Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Dinosaurs were on the up before asteroid downfall, study finds #fossil #paleontology #dinosaur #cretaceous #massextinction

Triceratops prorsus munching on cycads disturbs primitive cousins of placental (left) and marsupial (right) mammals in the underbrush—while a softshell turtle climbs up on a log, unaware that its freshwater ecology will shelter it from the impending doom from space. Credit: Henry Sharpe

Phys.org has a story about the state of the non-avian dinosaurs just before the K-Pg mass extinction about 66 million years ago.  For a while, it was thought they were in decline before the asteroid strike.  A new study published in the journal Science Advances found that the non-avian dinosaurs were actually thriving, entrenched in stable niches.  They weren't slipping toward inevitable extinction.

Scientists have long debated why non-bird dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops, became extinct—whereas mammals and other species such as turtles and crocodiles survived.

The new study, led by an international team of paleontologists and ecologists, analyzed 1,600 fossil records from North America. Researchers modeled the food chains and ecological habitats of land-living and freshwater animals during the last several million years of the Cretaceous, and the first few million years of the Paleogene period, after the asteroid hit.

Paleontologists have known for some time that many small mammals lived alongside the dinosaurs. But this research reveals that these mammals were adapting to their environments and becoming more important components of ecosystems as the Cretaceous unfolded. Meanwhile, the dinosaurs were entrenched in stable niches to which they were supremely well adapted.

ESCONI Board Members for 2023

PRESIDENT:  Keith Robitschek

1ST. VICE PRESIDENT:  Katherine Howard

2ND. VICE PRESIDENT:  Irene Broede

RECORDING SECRETARY:  Valerie Anderson

TREASURER:  Andrew Jansen

PUBLICITY:  Chris Berg

LIBRARIAN:  Andrew Jansen

CURATOR:  Chris Cozart

HISTORIAN:  Richard Holm

Assistant Field Trip Chairman: Dave Carlson

Assistant Field Trip Chairman: John Catalani

EDITOR:  Don Cronauer

CIRCULATION:  Rose Jansen

PAST PRESIDENT:  Jeff Lord

MEMBERSHIP:  Rose Jansen

SHOW CHAIRMAN: Dave Carlson

MWF LIAISON REP: Dave Carlson

WEB ADMINISTRATOR: Richard Holm

Study Groups and Activities: (Non-Board Positions)

ARCHAEOLOGY STUDY GROUP CHAIR: Open

JUNIOR STUDY GROUP: Scott Galloway

LAPIDARY STUDY GROUP CHAIR: Open

MINERALOGY & MICROMOUNT STUDY GROUP CHAIR: Open

PALEONTOLOGY STUDY GROUP CHAIR: John Catalani and Tom Williams

PBS Eons: Thylacoleo Is The Missing Australian Apex Predator #fossil #paleontology #thylacoleo #marsupial

PBS Eons has a new episode.  This one is about Thylacoleo, the so called marsupial lion, which was an extinct genus of carnivorous marsupials that lived in Australia from the late Pliocene to the late Pleistocene.

In Australia, evolution built a family of deadly predators by taking a group of cute, harmless herbivores and turning them murderous.

Fossil Friday #138: Mamayocaris jaskoskii #fossil #paleontology #FossilFriday #MazonCreek #arthropod #pit11 #shrimp

This is "Fossil Friday" post #138.  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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For this week, we have a very nice received a photo of a very nice Mamayocaris jaskoskii from long time ESCONI member Marty Houdek, who has sent us some nice photos earlier this year.  This specimen is preserved in a somewhat unique dorsal position.  There is quite a bit of detail that is rarely shown.  M. jaskoskii was described by Frederick Schram in 1974.

Marty told us he found this specimen near Pit 11's tipple back in 2002.  Thanks for sharing this rare beauty, Marty!

Reminder: ESCONI Holiday Lunch Saturday, December 10th, 2022 at 12:00 PM at Warren’s Ale House in Wheaton

Holiday attire is welcome. If you got it, wear it! Sweaters, hats, scarves, socks, lighted necklaces, jewelry: the possibilities are endless!

 

This is your reminder that the ESCONI Holiday Lunch is happening this Saturday, December 10, 2022, 12:00 noon at Warren’s Ale House, 51 Town Square, Wheaton. (Just north of Danada Square East.)

Website for Warren's Ale House with Map & Menu:

https://warrensalehouse.com/contact-us/

Please note: We will be ordering off the menu. Everyone is responsible for their own bill. Warren's Ale House has a Brunch menu on Saturday along with their regular menu.

 

Still taking reservations: RSVP to Dave Carlson via email with your name and how many will be attending so we have an approximate count. [email protected]. If you need to call Dave, he can be reached at: (847) 931-0856. If you have to cancel your reservation, please let Dave know. Thank you!

 

Hope to see you there!

 

Throwback Thursday #139: Stonebone #TBT #history #poem #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #139.  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 [email protected].  Thanks!

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For this week, we have the poem "Stonebone" from the December 1970 edition of the ESCONI newsletter.  It's attributed to Reg Pokallus in "TOUCHTONE".  There is no other information about "TOUCHTONE", but it was probably the newsletter of another rock club.  Past ESCONI newsletters had quite a few shared articles from other clubs.

STONEBONE

A learned gentleman by the name of Wood
Dug a hole in a cave as far as he could.
A dinosaur fossil he found in the stone-----
The finest example, to the tiniest bone!
Our hero liked the find so well
That he added some grass to complete the spell.
He admired his work, then gazed in awe
As the dinosaur bowed to east the straw...
Believe it or not (though it's well understood)
That was the reason for PETRIFIED Wood!

-- by Reg Pokallus in TOUCHTONE

Video for the ESCONI December 2022 General Meeting - “The early diversification of birds: evidence from the Jehol avifauna” #fossil #paleontology #fossils #dinosaur @FieldMuseum @SUEtheTrex #birds #bird #video

December's General Meeting was held on December 2nd, 2022.  The presenter was Dr. Jingmai O’Connor Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the Field Museum.  The topic of her talk was "The early diversification of birds: evidence from the Jehol avifauna".

She calls herself a paleontologista aka a punk rock paleontologist. 

Her research includes work on birds, dinosaurs, and the bird-dinosaur transition.  The following is an excerpt from her Field Museum Staff Profile.

Relatively speaking, my passion for paleontology developed late in life. I first became interested in evolution through Dr. Donald Prothero while a Geology major at Occidental College (Class of 2004). With his encouragement, I started volunteering in the Paleontology Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LA NHM) and conducted undergraduate research with their fossil mammal curator Dr. Xiaoming Wang. For my PhD, I started studying Mesozoic birds at the University of Southern California (Class of 2009) with Drs. David Bottjer (USC) and Luis Chiappe (LA NHM). After graduation, I moved to Beijing, China where I worked with Dr. Zhonghe Zhou at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) for nearly 11 years. I started as a postdoc and became their youngest full professor in 2015.

My research explores the evolution of flight in the Dinosauria, the dinosaur-bird transition, and the evolution of modern avian physiology, not through any one aspect but exploring Paraves (the group formed by birds and their closest non-avian dinosaurian relatives) through feather origin and function, aerodynamics, reproduction, respiration, diet, anatomy, systematics, ontogeny, taxonomy, histology, and other topics based on what we find preserved.

Thanks to the amazing fossils that I’ve been fortunate to study, my research has been published in Nature, Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and Current Biology, and in 2019 I was awarded the Schuchert Award for excellence in Paleontology under the age of 40 by the Paleontological Society.

I have conducted fieldwork in China, Mongolia, Romania, South Africa, Canada, and the United States, and I am looking forward to starting my own active field program based out of the Field Museum.

In addition to my curatorial duties at the Field Museum, I am a research associate at LA NHM and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, an adjunct professor at the IVPP, and I serve as an editorial board member for several journals.

I am passionate about helping others along their academic trajectory and sharing my research with audiences of all ages hoping to help inspire the next generation of scientists.

See her website for more information.

Mongolian fossil is first known species of streamlined non-avian theropod dinosaur to walk on two legs #fossil #paleontology #cretaceous #mongolia

Life reconstruction of Natovenator polydontus. Credit: Yusik Choi

Phys.org has a story about a new Cretaceous bird.  The animal, named Natovenator polydontus, a non-avian theropod dinosaur was discovered in the Hermiin Tsav fossil formation in Mongolia back in 2008.  It lived during the Cretaceous Period roughly 100 million to 66 million years ago.  N. polydontus had teeth, which implies it had a varied diet.  The research was published in the journal Communication Biology.

In their study of the fossil, the researchers found it to be well-preserved and nearly complete—it had most of its two hindlimbs, one of its forelimbs, most of its skull and most of its spinal column. It also had a mouthful of teeth. The researchers noted that the skeleton was similar in shape to many modern water birds, sleek and trim, suggesting it lived on or near the water and survived by fishing offshore.

The researchers also noted that its ribs pointed toward its tail, another common feature of waterbirds. But it was not avian—there was no sign of wings. The researchers also noted that the overall shape of the skeleton suggested very strongly that it did not use its forelimbs for walking, likely giving it a penguin-like gait.

Their findings suggest the dinosaur belonged to the therapod family and had not been identified before; thus, it represented a newly discovered species. They named it Natovenator polydontus, which roughly translates to "hunter that swims and has a lot of teeth." They suggest it also most closely resembled Halszkaraptor, another non-avian dinosaur that also lived in what is now Mongolia.

Mazon Monday #141: Kottixerxes gloriosus #fossil #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #arthropod #pennsylvanian #fossils

This is Mazon Monday post #141.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].  Thanks!

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Kottixerxes gloriosus is a very rare animal in the Essex biota of Mazon Creek.  Out of 229,979 from Pit 11, only two were found!  That leaves it tied with centipedes are the rarest animals.  Even amphibians were more common, with three total in the sampling of 229,979.  Those statistics come from the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

K. gloriosus was described in the paper "A strange arthropod from the Mazon Creek of Illinois and the Trans Permo-Triassic Merostomoidea (Trilobitoidea)" by Frederick Schram in 1971.  Dr. Schram described many of the shrimp found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota.  The holotype was donated to the Field Museum by A. W. Kott of Summitt, Illinois.  Scham's paper lists a few more specimens.  Some of which, now reside in the Field Museum.  You will recognize some of those names as some made other significant contributions to the study of Mazon Creek fossils.

Mr. A. W. Kott of Summitt, Illinois
Mr. Jerry Herdina, Berwyn, Illinois
Mr. and Mrs. Levi Sherman, Des Plaines, Illinois
Mr. Francis Tully, Lockport, Illinois
Mr. and Mrs. Ted Piecko, Chicago, Illinois
Mr. and Mrs. Fran Wolff of Park Forest, Illinois

Fig. 6. Holotype of Kottixerxes gloriosus, PE11010.

K. gloriosus appears on page 46 of Jack Wittry's "The Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

Euthycarcinoids are a group of arthropods considered to be marine cousins of insects and myriapods. A primitive head bears lobed eyes and antennae. Little is known of their mouth parts. The thorax of these articulated animals is covered by wide tergites (back plates). The number of tergites serves as a means to separate the three genera found in the Essex Fauna. This book features the two more common genera.

Kottixerxes gloriosus, the most often found, has six smooth tergites; Smithixerxes juliarum has five crested tergites and is known from dorsal views only. In both, a long, narrow, segmented abdomen is found behind the thorax, ending in a elongated, tapered telson (tail), which gives each of these unusual animals a strange appearance. The third genus, Pieckoxerxes [= Scottyxerxes] pieckoae, is very rare.

Specimens

From the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

From Wittry's "The Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

Oldest Pterodactylus fossil found in Germany

Pterodactylus antiquus, DMA-JP-2014/004, from the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Torleite Formation of Painten; overview photograph. Credit: Augustin et al.

Phys.org has a story about the oldest Pterodactylus ever found.  This specimen was found in 2014 near Painten in central Bavaria.  The animal lived about 152 million years ago, which is about a million years older than all other Pterodactylus specimens.  All the details were published in a recent paper in the journal Fossil Record.

"The rocks of the quarry, which yielded the new Pterodactylus specimen, consist of silicified limestone that has been dated to the upper Kimmeridgian stage (around 152 million years ago)", explains Felix Augustin of the University of Tübingen, who is the lead author of the study. "Previously, Pterodactylus had only been found in younger rocks of southern Germany belonging to the Tithonian stage that follows after the Kimmeridgian."

The specimen is a complete, well-preserved skeleton of a small-sized individual. "Only a very small portion of the left mandible as well as of the left and right tibia is missing. Otherwise, the skeleton is nearly perfectly preserved with every bone present and in its roughly correct anatomical position," the researchers write in their study.

With a 5-cm-long skull, the Painten Pterodactylus represents a rare "sub-adult" individual.

"Generally, the Pterodactylus specimens are not evenly distributed across the full size range but predominantly fall into distinct size-classes that are separated by marked gaps. The specimen from Painten is a rare representative of the first gap between the small and large sizes," explains Augustin.

The Unsolved Case of a Fake Human Fossil #fossil #paleontology #piltdown #hoax

PBS Eons has a new episode over on Youtube.  This one is about the Piltdown Man hoax, which is still a mystery.

This episode is a mystery in the most classic literary sense of the word. It’s a whodunit detective story that spans more than a century - the saga of the Piltdown Man Hoax.

Fossil Friday #137: Horseshoe Crab from Indiana #fossil #paleontology #FossilFriday #Pennsylvanian #horseshoecrab #MazonCreek #indiana

This is "Fossil Friday" post #137.  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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This week, we have a Euproops sp. horseshoe crab from Indiana.  This specimen comes from Daviess County, Indiana.  The fossils date to the Pennsylvanian Period.  This deposit is a little younger than the Mazon Creek fossil deposit at around 305 million year old.  More information about Euproops sp. can be found in Mazon Monday #21.

This fossil is owned by ESCONI member Rich Holm.

Throwback Thursday #139: Looking Back at ESCONI #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday

This is Throwback Thursday #139.  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 [email protected].  Thanks!

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Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin.  Site of an ESCONI field trip in 1952.

25 Years Ago - December 1997

• The December General Meeting featured Dr. Klaus Westphal, who presented "Of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures".
• The Holiday Party for 1997 was held at the Tuchetti Italian Restaurant in Aurora, IL.  
• Earl and Mary Cornwell died.  Both were 99 years old.  They were the long time owners, publishers, editors, and writers of "Earth Science Magazine".
• The "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek" was added to the ESCONI library.
• The Paleontology Group discussed the Pennsylvanian Period.  The meeting was led by Don Auler and Andy Hay.
• Mineralogy was identifying micro and macro specimens.  Everyone brought in 3 specimens to test their knowledge.

50 Years Ago - December 1972

• The General Meeting was given by Richard Winar, who was a geologist with Dames & Moore..  His topic was "Rocks and Minerals".
• An identification contest was held at the Holiday Party.
• Mineralogy was discussing the Fluorite deposits of Southern Illinois and Kentucky area.
• Turquoise was the Gem of the Month. It's also the birthstone for December.
• Richard Leakey's announcement of the discovery of Homo habilis was in the news.

70 Years Ago - December 1952

• The General Meeting topic was "Lapidary".
• "You Too Can Be a Lapidary" was an article in the newsletter, which tied into the General Meeting.
• The newsletter contained a report about the first meeting of the Archaeological Study Group.   They had a field trip to the Kankakee River and found found Native American pottery and arrowheads.
• There was a report of the Wisconsin Dells Field Trip in October 1952.  It was cold and windy.  They ate sandwiches or Lunch.  They saw rock formations and took many pictures.
• Jay Farr wrote an article entitled "All Blue Gems Were Called Sapphires".  The topic was lapis lazuli.. a beautiful blue stone.