This is "Fossil Friday" post #135. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!
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Who's old enough to remember the Kim Carnes song "Bette Davis Eyes"? This weeks submission is a very nice Belotelson magister shrimp with what appears to be an eye. It's all there with quite a bit of detail! You can learn more about B. magister in Mazon Monday #13. B. magister was described from Mazon Creek fossils way back in 1886 by Alpheus Spring Packard (1839-1905). He was an American entomologist and paleontologist, who described over 500 new species, especially butterflies and moths. He was a professor of zoology and geology at Brown University in Providence, RI from 1878 until his death in 1905. Packard was one of the founders of the journal The American Naturalist.
This beautiful specimen is owned by Marty Houdek, long time Mazon collector and ESCONI member. He relayed a nice story of its discovery with the photo.
I found the head half open near the road next to tipple in pit 11. I found the tail portion open a week later about twenty feet away from where I found the head. When It was found in 1986 the ground was free of vegetation, today it is overgrown.