This is the “Fossil Friday” post #297.  Expect this to be a regular feature of the website.  We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com.  Please include a short description or story.  Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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This week’s Fossil Friday is a favorite of many Mazon Creek collectors. Alethopteris serlii was a seed fern that existed during the Carboniferous Period. It is commonly found in the Mazon Creek terrestrial deposits. It was described by Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847) in 1836. Brongniart was a French chemist, mineralogist, geologist, paleontologist, and zoologist. He had a deep interest in paleontology. For more information see Mazon Monday #57.

This gorgeous specimen comes from Bob Goss. It was collected from the Coal City area by his father Cecil Goss in the 1950s. We highlighted another beautiful specimen of Alethopteris serlii from Bob and Cecil in Fossil Friday #284. Cecil Goss was a Methodist pastor with a passion for fossil and mineral collecting. Cecil was pastor at the Wheatland-Salem E.U.B. Church near what is now Naperville, IL. in the 1950s.