This is the “Fossil Friday” post #214.  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!

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Today, we have a very large single pinnule of Alethopteris sullivanti (see Mazon Monday #37).  A. sullivanti is a seed fern (Pteridospermatophyta), which is a group of plants that went extinct during the late Cretaceous Period.  It was described by Leo Lesquereux in 1869.  It was named for William Starling Sullivant (1803-1873).  Sullivant was an American botanist and a friend and colleague of Lesquereux.  Sullivant and Lesquereux published two editions of the book Musci Boreali-Americani Quorum Specimina Exsiccata (1856, 1865), which is about mosses indigenous to eastern North America.

Specimens of Alethopteris are often 3 dimensional and can be quite striking.  This large specimen was found in the Pit 3 locality in the spring of 2024.