Fossil Friday #114: Basket of Mazon Eggs

This is the “Fossil Friday” post #114. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

For this week, we have some exciting Mazon Creek fossils… I know, I know, we never do Mazon Creek. Well, here is another… These are Mazonova helmichnus, which are eggs. They were classified in 1995 by Stephen Godfrey in the paper “Fossilized eggs from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois”. The paper appeared in the journal Ichnos – an International Journal for Plant and Animal Traces. For more on Dr. Godfrey, see his website – Paleo Skullptures. The current thinking is they are either fish or amphibian eggs.

These photos were sent in by ESCONI member Ralph Jewell, whom you might know from his generous contributions of fossils at our Braceville trips. These specimens were all collected in Pit 11 at various times. In his epic Fossil Forum thread “Sometimes You Have To Whack It !!“, he just recently opened the last one shown below. I always look forward to when he updates that thread. In it, he’s opened a nice insect, many beautiful plants, and of course a whole bunch of jellies. Check it out!

From Ralph:

The first and third specimens were collected in the 70’s and identified at the Field Museum by Dr. Richardson, the second specimen was collected in 1989 and the specimen that I opened this month (last one) was collected around 1992.

These are rare and beautiful fossils! Thanks for sharing, Ralph!

Collected in the 1970s