A starfish (Hudsonaster) from the Ordovician Platteville Limestone, Wisconsin. Photo of YPM IP 538069 by Jessica Utrup (Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History on GBIF.org, CC0 1.0 Universal/public domain dedication).
The May 2023 ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting will be held on May 20th, 2023 at 7:30 via Zoom and at the College of DuPage Tech Ed (TEC) Building (Map) Room 1038B. The topic of the meeting is "Echinoderms of the Platteville and Galena Formations" . The presentation is by ESCONI member and Paleontology Study Group chairman John Catalani.
Please bring any Ordovician echinoderms you may have.
The program begins with Ordovician stratigraphy and describes the Platteville and Lower Galena strata and rocks of north-central Illinois, south-central Wisconsin, and southeast Minnesota. Paleogeography and paleoenvironments of the Upper Ordovician are discussed. Next is an overview of the occurrence of Platteville and Lower Galena echinoderms, a phylogenetic chart of echinoderm types, and a distribution chart of echinoderms collected during Dennis Kolata’s PhD research. The majority of the program discusses the echinoderms in terms of taxonomic affinity and shows specimen photographs from the primary sources: the papers of Dennis Kolata and Jim Brower. These photographs are augmented with additional specimens, many of which I have personally collected.
As always, there will be spirited discussions about fossils and anything earth science both before and after the presentation. Come on out and get your rock on!
