tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59274847960779375432024-03-19T02:00:32.213-07:00FOSSIL HUNTRESSMUSINGS MEANT TO CAPTIVATE, EDUCATE AND INSPIREFossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comBlogger2464125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-64687268576785385222024-03-19T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-19T02:00:00.139-07:00NOOTKA: FOSSILS AND FIRST NATION HISTORYNootka Fossil Field Trip. Photo: John FamThe rugged west coast of Vancouver Island offers spectacular views of a wild British Columbia. Here the seas heave along the shores slowly eroding the magnificent deposits that often contain fossils. Just off the shores of Vancouver Island, east of Gold River and south of Tahsis is the picturesque and remote Nootka Island.This is the land of the proudFossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-15519322348432923932024-03-18T16:09:00.000-07:002024-03-18T16:11:19.837-07:00JAPANESE CORKSCREW AMMONITE: HYPHANTOCERAS ORIENTALE
A stunning example of the heteromorph ammonite, Hyphantoceras orientale macroconch. This beauty corresponds to 'Morphotype C' from Aiba (2017). The specimen is a handful at 136 mm and was lovingly prepared by the hand holding it, that of the talented José Juárez Ruiz.
This an adult specimen (not the juvenile stage) from Upper Santonian outcrops near Ashibetsu, Hokkaido, Japan.
Aiba FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-34797129494703228682024-03-16T23:51:00.000-07:002024-03-19T00:18:40.420-07:00DRIFTWOOD CANYON FOSSIL BEDS / KUNGAXPuffbird similar to Fossil Birds found at Driftwood Canyon Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park covers 23 hectares of the Bulkley River Valley, on the east side of Driftwood Creek, a tributary of the Bulkley River, 10 km northeast of the town of Smithers in northern British Columbia. Wet'suwet'en First NationThe parklands are part of the asserted FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-48557340163573150552024-03-05T10:26:00.000-08:002024-03-05T10:26:00.133-08:00MEET FERGUSONITES HENDERSONAE: HETTANGIAN AMMONITE
Fergusonites hendersonae (Longridge, 2008)
Meet Fergusonites hendersonae, a Late Hettangian (Early Jurassic) ammonite from the Taseko Lakes area of British Columbia, Canadian Rockies.
I had the very great honour of having this fellow, a new species of nektonic carnivorous ammonite, named after me by paleontologist Louse Longridge from the University of British Columbia. I'd met Louise as an FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-75193493011396553862024-03-03T10:28:00.000-08:002024-03-18T16:07:50.172-07:00LATE HETTANGIAN FOSSIL FAUNA FROM THE TASEKO LAKES: BRITISH COLUMBIAThe late Hettangian ammonite fauna from Taseko Lakes is diverse and relatively well‐preserved. Over three field seasons, thirty-five taxa from the Mineralense and Rursicostatum zones were studied and three new species discovered and named: Fergusonites hendersonae, Eolytoceras constrictum and Pseudaetomoceras victoriense. This material is very important as it greatly expands our FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-8930356916231788972024-02-28T23:15:00.000-08:002024-02-28T23:15:00.124-08:00FOLKSTONE GAULT CLAY AMMONITESThis lovely wee 2.6 cm ammonite is Anahoplites planns from the Cretaceous Folkstone Gault Clay, county of Kent, southeast England. Joining him on this bit of matrix is a 3.2 cm section of Hamites sp. This matrix you see here is the Gault Clay, known locally as the Blue Slipper. This fine muddy clay was deposited 105-110 million years ago during the Lower Cretaceous (Upper and Middle FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-28899950389191647732024-02-27T01:13:00.000-08:002024-03-18T21:39:32.928-07:00CIBELELLA CORONATA
Cibelella Coronata / Photo: Alexei Molchanov
A spectacular creamy toned specimen of the trilobite Cibelella Coronata striking a very animated pose. The Genal spines give this fellow a bit of a starship look as though taking off in flight. This beauty is from upper Ordovician deposits along the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Coast, Saint Petersburg, FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-13477677063621184292024-02-26T07:35:00.000-08:002024-02-26T07:35:00.128-08:00FOSSIL FISHAPODS OF NUNAVUTQikiqtania wakei, a fishapod & relative to tetrapodsYou will likely recall the amazing tetrapodomorpha fossil found on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic in 2004, Tiktaalik roseae. These were advanced forms transitional between fish and the early labyrinthodonts playfully referred to as fishapods — half-fish, half-tetrapod in appearance and limb morphology. Up to that point, FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-39123436571128105582024-02-23T01:12:00.000-08:002024-02-23T01:12:00.122-08:00PISTA DE BAILE JURÁSICAThis busy slate grey dinosaur trackway from the Iberian Peninsula looks more like a dance floor than the thoroughfare it is. The numerous theropod dinosaur tracks — with a few enormous sauropod tracks thrown in for good measure — cover the entire surface. The local soil has a bit of rusty iron ore in it that highlights each print nicely when the soil is blown into the depressions the FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-81494377595418922652024-02-22T01:06:00.000-08:002024-03-18T20:37:01.642-07:00KEPPLERITES FROM THE KURSK REGIONThis glorious chocolate block contains the creamy grey ammonite Kepplerites gowerianus (Sowerby 1827) with a few invertebrate friends, including two brachiopods: Ivanoviella sp., Zeilleria sp. and the deep brown gastropod Bathrotomaria sp. There is also a wee bit of petrified wood on the backside.These beauties hail from Jurassic, Lower Callovian outcrops in the Quarry of Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-74556503850678235982024-02-17T07:33:00.000-08:002024-02-18T20:27:39.487-08:00HERMIT CRABS: FLIPPING HOUSES SINCE THE JURASSICThis little cutie is a hermit crab and he is wearing a temporary home borrowed from one of our mollusc friends. His body is a soft, squishy spiral that he eases into the perfect size shell time and time again as he grows. His first choice is always the empty shell of a marine snail but will get inventive in a pinch — nuts, wood, serpulid worm tubes, aluminium cans or wee plastic caps.&FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-60228152772909884752024-02-16T23:59:00.000-08:002024-02-16T23:59:00.144-08:00UPTHRUSTING PLATES: WASHINGTON GEOLOGY
Two hundred million years ago, Washington was two large islands, bits of the continent on the move westward, eventually bumping up against the North American continent and calling it home. The shifting continues, subtly changing the landscape like a breath. We only notice when pockets of resistance manifest as earthquakes, some newsworthy, some all but unnoticed. For now, the more extreme FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-92034210953130263392024-02-15T01:03:00.000-08:002024-02-15T01:03:00.129-08:00DARWIN'S TOXODONToxodon is an extinct large grazing mammal. The first Toxodon fossils were discovered by Charles Darwin on his visit to South America as part of his voyage on the HMS Beagle. Darwin wondered at the fossil's strange appearance as it seemed to share features with both rodents and rhinos. “Toxodon is perhaps one of the strangest animals ever discovered,” wrote Darwin. He first encountered FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-50976468351987692622024-02-14T01:04:00.000-08:002024-02-14T01:04:00.137-08:00NORTH VANCOUVER'S CRETACEOUS CAPILANO RIVER
Cretaceous Plant Material / Three Brothers Formation
Vancouver has a spectacular mix of mountains, forests, lowlands, inlets and rivers all wrapped lovingly by the deep blue of the Salish Sea. When we look to the North Shore, the backdrop is made more spectacular by the Coast Mountains with a wee bit of the Cascades tucked in behind.
If you were standing on the top of the Lion's Gate FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-36482149287202374022024-02-13T01:30:00.000-08:002024-02-13T01:30:00.126-08:00JUVENILE HAMITES SUBROTUNDUS
A tremendously delicate juvenile Hamites subrotundus (J. Sowerby 1814) from Upper Albian outcrops in Mallorca, the largest of the three Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean at more than 3,600 square kilometers. Mallorca has been home to various inhabitants for thousands of years. Sitting some 200 kilometers off Spain’s southeastern, it is a idyllic setting for exploring the rich FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-3044861743545212492024-02-12T01:30:00.000-08:002024-02-12T01:30:00.123-08:00FOSSILS, LIMESTONE & SALT: HALLSTATT
Hallstatt Salt Mines, Austria / Permian Salt Diapir
The Hallstatt Limestone is the world's richest Triassic ammonite unit, yielding specimens of more than 500 ammonite species.
Along with diversified cephalopod fauna — orthoceratids, nautiloids, ammonoids — we also see gastropods, bivalves, especially the late Triassic pteriid bivalve Halobia (the halobiids), brachiopods, FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-39851069089784646562024-02-11T01:22:00.000-08:002024-02-11T01:22:00.130-08:00NATURAL DYES: INDIGO
Natural dyes are dyes or colourants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources — roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood — and other biological sources such as fungi and lichens.
Archaeologists have found evidence of textile dyeing dating back to the Neolithic period. In China, dyeing with plants, barks and insects has FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-36210322784463874532024-02-10T01:14:00.000-08:002024-02-10T01:14:00.125-08:00YORKSHIRE HISTORY: FOSSILS TEXTILES AND URINEYorkshire CoastYou may recall the eight-metre Type Specimen of the ichthyosaur, Temnodontosaurus crassimanus, found in an alum quarry in Yorkshire, northern England.
The Yorkshire Museum was given this important ichthyosaur fossil back in 1857 when alum production was still a necessary staple of the textile industry. Without that industry, many wonderful specimens would likely never have been FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-79221330176157053072024-02-09T01:30:00.000-08:002024-02-09T01:30:00.132-08:00ANAHOPLITES PLANUS OF FRANCEA beautiful specimen of the ammonite, Anahoplites planus (Mantell, 1822) from Albian deposits in Villemoyenne Quarry, Courcelles, Aube, north-central France.Anahoplites (Hyatt, 1900) is a genus of compressed hoplitid ammonites with flat sides, narrow, flat or grooved venters, and flexious ribs or striae arising from weak umbilical tubercles that end in fine dense ventrolateral nodes.This lovely FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-62403683569236091962024-02-08T01:00:00.000-08:002024-02-08T01:01:44.242-08:00K'ULUT'A: PLAYFUL PORPOISE OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWESTDall's PorpoiseThese delightfully friendly and super smart fellows are Dall's porpoise. In the Kwak̓wala language of the Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka'wakw, speakers of Kwak'wala, of the Pacific Northwest, a blowhole is known as a ka̱'was, whether on a dolphin (porpoise) or whale and a porpoise is known as a k̓ulut̕a. In the Pacific Northwest, we see many of their kind — the shy, blunt-nosed FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-8142412320283182972024-02-07T01:30:00.000-08:002024-02-08T01:01:04.985-08:00VANCOUVER ISLAND'S TRENT RIVER PALAEONTOLOGYDan Bowen, Chair, VIPS, Trent RiverThe rocks that make up the Trent River on Vancouver Island are on the move. They were laid down near of the equator as small, tropical islands. They rode across the Pacific heading north and slightly east over the past 85 million years to where we find them today.The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. And it is FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-23569404135153030942024-02-05T01:30:00.000-08:002024-02-05T01:30:00.124-08:00CARNOTAURUS SASTREI: FLESH EATING BULLCarnotaurus sastrei, a genus of large theropod dinosaurs that roamed the southern tip of Argentina, South America during the Late Cretaceous, 72 to 69.9 million years ago. His name means "flesh-eating bull,' and he lives up to it.This fellow — or at least his robust skull with the short, knobby eyebrow horns and fierce-looking teeth — is on display at the Natural History Museum in Madrid, Spain. FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-56571791049272540862024-02-04T00:30:00.000-08:002024-02-04T00:30:00.231-08:00SQUIRRELS: SHADOW TAILSOne of the little animals I see daily in Kitsilano, Vancouver, are the very busy, highly comic rodents we know as squirrels. They spend their days busily gathering and caching food and their nights resting from all that hard work. My neighbourhood has mostly Eastern Gray squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis (Gmelin, 1788) who come in a colour palette of reddish-brown, grey (British spelling)FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-72509096777699329012024-02-03T23:48:00.000-08:002024-02-04T07:29:07.869-08:00OPHTHALMOPLAX BRASILIANA
Ophthalmoplax brasiliana / Photo: José F. Ventura
Ventral view of the carnivorous portunoid crab Ophthalmoplax brasiliana (Maury, 1930) from the latest Maastrichtian (~66.2 Ma.) deposits near Coahuila, northern Mexico.
This marine species was originally thought to have been found only in the upper Member (Owl Creek Formation) Late/Upper Maastrichtian deposits of Tippah County in FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927484796077937543.post-17106193909309978402024-02-02T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-02T02:00:00.126-08:00CHAMPAGNE-ARDENNE HOPLITES
An excellent example of the ammonite, Hoplites bennettiana (Sowby, 1826) with a pathology. This beauty is from Albian deposits near Carrière de Courcelles, Villemoyenne, laid down in the Cretaceous near la région de Troyes (Aube) Champagne in northeastern France.
L'Albien or Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It was named after Alba, FossilHuntresshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12753521735590846667noreply@blogger.com