Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois - ESCONI

Fossil Friday #221: Edestus heinrichi Shark Tooth #fossils #paleontology #FossilFriday #pennsylvanian #shark #sharktooth #illinois #edestus #sharkweek

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #221.  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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Artist's reconstruction of the extinct Holocephalian Edestus heinrichi

Another contribution to Shark Week.... an Edestus heinrichi shark fossil jaw with a tooth.  Edestus sharks are known from the Pennsylvanian Period.  The genus was established by Joseph Leidy in 1856, when he described Edestus vorax.  Edestus is one of the sharks known for its strange tooth whorl, which consisted of a singe row of teeth.  Research suggests they didn't shed like modern sharks, instead they grew new teeth at the back of their mouth pushing older teeth to the tip of their jaws.  Leidy is considered one of the founders of American vertebrate paleontology.

Edestus heinrichi was described in 1970 by John Strong Newberry and Amos Henry Worthen.  Worthen was the second state geologist of Illinois and the first curator of the Illinois State Museum.  The holotype was found in Illinois, but has been lost.

John Strong Newberry

A.H. Worthen

This specimen of Edestus heinrichi tooth and jaw was found in the Herrin Fm. near Lively Grove, IL.  Lively Grove is in southern Illiniois, just southeast of St. Louis, MO.

Throwback Thursday #222: Matthew Galloway's Exciting Discovery June 2000 #fossils #history #paleontology #lonestar #fieldtrip #tetrapod #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #carboniferous

This is Throwback Thursday #222.  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!

This was originally posted as part of the run up 70th Anniversary as Flashback Friday #7.  We are now in the midst of our 75th Anniversary.

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Photo from a 2008 ESCONI field trip

Lone Star Quarry in Oglesby, IL was always a popular field trip site.   It has a rich deposit of marine fossils.  The site is about the same age as Mazon Creek, late Pennsylvanian, but had a marine, deep water setting.  ESCONI held multiple trips there each year in the 1990s and 2000s.  Shark teeth, sponges, cephalopods, crinoids, trilobites, and lots and lots of brachiopods were could found there.  You could take a snow shovel and fill up buckets with the little Composita brachiopods.

The abundant brachiopods from the site. Photo from Reed Scherer, Northern Illinois University

The quarry was purchased by the State of Illinois a few years ago and will be made into a fossil park in the future.

On June 4th, 2000, Matthew Galloway found an amphibian bone on an ESCONI field trip to Lone Star.  The followling story was posted to the ESCONI website in 2000.  What a find! 

Matthew(10 years old) and Barrett Galloway(14 years old) with their fossils at the Sept. 16, 2000 ESCONI Show and Tell.  Matthew is holding a tetrapod bone found June 4 at the Lone Star Quarry.  Barrett is holding a pavement tooth of a shellcrusher shark embedded in limestone found September 4 at Illinois Cement Quarry.

Matthew Galloway's Exciting Discovery

Call it beginner’s luck. A ten (10) year old LaMoille boy was excited about going on his first field trip with the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI), then he made an exciting discovery.

"I joined the club because I wanted to go on field trips with people who know more than I do" said Matthew Galloway, who has been collecting fossils since he was six (6).

During that first field trip with the club, he spotted a bone embedded in stone which turned out to be the most significant specimen found by 38 people searching for fossils in a LaSalle County quarry on June 4.

"This is the best thing I have found" said Matthew. The club’s field trip coordinator, Bealis Giddings of Mazon, told Matthew and Bruce Galloway the fossils was a leg bone from an amphibian known as a tetrapod.

Giddings has searched for fossils in upper Illinois River Valley quarries for ten (10) years.

"This is the biggest one I have seen. It is at least six times bigger than any I had seen," Giddings said.

Everyone involved in the field trip expressed appreciation to the quarry owners for giving them permission to look for fossils.

Bruce Galloway brought the fossil to the attention of Michael Philips, a geology instructor at Illinois Valley Community in Oglesby who took digital pictures of the fossil. He confirmed that the Galloways had found a tetrapod (a four-legged animal that looks like a mud puppy) from the Pennsylvanian Age (286-320 million years ago).

Philips e-mailed photos of the bone to Russ Jacobson, a geologist and paleontologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign. "It is a nice specimen of a lower limb bone of a tetrapod", Jacobson said. "It may not tell us much about the species, but it is a record of another one".

For further information, click on Mike Phillips: Amphibian Leg Bone Fossil

(http://www2.ivcc.edu/phillips/fossil/amphibian/amphibian.html)

Field Museum: Sixty-million-year-old grape seeds reveal how the death of the dinosaurs may have paved the way for grapes to spread #fossils #paleontology #wine #grapes @FieldMuseum #paleobotany #colombia

Lithouva - the earliest fossil grape from the Western Hemisphere, ~60 million years old from Colombia. Top figure shows fossil accompanied with CT scan reconstruction. Bottom shows artist reconstruction. Photos by Fabiany Herrera, art by Pollyanna von Knorring.

The Field Museum scientists have been busy... first a giant salamander-like creature and now finely aged wine, or at least finely aged grapes.  Fabiany Herrera, assistant curator of paleobotany at the Field Museum in Chicago’s Negaunee Integrative Research Center, is the lead author on a paper in the journal Nature Plants.  The paper contains the description of nine species of fossil grapes ranging in age from 60 to 19 million years ago.  The fossil specimens were found in Colombia, Panama, and Peru.  

If you’ve ever snacked on raisins or enjoyed a glass of wine, you may, in part, have the extinction of the dinosaurs to thank for it. In a discovery described in the journal Nature Plants, researchers found fossil grape seeds that range from 60 to 19 million years old in Colombia, Panama, and Peru.  One of these species represents the earliest known example of plants from the grape family in the Western Hemisphere. These fossil seeds help show how the grape family spread in the years following the death of the dinosaurs.

“These are the oldest grapes ever found in this part of the world, and they’re a few million years younger than the oldest ones ever found on the other side of the planet,” says Fabiany Herrera, an assistant curator of paleobotany at the Field Museum in Chicago’s Negaunee Integrative Research Center and the lead author of the Nature Plants paper. “This discovery is important because it shows that after the extinction of the dinosaurs, grapes really started to spread across the world.”

It’s rare for soft tissues like fruits to be preserved as fossils, so scientists’ understanding of ancient fruits often comes from the seeds, which are more likely to fossilize. The earliest known grape seed fossils were found in India and are 66 million years old. It’s not a coincidence that grapes appeared in the fossil record 66 million years ago–that’s around when a huge asteroid hit the Earth, triggering a massive extinction that altered the course of life on the planet. “We always think about the animals, the dinosaurs, because they were the biggest things to be affected, but the extinction event had a huge impact on plants too,” says Herrera. “The forest reset itself, in a way that changed the composition of the plants.”

Abstract

The remarkably diverse plant communities of the Neotropics are the result of diversification driven by multiple biotic (for example, speciation, extinction and dispersal) and abiotic (for example, climatic and tectonic) processes. However, in the absence of a well-preserved, thoroughly sampled and critically assessed fossil record, the associated processes of dispersal and extinction are poorly understood. We report an exceptional case study documenting patterns of extinction in the grape family (Vitaceae Juss.) on the basis of fossil seeds discovered in four Neotropical palaeofloras dated between 60 and 19 Ma. These include a new species that provides the earliest evidence of Vitaceae in the Western Hemisphere. Eight additional species reveal the former presence of major clades of the family that are currently absent from the Neotropics and elucidate previously unknown dispersal events. Our results indicate that regional extinction and dispersal have substantially impacted the evolutionary history of Vitaceae in the Neotropics. They also suggest that while the Neotropics have been dynamic centres of diversification through the Cenozoic, extant Neotropical botanical diversity has also been shaped by extensive extinction over the past 66 million years.

The Last Stand of the Woolly Mammoths #fossils #paleontology #mammoths #siberia #mammals #evolution

Mammoths remained on Wrangel Island, about 80 miles from the Siberian coast, for about 6,000 years after they vanished from the rest of Asia, Europe and North America.Credit...Beth Zaiken

Carl Zimmer has an article about the last of the Woolly Mammoths over on the New York Times.  A small population of mammoths on Wrangel Island held on until about 4,000 years ago.  Wrangel Island is a large island, about the size of the US state of Delaware, just off the northern coast of Siberia.  A recent paper in the journal Cell reconstructed the genetic history of this isolated herd of animals.  The researchers found the population was founded by a tiny group, maybe as low as 10 individuals.  Even though the group survived for 6,000 years, the animals suffered from a variety of genetic disorders.

Oliver Ryder, the director of conservation genetics at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said that the study held important lessons for trying to save species from extinction today. It shows that inbreeding could cause long-term harm.

“The mammoth study allows one to examine that process over thousands of years,” said Dr. Ryder, who was not involved in the new study. “We don’t have data like that for the species we are trying to save now.”

Dr. Dalén and his colleagues examined the genomes of 14 mammoths that lived on Wrangel Island from 9,210 years to 4,333 years ago. The researchers compared the DNA from the Wrangel Island mammoths with seven genomes from mammoths that lived on the Siberian mainland up to 12,158 years ago.

The genome of any animal contains a tremendous amount of information about the population it belonged to. In big populations, there is a lot of genetic diversity. As a result, an animal will inherit different versions of many of its genes from its parents. In a small population, animals will become inbred, inheriting identical copies of many genes.

Mazon Monday #224: Holmacanthus keithi #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #MazonMonday #shark #sharkweek #pennsylvanian #pit11

This is Mazon Monday post #224.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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In keeping with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, we have a Mazon Creek shark... Holmacanthus keithi for this week's Mazon Monday.

Figure 132.1, a reconstruction of Holmacanthus keithi with the mottled coloration of some present-day shark species; by Rob Sula. Scale bar = 10 mm.

Holmacanthus keithi was named for Keith Holm, who found the holotype in Pit 11 in the early 1990s.  H. keithi was described by David Bardack and Ranier Zangerl in Chapter 18 of the "Richardson's Guide to the Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".  Both Bardack (1932-2019) and Zangerl (1912-2004) worked on fossil fish together for many years, naming more than a few Mazon Creek species.

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

Figure 18.16. Holmacanthus keithi n. gen. n. sp., holotype FMNH PF 14309; modified camera lucida drawing. Scale bar = 10 mm. Abbreviations: Af, anal fin; C, chondrocranium; Df1, first dorsal fin; Df2, second dorsal fin; E, eye; Fsp, fin spine; H, hyomandibular; MC, Meckel's cartilage; Pf, pelvic fin; PQ, palatoquadrate; SC, scapulocoracoid.

Holmacanthus keithi new genus and species

Diagnosis. Probable hybodontoid (Zangerl, 1981) with two dorsal fins, the first triangular, the second about twice as long and half as high. Each is preceded by short, barely emergent fin spines in this juvenile specimen. Spines vertically ridged. Short based, distally elongate anal fin. Palatoquadrate deep with elongate otic process.

Holotype. FMNH PE 14309, one half of part and counterpart, complete specimen of young individual, Pit 11.

Etymology. Generic name derived from the last name of the collector, Keith Holm, and "acanthus," common name component of sharks. Specific name derived from given name of the collector.

Description. This species known at present from a single specimen, measures 5.7 cm in length from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail. The individual is viewed from a three- quarter dorsal perspective anteriorly and from a lateral aspect more posteriorly. Depth at the first dorsal fin is 1.3 cm. The head is bluntly rounded, and from its anterior tip to the rear of the scapulocoracoid measures one-third of the length of the fish. The two eyes are seen as prominent, slightly ovate, very darkly pigmented structures in about their natural position relative to the chondrocranium. Anterior to the eyes and around as well as below them and more posteriorly are less distinctive and less dark shadows representing the chondrocranium, which still has not calcified. Obtusely rounded at the anterior end, this structure narrows between the eyes and then expands broadly behind them. Paired dark bodies behind the eyes but within the chondrocranium probably represent the otic capsules. The chondrocranium appears to be fairly deep as shown by continuous pigment patterns below and around the eyes. Posterior to the braincase several dark, somewhat ill-defined structures may be parts of the branchial arches. The mandibular arch (palatoquadrate and Meckel's cartilage) is distinguished by irregularly shaped polygonal remains indicating an early stage of cartilage calcification. The palatoquadrate has a deep, anteroposteriorly extended otic region and probably tapers anterior to this process more gradually than in ctenacanthid sharks. But the anterior end of this arch is not well preserved. The palatoquadrate is closely applied to the Meckel's cartilage, which seems most distinct where these cartilages articulate. The location of the mandibular arch, even without well-preserved anterior ends, suggests that the mouth was sub-terminal in position. Some faint impressions along the anterior end of the Meckel's cartilage suggest the early development of dentition. An elongate, rather flat, calcified bar extends from near the posterior end of the chondrocranium across the upper part of the palatoquadrate. This is probably the slightly displaced hyomandibular. Behind the chondrocranium and palatoquadrate, a large, dark, gently curved bar represents the scapulocoracoid. At the bend of this structure, a few indistinct, dark stains presumably are basipterygia of the pectoral fin.

There are two dorsal fins. The one in front is gently triangular in outline; the one behind is half its height but twice its length. Each is preceded by a fin spine, the anterior spine is shorter than the posterior one. Apparently, only the small, slightly falcate tips of these spines emerged from the muscle in which they were embedded. No supporting basil cartilages are evident. The caudal fin is asymmetric. The anal fin, narrow and about twice the length of its base, is nearly in contact with the caudal fin. Of the paired fins, the pectoral is not preserved. The pelvic fin arises below and near the end of the second dorsal fin. Dermal denticles are possibly indicated by impressions along the body surface, but these have, at this stage of development, no distinctive feature and are about the same size as the graininess of the matrix surface.

The abdominal cavity contains several fragments some of which may be bony, but none is identifiable. These remnants do demonstrate that Holmacanthus even at this small size was actively feeding.

Discussion. The new elasmobranch, Holmacanthus, adds another species to the growing list of Mazon Creek chondrichthyans. Although small in size and providing limited diagnostic features, it clearly differs from other chondrichthyans such as Polysentor, Similihariotta, Jimpohlia, and the elasmobranch Bandringa from the Mazon Creek biota in overall shape, fin characteristics, and head features as far as these may be examined among these genera. A fifth Mazon Creek elasmobranch, Dabasacanthus, has, broadly speaking, a similar body shape, but its dorsal fins and spines are much larger with coarser longitudinal costae, Also, in contrast to Holmacanthus, the otic portion of the palatoquadrate in Dabasacanthus is much lower and shorter. Few young individuals of Pennsylvanian chondrichthyans have been described. Preserved elasmobranchs from localities of Pennsylvanian age (Maples and Schultze, 1988) such as the Kinney Quarry in New Mexico or Hamilton Quarry in Kansas, and the Indiana black shale location (Zangerl, 1981) are represented by larger, postlarval or juvenile stages with distinctive dentitions, fin spines, and often chondrocranial features commonly used for comparing elasmobranchs.

H. keithi appears on page 132 in Jack Wittry's "The Fossil Fauna of Mazon Creek".

Holmacanthus keithi Bardack, 1997b

Holmacanthus keithi is a juvenile shark with a poorly calcified skeleton. Just preceding its fins are barely emerging spines. It has two dorsal fins; the first is triangular. The second, located directly behind the first, is twice as long and half as tall. The bluntly rounded head is roughly about one-third the length of the body. The well-marked eyes are closely spaced and oval.

Even as juveniles, H. keithi may have been active predators. What appear to be bony fragments have been found in the gut area of some specimens.

Specimens

Field Museum FMNH PE 14309, one half of the specimen.  

The other half is displayed at "Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop".  This photo came from a very informative Fossil Forum post by Ralph Jewell.

 

The Poozeum in Williams, Arizona #fossils #paleontology #coprolite #arizona

Atlas Obscura has a story about the opening of a new museum in Williams, Arizona.  It's dedicated to the study of coprolites, which is fossilized poop.  Dinosaurs did it, birds do it, bees do it, fish do it... even we do it, all animals do it.  Mazon Creek coprolites are fairly common.  So, what does it tell us?  It turns out the waste of yesteryear is very valuable when it comes to understanding animal' behavior and, of course, its diet.  They were noticed by Mary Anning as early as 1824, when she found bezoar stones in the abdominal region of ichthyosaur skeletons.  When she broken them open, she often found fossilized bones and scales.  Those observations led William Buckland to theorize they were fossilized feces.

Have you ever had a close up and personal visit with dinosaur poop? (Surprise: some of it will look very  familiar!) If you’re driving through Williams, Arizona along Highway 40, possibly on your way to the Grand Canyon, here’s your chance. 

The Poozeum (get it?) is weird and scientific, doesn’t smell bad, and will thrill any dinosaur-loving kid and adult. It has dozens of displays of big and little poop, and a four-foot-long plop from the Titanosaur, the world’s largest pooper. (It’s a replica, but still…)

The museum’s curator knows his poop. He’s been collecting the stuff since he was 14 years old. He’ll tell you where he collected the poop, explain the size of each of the poops (and describe the original pooper), how the poop got its shape, why it has that poop-ish color, and with a little prompting, let you touch some of the poop.

Like any good museum, there’s a gift shop with T-shirts, coffee mugs, and other poop-related paraphernalia.

Note: Thanks go out to Gretel Monreal who sent this in as a suggested post!

 

This Bigheaded Fossil Turned Up in a Place No One Expected to Find It #fossils #paleontology #vertebrate @FieldMuseum #permian #stemtetrapod

Left: Artist’s rendering of Gaiasia jennyae. Credit: Gabriel Lio. Right: Skeleton, including the skull and backbone, of Gaiasia jennyae. Credit: C. Marsicano.

The New York Times has a story about a new stem tetrapod.  Gaiasia jennyae lived 280 million years ago, which is about 40 million years before the evolution of the dinosaurs.  It lived in what is now Namibia in southern Africa.  Its discovery has profound implications about when and where early tetrapods moved onto land from the sea.  The description of the animal was published in the journal Nature.  Jason Pardo a NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum was a co-lead author.

Roughly 400 million years ago, colosteids and other early tetrapods evolved from fish amid equatorial jungles. Paleontologists’ understanding of the Paleozoic Era comes almost exclusively from the study of deposits found in North America and Europe, said Jason Pardo, a paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago and an author on the paper.

So when archaic tetrapods disappeared from those jungles 307 million years ago, researchers assumed they went extinct everywhere.

But Gaiasia turned up in rocks 20 million years later than expected, Dr. Marsicano said, early in the Permian Period. And while previously known members of the creatures’ family had skulls that could fit in a person’s hand, Dr. Marsicano said, Gaiasia’s skull reached two feet long or more, making it the largest animal of its kind ever found.

Field Museum Press Release

“Gaiasia jennyae was considerably larger than a person, and it probably hung out near the bottom of swamps and lakes. It's got a big, flat, toilet seat-shaped head, which allows it to open its mouth and suck in prey. It has these huge fangs, the whole front of the mouth is just giant teeth,” says Jason Pardo, an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum in Chicago and the co-lead author of the Nature study. “It’s a big predator, but potentially also a relatively slow ambush predator.”

The fossil is named for the Gai-as Formation in Namibia where it was found, and for Jenny Clack, a paleontologist who specialized in the evolution of early tetrapods-- the four-limbed vertebrates that evolved from lobe-finned fishes and gave rise to amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

Pardo’s co-lead author, Claudia Marsicano of the University of Buenos Aires and her colleagues found the fossil. “When we found this enormous specimen just lying on the outcrop as a giant concretion, it was really shocking. I knew just from seeing it that it was something completely different. We were all very excited,” said Marsicano. “After examining the skull, the structure of the front of the skull caught my attention. It was the only clearly visible part at that time, and it showed very unusually interlocking large fangs, creating a unique bite for early tetrapods.”

Abstract

Current hypotheses of early tetrapod evolution posit close ecological and biogeographic ties to the extensive coal-producing wetlands of the Carboniferous palaeoequator with rapid replacement of archaic tetrapod groups by relatives of modern amniotes and lissamphibians in the late Carboniferous (about 307 million years ago). These hypotheses draw on a tetrapod fossil record that is almost entirely restricted to palaeoequatorial Pangea (Laurussia)^1,2. Here we describe a new giant stem tetrapod, Gaiasia jennyae, from high-palaeolatitude (about 55° S) early Permian-aged (about 280 million years ago) deposits in Namibia that challenges this scenario. Gaiasia is represented by several large, semi-articulated skeletons characterized by a weakly ossified skull with a loosely articulated palate dominated by a broad diamond-shaped parasphenoid, a posteriorly projecting occiput, and enlarged, interlocking dentary and coronoid fangs. Phylogenetic analysis resolves Gaiasia within the tetrapod stem group as the sister taxon of the Carboniferous Colosteidae from Euramerica. Gaiasia is larger than all previously described digited stem tetrapods and provides evidence that continental tetrapods were well established in the cold-temperate latitudes of Gondwana during the final phases of the Carboniferous–Permian deglaciation. This points to a more global distribution of continental tetrapods during the Carboniferous–Permian transition and indicates that previous hypotheses of global tetrapod faunal turnover and dispersal at this time^2,3 must be reconsidered.

 

 

Fossil Friday #220: Annularia inflata #fossils #paleontology #MazonCreek #FossilFriday #pennsylvanian #annularia #horsetail #calamites #paleobotany

This is the "Fossil Friday" post #220.  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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Annularia inflata is out Fossil Friday for this week.  We chose it to commemorate the 4th of July holiday.  It's pinnules resemble a firework display.  Annularia inflata is the foliage of Calamites.  It's related to modern day horsetails.  Find out more here Mazon Monday #60 and Mazon Monday #94.

This particular specimen was found in the Pit 3 locality.

Throwback Thursday #221: Looking Back at ESCONI for July 2024 #history #TBT #ThrowbackThursday #mastodon #perrymastodon

This is Throwback Thursday #221.  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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The Perry Mastodon at Wheaton College.

25 Years Ago - July 1999

• The newsletter had a small article about Mazon Creek "Wonderstone".  Peter Laraba, or the Field Museum, did a Master's Thesis on the material.  It's glacial material that originates from the Devonian and early Mississippian.
• The 1999 CGMA show was a huge success.  ESCONI provided many volunteers for the setup.
• There was a small ad for the Fossil News Journal of Amateur Paleontology.  They are still around!
• ESCONI was planning for the Flea Market to be held in October 1999.

50 Years Ago - July 1974

• The newsletter had a report of the Memorial Day field trip, which included a day of collecting at the legendary "Goldblatt Mine", near Pit 1.
• 66 people attended the Memorial Day field trip.
• Rich Rock planned and led the trip, which also went to Pit 11.
• Wheaton College put the Perry Mastodon on display.  The skeleton was discovered in the backyard (Glen Ellyn) of Judge Sam Perry in October, 1963.

70 Years Ago - July 1954

• Harry Peterson did an article about Silversmithing for the newsletter.  Harry made the trilobite bola and pin (Throwback Thursday #174).   These were originally made for ESCONI presidents to wear.
• Fossil Mosquitoes were the subject of a newsletter article by Franklin Wray.  Franklin was Technical Director of the Desplaines Valley Mosquito Abatement District.
• There was a total solar eclipse on June 30th, 1954.  Some ESCONI members traveled to the viewing area after the Milwaukee's Midwest Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies' (MWFED) Convention.
• There had 311 members in total, 149 were active with 82 juniors and 7 honorary members.

 

Lokiceratops, a Horned Dinosaur, May Be a New Species #fossils #paleontology #dinosaurs #ceratopsian #montana

An artist’s reconstruction of Lokiceratops rangiformis, a new species of ceratopsian recovered from the badlands of northern Montana.Credit...Sergey Krasovskiy for the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark

The New York Times has an article about the discovery of a fossil skull that might represent a new species of ceratopsian dinosaur.  Lokiceratops rangiformis, lived about 78 million years ago in what is now the badlands of northern Montana.  L. rangiformis weighed 5 tons and had large curving brow horns and huge bladed spikes on the edge of its frill.  The animal was described in paper in the journal PeerJ.

The researchers argue that this is a new species, and with others like it suggest that the area from Mexico to Alaska was full of pockets of local dinosaur biodiversity. Other experts, though, contend that there is not enough evidence to draw such conclusions based on one set of remains.

The skull of the dinosaur in question was discovered in 2019 by a commercial paleontologist on private land in northern Montana. It was acquired by the Museum of Evolution in Maribo, Denmark.

“They saved it by purchasing it, so now it’s available in perpetuity for scientists to look at it,” said Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and an author of the study. “We couldn’t write a paper on a fossil sitting in a rich person’s living room and being treated as art.”

Trilobite Tuesday #49: Most pristine trilobite fossils ever found shake up scientific understanding of the long extinct group #fossils #paleontology #trilobite #trilobites #TrilobiteTuesday #morocco #cambrian

Microtomographic reconstruction of the head and anterior trunk ("body") limbs of the trilobite Protolenus (Hupeolenus) in ventral view. Credit: Arnaud Mazurier, IC2MP, Univ. Poitiers

Phys.org has an article about an amazing fossil find in Morocco.  A recently discovered deposit of Cambrian trilobites is being described as Pompeii-like, in that the fossils were preserved in volcanic ash (like the Roman city of Pompeii).  The fossils are preserved with such fidelity that some never before seen anatomical features are seen preserved in 3-D.  All the details are in the paper "Rapid volcanic ash entombment reveals the 3D anatomy of Cambrian trilobites" published in the journal Science.

The trilobites, from the Cambrian period, have been the subject of research by an international team of scientists, led by Prof Abderrazak El Albani, a geologist based at University of Poitiers and originally from Morocco. The team included Dr. Greg Edgecombe, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum.

Dr. Greg Edgecombe said, "I've been studying trilobites for nearly 40 years, but I never felt like I was looking at live animals as much as I have with these ones. I've seen a lot of soft anatomy of trilobites, but it's the 3D preservation here that is truly astounding.

"Rapid volcanic ash entombment reveals the 3D anatomy of Cambrian trilobites"

Editor's summary

Trilobites are probably the best known denizens of the Cambrian Period. Their distinctive fossilized external forms are well recognized from an extensive fossil record spanning the early Cambrian to the Permian extinction. The vast majority of trilobite fossils display only external morphology, however, leaving much unknown about their internal morphology. El Albani et al. describe several trilobite fossils created by rapid death and preservation due to an underwater pyroclastic flow. This preservation created three-dimensional fossils with a remarkably well-preserved anatomy. This enhanced understanding of trilobite anatomy has revealed several new features and provided key insights into crown group euarthropods. —Sacha Vignieri

Abstract

Knowledge of Cambrian animal anatomy is limited by preservational processes that result in compaction, size bias, and incompleteness. We documented pristine three-dimensional (3D) anatomy of trilobites fossilized through rapid ash burial from a pyroclastic flow entering a shallow marine environment. Cambrian ellipsocephaloid trilobites from Morocco are articulated and undistorted, revealing exquisite details of the appendages and digestive system. Previously unknown anatomy includes a soft-tissue labrum attached to the hypostome, a slit-like mouth, and distinctive cephalic feeding appendages. Our findings resolve controversy over whether the trilobite hypostome is the labrum or incorporates it and establish crown-group euarthropod homologies in trilobites. This occurrence of moldic fossils with 3D soft parts highlights volcanic ash deposits in marine settings as an underexplored source for exceptionally preserved organisms.

 

Mazon Monday #223: NAPC at Braceville! #fossils #paleontology #MazonMonday #MazonCreek #pennsylvanian #wormhill #fieldtrip #NAPC2024

This is Mazon Monday post #223.  What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:[email protected].

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The first NAPC conference was held in 1969 at the Field Museum in Chicago, IL (see Mazon Monday #221).  ESCONI participated by displaying many nice Mazon Creek fossils.

NAPC 2024 was held in Ann Arbor, Michigan the week of June 17th, 2024.  One of their field trips was to the Braceville Spoil Pile.  That's the same place we hold our spring and fall Mazon Creek field trips to collect Mazon Creek concretions (see Mazon Monday #130).  Victoria McCoy of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee led the trip and ESCONI was there as guides.  On Sunday, the attendees visited the Field Museum to see some of the best and rarest specimens.

The Carboniferous Mazon Creek fossil site: collecting at “Worm Hill” and viewing non-worms at the Field Museum

The late Carboniferous Mazon Creek Lagerstätte is world-famous for its diverse and abundant fossils of plants and soft bodied animals. However, over a hundred years of collecting has resulted in most publicly accessible localities of this site being completely picked over, and, these days, only rarely yielding interesting fossils. On this trip, we have the opportunity to visit and collect from a privately owned site. Nicknamed “Worm Hill” for its abundant worm fossils, it represents a locality where marine animal fossils are still commonly found. On the second day, we will visit the extensive collection at the Field Museum in Chicago, to see many of the best specimens, and rarest species, from the Mazon Creek.

ESCONI provided shelter, water, tools, information and... of course... fossils.   We had a display of some nice specimens from the spoil pile... worms, jellies, clams, and a few plants.

We took the obligatory selfie...

It was a very hot day, but Arjan Mann and Fabiany Herrera were on hand to welcome the attendees.

After time in the heat, we headed to the Tully Monster Pub and Grill in Morris, IL.  I mean where else would you eat after a hot afternoon collecting Mazon Creek fossils?

We don't usually do restaurant reviews, but the food was delicious.  I really like the Zesty Cuban and the burgers.  Other favorites are "The Monster" and the "Fossil Named Tully".  Additionally,t hey have a nice selection of beer to cool you off and quench your thirst. 

When we visited back in May after the spring Braceville trip, we noticed there were pictures but no true Tully Monster on display.  Well, as you can imagine, ESCONI has a few tullies in reserve.  We put together a nice display box with a real Tully fossil and a photo of Francis Tully. 

Dave Carlson presentee the display to Melinda Courtney the owner of the Tully Monster Pub and Grill.  Melinda opened up the restaurant in 2008.  She collects fossils and artifacts.  If you're in Morris and looking for a tasty restaurant, give them a try!

From Tully Monster Pub and Grill on Facebook

So when you know you are blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing people. Here comes a thing that takes it to the next level!!! Christmas times 100!! I was gifted this absolutely amazing piece on Saturday from ESCONI ( Earth Science club of Northern il) I gotta admit I don't cry often but...need I say more. It will be proudly displayed at Tullys! This is a dream come true for the fossil freak that lives within me!! Thank you everyone that made this dream possible!! I will cherish this forever