added another bullet point to his résumé with the release of his book Travels with Trilobites: Adventures in the Paleozoic, which takes readers on a journey to some of the best places around the world to see these ancient arthropods, from museum collections to quarry fossil beds.

Mazon Monday #116: Coprinoscolex elliogimus #fossil #paleontology #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #fossils #worm #pennsylvanian

This is Mazon Monday post #116.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Coprinoscolex elliogimus is an animal long referred to by collectors as the "Leech".  More recent research now shows it to be an echiuran, which are commonly called "spoon worms".  They are deposit feeders living in shallow water, in rock cracks and crevices, or even under boulders.   Like leeches, they are also Annelid worms.  Being a soft-bodied animal, echiurans are rare in the fossil record with C. elliogimus is the earliest known occurrence.

C. elliogimus was described in 1977 by Douglas Jones and Ida Thompson in "Echiura from the Pennsylvanian Essex Fauna of northern Illinois".

Abstract

The first unequivocal fossil echiuran, Coprinoscolex ellogimus gen. et sp.n., is described from the Middle Pennsylvanian Francis Creek Shale of the Mazon Creek area of northeastern Illinois. Specimens are whole-body impressions within siderite concretions. They show anterior proboscides, cigar-shaped trunks, convoluted alimentary canals, and cylindrical pellets. Lack of setae suggests classification in the Family Bonelliidae. Coprinoscolex was most likely a marine deposit-feeder, either crawling over the sediment surface or burrowing to shallow depths while ingesting sediment. While this occurrence does not confirm or deny an annelidan ancestry for the Echiura, it indicates that by the Pennsylvanian, echiurans were unsegmented and essentially modern in form.

Ida Thompson is an American invertebrate paleontologist who identified many Mazon Creek worm-like animals in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  She is also known for writing "The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fossils", a book that has inspired many young paleontologists.  Doug Jones is an American paleontologist that has published extensively on the geology and paleontology of Florida.

C. elliogimus appears on pages 13 and 14 of "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna" by Jack Wittry.

Coprinoscolex ellogimus Jones and Thompson, 1977

This plump, cigar-shaped animal has long been called a leech by collectors, but recent investigations have designated Coprinoscolex ellogimus an echiuran, the earliest known in the fossil record. It was a marine, shallow-water deposit feeder. Pellets in the body gut area are a prominent field mark and consist of ingested mud serving as a substrate to which digestive tract bacteria anchor themselves. C. ellogimus is smooth skinned, without setae or any hard parts. Segmentation often appearing on the fossil specimens is caused by contraction of the skin due to the shock of burial.

Modern echiurans are commonly called Spoon Worms as their spoon-like proboscises form from a flattened structure rolled into a cylindrical tube. Though modern spoon worms have fleshy proboscises, examples of well-preserved proboscises in fossil specimens are rare (see Figure 13.2 below) and their exact structure is unknown.

Specimens

From "The Mazon Creek Fossil Fauna" by Jack Wittry

Recent find by ESCONI member Rich Holm.  This specimen has the gut line and the fecal pellets.

Dinosaur 'reaper' with massive claws found in Japan

An artist's rendition of Paralitherizinosaurus japonicus, the newfound dinosaur species described in this study. (Image credit: Illustration by Masato Hattori)

Live Science has a post about a new dinosaur discovery in Japan.  The animal is a therizinosaur and is called Paralitherizinosaurus japonicus. The genus means "reptile by the sea".  The large Edward Scissorhands-like claws were probably primarily used to slash vegetation not other animals as the animal was a herbivore.  P. japonicus lived about 80 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.  More details can be found in a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The hook-shaped fossil, which includes a partial vertebra and a partial wrist and forefoot, was discovered by a different team of researchers in 2008; since then, it was stored in the collections at the Nakagawa Museum of Natural History in Hokkaido, Japan.

Japanese scientists found the specimen in Nakagawa, a district in Hokkaido located on the northernmost of Japan's main islands, a locale known for its rich fossil deposits. The fossil was encased in a concretion — a hardened mineral deposit — and at the time of its discovery, paleontologists said it "was believed to belong to a therizinosaur," though due to a lack of comparative data at the time, the original researchers were unable to draw any definitive conclusions, representatives of Hokkaido University said in a statement(opens in new tab). 

PBS Eons: How To Build A Woolly Mammoth (But Should We?) #fossil #paleontology #mammals #fossils #mammoth #woollymammoth

 

There's a new episode of PBS Eons.  This one is about Woolly Mammoths.  Could and should we bring them back...

In the quest to understand how evolution basically built the woolly mammoth, we may have found the blueprints for building them ourselves.

Fossil Friday #112: Coprinoscolex elliogimus! #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #pit11 #pennsylvanian #leech #fossils

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #112.  Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website.  We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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After a long week, it's time for Fossil Friday.  Another Mazon Creek fossil is up today.  This time it's a worm, long called the leech by collectors, it's now thought to be an echiuran - species name Coprinoscolex elliogimus.  The identifying evidence are the oval shaped fecal pellets visible in the fossil.  This one was found this spring in Pit 11.  

 

Throwback Thursday #114: Collect Fossils..... What a waste of time! #fossil #paleontology #TBT #history #ThrowbackThursday #fossils

This is Throwback Thursday #114.  In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general.  If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc ...), please sent them to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Thanks!

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For this week, we have an article written by Bill Bode called "Collect Fossils..... What a waste of time!".  At the time it was published, January 1972, Bill was Assistant Paleontology Chairman of the Midwest Federation (MWFED).  For those that don't know, The Midwest Federation of Mineralogical & Geological Societies is a federation of rock and mineral clubs in the midwest, from Ohio to South Dakota down to Missouri, Illinois included.  It was established in 1940. ESCONI is a member and William Allaway, first president of ESCONI, was president of the MWFED from 1952-1953.  Ben Hur Wilson was its first president.  Not much is available about Bill Bode or the Wabash Valley Gem & Mineral Society.  Does the club still exist?  Please let us know if you have any details.

This article gives a good perspective of why Bill collected fossils... Have you ever considered why you collect?

"COLLECT FOSSILS..... WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!"
by Bill Bode, Assistant Paleontology Chairman Midwest Federation --- via Wabash Valley Gem & Mineral Society

While admiring a fossil exhibit. at the show in Normal a couple of ag years ago, I overheard these words spoken by a man, who with his wife had paused momentarily in front of the exhibit I was enjoying. Both appeared to be the outdoor type so I just made the mental comments, "It takes all kinds" and "I wonder whatever turns you on!"

Reflecting on the reasons for my interest in fossil collecting, brings back memories. My wife and I first began our rockhounding by collecting minerals. Over the years, in the course of collecting in local quarries, we became more selective in our material. Eventually local minerals no longer held our interest, so trips began to take us farther and farther from home. However, collecting but once a year while on a vacation---as it soon became---is hardly enough to maintain an interest in any hobby, so gradually the lure of just mineral collecting began to wan.

While curating our mineral collection, I had identified our one and only fossil as "hickory nuts--fossilized". Later, this was corrected by a friend who informed me of its true nature. Now mistaking brachiopods--an animal--for hickory nuts didn't bother me as much as the thought that I had wasted many years of hunting without really looking. I had missed something--namely knowledge--how the rock was formed, its age, the method of deposition, the depth of the sea in the area where it was deposited as a sediment, and most of all, a glimpse of ancient life or of its inhabitants. All of these were there for the taking if I had only opened my mind.

Being a city boy, knowledge of any animal life had passed me by. After reading one of the elementary fossil books, a new world was opened up for me. From that day forward, it was fossils "that turned me on".

What is so fascinating about fossils? If you can, just imagine yourself picking up a piece of a fossil--and what might follow. The fossil fragment has outlines and likely some identification marks. From these, you can reconstruct--in your mind--the entire animal. You can estimate with accuracy its age, and you can predict some other fossils which should be found in the same vicinity. Of course this can happen only with acquired knowledge that comes mostly from a myriad of good paleontological books and by handling thousands of specimens. But every quarry in which you hunt becomes a new book to read, and every rock you pick up may contain some new animal over which to ponder.

There are many facets to the fossil hobby. Perhaps your interest may be in the perfect fossil; the one and only fossil of its kind; or a complete new fauna of fossils. Each has been found in the United States within the last ten years. Only knowledge of what you have found is required to complete this type of collection. It is possible you are passing an ideal location every day. Would collecting trilobites interest you? There are now 1,104 recognized genera of trilobites. A full collection of all genera --not to mention all of their species--would out value a complete Dana collection by many times.

Why not specialize in the rocks in your immediate area? By collecting the fauna of one age, or one quarry, you would be contributing to the advancement of paleontology as many areas in the United States have been hunted on a hit and miss method. Interested paleontologists will go out of their way in order to be able to study such collections.

Micro-paleontology is one of the fastest growing facets of the fossil hobby. Other than being plentiful and well documented, micro-fossils are in the majority, perfect fossils. A collection of this type requires a minimum of space, and it is ideal for the apartment dweller or any person who for any medical reasons prefers to limit physical exertion.

Vertebrate paleontology is not as popular as invertebrate pale ontology. The amount of money and time required, the paucity of good fossils, and even the fossil hunting grounds with their restrictive laws, are some of the bug-a-boos. An extremely fine collection, however, could be acquired by specializing in the vertebrate teeth only.

A final reason for collecting fossils, and one of which many rockhounds are not aware, is their monetary value. Most people would not pass up a dollar bill fluttering in the street, but I have seen mineral collectors pass up $25 in fossil specimens, laying at their feet, because they did not know the value of the specimens. Due to the influx of increased enrollments in geology courses, the growth of paleontology in the amateur field, and also with the advanced mechanical method of quarrying, it is quite imperative that more and more fossil specimens become available. Whether or not your interest is in fossils, do not pass them by as they can be sold or traded. The use of the old "silver pick"always has been a major implement in building up the world's finest collections.

Whatever area you finally become resolved to, keep the following mind--catalog or curate any fossils you find to the best of your ability. If nothing else, record with accuracy the exact area in which you found the specimen. Plan to clean your specimens but practice on pieces having no great value before you tackle a choice specimen. Always be extremely cautious about using acid in cleaning unless you know what you are doing. In the past few years too many good fossils have been appearing in displays that showed indiscriminate use of acid. Plan on building a library of paleontological literature if your interest expands to the degree where you want to identify all your specimens. Do not be ashamed of any errors made while you are. identifying in this manner. Whenever a correction is advanced to you, you will have gained knowledge which was absent before.

If you have access to a museum, the geologist there will help you make your identification or at least be of great help in locating the proper literature in which you can begin a search.

In the event you are lucky enough to find a type specimen, contact a paleontologist who specializes in that particular phylum. Should he publish a description of it, that specimen technical ly is no longer yours but belongs to the world. Please have the good grace to deposit it with a museum or some institution for future paleontologists. A type specimen, lost, misplaced or destroyed, constitutes an inexcusable crime..

If the use of a proper taxonomical name for a fossil comes with difficulty do not let this deter you from reaching your goal. With repetitive handling of the specimens and the use of your reference, books, they will become familiar. Maybe your friends will consider such terms swearing--but then just keep on swearing!

 

Why don't we have many giant animals anymore? #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #mammals #dinosaur

A boy tries out the interactive T. rex during the media preview March 5, 2019 of "T. Rex: The Ultimate Predator" an at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. (Image credit: Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

Live Science has an interesting post about the size of extant animals.  There were larger animals on Earth in the past.  There are theories, but the actual reason is complex and may involve multiple factors.  Mammals. being endothermic, may be limited in how large they can get due to energy needs.

Prehistoric giants used to populate the Earth. These behemoths included mighty dinosaurs, airplane-size pterosaurs, massive crocodiles and snakes, and even armadillos the size of cars. But today, there are just a few big animals on our planet.

 

What happened? Why aren't there many giants left anymore?

First of all, there's plenty of fossil evidence that the ancient past really did have larger animals — beasts that were humongous but also larger, on average, than today's creatures, Greg Erickson, a vertebrate paleobiologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee who specializes in ancient reptiles, told Live Science. Ever since scientists unearthed the first known stash of dinosaur bones, in the 19th century, researchers have put forth ideas to explain why giants were common millions of years ago but less so today. But no one can point to one definitive answer, Erickson said. "It's so multifactorial." 

 

 

 

Illinois Now Has an Official State Rock. Here's What It Is #rock #dolostone #illinois #rocks #mineral

NBC5 Chicago has a story about the new Illinois state symbol.  The Tully Monster is the Illinois State Fossil and we have Fluorite as the State Mineral, now Dolostone is the State Rock. Governor Pritzker signed the bill yesterday - June 6th, 2022!  We posted back in 2021 that the Pleasantdale Middle School in Burr Ridge, IL was pushing for this effort.

Upon learning Illinois didn't have a state rock, students at Pleasantdale School in Burr Ridge and Maplebrook Elementary School in Naperville took it upon themselves and decided that needed to change.

So, they interviewed regional geology scholars, visited museums, completed research and then got schools all across Illinois involved.

The students created a ballot with three choices, and dolostone was the winner.

"With hundreds of participating schools and thousands of votes from Carbondale to Rockford to Chicago, the choice was clear - dolostone emerged victorious," Pritzker said. "And it's no surprise dolostone, a specific form of limestone, forms most of our state's bedrock in the early 1800s."

The student involvement didn't stop with the voting process as they then worked with lawmakers to develop the legislation.

House Bill 4261, which sought to designate dolostone as the official state rock of Illinois, was first introduced in January and became a reality Monday, as Pritzker signed it into law.

Jennifer Lauermann, a Pleasantdale teacher whose students orchestrated the effort, said she was so proud of their effort and determination.

"The students, we'd started this project during a very crazy time, two years ago almost," she said Monday. "And I was teaching in a cafeteria and...there was a teachable moment that just exploded. A couple of kids started talking about rocks and pretty much, we really focused a lot of the year on geology. I'll never forget this."

Mazon Monday #115: Crenulopteris acadica #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #ISGS #fossils #paleobotany

This is Mazon Monday post #115.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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Crenulopteris acadica is one of the most common flora fossils found in the Mazon Creek biota.  Some of the localities seem to be absolutely full of it.  The fossils can range in size from a few inches to over a foot.  It is a true fern belonging to the group Filicopsida, which is a subdivision of Pteridophyta.  Pteridophyta includes all extant and extinct ferns and first appears in the fossil record during the Devonian Period.

George Langford called it Asterotheca lamuriana.  ESCONI's "Keys to Mazon Creek Plants" referred to it as Pecopteris lamuriana.  While in Jack Wittry's "Mazon Creek Fossil Flora", it can found as Lobatopteris lamuriana.  For Wittry's vastly updated book "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek", it moved to Crenulopteris acadica.  For a very common fossil, its naming has a very complicated history.

Crenulopteris acadica (Bell) Wittry et al., 2014

1880. Pecopteris villosa? Brongniart; Lesquereux: p. 253
1899. Pecopteris villosa? Brongniart; White: p. 94
1924. Asterotheca miltoni (non Artis); Kidston: pl. 121, figs. 4, (?)2; (non pl. 122 = Pecopteris camertonensis other figured specimens probably correctly identified)
1925. Pecopteris vestita (non Lesquereux); Noé: pl. 29, fig 2; pl. 30, fig. 2
1925. Pecopteris miltoni (non Artis); Noé: pl. 34, fig. 4
1938. Pecopteris miltoni (non Artis); Bell: p. 71, pl. 67, figs. 2, 4 (non fig. 3 = Diplazites unita); pl. 68; pl. 69, figs. 1-3
1958. Asterotheca lamuriana (non Heer); Langford: p. 166, fig. 282
1958. Asterotheca lepidorachis (non Brongniart); Langford: p. 167, fig. 283
1959. Lobatopteris vestita (non Lesquereux); Wagner: p. 22
1962. Pecopteris acadica Bell: p. 32, pl. 25, figs. 1-3; pl. 56 fig. 7
1969. Pecopteris lamuriana (non Heer); Darrah: p. 138, pl. 20, fig. 1; pl. 24, fig. 1; pl. 62, figs. 1, 2; (non pl. 15, figs. 3, 4 = Pecopteris subcrenulata)
1979. Pecopteris miltoni (non Artis); Janssen: p. 127; p. 128, figs. 109, 110; p. 129, fig. 111
1979. Asterotheca arborescens (non Schlotheim); Janssen: text in part p. 130; p. 131, fig. 113, non fig. 117n
1980. Pecopteris acadica Bell; Zodrow: p. 59, pl. 72, fig. 2; pl. 77 fig. 2; (non pl. 74, figs. 1, 2; pl. 75, fig. 1; pl. 77, fig. 1; pl. 78, fig. 1 = Pecopteris camertonensis; pl, 76, figs. 1, 2 = indeterminate))
1982. Pecopteris lamuriana (non Heer); Oleksyshyn: p. 80, fig. 16, E-G
1994. Lobatopteris vestita (non Lesquereux) Wagner; Cleal: p. 155, fig. 77D
2014. Crenulopteris acadica Wittry et al.: pp. 615-643

DESCRIPTION: The primary pinnae are very large, possibly up to a meter in width, with smooth and punctate rachises. The penultimate pinnae are linear-lanceolate and taper very gently toward a small, round lobe at the apex. The pinnules remain free all the way to the tip. The rachises are thick, straight, longitudinally striated, and punctate. The ultimate pinnae are linear to sublanceolate, alternate, rise from the rachis at an angle of anywhere from 10° to nearly perpendicular, and terminate obtusely or subacutely. They consist of ten lobes per side when fully mature. The lobes on the ultimate pinnae are alternate, small, obtuse, and attached by their full bases. Both entire pinnules and lobed ultimate pinnae are of different lengths along the rachis. The venation in entire linear pinnules consists of a strong, straight midvein and arcuate lateral veins that rise from the midvein at an angle of 45°, and fork once near their base. The upper vein divides one to three times before meeting the margin at near ly a right angle. In the lobed ultimate pinnae, the veins form bundles that correspond to each of the lobes. A villous coating on both sides of the pinnules usually obscures the venation from view. The isolated spores are correlated with Punctatosporites/Laevigatosporites minutus. The sori have an asterothecoid appearance with typically five sporangia.

REMARKS: Crenulopteris acadica is the second most common flora species found in the Mazon Creek flora, though fertile examples (see Fig. 7) are rarely found. The amount of variability figured here is due to variations in the frond form during the growth stages of large tree ferns. The synonymy list shows how other authors have tried to interpret this form, making it the most confused taxon in the Mazon Creek flora. Also see Kankakeea grundyi.

One of C. acadica distinguishing features are the crenulations on its pinnules.

Specimens

NYT: Megalodons vs. Great White Sharks? We Know Which Predator Won. #fossil #paleontology #shark #sharks #fossils #megalodon #greatwhite

A great white shark off the coast of South Africa.Credit...Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild, via Getty Images

The Trilobites column of the New York Times has a story about sharks... big sharks.   Otodus megalodon, commonly referred to as Megalodon, is regarded as one of the largest predators that ever lived.  Estimates of its size extrapolated from teeth put it at between 46 and 67 feet (14 - 20.3 meters).  A new paper in the journal Nature Communications looks to address what pushed O. megalodon to extinction, was it climate change or competition for food resources.

Twenty million years ago, a predator with a mouth like a subway door and teeth the size of your palm roamed the seas. The megalodon, the largest shark ever to live on Earth, could grow more than 50 feet long, and it was the scourge of the ocean for millions of years. Then it disappeared. The megalodon was no more.

Exactly what happened to push this beast of a shark to extinction is a topic of much debate among scientists. Now a paper published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests that great white sharks, which coexisted with the megalodon, preyed upon the same kinds of animals the much larger shark ate. This evidence helps to support the theory that competition with the great white, a predator that is still going strong today, might have been one factor that took the megalodon out of the picture. It also highlights the idea that a predator doesn’t have to be the biggest to eventually dominate an ecosystem.

Reconstructing the food chains of long-ago oceans is a difficult task, said Jeremy McCormack, a geoscientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and an author of the new paper. You can’t watch extinct animals feeding or set up a camera to spy on how they lived.

But there are other methods. One option for deducing what an animal ate is examining the molecules that make up its body. Zinc isotope levels in the teeth of present-day mammals correlate with where they fall in the food chain, many other studies have found: The higher up the food chain an animal is, the lower the zinc isotope values they show. Because teeth fossilize well, the team wondered whether the same would hold true if they looked at teeth from millions of years ago.